Reality Check

A friend of mine posted this article - How to Miss a Childhood - on FB, and I've been giving it a lot of thought. Technology is such a double-edged sword. On one hand, it makes it easier for us to be productive. On the other hand, it makes it easier for us to be productive, at the expense of staying "in the moment" and enjoying meaningful interactions with the people around us. I'm not trying to be all high-and-mighty, here. I'm just as guilty as everyone else - I spend more time messing around on the interwebs than I really need to. I read my Nook out on the lawn while C plays with the neighbor kids. Sometimes I don't pay quite as much attention as I should while he's painting or building legos or creating worlds for his dinosaurs (not to the point where something unsafe could happen, just in terms of not being as "in the moment" and interactive as I could be). And I'm a gigantor hypocrite, because I've complained and felt slighted by others doing exactly the same thing. For example, we were out to lunch with another couple when husband's phone rang. I was absolutely mortified when he actually answered it. In the restaurant. At the table. You just don't do that! Ignore it, or take it outside if it's important, but for the love of god, you don't answer the phone at the table. A perfect example of technology allowing us to be too productive and too connected. There have also been instances when I've been out with a friend who is constantly on her phone - texting other people, reading her facebook wall, sending facebook messages - while we're sitting at a table together, barely talking. Awkward.... So the thought that I might be inadvertently making my own child feel the same way - ignored, neglected, second fiddle - by being distracted by the technology I carry around in my pocket - is sobering. I can't promise that I'll ever be the perfect model parent and completely ignore the smartphone at home. These habits are hard to break, even though they're so relatively new. But I can promise myself that I will try to be better, and that I will make a conscious effort to be more aware of the little moments, the daily opportunities we have to make memories and enjoy life together - because those will be gone all too soon.