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An article in Dagens Nyheter points to an interesting paradox: the use of AI is growing while more people long for a digital break. I understand both impulses. Notifications, endless feeds and hours that simply disappear can be exhausting. But when we talk about screen time as if every minute in front of a screen were the same, we miss something important.

I can use a screen to scroll absent-mindedly to the next post. I can also write, explore a question, learn something new or read a book. Same device, very different uses. If the aim is to spend more time on things that matter, the question should be what I do with that time—and how it leaves me feeling—rather than whether the device lights up.

A book can have a screen, too

I read on my tablet almost every evening. It works better for me than a physical book: I do not need a lamp that disturbs my wife, and the tablet can stand beside me in bed. I usually have to hold a paper book. The alternative would be to crane my head over it and risk putting my back out in the process. That seems a steep price to pay just to say I read “without a screen”.

Reading is no less real because the pages appear on glass. It is still the same story, the same concentration and the same encounter with someone else’s thoughts.

Technology that makes an idea possible

This blog is another example. I have thoughts I want to share, but writing, choosing an image, arranging publication and keeping a blog going all take time. With AI to help, the distance from an idea to a draft becomes much shorter. Without that help, this blog—at least in its current form and at its current pace—would hardly have been possible for me.

That does not mean AI should do my thinking for me. I still need to decide what I believe, check claims and take responsibility for what is published. But a tool that helps me do something I otherwise would not have managed is a gain, even if it means more time in front of a screen.

I would gladly have fewer minutes disappear without my noticing. But I want to keep the minutes in which I actually read, think and create. A digital break can be exactly the right thing sometimes. For me, it is just as important to choose a digital life that gives something back.