Technology Connection vs. Family Connection

I brought my laptop with me on the road with my husband and kids planning on doing blog work, but I failed to bring my cell phone, which contains my HotSpot Internet. I knew I was addicted to being connected to the outside world a lot. However, I didn’t realize how much I was until I didn’t have access to it.

I’ve literally reached for my cell phone what feels like a hundred times since we’ve left the house without it. My hands act like they have no clue what to do. I know I’ve broken several nails too since we’ve left the house.

It gave me somewhat of a wakeup call. I spend too much of my time connecting with the outside world online , and not enough time connecting with what I call my world, my family. I was literally with my family, and didn’t say a word. I preached about how we need to make an in person connection not to long ago, but I failed to see how little of it I’m doing right in my own home.

My kids hear me correcting them all day long telling them what they need to do better. If I talk to them, it’s usually to tell them what they need to do or some new task they need to take on. I don’t spend time actually having conversations with them at home.

Come to think about it, unless I’m driving a car and can’t be connected to the outside world (after all it’s illegal to drive and text or surf the web –for good reason!) No wonder they fight over who’s going to go with me and who gets to talk when we go off somewhere together.

I had my oldest write up a blog post about what he thought about blogging since he decided he wanted to own his own blog one day. It broke my heart to see that he wanted more time with me and me to spend less time blogging. However, for me blogging is my career. It started off as a hobby, but God has richly blessed my journey with blogging. I’m able to treat it as my full time job. Granted, at this point, I’m still making part time income from it and putting in full time hours. I do know though that one day those hours are going to pay off.

If I were to go out and get another job at this point in our lives with what is available in our market, then I’d make less money and be gone away from home a LOT more. There would be no chance for those car ride conversations that my kids seem to gain every day because for some reason I have to go to town almost daily. I wouldn’t be able to look over my computer screen and watch them play. I definitely wouldn’t be there to correct them and tell them what to do next.

Even with my argument, I noticed that I need to take my two hours a day and create some real conversations with them. I don’t need to just play a video game, watch a movie, or even spending time outside (playing or going for our nature walks.) I need to pull out the Dinner Games book  and start using those games as a way of building a connection with my kids while I still have the chance to do it.

I’m wondering if that would make a difference in my kids reactions to me requesting them do their work correctly the first time around instead of making me harp many times over. I wonder if that would help with my oldest behavior issues lately. It’s definitely worth a shot.

I know my marriage suffers when I feel I have to spend a lot of time doing a lot of the behind the scenes activities of blogging and it leads to me having late nights. We have our set date nights, and that definitely helps keep us connected. However, due to my many late nights, I’m irritable because I’m sleepy and always feel like there is something that isn’t done for the day that I should have done.

I just need to spend my time on the Internet more wisely! I need to take my time with my family and also give them quality time when they have my attention. That way our schedule will work well with all of us instead of work, but leave me feeling like there’s always something lacking.
Let’s take the #TechTimeOut Pledge for 1 hour and really talk and connection with our family.

Am I the only one guilty of this?