Latest / The Family Teams Podcast / Ep. 155 | Number 1 Way to Cut Down on Screen Time in the Home

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Ep. 155 | Number 1 Way to Cut Down on Screen Time in the Home · The Family Teams Podcast

• 0:00
  What's up, 5-Minute Fatherhood listeners? Have you guys seen that Family Team's Weekend Live is officially open? You can register. You can claim your spot. A two-day event, Cincinnati, Ohio, October 18th and 19th this year. We're going to pack 250 couples in a Memorial Hall historic theater downtown where we're going to lean in, roll up our sleeves, and we're going to be able to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a
• 0:20
  and have a workshop about building a multi-generational family team on mission. You're gonna get practical tips, you're gonna get practical tools, you're gonna leave with a family blueprint and manual, and officially you're also going to be not alone and realize there's other people who want to do the same thing as you. We want you guys there, it's selling out fast, so make sure to go to familyteams.com slash weekend to register and claim your spot. And there's also a special little discount code if you're part of our Facebook group, which you can find a link to that.
• 0:48
  in the info section on audio or the info section on the YouTube channel. So again, familyteams.com slash weekend. It's selling out fast. Claim your spot. We'd love to see you there. The technology companies, entertainment companies, their job is to create as least amount of friction as possible.
• 1:12
  Hey guys, welcome to the 5-Minute Fatherhood Podcast. I'm your co-host, Jeff Beth Key, along with my friend and mentor, Jeremy Pryor. Join us Monday through Friday as we chat about quick tips, skills, and ways to help equip you on your journey as a father to build your multi-generational family team on mission. Stay tuned.
• 1:33
  What's up, guys? Welcome to another five minute fatherhood. Jeff and Jeremy here. OK, we want to give you the number one way to cut down on screen time in the home. There are so many ways, lots of tips. We're going to go into this one a little bit deeper. I would say that I believe this is the this is the one that sort of comes first. And that is you have if you want to cut down screen time, you have to make it inconvenient. Yeah.
• 1:57
  You have to make, and this is so counter to everything that, of course, companies have done to make it. And you almost can't, like you walk into some restaurants and it's like, you know, it's like so convenient. On demand, entertainment, every movie, every show, the entire binge-watchable season.
• 2:18
  right there, one click away. And that is such a problem, you guys. And so if you find that, man, so this is sort of like, if you filled your entire kitchen with donuts and it was the one food that always makes you cheat. You know, if you had somebody come in and you had like a coach, a dieting coach,
• 2:37
  What they would say is, don't have donuts in your house, right? Like, you can't take it. Like, you can't resist it. And so this is really, it's interesting. A lot of people have a very strong negative reaction sometimes when we say,
• 2:53
  make it really inconvenient. Cancel that subscription. Make it so that you have to order the DVD. I remember when we first, you know, we had to like have, when we were first watching movies when we first got married and started having kids, you know, there was a TV at the church and to actually watch something, I had to pick up the TV with its VCR, drive it home,
• 3:14
  You know, put it up on a stand, plug it in, find that, you know, it took like 15 steps. It was incredibly inconvenient. We still watched a movie like every week. It was awesome. I love watching movies, but it was so hard to do that we never did it on accident. And so and so if this is a real struggle for you, make it less convenient. And so you can put the TV in an inconvenient place.
• 3:37
  That's one way to do it. You can get rid of on-demand sort of subscriptions that are causing you, or you could decide, like, there's only two months of the year that we have Netflix or something like that. One thing we've done, we've done show buddies. Like, we told our kids, you can only watch a show if you can convince another sibling during these times, and then you have to agree, and then you can only watch one. You know, like, there's a lot of inconvenience there that makes it really hard to do.
• 4:02
  scheduling, watching times. We've given you guys a lot of these tips, but the basic idea, I know that James Clear talks about this in his Atomic Habits book, is that if you want to make good habits really easy or really consistent, make them easy. And if you want to get rid of bad habits, you have to make them inconvenient. So I would say that's the number one thing. How are you, if you're finding that you have too much screen time, how are you going to make it less convenient?
• 4:27
  Um, that's a really simple sort of idea. Uh, and it's sometimes really easy to do, but a lot of times we just don't want to do it. But Jeff, what are your thoughts? Yeah. And I think, um, another way to think about it, which is the same, the same thing, but a different way is the technology technology companies, uh, entertainment companies, their job is to create as least amount of friction as possible.
• 4:47
  So that then you have no almost choice, but to just like turn it on or flick it on or swipe it on or watch it or whatever. And so our job then I think is humans as image bearers is to resist that by creating the most friction, right? Create friction between you and that device so that you're resisting and fighting the,
• 5:04
  them and their agenda, which is not to make you a whole image bearer, but is to make more money and to actually make you more of a fragmented, you know, kind of mind and person. And so, yeah, we do this a bunch of little ways too. One huge one is just remove all visual cues. I think we're visual people. I think we're based on where people were humans of cues and to remove all visual cues. So our T we have one TV only, we have no cable.
• 5:26
  And that TV goes down in a lift, like literally hidden in a cabinet. And you have to press a button that takes 30 seconds to raise up. Yeah, it's awesome. But it just takes just enough time where it's not that convenient, right? And it's hidden. So like we forget, we don't even think about it. It's not the focus. It's not the focal point. You're like, oh, there's a TV. Let's turn something on. We don't see it. Same thing with all the other devices, with our kids. None of our devices, there's literally like we, you know, have a couple thousand square foot house and devices are never out there.
• 5:52
  They're always in one cupboard in my office, the iPads and the phones, and they're always plugged in. And if we want it, we call it like they're leashed. Like you have to go to the leash and get it and take it out and make a call or make a text. And so like you don't, so visually you don't see anything. They're all in a cupboard hidden away. Another one is...
• 6:08
  turn your devices off for blocks. So like I try to turn my phone off right when we're like about to start dinner and I won't turn it back on until like when the kids go to bed. So there's a really solid couple hours right there of just like rate. I'm only with the family, only leaning into them, only leaning into the kind of that present moment. And as you know, that's a lot of friction to turn on an iPhone because I can't just go look, oh, who texts me? It's like, oh, I got to turn it on. It's got to do the boot up. It's got to do that Apple signal. It takes like a minute, right?
• 6:35
  So it's like, that's just enough where it's annoying. So I don't do it. But if it was on, I would probably just go check it or pull it out of my pocket. So yeah, just create more friction. And this isn't just for creating friction's sake, but everything me and Jeremy are saying is so that you can be more present. I think be more whole, lean into Jesus more, be more aware of his spirit and the moments he wants to give you as a father in your home to your family. And it is for your blessing and for your good. Yeah.
• 7:04
  Hey guys, one of our favorite places to hang out on is the family team's Instagram. That is where you will find tips, quotes, tricks, and a bunch of other conversational things to help you build your family team on mission. If you're on Instagram and you want to get encouragement as you do this and build your family team, just head over to Instagram and follow us at familyteams.com.