Just to be clear, I'm not giving up e-reader(s), iPad, phone, laptop, however, I did give serious thought to the article which was the subject of yesterday's post.
When I was in 4th grade we moved to a rural area in North Texas and had a crank phone on a party line. So I definitely understand advancements in technology and have no interest in going back to the "good ole days".
When we'd occasionally go to a cafe and if there was a juke box, that was magical to me How could there be a mind that thought that up and made it work? A hundred or so records in a shiny box and for a nickel, you punched buttons to put in a code; usually a letter and a couple of numbers and just like that it could figure out which record to play and soon a favorite song was playing. Now I click on Pandora and have 900,000 songs available and I'm not paying a nickel.
I've gotten into the habit of having the TV on, and at my side is laptop, phone, iPad and e-reader, one of them in use at all times. At 8:15 last night while 'watching' Dancing With the Stars, playing an electronic game, checking news and checking texts, I decided that for the next 45 minutes I would watch TV only; no other electronics, no touching the remote to mute commercials, no jumping up to wash a couple of dishes during commercial breaks. I was not asking myself to sit quietly for 45 minutes, just to concentrate on only one thing. Immediately one of my feet started jiggling. I stopped that, but was aware that my constant use of multiple screen technology was tampering, not only with my mind, but also with my nervous system. I had to stay conscious, as I would unconsciously reach for a gadget. I managed to get through the 45 mintues. I then checked the TV menu, discovering that there was nothing that I wanted to watch until 10:00 and so for one whole hour I turned off the TV. During that hour I allowed myself to check the news twice and the rest of the time, I read. I watched TV ONLY from 10 to 11:30, went to bed and slept more restfully than I had in ages. I had only started 3 hours before to moderate my use of screen technology and could already feel the calming affect to my nervous system. That could be a fluke, but I doubt it. I don't know where I'll go with this; probably I'll go online and read more about it!
When I was in 4th grade we moved to a rural area in North Texas and had a crank phone on a party line. So I definitely understand advancements in technology and have no interest in going back to the "good ole days".
When we'd occasionally go to a cafe and if there was a juke box, that was magical to me How could there be a mind that thought that up and made it work? A hundred or so records in a shiny box and for a nickel, you punched buttons to put in a code; usually a letter and a couple of numbers and just like that it could figure out which record to play and soon a favorite song was playing. Now I click on Pandora and have 900,000 songs available and I'm not paying a nickel.
I've gotten into the habit of having the TV on, and at my side is laptop, phone, iPad and e-reader, one of them in use at all times. At 8:15 last night while 'watching' Dancing With the Stars, playing an electronic game, checking news and checking texts, I decided that for the next 45 minutes I would watch TV only; no other electronics, no touching the remote to mute commercials, no jumping up to wash a couple of dishes during commercial breaks. I was not asking myself to sit quietly for 45 minutes, just to concentrate on only one thing. Immediately one of my feet started jiggling. I stopped that, but was aware that my constant use of multiple screen technology was tampering, not only with my mind, but also with my nervous system. I had to stay conscious, as I would unconsciously reach for a gadget. I managed to get through the 45 mintues. I then checked the TV menu, discovering that there was nothing that I wanted to watch until 10:00 and so for one whole hour I turned off the TV. During that hour I allowed myself to check the news twice and the rest of the time, I read. I watched TV ONLY from 10 to 11:30, went to bed and slept more restfully than I had in ages. I had only started 3 hours before to moderate my use of screen technology and could already feel the calming affect to my nervous system. That could be a fluke, but I doubt it. I don't know where I'll go with this; probably I'll go online and read more about it!
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