Digital Detox Week 2 Recap

Tomorrow I will enter week three of digital detox. This past week I have used my phone more than the first week of detox but still not like I have in the past.

I find that I can leave the house without my phone and not feel like I am going to have a panic attack. The other day when I was leaving to pick up our youngest son from school I realized I had left my phone in the house. In the past I would have turned around and went back for my phone. On this particular day I kept driving and didn't think twice about it.

Earlier this week my husband made the comment to me that maybe our children need to participate in digital detox. With three teenagers and one tween it seems that they are all plugged into one device or another. He might be onto something. We may have to journey through a few weeks of family digital detox.

Today as I sat in church I couldn't help but notice the amount of people who had cell phones or ipads in service. I would like to think the majority of people were using it to reference the bible passages that the pastor was talking about. However, I couldn't help but wonder how many were lost in the motions of church and simply texting a friend, surfing the web, or looking at FB/Twitter. I did notice a mom handing over her ipad to her child so he could play games. I'm not one to judge because there was a time when I was in that same spot. I just needed my kids to sit still for an hour in church and would go to any lengths possible, but again I wonder how dependent we have become on these digital devices.

A commercial today summed up my thoughts on hand held devices. (at least my opinion as of lately) It is a commercial for some cable/satellite company where the customer is walking and looking down at his cell phone. The other man in the commercial makes a comment that is something like "Hey, the world is happening up here not on the ground." So, I am trying to look up when I walk and make eye contact with the rest of the world. It's harder than it sounds. I challenge you to try it next time you are out and about. You'd be surprised at how many people you see looking at their phone and not paying attention to the world.