Parenting In A Digital Age

There is a part of me lately that wishes I could take my whole family to a cabin somewhere and live unplugged entirely.  Ironically that leades me to the notion that I'd like to rewatch that PBS series Frontier House where they had families do just that.  The irony is that I want to use my TV to watch it.  I want to watch someone else do what I cannot do.
(Warning: high levels of ramble ahead)

See, we were watching the Piolot episode for Star Trek last night (further irony gaining insight from TV) and though it was a load of old television cheese, it was actually quite good.  The aliens though were talking something about creating mental escapes instead of living in the reality.  To the point where that would be preferred   I think that describes our highly plugged in and wireless society.  It describes me, it describes my children.

I grew up in the country.  I was allowed one movie a week after we finally got a tv and then, WHAT!? ..a VCR when I was ten.  Of course I whined about not getting to watch more than that but the answer was no and somehow I'd amuse myself outside or heaven help me, do chores.  We ourselves have had less TV for our kids available than most. The two times we got cable none of us really could pull ourselves away from it.  Rick could watch History all day, I could watch cooking and decor shows, and Nickelodeon was like a suction cup on our kids faces!  We always felt led to get rid of it.  However, the visual means of escape have changed dramatically even in the last two years.  It started with more of the computer issue than the TV.  Now, however they have iPods and the Wii which gives means to games, and apps like Netflix and Hulu.  It almost makes me wish it was TV where you get one episode of what you like and come back later another day or week for the next one.  NOW, we don't have to wait for anything!  Even us last night purposefully vegging streamed four episodes of Star Trek.  Emma was in her room streaming Dr. Who one after the other, and Victoria was texting her brains out over her phone while checking facebook in between.  She has a new boyfriend and I'm actually thrilled he comes from a huge family that lives in the country and has not internet.  He also has no phone so she cannot be obsessed with "talking" to him.  Quite honestly  it's a great way to limit her exposure to him and I think that's good no matter how great he is.

We've become sucked into big and little boxes!  Don't get me wrong, I love my iPhone.   I love that we finally have a humble flat screen, and I love that we can mack-out on what we want to watch now and then.  With these digital blessings though comes the drug of escape and I struggle to know how to navigate myself let alone my children through it.  I truly believe that it leads to depression.

The reason I think it does this is that it goes against all our bodies were created to do.  They were created to work for one.  Work has for sure been tainted by the fall and has become drudgery for us in many ways.  After the Fall, Adam had to pull weeds and till hard ground.  Yet, before it, he still took care of the garden and we get a much more delightful picture of enjoyable work.  Still, it's purposeful, and it feeds our bodies and brains with stuff we need.  Greater still than this though I believe is the need for expanse.  Wide open places, glorious views and breathtaking wonders of nature be they big or small.  Tolkien must have somehow seen this world coming when he started to highlight the simple charms and fulfilling of the simple Hobbit life.  He defiantly paints a picture of simply working to enjoy the simple things like a good meal and pipe.  His distaste for industry is evident in the stories as well.  We have moved even beyond where he could have seen, from industry to technology.  We gift ourselves while we loose ourselves.  The description of Hobbit life makes me crave for that simplicity.  Perhaps if written now, there would not only be industrial nemesis but a crazy tech bad guy as well. lol.

We also have too much of each other and yet less relationship.  I don't know how we have managed it, but it's true.  We are completely socially overexposed.  For someone like me who loves to relate to people this can be disastrous   It is for me at times.  For really, when would you ever sit in a room full of people, or talk one on one to one person have them just silently stare back at you.  No, you would relate. You would converse and share. Somehow, this world of conversing with the option of responding or not is really not how we are meant to relate to one another.  Not that I'll leave it, and not that it is all bad, it's just another weird side effect of this technological age. It's another love/hate issue.

Yet, what are we to do?  There is so much of our world going in this direction   My kids have little to do in their small neighborhoods where they can't wonder very far.  We've made the world unsafe for children to play and the only option seems to be escaping through electronics.

What I'm getting at I suppose is the realization that I can't have the all or nothing cure I want.  I can't just unplug the world they live in.  So, the only other option is intentional planning to control it.  I don't like that thought, it's much harder.  For us being in a place where they can't roam it's going to mean planning hikes and outings more.  Places where they can see the skyline and be awed by something bigger than themselves that feeds their souls.  Something money can't buy and an app can't accomplish.  Today we are limited by money as to how much of the world our kids can get out and see.  I feel that way at times.  Then I ask myself though if I'm doing enough to get them out and see all that they can where they are.  It takes effort and planning and me pushing myself when I'd rather crash as well.

All I know is they are growing up in a world where they may soon forget the adrenaline of a good mountain top view.  They may forget how it feels to have their lungs full of fresh air.  They may get sucked in and never come out of these technological escapes.  I feel called to remind them what they were really made for. If technology increases we may all forget creation all together.  I want them to remember so they can feel the urge to fight it off in their own lives.  I can't even begin to imagine how lost they all may be in a virtual world someday.