"screen reduction" gift guide

Hello, my friend. 

It’s gift guide time, but like all things AllSwell, we do it with a twist and a wink. IMHO, the best possible thing you can give loved ones this holiday season are ways to reduce screen time. Not by locking their phone in a drawer (tempting but fruitless), but by helping them crowd out the screens, subversively diverting their attention to cool / chic / fun substitutes. 

Example: Check a bedside clock for the time instead of your phone, and you’ve already reduced the number of times a day you are likely to be pulled into the bottomless pit of scrolling. Multiply that by a wristwatch, a camera and an engrossing book…cumulatively you’re well on your way to meaningfully reducing incidental screen interactions. 

WATCH IT (1) High: vintage luxury · (2) Low: A throwback icon

THE POWER OF A PEN (3) High: heritage keepsake · (4) Low: fountain pens are the stick shift of pens

PUT A STAMP ON IT (5) High: make it personal · (6) Low: postcards over DM’s

SAY CHEESE (7) compact · (8) instant

JOURNALS & JOTTERS (9) hotel vibes · (10) write / draw · (11) meow

WEATHER OR NOT (12) classic choice · (13) quick delivery

PICK POCKET (14) waterproof · (15) pop of color · (16) dove grey

WALL CLOCKS (17) as much art as clock · (18) mini 

DESK CLOCKS (19) keep it light · (20) retro pop 

TABLETOP CLOCKS (21) James Bond · (22) Jetsons space-age

BEDSIDE CLOCKS (23) luxe lady · (24) woody

Whether you buy something here or not isn’t really the point. Thinking creatively about ways to outsmart a smartphone is a good practice any time of year. Here’s my not-a-gift-guide list of ideas for someone else, or yourself.

Side note: Our soon–to–launch bookstore, with loads of ink-on-paper options, is not included here. Look for that coming your way after TDay.

Have any other ideas to add to the mix? Let me know whatcha got. Let’s outfox sneaky technology together. 

In Swellness,

Laura