The sun was shining this Saturday. After several months of cold, grey winter, I spent almost every hour outside, including a long walk with a friend.
"I worry it's an addiction," she confessed about her college-graduate son, describing his phone use--not drugs, alcohol, sex, or gambling.
We've been moms for almost 25 years, and we remember when our firstborns got their first flip phones sometime in middle school. They weren't even part of the tech wave that swept up our sons who followed. The wave in which countless families expanded their household budgets to include the cost of iPhones for everyone. Who doesn't have tech-savvy toddlers in their lives? My seventy-year-old parents usually read my texts in 1-10 seconds.
"I blame the adults," is what one of my students said, "but the adults aren't better off, so what are the rest of us going to do?"
I started the day with a long run along the river. My running partner and I paired miles with memories. Distance and discovery. Later, I weaved through the neighborhood with another friend and our dogs. In between, my middle and I watched the youngest at Taekwondo and then we all fit in a trip to the grocery store. It was a day that required no devices for entertainment. We had the sun, each other, and a sense of purpose to distract us.
To what extent did Bradbury's predictions come true? You were on to something, Ray. But we're not going down without a fight.
A thousand times yes. Technology has changed us, and not for the better. Our kids can't have phones until 9th grade, and even then we have them pretty locked down with no internet or social media access. We don't have video game systems and we don't watch tv during the week. Computers are only for work. Even then, my 6 year old wants to gorge himself in television all weekend long, to the exclusion if just about everything. Today I dragged him outside to live in the world, okay in the yard, be with our plants and animals and he was all the better for it. I am seriously considering removing the televisions to storage for the summer... Keep fighting the good fight!
ReplyDeleteIt’s a good day when we can share in device-free entertainment as a family. The anxiety level just plummets. My breath caught when I read your last line: we will not go down without a fight. I’m with you on that.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joanne!
DeleteYup, fighting the good fight here. Our kiddo still does not have a phone (the school issued iPad is tech enough). I love the tech-free day you spent. With the weather warming, there will be more chances to keep on fighting,
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Ms. Chiu. Our kiddo is also phone-free, and we have no regrets.
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