Imagine this. Four hours out with your friends having the time of your life and not one person checks their text messages, email, or Instagram.
It might sound crazy, but how often does this actually happen?
Not often enough.
We live half distracted, constantly checking our work email when we should be eating dinner with our family. Scrolling through Instagram when we are with our friends instead of soaking in those precious moments that we can never get back. Laying on the couch mindlessly stuffing our face with chips while streaming YouTube videos. We have become zombified consumers of digital content with an insatiable thirst for more. There are few instances when people are truly disconnected from the digital world. Think about this, even when you go for a run how often are you listening to a podcast or music? As far as most people are concerned that is still plugged in. When was the last time you truly let your mind wander? We need less screen time and more quality time. It's as simple as that.
In fact, it's powerful enough that some are beginning to believe we will look back at the use of technology the same as we view smoking today. Let that soak in for a minute. Research in the psychology world is bringing light to just how damaging too much screen time can be to our health, and it is not pretty.
So we need to cut back. But how can we do that? We have busy lives, sure. Maybe your boss will lose it if you don't reply to that email Saturday morning. Maybe you won't be the first person to watch some video of a dude hucking it in the hills. But what if instead you got in some quality time alone or with family and friends? Some quality time with your dirt bike?
Let's go back to the start. Imagine four hours out on the trails with no screen time. Just you and your dirt bike with no distractions. This is truly one of the only times we can certainly escape from the buzzing bright screens our lives now revolve around. I personally carry my phone when riding just for safety but rarely do I ever take it out of my backpack. Riding dirt bikes is one of the few options we have left that you can't really do if you're on your phone. Go ride and compare your screen time from the days you can't hit the trails. I bet you'll be surprised. Shocked, maybe even horrified.
I think we can all agree here. Let's commit to putting the phone down and just going riding. I don't know about you but I'd rather be ticking off hours on my hour meter rather than hours on the "Screen Time" app. Who's with me?
