Turn it off!

On New Year’s Day, I took myself shoe shopping. (Now before you start telling me that I have way too many shoes—which is probably true—what I was shopping for isn’t the point of this story. Plus, I didn’t end up buying any shoes.) As I was driving to the shoe store I wanted to visit, I had to stop at several red lights. A mom driving a minivan with her teenage son was right behind me.

And at every light, she pulled out her iPhone and scrolled through Facebook, Twitter, email, or whatever it was. In the 10 minutes they were behind me, I never saw that mother or son say anything to each other.

Some of the best conversations I’ve ever had with either of my parents have come in the car. When I was growing up or even now, when we’d get in that car and it was just the two (or three or four) of us, we’d talk. About life. About God. About faith. About right and wrong. About what was going on, about our family, about things we liked and things we didn’t. I think my family is particularly close because we talk to each other so much.

That’s why it made me so sad to see that mother and son within a foot of each other and bored to death, the mom unable to tear herself away from her smart phone so she could talk to her son.

Now, I’m not a big resolution person. I don’t generally set resolutions for the new year, mostly because I know myself and I know that I won’t keep them. But watching that mom ignore her son for the world contained on her iPhone and knowing how tied to technology and social media I am, I came to a conclusion that some things in 2012 were going to be different.

1. Turn it off.

iStockphoto/ © gianlucabartoli

I live in a world that’s bombarded by social media. I blog; I use Facebook; I love Twitter. And in addition to my personal sites, I also use all of those outlets for work. I can get on the Internet any time I want and check my email via my phone, my iPad, or my computer. I can check to see how many followers I have and who has commented on my status update. And all of that fuels an ugly obsession with myself. So this year, I’m making it a point to turn it all off one day a week, to spend one whole day not checking my Facebook, tweeting, or blogging. And I’ll likely do that on Sundays. This past Sunday was my first social media fast, and I was surprised at how many times I wanted to check and see what all those Facebook notifications were. It wasn’t easy, but I think it’s important.

2. Be with the people you’re with.

iStockphoto/© Justin Horrocks

In this world of smart phones and texts, it’s easy to be continually chatting with other people or commenting on others’ status updates or tweets—even when you’re hanging out with friends. I know it annoys me when I’m trying to have a conversation with someone and her or she spends the whole time looking at his or her phone instead of listening to me. And I know, sadly, that I’ve been that person. So this year, I’m committing to being with the people I’m with. When I’m hanging out with friends or having coffee with someone, the phone is going to stay in my bag, and I’m going to focus on the person I’m with. Because they deserve my attention and I know at the end of it all, I’m going to remember the experiences I had with people—not the things they posted on my wall.

3. Have a curfew.

iStockphoto/ © Bart Claeys

With an iPhone, a computer, and an iPad, it’s pretty easy to let my time get sucked away by endless web surfing, Facebook posting, and tweeting whatever I’m watching on TV. But instead of spending my evenings doing that and letting time when I could be do something useful pass me by, I think I’ll be turned off the computer a little more. So around 9 p.m. every night, I’m putting down the electronics and doing something else, whether it’s reading a book, playing ball with my dog, or watching something I like on TV.

Or the laundry.

OK, maybe not the laundry.

#fasting #socialmedia #technology