Drippin Life May 23
Most of us have grown up with technology. You may not be old enough to remember, but when Chrysler cars came out with push button automation (1956-1964), we eagerly embraced the new technology. Imagine being able to push a button to shift gears? We thought it was “really neat” and since I had just been licensed to drive, I looked forward to sliding behind the wheel as often as possible.
Today automobiles use technology light years beyond the push button gearshift. Without a doubt, my grandparents would not believe a car or truck could be equipped with heated and/or cooled seats. Back-up cameras? Self-driving cars…running on electricity and no gas.? They would probably say, “We have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto!”
Back in Grandpa’s day, too, telephone numbers were three or four digits and you stood or sat next to the party-line telephone, which hung on the wall in the kitchen or the hall. Now, every member of the family has their own cell phone to take everywhere they go…anywhere, like work, concerts, church, on a run or bike ride. Anywhere! We now can stay connected. What a great idea! Or is it?
I attended a concert last night, and looking across the audience, saw the tell-tale glow of cell phone screens everywhere across the performance hall. Is it possible there was a text message or a game more important at that moment than the artists on stage?
Cell phones, in my humble opinion, disrupt our lives. Like your parents and grandparents may have been “conditioned” to jump up and answered the landline phone every time it rang, those who can’t go on work breaks, to the restroom, religious services and dinner table or restaurant without phones are slaves to the same conditioning or the new version of grandpa telephone – the cell phone.
Speaking of cell phones: A writer friend lives in a garage apartment behind a home being least to a busy professional. When one Saturday turned sunny, my friend decided to take her bright, hot pink beach towel and lie out on the driveway of the property’s rear entry, triple garage. As she was reading, she suddenly heard a strange noise and looked up just in time to see the fellow tenant’s tire heading for her body.
Because my friend is an athlete, she managed to move in time for her neighbor’s car to ONLY run over one leg. Luckily, 12 hours of tests at a local hospital emergency department found no internal bleeding, no broken bones. Do you believe in miracles? And yes, the driver was on her cell.
So last week, I heard a speaker use a word I had never heard before…DIGITOX.
According to the Urban Dictionary, “digitox” means a detoxification session from all digital addictions such as Facebook, Twitter, chat, email, video games, cell phones, etc. Usually self-imposed over a long weekend.
In some homes, cell phones and other digital devices go into a box and are put away, out of sight, for a weekend. Other families travel to a mini-vacation destination or go camping, leaving one cell phone in the glove box. Still others schedule a game night each week, where digital devices are not “invited.”
So think back…how long has it been since you disconnected? How long has it been since your household truly “digitoxed.”
If you don’t think you or the people you live with can survive without a phone, controller or joy stick in their hands, you can invest in a Digitox Box – they come in three “flavors” – the Everyone Box, the Family Fun Box and the Mini.
Inside there’s a pack of cards among a bunch of other stuff. Each card offers a suggested subject to talk about. There’s also a stress ball. Prices begin at around $25, and each box is filled with activities and exercises to help your household reconnect, get reacquainted…and contents illustrate how much fun life can be without cellphones or video games.
I may be missing something here because, as a kid and then as a parent and grandparent, I can’t think of a time when we needed someone to kick off our conversations – at the dinner table or any time, but if I appear totally out of it in your opinion, I suggest you think about digitoxing your household very soon…and if your home is exterminated regularly, you can put a digitox on your Google Calender at the same time. Your homelife rocks when you digitox!