A Day Without Electronics

      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.