The Bad Side of being So Connected

The husband and I cashed in on our annual Christmas gift from my parents and hit the campground while they stayed home and watched our 2 kids!  It was wonderful, but we came to a 21st Century realization:  We are overly in touch because of being so connected.  Cell phones, smart phones, Skype, remote video surveillance and on and on have taken the human presence part out of interacting.

The husband takes the golf cart for a quick run to the real bath house to take care of business.  It is a very short ride, but while on his ride, he sees something funny, takes a picture and sends it to me back at the camper.  I comment back and we talk via text while he is in the crapper.  He gets back and we have nothing to talk about.  Hum.....this seems to happen a lot anymore.  The kids do something funny while he is at work and I send him a picture or call him.  When he gets home, he already knows about our day and we do not have a lot of new stuff to share at dinner.  He does the same during his day.

While we were gone, we punched up on the smart phone our outdoor cameras and watched the kids riding bikes and playing in the driveway.   WHY?!?!?  We knew they were in good hands!  When I was little, my parents left me at a neighbor's and went to Hawaii while I had strep throat and NEVER EVEN called!!   I still love them and do not feel too scarred by the whole issue!

Kids today are so connected with each other and society.  My kids will never understand the embarrassment of having to talk on the land line phone in the upstairs hall or having me answer the phone when a friend of theirs calls.  They will never remember a day of not having a cell phone in the car.  They will never experience having to walk home from school because they missed their bus and their Mom cannot be reached because she is outside weeding the garden.  (Trust me, it was not a short walk from school to our house.  It wasn't up hill in both directions, but it was long enough to teach me a lesson.)

So, what is the solution?  I do not have a fool proof one, but we are going to try to reduce the number of times we talk a day and try to save the good and funny stuff for family time at the dinner table.  We are not going to provide a cell phone with a data plan to our kids (or at least hold out as long as possible).