hate having to use my cellphone for everything: Having to scan QR codes to access a menu or open my phone to get grocery store discounts unnecessarily complicates daily tasks. Luckily, my father gave our TV away when I was in third grade because he did not want us to be influenced by advertising. Instead, we read books and played outdoors. It makes me crazy when people I am with keep checking their cellphones. They seem disengaged, distracted and uninterested in being with others. Now with artificial intelligence, even searching the internet has become mundane. –Mary Kent

I have been avoiding screens increasingly for about 15 months. I use no social media on my phone. I have not watched television since March 2024. My news consumption has been limited since February due to a difficult move to a new environment followed by eye surgery. I have also been focusing on personal human contact through phone calls, texts, occasional emails and face-to-face visits. I miss some news but was reading too much of it anyway. I am delighted to be without television. I am reading more books, going to the gym, going on walks and greeting other pedestrians in my neighborhood. It’s a great neighborhood, and there are a lot of us. =Peggy Naumann,