If This is So Hard, Why Am I Doing It?
I’ve had difficulty again this week sticking to the rules of the Offline Project. My phone is so integrated into my day-to-day life: checking the weather, getting directions, returning a call…you know.
It’s tough to have the willpower to use my phone for only practical needs. So I may need to create more structure and rules around internet usage. But if it’s so hard and inconvenient to limit my screen time, why am I doing it?
Because I want to be present for my toddler. I want him to experience me as an engaged mother, not a distracted one.
I also want to limit his use of technology as he grows up, so I can’t be glued to my phone and expect that he won’t be.
Another reason is to create community offline. A weird thing has happened in the past few years—facebook groups, online events, and paid online experiences are proliferating. There’s a place for all this, but I’m afraid it’s coming at the expense of in-person interaction. Over the weekend, I visited family and friends and noticed how easy it is to avoid screens in social scenarios. We turn to screens for connection, and when that need is met in real life, screens are superfluous.
My final reason for limiting screen time is that I want to do a lot of sh**. Scrolling is pouring time down the drain.
-Kim