Thursdays (Zero Technology Night)

Last night was our second Thursday doing this: shutting off all technology at 7:30 and spending the rest of the evening completely unplugged. Ahhh it's so refreshing! Very, very nice -Joseph and I LOVE it! And I really think our kids have loved it too. I think the idea came in part from a talk I had been listening to in preparation for our Ward Conference. The theme of our Ward Conference this year was all about getting the Spirit in our lives, learning to follow and heed the voice of the Lord.

"The Voice of the Spirit" by, President Faust is a prophetic talk given clear back in 1993 before the internet was really even a mainstream thing in most households. I know my family didn't have it clear back then. I don't think we got the internet in our home until maybe 1995 or 96.

 In one part of President Faust's talk, he warns:
"In your generation you will be barraged by multitudes of voices telling you how to live, how to gratify your passions, how to have it all....There will be all sorts of software, interactive computer modems, databases, and bulletin boards; there will be desktop publishing, satellite receivers, and communications networks that will suffocate you with information... Everyone will be under more scrutiny. There will be fewer places of refuge and serenity. You will be bombarded with evil and wickedness like no other generation. As I contemplate this prospect, I am reminded of T. S. Eliot’s words, 'Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?' (The Rock [1934], I)."

One of the things I love about our Zero Technology Night is that Chandler came out and played board games with Kaylee and Micah. He talked with us and stayed with us. He seemed happier, all of the kids seemed to interact and play with each other more. I hope more than anything the kids recognized how freeing that felt to not be distracted by any screens. It was awesome!!

Have you seen the movie Incredibles 2? Have you seen Wall-e?
Have you seen this thought provoking little short that was made about three years ago? https://vimeo.com/127447302
Or read this article in the LA Times published a couple weeks ago? https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-riley-screen-time-zeitgeist-shift-20190107-story.html

Screens aren't probably going away anytime soon so I believe it's important that we help our kids be wise with how they use them. I'm so glad Miriam and Micah have chosen not to enter the Facebook or Instagram world. I think when people get on social media too much it's like inviting the trauma of  Middle School dramas back into your life again. And who wants that?!!

There is so much more good to fill our minds with. There is plenty of good, worthwhile wonderful things on the internet. Not all of it is junk. Our screens really can be a tool for so many wonderful things. But it's like when President Faust asked:

"How are you possibly going to select what voices you will listen to and believe? The implications for you as individuals are staggering. To survive, you must:
First, exercise your moral agency wisely. Omni tells us how we can make the proper channel selections. 'There is nothing which is good save it comes from the Lord: and that which is evil cometh from the devil' (Omni 1:25). Every moment demands that we choose, over and over again, between that which comes from the Lord and that which comes from the devil. As tiny drops of water shape a landscape, so our minute-by-minute choices shape our character. Living the eternal gospel every day may be harder than dying for the Church and the Lord."