King Charles Wants Everyone to “Digital Detox” This Holiday Season to Focus on “Friendships, Family, and Wellbeing”

King Charles’s Christmas Speech was the most-watched television on Christmas Day in the United Kingdom, with families throughout the country pausing their turkey feasts for the 10-minute speech. In the speech, King Charles called for a "digital detox" as he quoted TS Eliot, saying we are “at the still point of the turning world.”

“Indeed, as our world seems to spin ever faster,” The King suggested that the Christmas period could allow us time to “pause, to quieten our minds [...] and allow our souls to renew.” While the King’s speech felt historic and poetic his sentiment was incredibly modern. A Buckingham Palace spokesman explained that “when His Majesty references that lovely phrase about the "still point in the turning world" at a time when, as he puts it, it's "spinning ever faster" he has in mind the effect that new technologies can have on society.”

King Charles may be a modern king, but he worries about how technology and screen time “can have on society, and how they can impact both on community cohesion and on general well-being, especially for younger people.” The palace spokesman shared that the King “hopes that, if nothing else, Christmas might afford a moment when people could experiment with something of a "digital detox" to focus more on our friendships, our families and our faith for those who practice.”

Time away from screens and devices might allow us to “simply [get] to know our neighbours and, by showing respect to one another, creating new friendships,” the spokesman said. 'In this way The King hopes our minds may find greater peace, our souls can renew, and our communities grow stronger.'

It seems the Royal Family share strong feelings about screen time, digital devices, and the impact they have on our families and communities. Earlier this year, the Princess of Wales co-wrote an essay about the “epidemic of disconnection” caused by digital devices. 'While digital devices promise to keep us connected, they frequently do the opposite,” the Princess of Wales wrote. 'When we check our phones during conversations, scroll through social media during family dinners, or respond to e-mails while playing with our children, we're not just being distracted, we are withdrawing the basic form of love that human connection requires.”

This Betwixtmas season––the time between Christmas and New Year’s Day––is the perfect opportunity to take the ultimate royal inspiration and disconnect “to focus more on our friendships, our families and our faith for those who practice.”