Surviving Sunday Night of Digital Detox

Sunday night Hubs and I went back to canning pears.

And had a heart to heart.

I was amazed how differently we viewed the weekend.

Where I found the weekend relaxing, he found it stressful.  The keeping the boys busy all the time wore him out.  I found the no tv, no stress of answering messages was surprisingly stressless.  However, had I not had a notebook for therapy I would have gone a bit crazy I think.

Jake thought I was crazy for carrying around a notebook.

Which I literally did.

I think a person can not fully function in this society now without being digitally connected.  Whether you like it or not, facebook and texting is what people use to pass on a message.  Cell phone numbers are stored in cell phones...not home numbers.  My address book hasn't been updated in ten years.

My husband disagrees.  He thinks a person could be business savvy to survive just fine without technology.  I do not see this...he fully does.

I am all for doing this again - for a night.  I think it would be good for our family.  He disagreed...and  he is totally against doing another weekend like this.  He agreed maybe a night...if we could have a radio.

We had a long talk about technology and relationships....

I had recently read a link Diaper Diaries had posted about marriage...a post she had stumbled upon but found convicting...from Jon Acuff.  It's called How To Improve Your Marriage Instantly.  I had worked on taking it to heart, keeping my phone plugged in at night when Jake was home from work.  I could tell he was irritated when it went off.

And that said, I didn't harp on him if he was on his phone playing Angry Birds or checking some new app.

We use our smart phones and computer for totally different things...mine to connect with the blog and so forth, him for the techie stuff.  But both things pull us apart.

He sincerely believed this weekend he would prove a point.  He would hold over my head that I can get so much more done if I am not on the computer.  Shockingly, I got less done then either of us supposed I would.  

The book I am reading?  I only finished TWO chapters...how sad is that?

The thing that shocked us both the most in the same way, however, is that as much as we love the boys, as much as we wish we could keep them home with us all the time, as much as I hate to have them gone at school days on end, as much as we love them.....we liked the break we got from them.

We used the tv to babysit them.

This came as a surprise to us both.

Even today, I am writing this blog post on my first day off of the detox while it is all fresh in my head.  And the boys are watching tv.

But tonight?  Tonight I'm shutting it down and spending the night with them.

I was surprised how smoothly it went with them in some aspects.  I didn't forget to get them a drink, distracted by something else.  I could hear the argument they were having before the tattling began.  It was a good time to "just be" with our boys.  It was funny the stories they brought up to remind us of, the songs they sang - and most the 'songs' they sang were tv jingles.

This from boys who get to watch tv on the weekend only.  And live to play outside.

That said, next weekend they are going to my brother and sister in laws for the weekend and I am ECSTATIC to get my hubby allllllll to myself.  

Today, while blogging and reconnecting, the boys settled in to catch up on some tv.  And soon after they were bored of it and went out to play.  It wasn't as grand as they thought it would be.

I was overwhelmed when I opened up my computer and found all sorts of messages from friends letting me know how much I meant to them, how much they missed me.  I can thank Sue Cramer for getting that great gift of words.

It is hard to put into words how disconnected I felt from my friends.  How much tweeting and blogging and facebooking helps me share the time I am blessed to spend with my boys....and how much I need that girl connection when I feel like I am drowning in boyness.

I think, in the end, the digital detox is going to have a lasting impression on us.  I am curious what we will think of it in a week or two or three from now.

I wouldn't be surprised if we did it again....for a day. Only a day.

We're too connected to do it much more than that.

Our Story Airs on Fox 17's 10pm News on Tuesday, November 15th.


You can view the story HERE.