Adults need screen time limits too. I know, it sounds silly. You’re probably like, “Wait what? I moved out of my parents’ house years ago. Those rules don’t apply to me anymore!” And you’re right, they don’t . . . but also they kind of should.

Whether you are in a relationship or not, have children or don’t, physically go to your job or work from home, live close to family or far away . . . placing a limit on your own screen time will benefit you and others in ways you probably haven’t even considered.

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Before I even start to explain, I’m not saying you can never go through Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok for hours. Because let’s be real, sometimes after a long day all you want to do is lie down and mindlessly scroll. I’m just saying it helps to be more aware of your environment when you are doing this. See, when you are on your phone, you are taking away from other moments. You are there physically at the moment, but you aren’t really present are you?

Constantly being on your phone often gets pretty bad before you realize it because it just becomes the norm. For example, my husband and I used to be guilty of sitting on the couch “watching” TV together when in reality we were just scrolling through our phones for hours after the kids went to bed. We would then move to bed and do the same thing until one of us put the phone away which was a cue that it was time to sleep. It kind of took over our marriage without us even realizing it. It hit me one day that we had gotten into this rut and all fingers pointed to our phones. So we came up with some rules.

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Any one of us can call “no phones” once a day and that means we put them away for an hour. We decided no phones in the playroom. We want to be present as our children play. And finally, we decided no phones in bed. We actually started having giddy little conversations at night again, and we slept so much better! These three rules helped us limit our screen time use and maximize our quality moments.

Life moves by fast, and while I’m all for documenting and sharing sweet moments, I also have to remind myself to step out from behind the screen and fully immerse myself in the moment. Technology can definitely be a saving grace at times but knowing how to set limits is something many of us are starting to realize. So yes, I limit my children’s screen time, but most importantly, I limit mine.