CHECKING IN

The other day, a film buff friend posted on Facebook, noting that, less than half an hour into a movie she’d started watching at home, she found herself reading emails and, well, posting on Facebook. For her, that was a sign of a not-great movie; it failed to grab her undivided attention. But, in fact, it’s pretty common for Canadians to look for entertainment on more than one screen at a time. According to a study by market research firm Millward Brown, 37 percent of our screen time involves both a television and a digital device such as a tablet or a smartphone. Sure, sometimes we’re using the device to Google where the heck we saw that actor before, but about 28 percent of us are doing something totally different, like keeping tabs on a sporting event.

I admit, I’m a fairly regular dual-screener myself (and, psst, I even enjoy it). Yet, the busier my life gets, the more appealing a scheduled break from screens becomes. I’m not talking about a month or even a week (let’s not get drastic here!), but a chunk of time, other than when I’m sleeping or having dinner with family, when I agree not to answer the siren call of my devices. In this issue, we offer some great, easy tips to help your whole family do just that (see “Right on Schedule,” page 52). The bonus? Keeping your smartphone out of your bedroom at night will help you get a better sleep.

As a proud multitasker, I’m also notorious for typing an email into my phone while assuring the person next to me, “Keep talking; I can listen and type at the same time!” While that’s true (I won two keyboarding awards in high school and can practically type in my sleep), I’ve decided it’s nicer to just look people in the eye when they’re talking to you. So my new motto is: Do one thing at a time—at least sometimes.