Maybe it is time for you to unplug from electronics...
My kids have their own tablets, a tv in their bedroom, along with a ps3 in my sons room and a wii in my daughters room. My husband and I have laptops, smart phones, TV's. Don't get me wrong we are constantly "plugged in" to some type of electronics but sometimes we try to do it as a family and other times we try to unplug completely.
I'm not saying you need to unplug for DAYS! Or even hours. Maybe a 30 minute board game with your child or a 15 minute card game with your spouse, finger painting with the kids, cooking or baking as a family, or get out of the house and go somewhere for a bit.
Last summer we went on our last family beach trip before we moved from North Carolina. We went to Nags Head, NC (the outer banks). Oh my goodness it was gorgeous and just so peaceful. It is more of a family beach, where Wilmington and Myrtle Beach were more touristy and party beaches. The thing with the outer banks though was it was almost an island. So service there was little to none. My mom started to get worried because she couldn't get in touch with myself or my husband... She watches a little to much lifetime on Sundays. But for the most part we were unplugged laying on the beach the whole 4 days we were there. It was so nice not constantly texting, answering phone calls, checking emails, or being on social media. The hardest part was not being able to use the GPS on our phone. We had to use a REAL MAP! Thankfully though when I was younger we traveled a lot and used a world map so I could handle the small map of just the outer banks.
Ways we like to unplug are Family Game Night.. We pick out some games from our game stock piles sometimes we will play 4 player games where we can all play and sometimes we will pick 2 player games and Brett and I will play one game, while Brynna and Adam play another game, then we'll switch. When the kids go to bed Adam and I will play speed, California speed, blackjacks, or battleships.
We live in upstate New York now and another way we unplug is getting out and going tubing or ice skate. It's not easy being on your phone when your sledding down a hill. The thought of hitting a bump and my phone flying out of my hand and being lost forever just makes me want to leave my phone at home, in the car, or zipped up in my pocket until we leave. And while ice skating I'm too busy focusing on staying balanced to even worry about my phone. If you live near a beach you could head to the beach. No use in having your phone out and chancing a wave coming in and taking your phone out to sea.
Even though this isn't FULLY unplugged but just relaxing and watching a TV show as a family or the kids watching a kid show while mommy and daddy watch an adult show is also nice. I LOVE Christmas movies. Elf and How the Grinch Stole Christmas are 2 of my favorite Christmas Movies, but I also like all the Santa Claus movies. So normally around the holidays I record a bunch of Christmas movies and we just lay around sometimes and watch those.
So here is something I want you to try.. Unplug for 30 minutes a day. Don't even look at your phone. Then maybe on the weekends try for 1-2 hours. BTW when you unplug for 30 minutes or an hour do it all at once. Not 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there, etc. Go for a run, sit and do homework without your phone, play a board game. Their are so many options. When you were a child and didn't have electronics what did you do to have fun? Give that a try again..
