What I've gleaned from both this chapter and from this week's "issue" is that I need to be more present. I need to look at my children when they talk to me and I need to interact more and be in the moment. For me, that means keeping the time on the laptop to a minimum and not being engrossed in things that are less precious that my children. (I'm talking to you, facebook.) I feel that, for me, this needs to be a step beyond media. Yes, I do need to make sure that I am untethered from my smart phone, but I am also prone to sit and read (not the Internet; an actual book) while I could be interacting with my husband and my children. If I "unplugged" and went on a computer/phone/TV media fast, I would probably just replace the time I spent doing those things with reading books. The media itself is not the problem, but my selfishness is. That's the main thing I've taken away from this chapter. Here are your questions for the week:
1. What is your reaction to this chapter? Do you feel that God is telling you to cool it with some of the media in your house? If you took away the media, what would you hope to replace it with?
2. (Stolen from Marla) Jen says she doesn’t want her kids to be more comfortable interacting with a computer screen than a human being. If you have kids, is this a concern for you? What kinds of boundaries have you put in place to keep it from happening? (if you don’t have kids, you can answer it for yourself.)
Just a side note - I am way more comfortable interacting with a computer screen as opposed to a human being. Not necessarily face to face, but definitely on the phone. I would way, way rather send a text or an e-mail then have a phone conversation. I am not a phone talker. Also, I am easily distracted, so if you are talking to me on the phone and I have just said "yeah, uh- huh, mmm-hmmm" for awhile, chances are I have no idea what you're saying. Sorry. Please send me a e-mail or talk to me face to face. This does NOT apply if you are a friend that I haven't spoken to in awhile that lives in a far away place - let's just say Charlotte or Uruguay. PLEASE call me and I will gladly put the kids in front of the TV (oh the irony!) and catch up with you!
3. Any other thoughts? Any questions you want to ask and get some reactions to?
The floor is yours. :-)
Media was a hard chapter for me. I have been feeling convicted for a while about the time spent on the computer (specifically Facebook) I was playing games for hours while Nick watched PBS. I thought I was doing good because he was watching education television. When we started watching reruns of Curious George and realized that we watched 70 episodes I was sick. We unplugged and went outside (for about 10 minutes. It was too hot!) Then we came in and played trains. I don't want Nick to be a couch potato.
ReplyDeleteI have deleted all but 1 game so not I spend about an hour catching up and then we play. We also sold our wii (still trying to sell our wii fit) and all the games. We don't allow Nick on the computers and limit his tv time. Now we need to do it for ourselves.