I am a product of the 80’s and a child of the 90’s. Growing up if I wanted to call someone, I had to pick up my parents landline and call another landline. My parents never said “Google it,” instead they said “Look it up in World Book.” If I didn’t watch my Saturday morning cartoons during their scheduled time, than I missed them. The coolest piece of technology I owned was my skip proof portable CD player.
My wife and I have a baby, so we don’t have to worry about setting restrictions for a teenager (yet), however we are conscience about the example we set for our daughter. We have a few guidelines to help both our marriage and our family as it gets older. We don’t allow devices at the dinner table. Dinner is a time to bond with the family. If you come over for dinner, we will ask you to put your device in the device tray. The other thing we do is have a screenless night at least once a week. This time has become special to us. We started playing Ping Pong on our makeshift Ping Pong table, we garden, we bake, we make smores outside with our fire pit, and we read. This brings me to the title of this blog post.
I have a coworker that prefers reading books on his phone, and he makes a few good points. It’s handy when traveling, his wife sleeps better when he’s reading in bed because there is no light on to keep her awake, and it takes up less space.
But when you read on a device, whether it be a phone or a tablet, you aren’t invested like you are with a book. There are so many distractions. If you get a notification, you check it, and there’s always the temptation to stop what you’re reading and flip to another app. When you read on a device, you are missing out on the texture and smell of the pages, the satisfaction of re-reading the same copy of Harry Potter you grew up with, going to the library or bookstore and finding your next adventure, and completing the book and setting it down with a sense of accomplishment.
But the biggest satisfaction of reading a book, is it’s a book, not a device. When your kids see you on your phone, they don’t know if you’re checking email or reading Shakespeare; watching YouTube or reading Jane Austen; playing Angry Birds or reading John Green. But when you read a book, they know you are reading a book. I love when I’m out in public and there is that one book among a sea of screens. So next time you want to read a book, don’t do it digitally. Pick up a book and thumb through it’s pages, smell the ink, and know that when someone sees you reading, they will know that you have been whisked away to a different place that doesn’t involve a screen.
Resources to reduce screentime
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/device-free-dinner#sign-up
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/well/family/5-no-phone-zones-for-parents-and-kids-alike.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8kiQ6qtV7k
http://techtimeout.com/
