We went into this week knowing it would be the last time we would "have" to participate in Media Free Monday. We finally wised up and proactively planned some things that would get us out of the overwhelming quiet of the house.
Kelsey escaped the event entirely by spending all day and evening at the Mall of America with friends. OK, I can't really fault her for that. It's spring break, and she deserves to have some fun.
The rest of us decided to go out to eat, something we rarely do because my poor family is stuck with a wife/mother who loves to cook. We let Emma choose the restaurant, and she picked Outback. Smart girl. She knows both Mom and Dad love that place.
We had a nice dinner and good conversation, as our cell phones were safely tucked away. Afterward, we decided to do some shopping. We needed to pick up a birthday gift for a family member, and I wanted to look for a bridal shower gift as well.
Away to Target we went. I assigned the birthday gift shopping to Dan and Emma, while I went another direction in search of the shower gift. I found what I wanted and then headed to the toy section, where I thought Dan and Emma would be. They weren't there. Guess what my first thought was? Yep, I'll just call them on the cell phone. Uh, nope, I can't do that!
They were in the same boat, looking all over the store for me with no luck. They even ran into a friend of ours who wanted to say hi to me, but they informed her they could not call me because it was "Amish night." Eventually, we found each other, and once again we were left wondering how we ever managed without our precious electronics!
We could have done more shopping but decided we really should head home to take care of the dogs. That meant we still had a couple hours to endure the silence at home. Emma and I both had some things to finish up before bedtime, which left Dan to play solitaire while practically going insane. He'd had a difficult day at work and said this was one of those days when he really would have loved to wind down with TV.
Before we called it a night, we talked about this experiment and the things it has revealed to us. Namely, we all recognize we are addicted to our electronics. But we also realized that we bond best as a family through the use of all these things. We communicate with one another, we play together, and we relax together. We have learned to use media as a tool to bring us closer together.
That being said, I asked if we should continue Media Free Mondays. If looks could kill, I'd be dead right now!
So we will chalk this up as a useful, albeit difficult lesson. We will all be more aware of our electronics use, and hopefully we will choose wisely. And next Monday, I believe you'll find us bonding over Dancing With the Stars while Facebooking, Tweeting, and texting one another.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment