I admit it…I have a certain love for technology. Couldn’t live without my iPhone. Love my DVR. Don’t get me started about the value of my cameras, dishwasher and even appreciation for my mini-van’s heated seats. But there are days where I want nothing more than to toss the darn phone out the window and never receive another e-mail again. I know, however, that certain things would happen if I gave into the “toss it all” impulse.
1. I would miss it within a short time or end up with a flat tire along the road with no phone to call for help. (been there done that…not fun)
2. Everything would just pile up and I would have twice the amount to catch up with when I finally decided to check the e-mail and voice messages. (sad trumpet – wahhn wahhn wahhh)
A few weeks ago I dropped off my son at a family friend’s house for a birthday party. It was the first time going to their home. I knew that they didn’t have a television in the house and that always struck me as something I couldn’t live without personally but totally understood her reasons. After visiting, I decided that it was so nice to walk into a home that didn’t have one! We actually talked and the vibe of the house was one of peace and connection. Then it really occurred to me just how often our electronic “stuff” really does get in the way of our “peace”. The need to keep up with our very busy inboxes and voicemails throughout the day/night can be overwhelming . Not to mention the time it takes to answer each one. By the end of the day, you really want nothing more than to become a vegetable on the couch watching tv shows and in my case editing images from sessions. It is amazing what happens when you actually step away from a computer/tv/phone (fill in the blank), take your kids outside and show them the wonder of nature and the world around them. Even turning off the tv to just play a board game or to take a walk can really make a child open up and tell you what is going on in their daily lives.
With the social avenues of Facebook, Twitter, online forums etc.,we often feel connected with people we do not even know. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, we sometimes have to tune out the people who are sitting right beside us on the couch. So often every machine we turn on in turn tunes someone out. A part of me wonders if the disconnect we feel within our communities isn’t a symptom of us forgetting how to interact on a face to face basis with folks in our own homes and communities.
This last summer I made the decision, as I have written about before, to really take a more whole food approach to what I feed my family. In doing so, I have really begun to find more and more value to the way things were “back in the day”. Basically trying to step back and really take more time to really “be” with my family in the moment and find a simpler way of living in this very busy world. You know, “Old School”. Back before we could just walk in a store and buy what we needed, back when we still had to look in the dictionary for the meaning of word instead of just Googling the answer to any number of questions. Of course Googling, technology and shopping are all things the upcoming generations know well. They are all things that surround them.
The things that I want to teach them are the things that are slowly being forgotten. Things like how to garden, basic sewing, growing and drying herbs, knowing the uses and values the plants that we grow, both in cooking and health, building things and even just knowing where traditional products actually come from (not the grocery store). The things my mother taught me. I want them to know that a TV/computer/phone etc.,while nice, are not requirements to living a happy, fulfilled life. Wanting them to learn these things means that I, too, have to learn these things all over again as well. No easy step. I did grow up in the country with a mother who was an amazing gardener, seamstress and I swear the Foxfire book series was her favorite. I just rediscovered them in a box in my attic last week and I am going to start reading them again.
Their is a value to knowing how things are done, not to mention the confidence that comes each time my kids show off their square foot garden to their friends, or the herbs we are drying and the food we have canned. Although my youngest will warn you to never touch the Habanero peppers. Let’s just say she and a friend learned the hard way they need gloves to pick those ;-) Such a value to sitting on a back porch with a glass of lemonade watching the garden grow, the kids play and actually talking to a neighbor. Those are the days I love…not the ones anchored to my technology.
