I can’t tell you how many conversations have been interrupted by emails and text messages on someone’s web-accessed phone. It’s that awkward moment of wondering when they’ll come back and wondering why your live interaction was not a priority over suspendable communications.
It’s that little hurt of not being important enough, even though you made the time to make them important enough.
Sometimes I miss the instant communication I think I could have with text messaging, but then I remember those moments and am happy it’s out of our price range on our phone plan.
This is an add for a particular day this past October when we were to “disconnect and enjoy”. But I think this message applies every day that we have iPads, iPhones, blackberries, texting phones, and computers. The computer’s my balance challenge so I’m not out of the loop here.
But I’ve never found putting an electronic on hold to delight in the reality of now to ever be disappointing.
Life’s happening out there… and we’re missing it in exchange for screentime.
VERY cool video. 🙂 I want to put a little basket on my table for when guests come over that says, “Be here, not on your phone.” 🙂
I have no idea how to do better at having technology in our family. I tried ‘disconnecting’ from Facebook about a year ago, and in the process I inadvertently removed myself from the ‘loop’ of life – turns out my friends mostly stay connected in this way. 🙂 So I reluctantly returned. How to have it but not be overwhelmed by it…. hmmm…..
Certainly is a hard balance. I heard a friend’s rule of not being online when her children were awake. I haven’t been able to fully apply that, but I try to only be online when my kids are preoccupied. I must admit, it’s a challenge b/c facebook is my social outlet too. But, I will tell you that on the days that I only have a morning session (pre-kids getting up) and maybe an evening session (post kid-bedtime) I get WAY more productive things done. 😉 I think the main thing in the balance is to make sure my online time is not hurting my family. And that’s a constant judging and rejudging.
Clever idea. We went to a get-away once that had 0 online connections. While we missed the ability to get online to access things together as a couple, there was something odd about finding the quiet of the day to do something else. But I will admit, that when we had no kids and no internet we were a little clueless at first til our “thinking for ourselves” kicked in. Hehehe.