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The family: Unplugged
"Power 96, please."
They jump into the car and, without saying hello, request their favorite radio station. Or at least the station they want to listen to at this particular moment.
I may not hear a word from them for most of the 20-25 minute trip home, save an occasional request to change the station. But I'm lucky this time. Often, I remind myself, they jump in with iPods attached to their ears. And their phones are always on, sending text messages as quickly as they can receive them.
I'm no better. Checking e-mail on the Blackberry, looking to see whether someone I'm following has said something interesting on Twitter, even checking my Facebook updates at times.
No, I can't point a finger at them without three fingers pointed right back at me.
As a stepfather, I don't have a lot of rules that are identifiably mine. But there's one thing I insist on: The gizmos are not allowed at the dinner table. That's my rule, one I am not shy about enforcing, with a gentle but visibly annoyed, "please put that away while we're eating."
I don't have to imagine what it would be like without these gizmos. Like many of you, I need only remember.
Remember when phones in the house had cords? When, in order to be on the phone, you needed to be in a particular chair?
I love the gizmos. I do. But they're supposed to connect us to each other, not disconnect us from each other.
Resistance is NOT futile! Has anyone managed to do an effective job of unplugging? I could use a few tips, if you've got 'em.
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Comments
What we do in our house is we have one day a week were there is no TV, no computers, no video games, and no cell phones being used for the entire day. When we first started this I thought my kids would riot! Now it seems they enjoy it just as much as I do. It reminds us that we are a family. :) However, the only way for this to work is if parents also follow this rule, otherwise you have kids who have turned off all their electronics only to feel neglected.
Posted by: Connie | June 1, 2009 6:20 PM
My family seems to get more and more plugged instead of unplugged! I have taken on a challenge to unplug at least sometimes this summer to just enjoy each other! We'll see how it goes.
Posted by: Amy L. Hass | June 2, 2009 6:34 PM
my wife and I decided long ago to unplug Cable/Satelite and just get regular TV, on addition we do not allow none of the family members to TEXT or listen to MP3 while we are having family time wheter in the house or outside. Also we tell each other good Morning/Afternoon/Evening when we see each other..
its been hard but it works.
I definetly say UNPLUGGED..!
Posted by: william m | June 2, 2009 6:45 PM
I have definitely unplugged, the amount of "quality" television has plummeted lately and I found myself watching less and less of it to the point that I called Comcast and told them to turn it off (I still have Internet with them through). Then I finally bought a cell phone, I bought one of the cheap models all it has is voice mail that is all that I want to it do. My MP3 player stays in the car unless I am loading more music on it from my PC.
Posted by: Landon | October 20, 2009 7:41 PM