​This past week, my wife, Roxie, and I had a necessary conversation about the time we spend glued to our phones, especially at night. It’s been getting a little out of hand—both of us with our heads buried in a screen instead of connecting with each other.

I recently heard the late Charlie Kirk mention in an interview that he and his wife turn their phones off for the entire day every Saturday! The goal is to disconnect from the constant craziness of this fast-paced world, allowing them to truly reconnect and focus on each other. I thought that was a brilliant idea.

​So, we decided to try something. Since it’s the holiday season, we figured what better way to put the phones down than to bake Christmas cookies!

Thanks to some bad weather on Friday, my basketball game got postponed, meaning I was home for the evening. Roxie got out the baking pans and mixed up a batch of dough for her famous “star cookies”—what some people call “blossoms.” Roxie makes the absolute best star cookies; it’s her favorite, a recipe she’s been perfecting since she was a little girl. (It’s clear I married the right person—she’s a great cook, too!)

​I sat down at the kitchen table and took on the job of rolling the dough into little balls. We quickly started a production line. Roxie kept the cookie sheets rotating—in and out of the oven, placing the chocolate stars on the half-baked dough. The moment a sheet was empty, I was filling it back up. It felt like a perfectly synchronized dance. I don’t think we looked at our phones for over two hours! We were together, working on a fun project, and actually enjoying each other’s company.

Okay, I have to admit: I did pick up my phone when she wasn’t looking and snuck a few pictures of my star cookies! It’s hard to break a habit, and I immediately felt a little guilty.

We repeated the same routine in our kitchen on Saturday. This time I kept the phone on the table.

​The truth is, we both need to do better when it comes to managing the time we spend on our phones. It’s embarrassing, really. Roxie asked me the other night, “What did we do before we had cell phones? What did we talk about? How did we spend our time?”

​I know we’re not alone with this problem. It’s a sad reality that our phones—which are a good thing in so many ways—can be such a bad thing when we don’t manage them well. This cookie night was a small, successful step in the right direction. What’s your thoughts on this? Do you struggle with the same issue?