MODERN FAMILY
READING about PE guru Joe Wicks’ addiction to his phone, while on my phone, really struck a chord this week.
I spend a lot of time telling the children off for walking around the house like zombies with their phones seemingly glued to their hand, demand that they switch them off at meal times, and threaten to take them away for bad behaviour.
But there is no-one monitoring my own usage, or telling me to switch off. Last week, the nation’s favourite PE teacher admitted that he felt addicted to his device and discussed how hard it was to take five days away from it to spend more time with his young children.
He went on to say it was a shock how much he struggled on the days he put it away.
With 4.3 million Instagram followers, social media has been a powerful force in establishing his career. But the impact it has had on his mind and ability to be present is a real eye opener.
Despite having a combined age of more than 90, my husband and I rely heavily on the children to navigate us through the digital world, but every week when my phone tells me how much time I have spent on my screen, I make a resolution to reduce it next week (a bit like the promise I make to myself to start a diet every Monday).
Experts often raise concerns about the emotional effects on children spending too much time in front of screens, but what about on adults?
After reading what Joe Wicks had to say about his phone, I left mine behind when I went for a day out to catch up with some friends from school.
On the way, I went to check the weather forecast before remembering I didn’t have my phone with me, and couldn’t show my friend an old picture a friend had sent me on WhatsApp, but not having it was actually liberating.
The others agreed to join me in this trial digital detox, and the only time someone took out their phone was to take a picture to mark the event, and to call the taxi at the end of the night.
Just like old times, we spent the whole time laughing, talking and there was no panic the next morning about any embarrassing footage or pictures that might make us cringe. We did spend a long time discussing how different our school lives would have been if mobile phones had been around.
We couldn’t remember how we arranged to meet up and couldn’t believe how much our parents must have been concerned if we were running late and they couldn’t contact us.
Our experiment was only for five hours, not five days, but it was still an eye opener.
Phones are here to stay, and they can be really helpful in our lives, but I need to practise what I preach to the children and find a better balance, and remember to switch off more.