Tween Swears Off Television for One Year — And Survives!

For most people, the idea of giving up television and movies for an entire year seems unimaginable, but a 10-year-old recently made a bet with her mother that she could actually do it — and she won.

On April 1, Siga Pouye of Hatfield, Massachusetts, completed a year-long challenge to forgo watching television and movies, playing computer games, or using apps — not exactly easy for a young girl who loves her Disney television shows. Her mother, 35-year-old Liza Katz, took on the exact same challenge when she was a 10-year-old (and her efforts were featured in a story published by the Boston Globe), which inspired Siga to follow in her footsteps.

The rules were simple: Siga wasn’t allowed to watch TV or movies — at home, on the computer, at friends' houses, or at the theater. YouTube, apps, and computer games were also banned. There were a few exceptions. Siga was granted six 10-minute coupons each week for computer time and video games, which she could cash in at any time. And if she won the challenge, she'd get $500 at the end of the 12-month period. “The world was different when I was growing up. We didn’t have streaming movies, apps, iPhones, and social media, so I had to update the rules and make them more attainable,” Katz tells Yahoo Shine.

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But Katz was firm about one thing: Siga would not be pressured to fulfill the challenge if she didn't want to. “The whole thing had to be her idea,” she says. “I didn’t want shame to play a role. If Siga changed her mind at any point, that was fine with me, and I would have been happy that she had tried.” The main principle that Katz wanted her daughter to learn was delayed gratification. “These days, anything we want is right at our fingertips, and that’s especially true with technology available anytime, anywhere,” she says. “The idea that a 10-year-old girl can set such a goal and stick to it was impressive.”     

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Kids who might not be able to commit to an entire year can try an abridged version of Siga's experiment next month during the annual Screen-Free Week. During this week, children and their families are encouraged to unplug from television, mobile devices, and video games, and instead read, daydream, play outside, and spend quality time together. That’s especially important considering children spend an average of seven hours per day on entertainment media (television, phones, computers), according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. The current AAP recommendation is that kids and teens use media for less than two hours per day and engage in high-quality content.

One thing the mother-daughter pair didn’t take into account was just how long one year really is. “Siga loves the television shows 'iCarly' and 'Kickin’ It,' an app called Minecraft, and the computer game Webkinz,” Katz says. “Before the bet, she watched a 30-minute show a few times during the week and a few hours of television on Saturdays and Sundays.” But the challenge, which occurred during the long East Coast winter, was especially tough on nights where all Siga wanted to do was curl up with a movie and a mug of hot chocolate. “Sick days were also tricky,” says Katz. “Who doesn’t want to watch TV marathons when you’re home sick from school?”

There were other challenging moments, like when Siga was attending a birthday party during which the kids would watch a movie. “I let the parents know ahead of time about the bet and if Siga wanted me to pick her up before the movie started, I did,” Katz says. “Other times, she would beg me to let her let her see a new movie in the theater.” In those instances, Katz would tell Siga it was her decision and Siga would always abstain.

So Siga spent most of her time reading. She especially loved the books "The Boxcar Children," "Doll Bones," "The Tiger Rising," the Fairyland series, and anything by Neil Gaiman, her favorite author. She and her mother also gardened, sewed, painted, made jewelry, and cooked together. They even took up rock climbing as a hobby.

The day Siga's challenge was over, she awoke to balloons, a card, and $500 in cash from her mother. "She immediately bought an iPod touch but we keep the charging station in the kitchen," says Katz. "I'm hoping that she'll continue reading a lot and be more mindful about tuning out with technology."

Siga also admits that watching TV now feels a little "weird" and that some of her favorite shows aren't quite as enjoyable anymore. "Hopefully," Katz says, "this tradition will become our family legacy."

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