No Phone Family Time

I am lucky enough to have grown up in a time where I experienced life before all of this internet and computer stuff. I am not that old, but old enough to have fond memories before it all.

One of the very important things that I remember and enjoyed were the times that I was able to spend with my family and friends being social and focused on each other. What is a real big issue these days is that everyone has their noses stuffed into their phones and are ignoring the people around them in favor of a few lines on a device about shit that largely is most likely relatively useless for them in their lives overall.

One of the important things that I do as a father and as a husband is that I make sure I am NOT on my phone when I am around my wife and son. I know this may be a revolutionary thing in the day we live in, however it is extremely important. I could certainly sit there and mess around on Hive or something else when they are both in the room with me or if I'm at a restaurant with them but what the hell is the point of being with them if my attention isn't on them? Is it so much to ask for, to have people you are with to give them your attention?

I think that's the crux of it all right there though, your attention.

There is so much focus and effort put into garnering the attention of people for siphoning off money that they make the platforms, games and other things associated with our devices drawing your attention like a sieve. I wonder if because I was so highly addicted to gaming and broke my addiction to that, if I am more sensitive to this type of thing than other people are.

It just makes sense though.. if you think about it. We are humans, we are social beings and we are also physical beings. We are supposed to be interacting with the people in our physical space as much as possible but this technology that we have in our pockets, on our computers and on the television is something so different from a historical perspective that we are drawn to it so that we can escape a little bit and be transported to another place even for just a few seconds. I think that's certainly the allure of it all.

I know that my son is the primary focus of my life, with my wife of course, but he is at such an impressionable age that I have to be ontop of my game as much as possible. There are so many things that they see and pick up on, and me giving him all of my attention as much as possible but in a reasonable way of course, is one of the primary ways that I am trying to raise him in the right fashion. I know that I can't always be there for him, with my need to work and do other things but when I am not working or doing household chores, he gets my attention free of a device in my hand and I think that's been a very important experience for him. He gets to see me as he should - focused on him and the world around me instead of a device and to people who mean little in the physical realm.

I think more people are seeing the issues with devices and trying to make steps to changing it. I listened to a podcast yesterday that was talking of the same thing, although dedicated to children. There is a significant amount of attention being given to it of late, I hope that we can find the right balance between these things so that we can use the technology effectively but also be present in the world without substantial negative consequences for those around us.

What about you - have you tried to minimize your use of technology so you can be more social and present with the people around you? Have you enjoyed it?