For awhile my husband and I have been concerned about what effect continual exposure to the media content our culture offers is having on ourselves and our family. How is watching copious amounts of television fostering relationships within our household? And what affect does watching the fake lives of other people have on my view of my own life?

It should be noted, our copious amounts were relatively minimal – we had decided, in January, our family would limit ourselves to family movie nights on Saturdays, but with no clear end date to our goal, we had allowed other times of watching to seep in. Like on the days when we were too tired to engage or just wanted to let our minds relax. Thus, we had gotten to the point of eating many dinners in front of the television, catching up on favorite shows or continuing Netflix series in which we had become engrossed. Thirty minutes here. An hour there. A movie on Saturday. It all adds up.

So, as we struggled with what we should do as parents, as a family, we listened to an Adventures in Odyssey episode about a family who had given up television as a sacrifice to God. I debated how my kids would mutiny if I suggested we did the same. Would my husband also agree?

As I mulled this over one day, I received an e-mail about how to do a screen detox for Lent and I looked at the calendar to discover today was Mardi Gras! Lent starts tomorrow! We are not Catholic, so Lent is not a regular part of our Resurrection celebration, but we have, many years in the past, occasionally opted to make a sacrifice nonetheless. I felt this was our chance. We would have a specific starting point, a specific purpose and possibly a specific end point so we wouldn’t slowly release the restrictions. In my heart, though, I prayed my family would see the benefits and we would not wish to return to our old patterns.

The kids were a little heartbroken at the thought of no more Saturday mornings filled with Netflix (their only uninhibited binge hours). They remembered the Adventures in Odyssey episode and they understood this was a sacrifice to remind us of our Creator. So the complaining was minimal as we started out with our cold-turkey cut-off. After a few productive days of family time, my husband and I began to ask ourselves, how did we ever even have time for television in the first place?

It was the beginning of March when we asked ourselves that ominous question. Two weeks later, the world was shutting down at an alarming rate. Our calendar of activities evaporated into one large vast space of family time at home. I turned to my husband at one point and said, “This is either going to be the worst time to stop watching television or the best time.”

Then the rest of the world was told they definitely had to stay home – children no longer had school to look forward to, parents were either working from home or released from all outside duties for several weeks, and they turned to Netflix and Disney Plus and the part of me that loves marathons and curling up on the couch as a family longed to join everyone else. My husband began asking, “How much longer until Easter?”

It was in this time I really began to learn what a sacrifice means – because it would have been so easy to call an audible – an exception for times of distress. I mean, we were in a literal state of emergency, not as a city or a state or a country, but as a WORLD. If ever there was a good excuse to let go of the commitments we had made in times of ease, this would have been it.

It was in this time I really began to learn how much of a drug television has become. Because when I’m tired of it all, I just want to turn on the TV and let my mind escape. I want to let go of this chaotic real life and dive into another, indulge in someone else’s problems that either will never affect me or are solved in a short period of time. And more than drugging myself, it’s such a temptation to drug my children – turn off the questions and the noise and the comments. Just give them their drug and let them tune out for a little bit – let me breathe for just a moment (or thirty).

It was in this time I was truly reminded to turn my eyes upon Him. Because when I’m stressed and worn out and would typically turn on a show to “unwind” or zone out, I am reminded, instead, why I’m not clicking on Hulu, and to turn to Him to unwind my mind. This is, after all, the purpose of this season of sacrifice – not to suffer or to despair at what we currently lack, by our own choosing. Not to dress in sackcloth and ashes and downtrodden faces at our lack of entertainment, but instead to choose to focus. When something noticeable is missing from our lives it is a constant reminder of the One who sacrificed so much more. We are not to mourn what was given up but to rejoice at what we have been given – life eternal and a hope to cling to in times of true sorrow.

It was in this time I really began to learn how much happier our family is when the noise of a house filled with people isn’t a distraction or a disruption to something we’re trying to watch. When the kids realize it’s not even an option, no one asks to watch Netflix, but instead they turn to their siblings and ask “Do you want to play outside?” And dinners that might have been in front of the television were in the coolness of a spring evening breeze. Sometimes we chose a kid-friendly podcast, but more often we were choosing conversation. Even before we were quarantined, we were finding open evenings on the calendar to seek out the sunset and notice the world around us. And on the nights when our brains are tired, our kids barely even notice because they’re just happy the sun hasn’t set on their backyard store just yet. And on the nights when our brains still have some energy left, and the rain falls outside, we would play a family game.

Let’s be clear. This is no Leave It To Beaver. There is still plenty of shouting, fighting, anger, slammed doors, stomped feet and tears. There are children sent to their rooms or given extra chores. We still have very real feelings and very real conflicts. But television has not become an escape from dealing with these feelings and conflicts. And every night ends with new cleaning routines (glory!) and a pile of kids on Mom and Dad’s bed listening to the next chapter of The Hobbit – the things we didn’t have time for in a world of full schedules and Netflix.

While there are still days I just want to give in and have our Star Wars marathon we had been trying to find time for since December, it turns out this was the best time to sacrifice an idol and choose to truly see the others in our household. I’m so grateful for what the Lord has taught us through this season, and the tug he put on our hearts to prepare us for a time when we would have otherwise allowed ourselves to drown in what was already dragging us down. And while I’m still very aware that it’s still two weeks to Easter, I am not at all interested in returning to old habits. I pray our children feel the same.

Want to try your own TV-Free Quarantine? Check out this post with ideas for (mostly) screen-free family activities. We don’t have all the answers. But we have ideas!