Hi. I’m Laurie and I’m addicted to screens.
But I’m not so naïve as to think I can live a life without them.
So instead I have set out to change my relationship with screens. To make my time on the screen more mindful and less mindless. To spend less time curating and more time creating. To use screens more responsibly. I’ve done this by setting two goals for myself:
- I intend to MAKE something every month in 2013. A real thing. That you can touch. Or stand in front of. At least one thing per month. If I make more, then heck — awesome. But at a minimum, I have to produce at least one real thing — something not digital — at least 12 times this year. I’ll show you my January project soon!
- Since so much of my time in front of screens is spent creating things for other people, I intend to carve out some of that time for myself. So I have embarked upon a 365 Day challenge: To design the words “Step Away from the Screen and Make Something” every day for a year. Yes, I’ll be doing this on a screen. And yes, I get the irony. But as a graphic designer in the 21st Century, the computer is my medium. I can’t really change that. The key here is that I’ll be creating these designs for me. No client, no friend needing a favor, no one but me. And the designs will also serve as constant reminder to spend more time away from the screen.
Hopefully, after a year of staring at these words, I’ll learn.
Are you addicted to screens? What do you do when you feel like they’re taking over your life? I’d love to hear.