The 4th–10th May is Screen-Free Week. At Xplora, we’ll be marking the occasion — and we’d love you to join us. Not by cutting out screens completely, but by becoming a little more aware of how we use them.
For many of us, our mobile phone is always within reach. We check it when we wake up, while we eat, and in small breaks throughout the day — often without even thinking about it.
On average, people in the UK spend around 4 hours a day online outside of work. Over 20 years, that adds up to nearly three years of life spent on screens. For young people, the figure is often even higher — yet around a third say they’re actively trying to reduce the time they spend on their phones.
This shows that many of us want to spend less time on screens, but don’t quite manage to.
Screen-Free Week is an opportunity to pause and reflect on how screen use affects our everyday lives. The goal isn’t perfection, or putting your phone away for the entire week, but simply to be more aware — and to opt out a little more often than usual.
Our phones give us a lot, but they also bring constant, small interruptions. When we put them away, even briefly, something else often takes their place. We pay more attention. We notice things we might otherwise miss. In these moments, we gain more than just less screen time — we gain a greater sense of presence in everyday life.
It starts with us
Only one in ten parents see themselves as good digital role models, according to figures from our Xplora Nordic survey. At the same time, 93% say they feel responsible for their children’s digital lives. This highlights a clear gap between the responsibility we feel and the role we play in practice.
That’s why the conversation about children’s screen use is just as much about us as it is about them — about the everyday choices we make and the example we set. How often we reach for our phones, how we prioritise time together, and the boundaries we set for ourselves.
Small steps, big impact
Being a good role model isn’t about being perfect. It starts with small, simple changes. Leave your phone a little longer in the morning, put it away during dinner, spend an evening without a screen.
Children notice more than we think — when we scroll at the table, reply to messages mid-conversation, or say “just a minute” before checking something quickly.
Screen-Free Week is built on a simple idea: small changes can break deeply ingrained habits. And those small shifts often have a bigger impact than we expect, precisely because they interrupt patterns that usually run on autopilot.
When we become more aware of our own screen use, we also start to see the effect it has on those around us. So next time you instinctively reach for your phone, pause for a moment and ask yourself if you really need it.
That’s where new habits begin.
