Last month, our homeroom teacher gave us a strange challenge: one week without phones, computers or TV after school. Most of the class laughed, but twelve of us agreed to try, and I was one of them. My mom joined me, which surprised me more than anything.
The first two days were terrible. I kept reaching for my phone in my pocket, but it wasn't there. I felt that everyone was talking without me. In the evenings I didn't know what to do with my hands, so I walked around the house like a lost cat.
On the third day, something changed. I found an old puzzle of a thousand pieces in a cupboard, and Mom and I worked on it until midnight. On Thursday I went to the park and played football with kids from my street. Before that week, I didn't even know their names.
By the end of the week, I was sleeping better, and I had read a whole book for the first time since sixth grade.
Did I go back to my phone? Of course. But now I leave it in the kitchen when I go to bed, and Mom and I have started a new puzzle.