Home used to be one of the few places that offered respite from the outside world, but that world is everywhere we go now, giving us a front-row seat to the world’s mayhem and misery all day long, right from the convenience of home. It even moves around the house with us, from the family-room TV to the laptop on the kitchen table to the home office. More than 90 percent of U.S. households now have at least three connected devices. A study last year found that 71 percent of smartphone owners take them to bed with them.

Having all of these screens in our homes also encourages many of us to live more isolated lives than ever before. Forty years ago, a third of U.S. adults reported hanging out with their neighbors at least twice a week. Today, that number has dropped to 20 percent, and a third of adults say they have never interacted with their neighbors at all. A third of adults don’t even know their neighbors’ names. That’s an anxiety-producer, since just being among friends and loved ones is known to have a dramatic calming effect.

The solution is clear: We need to escape the noise of modern life from time to time—and that needs to start at home.

SEEKING SANCTUARY

When Henrique and his husband need a break, they head outside to the yard, pouring all of their attention into a never-ending battle against the weeds that crop up in the grass.  “We both have office jobs,” he says, “so it's nice to spend time outdoors and soak up some sun.” When Bob McGee needs a break, he prefers the old beat-up couch in his den. It looks out over his family’s backyard garden, a scene that instantly puts him at ease.

Our homes have long been the place to find this connection, writes sociologist Shelley Mallet, because they are the places where we enjoy “freedom and control, security, and scope for creativity and regeneration.” They are the places where we start and end our days and where we spend our down time, whether that’s a holiday feast with family or a quiet morning on the porch. No matter what your personal sanctuary, it all begins, as Mallet suggests, with freedom, control, and, in the largest meaning of the word, security.

People often turn to security systems in an attempt to take back a measure of control. More than 15 percent of U.S. homeowners had fitted their homes with security systems by 2010. These are a good way to deter crime. One study showed that 60 percent of burglars would pass up the chance to rob a home if they saw any sign of cameras or intrusion-detection systems. But traditional home-security systems could also be adding more anxiety than they allay.

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In 2014, U.S. fire departments responded to almost 2.5 million false alarms—a 6.4% increase from the year before. Nationwide, police departments report that 94 to 98 percent of the security alarms they have to investigate are false. Rather than quelling anxiety, these false alarms just give us more to worry about.

But here’s a question: What if, instead of letting our sense of security be driven by all these screens and false alarms, we had a single screen that tells us everything is okay? What if we actually had a way to look in on our homes while we’re away, or to look out from our homes while we’re inside? What if, rather than blaming the screen for our loss of sanctuary in our homes, we could make it the solution?