Using GNU Screen (or its alternative Tmux) is pretty much mandatory for any *nix admin. However the default screen settings are rather empty giving you nothing more than a blank screen with no indications of state.
I prefer a bit more information and like to use the following
# ~/.screenrc termcapinfo xterm* ti@:te@ startup_message off vbell off autodetach on altscreen on shelltitle '$ |bash' shell bash defscrollback 10000 defutf8 on nonblock on escape ^Jj hardstatus on hardstatus alwayslastline hardstatus string "%{= kG}%-w%{.rW}%n %t%{-}%+w %=%{..G} %{B}%H %{..Y} %m/%d %C%a "Note the ‘escape ^Jj’, I use this rather than the default to allow using the bash shortuct ‘ctrl-a’ (to go to the beginning of a line).