Is it time for a digital diet?
Posted by in Parent
Does your family need a digital detox?
As you’d all know it’s ANZAC day tomorrow. Apart from a great chance to pay homage to those who fought to keep our unique way of life intact, it’s also a public holiday and a great opportunity to spend some quality time with your family.
Before you get out of bed tomorrow, ask yourself this question: Have you ever taken stock of how much quality time is taken up by your digital devices? I received a good dressing down from my eldest daughter recently when I was reading something on my iPhone. She’s piped up with ”Dad, why are you always playing your iPhone?”
It got me to thinking about some other examples I’ve witnessed and was guilty of – do these sound familiar?
- It’s dinner, the phone rings and you take the call. You’re talking with your friend, you get back to the table and everyone’s done eating. What did you miss?
- At a family get together, you’re half listening to the small talk while trolling through Facebook and Twitter for more interesting updates to occupy your time. You vaguely notice your youngest is calling out for you, but you absolutely have no idea what was just said.
If you’re honest with yourself, these will ring true and the examples may have prompted you to think of others. If this is the case, you are the perfect candidate for a digital detox.
I’ve done it and It’s surprising how effective it can be and before you start to have a mild panic attack, don’t worry, I am not recommending you do this for a week, a month or a year. Why don’t you just try it for an hour or two tomorrow – it’s ANZAC Day and it’s a fantastic opportunity to spend time with your family and to connect with some good old fashioned values. Play a board game, watch a movie, take a walk in the park and do it all without looking at your iPhone for five minutes.
You can do it! Make the conscious choice to step away, try ignoring the pull of social networks, which often end up just being a social distraction anyway. It’s tough at first, but you can start small and work your way up from there. Remember your kids, family and friends will love you for it.
Remember, children spell love T-I-M-E.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 You can leave a response, or trackback.
It sounds like the challenge is on. Let’s see who can last the longest tomorrow – I’m looking forward to a digital free few hours (at minimum).
Wow! Firstly I accept the challenge and will be ensuring the whole household participate. Secondly this could not have come at a better time. I know that I often do not think about how long I truly spend on my IPhone – whether it be talking, checking emails, listening to music or checking Facebook. Coincidently I was out having lunch with a friend today and we both had our work mobiles on the table, he accepted one call prior to our lunch arriving. When the burgers (yummy but bad) arrived I pulled the giant toothpick out of it and read the tag……… It said ‘Eat don’t Tweet’ and when my phone rang a few minutes later I simply let it go to message bank. So…. a huge thank you for raising this and an even bigger thankyou for putting out the challenge!!
I love this post on Is it time for a digital diet? . I will email it to some of my friends!