Conversations 1: part no technology time

yesterday at the Simple Way we had our very first session of Conversations at the Simple Way which three of us had largely been working on pulling together for a while – 15 people signed up to hang out with us as we did a couple of different sessions including one on intentional community, a practical serving the community aspect, a story over lunch from someone in the neighborhood who is involved in doing some really life-giving stuff within Kensington, where we live, and a sharing and question time around a specific theme – this one being ‘how to serve God with your Time, Treasures and Talents’ – it really was a great day and a few lines of thort or concept struck me as different people were sharing and i wanted to be able to pass those on:

a good friend of ours, Lara Harler Lahr [wot an amazing name – fits with the tune of a well-known Christmas carol, figure it out then sing it aloud and smile quietly to yourself] shared about stewarding her time as she is a mom and wife and daughter and nurse and Simple Way board member and and and… lots of juggling to do, lots of relationships happening and intersections and so shared some ideas about how to manage time without letting it rule [or completely run away from] you…

the one idea she shared that i really liked was the idea of ‘no technology time’ and she didn’t go so deeply into the specifics of how it works in her family, altho gave some examples, but it was more the idea of being intentional with your technology so that it doesn’t rule you – she used the phrase, “we don’t want to be THAT FAMILY” and i think everyone knew what she was talking about – everyone comes home from work and school and dives onto the tv, ipod, facebook and sits in their little online worlds apart from each other. which can be so destructive for family dynamics.

i don’t think there can be a hard and fast rule on this, but as with so many topics i think the crucial thing is that people are asking the question – and while this is an important thing for singles to get right and is pretty important within a couple who are in relationship [turn the technology off when you’re on a date, seriously!] i think it is an absolutely crucial piece for families… you have to be intentional about creating ways to let relationship rule over technology.

for us living in this neighborhood in the heat we’ve been living lately it can become the go to place of flopping on the bed and loading something onto Netflix or Hulu and lying in front of the fan rather than engaging with housemates or neighbors and so we need to be intentional about having times of doing that and times of just switching off and unplugging and getting outside or heading into the city so that we can experience real life life away from the screen.

i feel this so very strongly about phones and have for years and LOVE the fact that Pearls Before Swine cartoonist Stephan Pastis very probably feels the same way as illustrated in a number of his rat cartoons…

don’t get me wrong – i love the opportunities the internet has for allowing us to stay connected to friends and family who are far away and to encourage, challenge and inspire people from all over the world who you maybe can’t do face time with – i think those things are important – but i do think it is even more important that we are in charge of them and that we place a higher value on face time with people who we do get to see and be with and so instituting a time or concept of ‘no technology time’ in whatever form or way that looks for you, has great potential for allowing you to reach both of those.

to consider both Collaborative Giving and Collaborative Consumption and how they can play out, read this