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If you’re planning to spend the day with Mom on Mother’s Day, what are the chances you can do so unplugged? And not just for a few minutes, but for the entire day!
You know Mom. As much as she may love the gift, what she really wants is time with you. And how much of yourself are you really giving her if your attention is fragmented – with thoughts of texting, emailing, Facebooking and tweeting every time you have a free moment.
If this sounds like a challenge you’d like to take – an unplugged Mother’s Day – I’d love to hear about it. And for any more inspiration you may need, consider one woman’s recent attempt at the same on a recent unplugged day with Mom, just because.
“I had a day unplugged, with my mother.
“I brought my ipod, which I used for my camera mostly. There was no wifi where I was first, so I was pretty much unplugged except I had my cell phone with me because my mother first had to go into work and dropped me off at the marina, so in order to find each other I had to keep an eye on the phone in case she called. But I noticed, I knew her time frame, so I didn’t even check it until after it was past the time she was due to arrive.
“I did end up with anxiety but not due to being unplugged but because I have an inner ear vestibular disorder which causes me to get overwhelmed when surrounded by too much space or large things. I arrived at the marina right across the street from a giant mural. Instead of letting the anxiety overwhelm me, I turned on my ipod and listened to something familiar while I walked past the mural. Then I turned it off when I was ok. I didn’t have to be connected to the ipod all day. Later on I did sit and listen to one of Jena Morrow’s interviews while relaxing on the water front. I have been relapsed into eating disorder behavior. And I am working on letting God help me through this. And he does through different people. After it was done, I once again turned off the ipod, or only used it for the camera at the marina or calculator while shopping. It mostly stayed in my pocket all day.
“After the trip to the marina, we went shopping at two different shopping centers and malls that do have wifi. I did not even think to go online; I could have but I didn’t. I was so happy to be away from it and enjoyed the time with my mother which is rare.
“As far as how we communicated when we are out, we called each other if we were separated and we always had our cell phones with us. We did not text; we just missed a call and called each other back. Other than that, the phone was is in my pocket for emergencies only. I did not text or call anyone else. My time with my mom was my time with my mom.” ~Gina Paris whose blog you can read at Just Chatting Away.
For more on this topic, check out #Hooked: The Pitfalls of Media, Technology and Social Networking by The Center founder, Dr. Gregory Jantz. And if you do spend a day unplugged with Mom, Dr. Jantz would love to hear about it!
