Technology Time-out

I have a confession to make. I'm in love with my IPhone.  It's the first thing I see when I wake up and the last thing I see when I go to bed.  It tells me the weather, the time, makes me laugh, makes me cry, it's like having a good friend without the fear of having to answer if its butt looks big in those jeans.

I discovered that I have a problem.

I first figured it out when my cell phone battery died and I had to drive home.  I started panicking...what would I do if something happened, like mysteriously I ran out of gas or that William Riker was finally going to propose to me? Then it dawned on me, I didn't have a cell phone until I was 18, I was pretty sure I would survive the 5 minute drive home. Sure enough, when I plugged in the IPhone, no one had phoned and nothing happened on Facebook.

I had become completely reliant on my phone.  Like Lassie, it was an enabler (really do you think Timmy would keep falling in wells and stuff if he didn't know Lassie would just bail him out?).  The worse thing is that I was on the phone instead of interacting with my children.

So I decided to scale back the use of my phone.  Reluctantly.

I had already started a few months ago by putting my phone away while visiting my friends or at Strong Start.  It drove me crazy when in public that so many people's noses were buried deep in their phones instead of interacting with each other (myself included).  I figured that leaving it in my jacket pocket would work best because one moment I would check the time and BAM there I was on Facebook.  Out of reach, out of mind.  Now I don't mean to toot my own horn... it's easy to show manners in a public space, I also don't go into someone else's house and drag my butt across the carpet (it's called class people!).  However I still had the issue of being on my phone surfing the net while at home or at my parents.  As soon as I got home I would be back on the phone.

Not only was I missing out on my kids (or letting them run around wild), I was setting a bad example.  It dawned on me, raising children is a bit like dating-you have to be like the person you want to date, or in this case the person you want your children to become.  Right now I was on a one way train to sulky-teenager-always on the phone-ville. 

Now I'm not going cold turkey and I will still answer calls and texts.  I don't believe in just throwing out the phone or going back to the Nokia brick phone with no data plan is the solution.  Like everything else moderation is the key.  Yes I can shelter my kids from phones but showing them how to use a phone responsibly and not like an air tank would benefit them most.  You can keep your children away from McDonalds, but one day they will trip and fall on a french fry!  There had to be a solution.

I only allow Lily one movie a day (after the dreaded lets watch Cars three times in a row incident), wouldn't it only be fair if I was subject to the same rules?  So I created the Technology Time out box (boy is my husband going to like this along with the introduction of tofu Tuesday).  The concept is simple, the phone goes in the box, I can check Facebook in the morning and evening.  Sounds simple, but oh, so difficult in reality.

It's hard not checking Facebook multiple times a day.  The whole world is online and it moves so fast that I think we all begin to develop a fear of being left behind.  I once read a study (on my phone) that said Facebook users report feeling depressed when checking Facebook because they assume that everyone is having fun except for them.  I'd believe this since most of the time I'm sitting on my couch eating poptarts and watching Star Trek....okay never-mind that's a great evening! Most of the time when I'm watching Thomas for the millionth time..  Think about it, except for that one person who just posts photos of what they're eating (sorry to my sister who posted a picture of her dinner tonight, but in fairness to me I wrote these notes a few days ago), people posts photos when they are out and doing something.  I know for a fact I only post pictures of myself when I'm dressed up and actually wearing pants and brushed my hair.

So it's a work in progress, and I'm really trying hard on this one.  Once Lily is able to draw more than random scribbles and does a portrait of her mom, I would like it not to have my phone attached to my face.

Let me paint you a picture

As many of you know, I am on another Davecation.  As with the many Davecations that have come before it, I am stuck at home at night and have plenty of spare time from not having to do laundry or make lunches.  It's like I'm a teenager again with an 8 o clock curfew. Lily turns into a pumpkin if not in bed before 8:30.  Okay change pumpkin into Tasmanian toy hurling she-devil....

So what do I do? TV gets old fairly fast, even with TLC's line up of reality TV shows.  I mean, I've already watched most of Honey Boo Boo's family fart through all the major holidays.  I have decided to take up painting.  Something that will make me sane after a full day of debating the merits of pants with a toddler.  Apparently Lily thinks I should wear them when I'm at home.  Like with all my hobbies, I have little faith my interest will continue past a few weeks so there is a chance all my supplies will end up beside my unfinished sewing and music instruments.  I bought the best paint that the dollar store could provide, which means I have about 5 colours to choose from.  They say you can make any colour you want if you have the primary colours, but don't listen to them, all I am able to make is brown.

I've been posting my pictures on Facebook.  The beauty of social networking is that you can subject others to whatever crazy you can take a picture of.  Plus there is only a like button so nobody is a critic.  So far I believe that I am doing fairly well, in fact my husband commented that he didn't know I could paint.  I'm not surprised, I also hid the fact that I was a trekkie and now he gets to spend the rest of his married life watching Star Trek TNG reruns...

Betcha didn't know that the actor that played Scotty lost his middle finger during World War 2 and they hid it in most of the shots...
or that Worf's forehead prosthetic changed appearance in season 2 because the original one was stolen...
or that originally Counsellor Troi was suppose to be a four breasted alien before Gene Roddenberry's wife shot down the idea (moral of the story: a happy wife is a happy life)..

you're welcome, it's a pleasure to educate you.

Now where were I?  I use to draw all the time. I was a geek before the hipsters, before all the "geeks are cool movies", before people realised that would need geeks to set up their wireless routers.  I had a lot of time on my hand, since my social life was as dead as crocs in the fashion world, so I use to draw.  Sure it was mostly random anime and me marrying Willam Riker (I know, I know, it would never work, him being in space and all) but I found a lot of enjoyment from drawing and became pretty good at sketching.  Anyways once I hit university I become fairly social and stopped drawing and watching star trek (which is why Johnathan Franks went on to marry an opera singer and got old).

Anyways enough of my teenage angst.

I've been painting almost every night.  I finished a painting of a unicorn punching a dolphin, because as you also know, I am the only person on the planet that hates dolphins.  PS-try explaining to a lady at Strong Start that you enjoy painting and you mostly paint pictures of dolphins hitting things and NOT sound like a psycho.  I've also painted the same unicorn kicking a sea-turtle because he is a badass and for all you non mythical beings out there, it is thousands of dollars worth of fines if you try.  As soon as I post this, PETA will probably be banging on my door any minute.  Good thing I keep a batch of panda pate for unexpected guests.  I've also painted pictures of my son that passed away.  I've found it fairly therapeutic, also I feel like I get to relearn what his face looked like, by sketching him, I've discovered facial traits I didn't know he had. I have also drawn my beloved Star Trek-but no marriage photos, I have enough laundry as it is.

Anyways I'm off to think of my next painting.  Hopefully I'll find something else to blog about of interest.