When we visit my family in Texas it makes my dad crazy to see how attached we all our to technology. We’ve all got the gadgets, and the glow from laptops, phones and iPads mean we hardly need lamps.
He asks several times what the heck is so great on the internet and why we can never just turn the dang things off?
I sometimes wonder the same thing, and to be honest… I’m terrified of how attached I am to technology.
Last Friday before Easter I was thinking how it would be so great to just disconnect for the weekend. Pour all my time and energy into my family. I wanted this so bad, and yet I struggled.
Why is this so hard?
It was only a decade ago, when catching up with an old friend meant a phone call.
Or when finding a new recipe required searching through your grandmothers old church cookbooks.
Or when you could spend time with your loved ones without wondering if the ding on your phone is that email you’ve been waiting for.
The thing that terrifies me the most is that technology is just going to keep advancing.
What’s it going to be like for my kids?
Will there ever be a time in their life when technology wasn’t staring them in the face every single day?
Will every single childhood memory of my boys involve a phone attached to mom or dad’s hand?
I know that worrying about their future in those terms doesn’t do much now.
Just the other day, my 3 year old was asking why his friend was disobeying their mama, which is quite ironic considering he struggles with that often himself. I remember telling him that the only person whose actions we can control our ourselves. I control me and you control you.
And I really believe that. I can’t control what my kids will do with technology as adults, but I can control me, now.
And based on how many friends gave up social media for Lent, I know I’m not the only one who feels this constant struggle.
So I’m working on finding balance. I want to carve out bits of time here and there each today to to the things online that I love… like this here blog! But I need these 3 people to know that every day they are what’s most important.
I connect best with them when I’m disconnected from the other stuff.
I want the internet to be a part of my life, not my life. I guess you could say I’m working on putting the internet in a box.
How do you guys find balance?
-Abby
