Fatherhood Friday
Two weeks ago I wrote about trying to lead by example when it comes to not having technology invade every facet of life. My plan was to not use my iPhone in front of the kids for any non-essential reason. Expecting an important work-related email was essential. Checking for NBA trade-deadline deals was not.
I'm delighted to report that, while I didn't succeed 100%, it was actually easier than I expected it to be. The first day or two was tough. Not, I think, because I was getting the sweats trying to break my addiction. It was tough because the thing was in my pocket, beckoning and teasing me.
As soon as I put it in another room, or even better, upstairs, the temptation just wasn't there any more. At first I was worried that maybe I'd miss a call. But then I realized that I've missed many calls in my life and somehow the caller and I survived. It wasn't too long ago that I didn't even have a cell phone at all, and therefore didn't have the accompanying expectation that it would be on me and be answered right away. (Heck, do you remember growing up we didn't even have answering machines? If we were calling somebody that didn't answer, we'd let it ring and ring and ring. I think it usually took about 10-12 rings before we'd conclude the person wasn't there.)
The act of putting the phone far from me is similar to the reason that I like to go food shopping. It limits my temptation. The way I look at food shopping is this: let's say I'm really addicted to Doritos. (I am.) If there are Doritos in the house, every time I'm hungry, or every time I see them, I have to make a decision whether or not to eat them. But if I'm doing the food shopping I only have to make the decision once. If I decide not to buy them, I won't be tempted later on at home. Same with the iPhone. Once I made one decision to put it away, I wasn't tempted to check Facebook, play Scramble, see the score of the game, etc.
But, before I get too self-congratulatory, convinced that by my example my kids will not need technology to fill the perceived boredom . . . over the last two weeks the one constant refrain from my six-year-old (when he's not asking to watch the Olympics) has been "can we get a Wii?"
(Image Credit: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://whenwillapple.com/saywhy/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/adrogeriphone21.jpg&imgrefurl=http://whenwillapple.com/blog/2008/10/06/roger-from-american-dad-has-an-iphone/&usg=__IgACnliTTs6ysEE081pL9fAM5Ok=&h=431&w=600&sz=111&hl=en&start=83&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=oB8R9Hekws4FgM:&tbnh=97&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddad%2BiPhone%26start%3D72%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den%26ndsp%3D18%26tbs%3Disch:1
Congratulations! Now, here's a question that's up for debate in my house. Doing The New York Times crossword puzzle on the iPhone. Essential or non-essential?
Posted by: Stacy | Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 01:59 PM