I like electronics, as many people do. I wouldn't call my self a technology nut by any means, our family just bought a wii this past christmas, and the amount that we use it is rare. My cell phone, while smart, is old and tired, and I couldn't tell you anything about anything that has gone viral. But I use it all the same in my own form of what I think is relevant or important (which may resemble what was relevant and important in 2002). But even though I may not be up to date, sometimes I feel like it controls my life and takes away from what life really is. Why do I do that?
I struggle with the technology world, and what it really is and where to find the lines between importance and overkill. Why do we use it as much as we do, but more importantly why do we FEEL we need to use it as much as we do. Does the glowing light of the LED screen have some sort of hold on us that we are unaware of?
Yesterday my 5 year old son, Corbin, and I were cleaning his room. Like major ware fare style cleaning. (I have recently discovered my pregnancy causes me to be allergic to dust, blegh!) We have 2 tv's in our house, one in our living room and one in his room. Its old and dingy and he rarely watches it, mainly on a saturday morning where he actually has the time to sit and watch a cartoon or a movie, but we leave it in there off cause its nice to have the option of it. So when we were cleaning yesterday I turned it on because I knew we were going to be in that room for quite a while and that we would enjoy the background noise. Now, we don't have cable, so anything on between 9am and 8pm sucks majorly unless your into re-runs of home improvement, which is what we turned on cause at least I knew it was family friendly.
Now, I have a great relationship with my son, and we spent most of the time talking, laughing or arguing with each other, not watching the tv show. Eventually throughout the time that we were in there, I was realizing the amount of time that I was actually watching, or even listening to the tv for that matter was so slim, I started asking myself what was the point of having it on at all. Was I worried that I was going to get bored? Did I think my son would complain if I turned it off? So I figured it would be better to just turn the show off and my kids music station on on my phone instead.
We instantly started singing along and talking about the songs. My son didn't say one thing about the tv and I enjoyed bonding with him over music much better then I did half listening the tv during our conversations. Within two songs he had gotten out his instruments and started playing along to the music, he even brought in his drum set and played the drums to the songs and sang along with all the ones he knew, which was anything not from a "girl movie" (i.e. little mermaid or beauty and the beast). Was I bored? Not in the slightest. Was he mad? Quite the opposite. We really enjoyed ourselves.
So why did I feel I needed to watch tv instead of something else. How many times do we dilly dally around with our smart phones at dinner, or while you are at the park with your child. Or what about checking facebook while you are on the couch watching a movie with your spouse. Are we really ever doing something more important on our phones then what we have chosen to do with our friends or family who are really there? Is there ever something on tv that is more entertaining then your 5 year old putting on a one man band for you? Never.
Your kids don't mind being unplugged, even though we THINK they do. I think i'll take a tip from Corbin and keep the tv off much more often.
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