My smartphone is my nemesis. The internet, and facebook especially, are always at my fingertips. They tease me with the ease of “just checking” and eliminating boredom with the click of a button. With my smartphone, I never miss out on an update, a giveaway, a sale, or the mundane details of the lives of people I haven’t seen in ten years. I can snap a hundred photos of my family, upload them, then enjoy the instant gratification of “likes” and comments.
I am definitely not anti-technology. I do feel like my smartphone is changing my online experience, however, and not always for the best. My time online used to feel precious and I didn’t want to waste it. Sitting at a computer means putting your back to a room and purposefully separating from “real life.” Your kids notice and they demand your attention. But your phone is sneaky. It tempts you from your pocket, allows you to glance at this or that while playing with the kids or eating.
It hit me recently, however, that I hate to look up and see my husband, face down, using his phone. Again. How must my kids feel about my phone face all day? My smartphone has tipped that delicate balance I’d created between blogging, professional writing, facebook, and life. Plus, reading and accessing blogs isn’t as convenient as just popping onto facebook or playing a game, so I do less of what I really love online for the sake of convenience.
I miss the blogging community that is at the roots of my starting this blog. Facebook makes me feel jaded, over run by businesses and bigger commercial blogs that I’ve liked along the way. I want to have conversations again, comment, then discuss through emails. I want to be a good blogging friend, to write for readers who aren’t primarily interested in giveaways.
My goal for 2012 is for quality, not quantity, time online. I am going to get my face out of that phone if it kills me. The “I don’t have a home phone, I need it in my pocket” excuse isn’t going to cut it. I will blog, visit new blogs, comment, write, and then get away from the computer and just live (and then maybe grab a pen and paper and write about it during quiet moments).
If my blogging mission doesn’t bring me your way and you want to be a part of this, please let me know. Also know that I am visiting, but not always commenting. But I’m going to do better because I love discovering the genius of other blogs, laughing, crying, connecting, and being a part of a community.
Ironic timing here, Mindy because just this morning, I wrote a quickie blog about how I miss blogging and I really want to get back to it. Natalie free writes every day in her journal and I’m going to do the same in my own journal and see where my blog goes from those. I miss writing, jotting, and if I’m perfectly honest with myself, I miss THINKING! My own smartphone allows me to just kind of float through facebook and the like. Thank for the affirmation this post gave me (even if I DID find the link to this post via facebook – on my phone!) <3
I noticed I was doing the same thing a few weeks ago. It took Nathaniel taking my phone and putting it down and saying ‘no phone mommy, play cars me!’ And it was like something clicked/shifted in my brain. I just assumed since he was playing or eating or wathching Barney that he didn’t notice or care…but he did.