During January I read eleven books.

The Voyeur’s Motel by Gay Talese
Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold by Stephen Fry
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
Battle Scars: A Story of War and All That Follows by Jason Fox
How to Be a Footballer by Peter Crouch
The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken by The Secret Barrister
Tiger Woods by Jeff Benedict
The Lost Soul of Eamonn Magee by Paul D. Gibson
A Boy in the Water: A Memoir by Tom Gregory
Delete This at Your Peril: The Bob Servant Emails by Bob Servant, Neil Forsyth
Bob Servant: Hero of Dundee by Bob Servant, Neil Forsyth

During February I read

Nowt. Not even a single word in a book.

What was the difference between January and February? In January I had hardly any access to the internet or to a television. During February I had unfettered access to the internet and television. I checked my internet usage using my iPhone’s screentime app.

18hr a week – that is time I could be reading a book….probably two books!

So, from last week I instigated #ScreenFreeSaturday and #SlightlyLessScreenTimeSundayToFriday. I need to work on the slogan for the second one!

The rules are simple. On a Saturday:

1. No TV
2. A phones is allowed but not for web browsing or social media.
3. WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are allowed

On the rest of the week during the hours 8pm to 7am

1. TV is allowed
2. A phones is allowed but not for web browsing or social media.
3. WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are allowed.

It could be argued that WhatsApp and Messenger should be blocked too but I class them as tools of communication in the same way as a phone call or a text message should be allowed. Blocking communication from friends and family is not the point of the exercise. It’s blocking mindless consumption of information i.e. status updates, tweets etc

I’ve been doing it for a week and I’ve already finished reading a book! I’ve watched TV and concentrated on the show instead of having one eye on TV and one eye on twitter. I’ve also had to face the truth – sometimes its good to have screen-time!

In that regard, I caved in on #ScreenFreeSaturday and used a screen. I wanted to watch telly in the evening. I’d done a race, it was a long day of driving and I just wanted to switch my brain off.

Saturday is a day I normally watch a film or something on the telly in the evening so it was hard to go cold turkey. So instead I did #ScreenFreeSunday which was still hard but I managed it!

I think I’ll aim to do Saturday eventually but for the moment I’ll break myself in gently by doing Sundays.