Analogue Alternatives to Screen Time

Getting sick of staring at your phone or Netflix menu screen? Here are some alternative options.

Jigsaw Puzzles

Puzzles absolutely kick-ass. 

Are you going to sit there and tell us that puzzles aren’t cool?

Excuse me? 

Come back here when you’ve experienced the absolute thrill and elation that comes with completing a 3000-piece puzzle to reveal Van Gough’s Starry Night.

Oh? What’s that? You haven’t done a puzzle since the third grade? 

Yeah, exactly.

Your misconception of puzzles is that they are baby toys. You’re wrong. A real puzzle is a trial of master patience, logical reasoning and deductive skills. 

So go to your basement and dust off the puzzle your grandmother got for you as a thoughtful Christmas gift and test yourself with a herculean intellectual challenge.

Read a book

Legends tell of ancient texts. The elders whisper that these scrolls of knowledge tell of great stories and invaluable knowledge. Some outlandish rumours even say that these so-called “books” prophesized the plots of beloved Netflix productions such as “You”, “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before”, “Orange is The New Black” and “13 Reasons Why”.

One thing we’ve learned in our research of these mysterious tomes is that they may already exist in your home, possibly inherited from ancestors or may have fortuitously appeared without explanation. Our homes even contain compartments built specifically for housing these artifacts called bookcases. 

Okay, but seriously. How many books have you been meaning to read and never got to? Now is the time! 

Start a book club with your roommates or family. If your friends are too far, mix analogue and digital by having a facetime book club meeting.

Knitting

Here’s a hot take: knitting isn’t just for your grandma.

Knitting is a low-risk, high-reward activity. It lacks the finger-pricking of sewing and has the perks of buying clothes (sans the buying part).

Imagine all the incredible items you can create with the limitless, raw power of knitting:

• Dishtowels
• Blankets
• Gloves
• Sweaters
• Bong cozies
• Dog booties

Getting super high and staring at the ceiling.

Bare with us. When’s the last time you just did nothing but lay there and stare at the ceiling.

Seriously?

We’re not talking about meditation, mindfulness or anything like that. We mean getting unbelievably blasted, laying in the middle of your living room and just staring at the ceiling. 

There’s this weird feeling of discovery that comes from finding a perspective you haven’t experienced before in your home. You always sit on the couch, the armoire or lay on your bed – but when was the last time you just laid in the middle of the floor in your house and just looked at everything that way?

Okay, we aren’t suggesting this will be some transcendent or spiritual experience, but we swear it’s a unique feeling. 

Highlights of laying on the floor and staring at the ceiling:

• imagining if everything was upside down and you had to navigate your house upside down.
• arranging your furniture on the ceiling.
• staring at the texture of your ceiling until it starts vibrating or moving. (Your brain has trouble organizing busy patterns/textures and often creating a rippling effect)