Unplugging Mommy

I have recently been contemplating my digital life. I have felt too overburdened by all of the “connections”as of late. It started with my iPhone and the trouble the old thing (it’s a second generation) has been giving me lately. I got excited thinking that AT&T would give me a free iPhone4 and man I could see all the great things it would do at lightening speed.

I got even more excited when I thought about handing down my old phone to my 3-year-old to play games, videos and music on.

Then reality set in. No, no free iPhone4, but I could get it at a reduced rate. Well, my phone isn’t in that bad of shape so I let it go.

But it did start me thinking: Why do I need all these features on my phone? Which led to me question all of my dialed in devices and time I spent plugged in.

Then as luck, or the stars, or Universe or whatever you want to think, would have it, I came across Janet Lansbury’s post “Do Wired Parents Need Time Out…Or Less Guilt?”

This resonated with me. I had been struggling to do all the wired in, dialed in, plugged in things and finding time to spend playing with my son.

Too many times I would get frustrated with him because he was interrupting me while I texted, phoned or surfed the Internet. Then I realized maybe I don’t need to be that plugged in so often. I am not a CEO with a Fortune 500 company, I’m not an emergency room physician, I’m not even employed by any major media company that demands I watch my smartphone or email 24/7.

I decided I needed less guilt and less “stuff” to be plugged into.

Then, of course, I was checking Twitter and found another great link to another article from Lansbury again (she’s good!) on NPR. The article is a review of William Powers’ new book Hamlet’s BlackBerry’: To Surf Or Not To Surf? The book is about finding peace and balance in life in the digital age.

I realize the irony between my state of getting unplugged and finding these great ideas on being unplugged from the Internet. But I also realize there is a lot of information out there that I don’t need.

What I plan to do is to be less connected and when I am set time limits. This way I will be a better “surfer” and get the important information that I need quickly so I can do the thing I love more: spend time with my family – guilt free.

How do you feel about being plugged in and parenting?

I would love to hear how you balance home life with working from home.

Love the Life you Live,

~ BjW