(*It’s unlikely that many parents need a welcome to this) but the world around us has also ratcheted up an overwhelm-gear.
Constant pings, politics, outrage, conflict and the troubles of the world in our pocket on a 24 hour doom cycle. There’s an app or webform for everything: parking, payments, deliveries, detentions, party-waivers, birthday cards and sports fixtures. And so we multi-task. We update, hustle, optimise, request password-resets, frantically tap images with stairs in and… Get. Sh*t. Done (or not, as the to-do list relentlessly builds. There’s an app for that by the way).
We worry about our kids’ screen time and all the harms they’re exposed to (with huge kudos to Mumsnet’s 'Rage Against The Screen’ campaign), but what about our own?
Before anyone gets defensive, let’s be kind to ourselves. So much of our screen time is mission-critical ‘lifemin’, and in many ways, more efficient than it ever was: party-planning, lost-property, calendar management and more. But by god, it’s relentless. And the guilt we can feel for reaching for our phones around our children can be heavy. Monkey see, monkey do.
And is it any wonder that after all that - in private moments or after bedtime - we scroll? We need to switch off! Some ‘us time’ every now and again - respite from our own heads - and all the better if it’s hilarious and full of reels from other stressed parents who make us feel truly seen (my poison: fellow dryrobe-wearing football-mum creators. Thank you for your service).
But what if we could harness the UK’s parent-power to reclaim a whole day every year for what really matters… people, place and presence. One offline day to get off the treadmill, put the out-of-office or airplane-mode on and get back into our local communities. A day dedicated to in-person time with friends, family, neighbours, local charities or grassroots organisations. Sounds like a utopia doesn’t it?
It doesn’t have to be. 100,000 signatures and it’s on the Westminster agenda. Sounds like a tall ask, but each and every signature gets us closer to the conversation…
Why is this so necessary?
Partly for an enforced opportunity to press pause on technology addiction and address the seismic society-wide shift in daily habits that has occurred in less than two decades, but also to shine light on ‘local’. Because for many, it’s easier to change a profile-shot to an activist slogan than donate an hour of time to a house-bound neighbour or a local food bank. And many of our communities are in dire straits.
Many families are now uprooted from extended family networks; a large proportion of the women who in past generations held communities together are now (understandably) in the world of work, and our cities, towns and villages are suffering their absence. As we hunker down with online deliveries, scroll and entertainment subscriptions, youth clubs are all but extinct, pubs are closing at a shocking rate and high-streets are dying. Loneliness is now endemic.
This one day a year could serve as either an introduction to, or reminder of why local matters and kickstart greater community cohesion. It might sound like altruism, but ask any volunteer and you’ll discover that they typically get as much, if not more, out of voluntary work: conversation, stories, perspective and friends.
Add to this (if you needed any further convincing) the fact that the UK has fewer bank holidays than almost any other country in Europe. Come on Westminster. You can give us this. (Plus you’ll benefit from the community and mental-health productivity boosts).
Please take a few seconds to sign this Government petition for a ‘Less Scroll, More Soul’ Annual Bank Holiday and share, share, share. Parent power for the win. This won’t happen without force of numbers.
(And if you want a more daily reminder to embrace this mantra, here’s a cute phone sleeping bag to both nudge you and show your family that you're present. Or as a passive aggressive gift for the phone addicts in your life).
Here’s to you, your people and places, and more presence with… and in… both.