Narcoleptic Skeptic

The life, literature, and social commentary of a sleepy thinker.

A Life Plugged In

We live in a digital age. Every person in my life above the age of 11 owns a smartphone. Many people own portable gaming devices, tablets, or laptops. In my immediate family, we have 4 Kindles, 2 Nintendo 2DSs, 2 Nintendo 3DSs, and 3 smartphones. And that’s just the portable entertainment.

I used to watch people go to dinner with their families and see kids with portable DVD players or a DS while parents were looking at their smartphones. I couldn’t understand why a family bothered to go out to eat together just to be so separate.

One of the recent times my family went out to dinner, my husband and I played Yahtzee on my phone, pass and play, while my children played Life on a gaming device supplied by the restaurant. I realized that we had become “that family.” The one I didn’t understand before. The odd part is that when we have dinner at home, I have a strict no electronics or toys at the table. Dinner around the table is a time for discussions and family connection.

I feel like so much of our time with friends and family is spent looking down at a screen instead of in another’s eyes. As a society, we now have a way to remain connected to friends and family and yet we’re becoming more disconnected from each other all of the time…

Wouldn’t it be nice if people started to recharge their relationships instead of their electronics?

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Narcoleptic Skeptic

I have a lifelong love of books and reading. With an intense craving for knowledge, education is extremely important to me. I strongly advocate seeking as much knowledge as is humanly possible, learning everything one can, reading often, researching, and thinking for oneself.

3 responses to “A Life Plugged In”

  1. Jackie Avatar
    Jackie

    Ya I feel the same way. disconnected from everything.

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  2. Robin Brodrick Avatar
    Robin Brodrick

    I agree completely. I took my son to the park today. He ran to the playground and I sat down on the bench and pulled my phone out. Then I looked around and saw all the other disconnected parents on their phones. I put mine back in my pocket and spent the next 3 hours playing in the park with my son. We did the twisty slide, watched people feed the ducks while standing next to a sign that says “Please do not feed the ducks”, and went on a mini-hike. Thanks to unplugging for the afternoon, we had a great day! It probably would have ended up far differently if I had joined in the mass of parents “connecting” to others on their phones.

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  3. Sheryl Avatar
    Sheryl

    I talk about this with my son all the time. The value of seeing something with your own eyes instead of through a screen. The joy of living the moment instead of recording for no reason, other than that you can.

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About Me

I am a wife, a mother, a teacher, a woman, an aspiring writer, a hopeless romantic, a skeptic, a humanist, a contradiction. I have a BA in English Literature and Cultural Studies and a MA in English Education. I have a life that I love living. I have a habit of oversharing and telling too many stories. I am me.

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