Electronic devices are a blessing and a curse. In a lot of ways, they’ve made our lives so much easier: We can do things like making appointments and banking from our phones. Smartphones allow us to keep track of our kids, even. But there’s also a dark side to electronics because so many of us become too attached. One UK-based family recognized their dependence on electronics and decided to do a detox for a week.
After giving up their phones, laptops, video games, etc., the family were forced to spend time together in ways they didn’t normally. The way the process brought them together was surprising to them.
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The mom realized that her family members were too dependent on their devices.
UK-based mom Adele Jennings wrote about her family and their weeklong detox from screens for The Mirror UK. Jennings admitted that she has a co-dependent relationship with devices and social media.
“I live on my phone,” she confessed, sharing that she loves posting on Instagram and Facebook and uses a virtual assistant to keep track of appointments and such. The idea of detoxing was just as scary for her as it was for everyone else in her family.
Her family wasn't totally on board with the idea.
“Wait, what do you mean I won’t be able to have my smartphone for a week?” Jennings’ 15-year-old daughter asked, but the mom assured the teen that the detox “will be really good for all of us.”
Her 8-year-old son, a “YouTube addict,” was up for the challenge, but her husband was skeptical. They made the choice to give up all electronic devices: smartphones, Kindles, laptops, computers, Xbox, tablets, Mp3 players, etc.
Jennings had to work through the detox, so she was allowed to keep her laptop. But she and her husband agreed to only use their phones to make calls.
It was definitely an adjustment.
Jennings and her husband weren’t even using their phones as a morning alarm. Instead, they dug up an old alarm clock with a “horrible-sounding alarm.” She even went to a physical bank rather than use the banking app on her phone.
“Something unusual happened later that day – we all spent time together, and it was lovely. We chatted, laughed and, to be honest, I think after one day without our devices, we were all a bit hysterical,” she wrote.
Not using electronics did eventually get easier.
Jennings’ teen admitted that she used a friend’s phone to check her Snapchat, but the mom was glad that the teen confessed. The girl found the experiment “embarrassing” and told her friends that her phone was broken to save face.
Jennings also shared that she and her husband took to writing each other notes instead of texting. She also began calling him frequently, which was “really annoying him.”
A few days in, her husband unearthed a Walkman. “Is that what you had to do in the olden days?” her son asked.
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Overall, the experience was good for them.
“I’m surprised at all of us for managing to go the whole week without our phones and tablets,” Jennings admitted. She explained that she was “especially proud” of her teenager, who found the experience the “most challenging” of any of the family. Ultimately, her son decided he would use his tablet less, and her husband was planning to become less dependent on his phone.
“This has been a really good thing for our family to do,” Jennings wrote. “I feel we have reconnected as a family and that has been truly wonderful.”
