Taming the Techno Bug

It's official...we have a bug floating through our home. We all have manage to catch it this season. As hard as we try, there are times a bug just gets hold of you and takes you down. This time, it is not the flu bug, instead it is the technology bug! That one is even harder to get rid of at times. With the purchase of new technology toys for Christmas, our entire family starts feeling the pull to those items. Of course, we can say some of the toys encourage play together and I do agree. However, I feel the bug has started to take over our lives and we all need a good detox from some of it. Between phones, iPods, tv , laptops, Wii, etc, we spend so much of out time with "things" I begin to wonder how I can break this pull. It is very helpful to know we are not alone in this struggle. We have many friends whose children can not take their faces away from the screens long enough to interact with family or friends. Since this is true in our home at times, me being just as guilty at times, I start wondering what can I do to break some of the pull to these things and instead have that pull be towards family and ultimately time with God or serving Him?

That question is one that I think is easier to ask than to solve. One thing I know I say often to my girls is that when that thing you are playing with becomes more important to you than your sibling/parents...it is gone. Our mission as a family is to be a light to the world and attract others for Christ, if that is true, we must be with people to do so. We can't be a light if our face is in a laptop all day long. We also desire to rid ourselves of any false idols in our life, including electronics.  If it has become an idol, meaning you can't stop thinking about getting to play it or use it long enough to spend an evening with family or you talk about it non-stop when you are with others, then you need to give yourself a "time out" so to speak and not use it for a set amount of days.

 I have to say that when Doodle got her iPod Touch last year, she was very good at monitoring when it got out of control. She would set up times where she would only play it on weekends for a bit. It helped her reign in that ugly beast. Whether it be the technology or toy beast, the one thing I  have always said to my girls is that people are always more important than things and if we ever have anyone in our home who leaves feeling differently, we need to adjust our focus. So, with that focus, there will be less facebook for me, less Wii games and playing games on the computer for a bit as I get it all under control a bit more. I would much rather spend my days playing scrabble with my girls in person than with a stranger online anyway! :) And what about you? Your family? Are there any of you that need to have a little taming of the techno bug as well? It is not easy but it is so worth it  as I see that with each step of becoming more disciplined in this area, our faith grows and our family gets closer. A huge bonus!