Hi, my name is Jen, and I’d like to find more joy in my life.
Care to join me?
For more than 25 years I’ve been working in marketing, communications, and events, promoting all sorts of stuff to all sorts of audiences.
Most of this work happened during the digital revolution, which meant I was an early adopter and a promoter of countless digital platforms and tools. I trained CEOs to tweet, created endless piles of online content, and helped ordinary people become “influencers,” (my apologies).
By 2016, I noticed that many of these tools were starting to cause overt harm, compromising personal data, sowing societal division, increasing social inequities, monopolizing children’s time, fracturing attention-spans, and flooding the marketplace with some flat-out garbage information.
This sucked a lot of joy out of my life.
So, I made a change and shifted my focus to digital wellness consulting and eventually landed this unicorn gig where I get to promote…
- Opportunities for uninterrupted play and creativity
- Space for daydreaming and imagination
- Precious moments of social connection
- Lazy hours filled with deep rest and relaxation
They’re all things you can find during this year’s Screen-Free Week, an opportunity for you, your family, your co-workers, or your community to turn down the noise in your lives and find some room to breathe, think, and sit in the driver’s seat of your own life.
And that, my friend, is an idea that brings me oodles of joy.
Participate in this year’s Screen-Free Week however you like…
- Maybe your family goes a week without devices at the dinner table
- Maybe you have a roommate hide your gaming console for a few days
- Maybe you go for a walk every morning instead of scrolling the latest headlines
- Maybe you give up ALL your entertainment screens and take the big plunge for the whole week.
However it looks for you, however long it lasts, there are no wrong choices when designing your week. For me, it’ll likely involve banning Netflix binges and Buzzfeed quizzes. (Which means I’ll sadly never know which fruit matches my personality type!)
What else can I tell you about me?
I read an enormous amount. I love animals. I’m a mom. I live in Minnesota. (Yes, in January this is NO FUN. However, the summer here is truly magical. Everyone runs away “to the lake,” which is not terribly impressive considering we have 10,000 of them). Lastly, I’m pumped to go on this journey with you.
If you’ve read to the end, first know that this means I automatically like you. (Remember, reading is my jam!) Secondly, consider this post as a sign from the universe to join us May 1-7 for the 2023 Screen-Free Week!