No Tech Day

How do you feel about technology?

I honestly have mixed feelings. 

I'm obviously using it now. 

It's a lot easier to stay in contact with long distance friends.

And I definitely think it helped find the suspects in Boston. 

There are several more positive things that come from technology but I feel like there's a negative side to every positive if we aren't careful.

We don't seem to think for ourselves anymore. We'll whip out our smart phones to find the answer rather than stopping and thinking. Any decision that we have, we may get on a social site and ask others what we should do. Or when trying to go somewhere, we use GPS rather than a map and our brains.

Kids seem to think experience is found on the screen. Video games and things seem so real to them that they think they have actually experienced it. They'll stay inside looking at nature on the screen rather than be outside and truly be in nature!

While technology helps us be in contact with long distance friends, I think it blocks a closeness we could have with people who live near us.

There's more negative things I can think of but I want to stop there.

On Saturday my husband and I did a No Tech Day. We decided that we wouldn't play, look up the weather or any other apps on our phones. We wouldn't get on the computer either. 

We went as far as to say we weren't going to watch TV or a movie. 

I had read the idea in the Reader's Digest. It didn't go into much detail about how to do it but just the thought of doing it appealed to me. I mentioned it to my husband Friday night and so we agreed to try it.

We don't have big problems with talking and doing things together. But sometimes it does seem like we're in the same room and yet different places. Our conversation would go something like this:

"What are you doing?"

"Playing golf. You?"

"Playing Flow"

THE END

The thing is that we could have that conversation, playing our phones, while the TV is on. We don't have cable or satellite so it could be we used Netflix through the Wii. 

Isn't that kind of sad in a way?

Is technology blocking some of your relationships?

My husband and I aren't that bad all the time, just occasionally. But there is that sense of what would happen if we didn't have all this "stuff"?

Let me tell you... It was FUN!!!!

We were together basically all day. 

We worked together cleaning out his house (that we just sold!). 

We drove around and talked together.

We went out for ice cream together.

And boy, did we laugh together!!

If it was nicer out, we probably would have gone on a walk or done something more in nature. We both love to be outside so that would have made it easier.

We ended the day by playing a game together. I feel like I was raised on board games. And even though I have quite a few, we hardly play them. 

It just made us realize how quickly we can become distant. 

Like I said, we really aren't as bad as I can imagine other houses are. We always find time to talk before we go to sleep but it may not be very long or expansive. 

There's something different when we're not just talking about what happened that day or what we need to do this week.. but adding to it what we'd like to be in the future or reliving the past. 

It connects you all over again.

What about you and your family?

The weekends we have the boys we always do a family night. Occasionally, it's playing a game together but more often, it's movie and popcorn. Again, I'm not saying these things are bad but it's nice to mix things up and do things that require more communicating.

We hear or read about how important it is to eat as a family around the table. I think any more people tend to eat in front of the TV or are looking at their phones even if they're physically at the table. 

We already don't do that. We sit as a family around the table and our phones aren't touched unless they ring (not text). I can see the importance!

If doing a No Tech Day seems too daunting to you, try the meal thing first. Or maybe part of a day.

My oldest step-son will be a teenager next week. Right now he WANTS to do things with us. He wants us to come out and play basketball with him or he wants us to all play a game or watch a movie together.

How long will we have that? When is he going to decide he would rather not have us around?

It's funny because a week ago he said, "Let's drive around all day because that's when we talk the most." Smart kid!

He'll be getting his own cell phone here very soon.

I'll admit I fear how this is going to affect our lives here. I foresee us sitting in the same room but not paying attention to the other people in that room.

It's quite possible we'll try to do the No Tech Day more often and make it so that we won't text anyone that day either. 

There's different levels anyone could do this.

 In the Reader's Digest, there was the easy level. It was where you designate one room in your house as a No Tech Room... with a basket on the door for a cell phone. That sounds appealing to me for the kitchen. So even though I sit there while paying bills and things.. I would have to make that conscience effort to get up and get on my phone. We don't have a TV in the kitchen so that wouldn't be a problem. And I'd have to make myself only use the computer for business purposes. 

The next level was a weekend retreat type thing, I believe. That's the angle I was going for with our Saturday. If we were going to do it again, I think we'd plan ahead a little more to prepare ourselves mentally and maybe tell others so we could just leave our phones home. I'd be tempted to do it for more of the weekend.

The third and hardest level was done by a man in California. He traded in his smart phone for a regular flip phone. He really enjoys it because he says he's getting to know his city even better. One reason is he's out experiencing it and the other is he's not using the directions given from his phone. He's using his head and learning how to get around. If you don't have a smart phone, this probably seems silly that it's the hardest level. But if you have one, you know how addicting it is... how easy it is to go to it for everything.

I have said several times that I wish my husband and I didn't get smart phones. We justified why we "needed" them. He uses the weather app pretty often especially at work on a potentially stormy day. I like being able to check my email or the schools website anywhere I go. Now that we have them, it'd be hard to give up!.. no matter how much I think we use them too much. That just takes will power to only use them when necessary. 

My husband and I really enjoyed our No Tech Day. He even admitted that it wasn't as hard as he thought it would be. We were both relaxed and enjoy each other's company all day long. 

Neither of us regret it or feel like we missed out on something. 

Like I said... it was FUN!

I encourage you to at least consider doing a No Tech Day or part of a day. 

Shut off the video games, cell phones, and computers. 

Talk to each other. Laugh together. Play together. 

Enjoy each other while you're still able to BE together!