Less Screen More Green By: Kerry Crofton

Less Screen More Green By: Kerry Crofton

The revised 2025 edition of Less Screen More Green is now available as a download PDF, an e-book, or a paperback.

Buy Now

Finding freedom with The Mindful Tech Plans™ 

The drawbacks of digital technology are making headlines as evidence mounts about the harm caused by excessive screentime, social media, and smartphone addiction. These concerns have prompted new school tech policies. Countries such as Australia,

China, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and several US states and Canadian provinces have implemented restrictions on cell phone use in classrooms. In 2023, UNESCO called for schools around the world to ban cell phones.

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has called for warning labels on social media platforms due to their potential harm to mental health, particularly for youth. Neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent, has also raised the alarm.

Less Screen More Green addresses these concerns and provides science-based strategies to find freedom from tech overload

and digital addiction with mindfulness practices, safer screentime habits, and unplugging more often to get out into nature for a healthier tech-life balance.

This message earned an endorsement from Dr. Jane Goodall. In her words, Less Screen More Green "describes the importance of spending time outside and how to encourage a love of the natural world that is so desperately important." Author Kerry Crofton, PhD, a Canadian public health educator, offers

this reminder: "The more sedentary and tech-focused our lives become, the more we need to truly connect with each other and stay grounded on this earth. Of course, digital media has many advantages: Tech can be a force for good with more mindful use and safer guidelines – essential for physical and mental wellbeing."

Crofton's book outlines evidence-based wellness remedies for this digital age – at home, school and work; and mindfulness-based digital detox guidelines. It also prominently features the wisdom of Indigenous Elders and insights from renowned mindfulness teachers such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Mingyur Rinpoche, Pema Chödrön, Roshi Joan Halifax, Dr. Judson Brewer, Dr. Richard Davidson and Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Contributions from an international roster of physicians including “The Mediatrician” Dr. Michael Rich, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, and other experts further enrich the book with their recommendations. And people working with Crofton's Mindful Tech Plans™ share real-life testimonials.

One executive states, "The focus on workplace stress with ergonomic tips, 5-minute meditation and other tension-relieving strategies help me get more done, with less eye strain, fatigue and insomnia."

Parents implementing The Family Tech Plan™ report benefits including better sleep by turning off digital devices and Wi-Fi routers at night, and share how their children—after initial resistance to screen-free meals and unplugging more often—love family time outdoors.

Youth describe how the breathing exercises and Forest Bathing walks improve their mental health. Teachers, nurses and other care workers, including mental health professionals, offer the benefits they have found in dealing with burnout with this program.

There is growing public interest in the issue of burnout, screen-related stress, digital dependency,

nature deficit and social disconnection; people of all ages are seeking science-based solutions. Workplace absenteeism, burnout, screen-related stress (not just for IT workers) and job turnover rates have never been higher. The prospect of AI-dominated living and working spaces causes further stress and anxiety among many. How will AI affect this vulnerable young generation, already inundated with addictive technology?

Less Screen More Green offers simple steps and healthier choices for all ages in this digital age.

Endorsements

"Kerry Crofton offers us a mindful reminder that human technology can never replace the wonders of the natural world. A fine book.” — Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods

"Less Screen More Green provides a critically important observation that Mother Nature provides experiences that calm, center, and enrich the developing child." — Michael Rich, MD, MPH, Harvard Medical School,

author of The Mediatrician’s Guide

"Kerry Crofton's book addresses important considerations around the use of tech and its balance with our time spent outside that are imperative to the health and well-being of future generations."

— Colin Harris, Executive Director, Take Me Outside

"The Mindful Tech Plans™ section offers helpful evidence-based guidance on supporting well-being through responsible technology use at home, school and work -- including how to assess needs, set goals and boundaries around tech use, and find healthy alternatives. This important guidebook cuts through the overwhelm and uncertainty around how to balance screen time with a restorative connection with nature."

— Josh Lane, author of Conscious Nature:

The Art and Neuroscience of Meditating In Nature

"As the former president of Microsoft Canada, I understand that you may share the views that Kerry Crofton and I used to have – that the wireless technology filling the marketplace is safe, and that government standards are protecting us. I encourage you to keep an open mind and listen to Crofton's contributing experts and their advice to be healthy in this digital age, and what they advise about electro-sensitivity, an emerging and usually misdiagnosed medical condition. Less Screen More Green is a much needed wake-up call with excellent safer tech guidelines." — Frank Clegg, CEO Canadians for Safe Technology

and former president Microsoft Canada

"In this book you will learn the cardiac risks, and other known hazards to human health, from wirelessly- connected devices, as well as hear sound recommendations to reduce the risks and use this technology more safely." — W. Lee Cowden, MD, cardiologist and integrative medicine specialist

Kerry Crofton, PhD, is founder and CEO of the Canadian nonprofit Global Health

Alliance and the consulting company WellBeing International Ltd. She trained as a clinical psychologist, mindfulness meditation teacher and yoga instructor, wrote a weekly newspaper column, and worked in heart health education and HR as a stress and wellness in the workplace consultant. She is the commentator on electro- magnetic radiation for the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. You may find

Kerry wandering in the woods near her lakeside home, or leading a Forest Bathing walk for teachers, nurses or mental health workers. You may also find her online working to create a community of kindred spirits interested in creating our healthiest lives in low-tech green zones.

Dr. Crofton is available for interviews, podcasts, webinars and in-person appearances to discuss:

‣Why many parents are delaying giving smartphones to their children and unplugging more often to spend face-to-face time together to truly connect with each other and the natural world

‣Why students shouldn't have phones in class; ways to help them —and ourselves— stay safe online and break free from digital addiction with our 4-Day Digital Detox and our Safer Screentime Course

‣The Mindful Tech Plans™ offer mindfulness-based digital detox as well as science-based solutions for healthier homes with room-by-room tips; classrooms with detailed school tech policies; and workplaces

‣The Five Minute Mindfulness, the nature remedy Forest Bathing, Chi Gong and other self-care practices to support children's wellbeing, youth mental health; and reduce parental and caregiver stress

‣Why many tech-savvy people avoid "smart" homes and wireless electronics, and choose wired devices

‣Safer Tech Solutions: phones, Wi-Fi/Internet connectivity, Wi-fi–enabled smart watches/wearables, appliances, security systems, baby monitors and hearing aids; electric/hybrid cars

‣How people in screen-focused jobs can benefit from the deskercises in The Workplace Tech Plan™

With its up-to-date information and practical tools, Less Screen More Green offers an essential guide to raising healthy children in this digital age, and how all of us can enjoy our tech with a healthier balance.

It is available as an e-book (best read with the e-reader’s Wi-Fi function turned off, Crofton advises) or as a paperback. For more information go to: www.LessScreenMoreGreen.org.

To receive a review print of PDF copy, or to set up an interview with the author, please contact our team at LessScreenMoreGreen@gmail.com.