Everyone’s talking about how addicted to our phones we are. They’re saying we don’t interact with people enough. That we’re a vain society obsessed with “selfies” and instagraming our food.
Well…I tend to agree that there’s a fine line and most days I don’t stay on the better side of it. I know nobody needs 15 social network sites and 1000+ “friends” on each of them. I don’t need to read about celebrity breakups or be able to ship eyeliner from China to save half a dollar. I am however, really glad I have that option.
There are many reasons I am guilt free about being an internet addict. I use my phone and laptop for everything. Listening to music, watching Netflix while rocking the baby to sleep, following recipes while cooking, looking up free homeschooling materials, asking Google if my child is in danger because I caught her eating Vitamin C tablets. You know, the usual. Just this morning, in all her infinite curiosity, my oldest asked me how butterflies eat.
Now back in the olden days (think 1992) we didn’t have access to High speed or 4G or have portable supercomputers in our pockets. Answering all of life’s little questions for our children would require a long trip to the library to search through encyclopedias or a jaunt over to the computer lab to hook into Ye Olde Dial-up to search Netscape Navigator for answers.
God Mom, can’t you just give me ONE HOUR to download this picture of Hanson?!
Today I simply asked Google and it spit out 6,130,000 results in the blink of an eye. Right there near the top was a kid friendly explanation so I didn’t even have to use many of my early morning brain cells to break it down for her.
I know sometimes I could be more engaged with my physical surroundings instead of my online life. I could visit a friend instead of a webpage. This morning though? The internet made me a better mom. I didn’t brush her off with an “I don’t know” or tell her to ask her dad. We both learned something and it was out of genuine curiosity not because I said she had to. That’s worth something.
I must have restarted my device in the last few years because I’m pretty sure its been longer than that.
Fully Caffeinated Canadian Mom 