Ok, I will admit frustration and an off-handed remark by
hubby, David, sparked yesterday’s experiment.
The remark was “I would like to see these kids go one week
without electronics.” I don’t remember
the exact context but it was probably something like this. It is bedtime and we have just reminded the
kids to brush their teeth. Yes, we are
evil parents who still have bedtimes for our children even though it is summertime. (Oh the horror of it all) My darling 9-year-old
daughter, Amanda, exclaims, “Can I see the end of this episode?” She is
watching a cartoon on Netflix. My
multitasking 12-year-old son, JD, pipes up “let me just finish this battle.” He
has a laptop, Samsung MP3 player, and 3Ds going at once. We both say no and the kids get upset but know
it is pointless to argue so they grumble and get ready for bed finding any
excuse to extend time.
It might have ended there but a few days later when we had to leave neither kid was ready to go. They had to find something.. get shoes on etc. and I will admit I got angry. They had time for electronics and TV but weren’t ready on time. I had told them what time we had to leave and given them 10 and 5 minutes warnings. So, I said “we will go without electronics on Sunday.” Then I quickly added, because I think I realized what I had said, that “Dad has veto power.” Well David didn’t veto it and on Sunday the entire family did not use electronics. I should clarify at this point that we defined electronics as meaning; the use of laptops, tablets, video games, any device that can access the Internet and say in what is on TV are forbidden when restricted from electronics. I should also point out that we do not have a DVR or cable or satellite so anything we missed on Sunday would not be recorded and watched later.
I reminded the kids that there would be no electronics on
Sunday; and surprise, surprise they decided to sleep in. I was the first one to miss the electronics;
I usually read the paper on the computer and couldn’t do so. The children handled it well and we actually
had a nice conversation at breakfast, which we together as a family.
The first complaint and attempt at negotiating a better deal
when it was time to leave for church around 9:30 AM. We generally access scriptures and class
information using electronics but since electronics were banned, we were going
to have to go old school. The children wanted permission to use their
electronic devices to access information for church. David
and I had already discussed this issue and decided for this week we could bring
hard copies instead of electronics. (We were worried the children would be tempted
to use the devices for non-church related tasks. I
could almost picture JD trying to explain how Minecraft was related to the
Sunday School lesson.) We found hard
copies, dusted them off and actually had
some Scripture markers to send with the children. After Amanda complained the books were too
heavy for her to carry, JD magnanimously volunteered to carry them for
her. Off to church we went. David was the only one that was questioned
about why he was using a book. His
teacher asked if his battery was dead.. when he explained we were doing a day
without electronics David said the teacher got a look of horror on his face and
said his children would revolt if he tried anything like that. 
After surviving going “old school” at church, it was time to go home. JD suggested we go geocaching (our family’s
latest attempt at finding family activities we all enjoy). In order to geocache, you have to use a GPS
device so that was a no go. At home,
things went better than expected. Amanda
only complained a few times it was boring.
We read books, played board games
and the children actually played games together without arguing (yes that was a
shock to me). The children also went
out to play without being told. Early in the afternoon, Amanda did try and
convince her brother they should go to bed early (probably to punish us) so the
day would end sooner but that idea seemed to fade before dinner. We enjoyed pleasant conversation and joking at
dinner as well.
We also had a mini family meeting to discuss how the day
went. Everyone agreed that day was not
as bad as they thought it would be. The
children actually admitted they had fun that day.
I can’t say this day went without incident. There were arguments and some yelling. At one point, early on I was tempted to give
back the electronics to I could have a little peace and quiet. We
also had a lively debate started by David on whether I could call my sister
since the phone was cordless if that
constituted use of electronics. I just
threatened to old school it by getting the corded phone out of the hurricane
kit and using that. JD went to bat for me and it was decided
calling on the phone was not the same as using electronics.
I really like that we interacted as a family. It bothers me sometimes when we are together
but are all plugged in and not really together.
It was a day without the vacant look in the eyes from too much
technology. David and I didn’t cheat;
we didn’t plug in after the kids went to bed but instead had actual
conversation with each other without distractions. It was nice.
Also it seems we were all more tired when bed time came. The kids didn’t go to bed early but did go to
bed tired and slept well that night.
Will we do it again? I
believe so. Will we modify it? Probably,
David and I are thinking of allowing electronics at church for class use
only. Also there are some electronics
that involve family working together.
For example, Amanda wanted to play Scene-it which we didn’t because it
involves using a DVD player. Also, geocaching
would be a family activity so we are considering that.
Finally, as far as reading the paper and news.. we didn’t
miss anything and it was kind of nice not to have that negativity for a day.
