TRACEY SPICER’S DIGITAL DETOX
Suddenly, my hands started shaking.
I began swiping surfaces with my finger. Then panic set in.
What if I needed to know the population of Kazakhstan?
The weight of the nest of a bald eagle?
How to spell antidisestablishmentarianism?
We’d decided to go on a digital detox in the wilderness of Wyoming, in America’s midwest. Life was becoming a series of interactions with inanimate objects. (Yes, Wendy, I’d started talking to the toaster!)
Upon waking, I couldn’t wait to check Twitter. Facebook was next. Then emails. Only after that would I say “good morning” to my family.
Was is insecurity? Ego? Vanity? Probably a combination of all three. But it was clear, technnology was taking over our lives.
After an hour-long session on the Nintendo DS my son looked like a junkie, strung out and desperate for another hit. I caught my clever daughter sitting slack-jawed on the loungeroom floor, watching passive female characters being patronised by the ‘hero’ on Cartoon Network.
And this is in a family which only allows ‘technology time’ for two hours of a weekend. Enough. So we packed up and went to the remote Rocky Mountains.
If the US is a couple of years ahead of Australia, this is our future. At LA airport, most passengers juggled three devices: a phone, tablet and iPod. And it’s not just corporate travellers.
Technology is the new smoking, giving everyone something to do with their hands.
Upon arrival in Denver, I asked the taxi driver whether he had a street directory. “Whaaaa?” he asked. He proceeded to look up the address on his mobile phone, while travelling 75 miles an hour on a five-lane highway.
This is by no means unusual. AT&T has paid for road safety ads on TV, preparing a defence for future lawsuits.
One of the biggest-selling books in town is Goodnight iPad, a parody of Goodnight Moon.
Each page, parents lament about tearing technology away from their kids so they can go the f#*k to sleep.
Phones are as disposable as, well, cigarette packets. You can get an all-inclusive package on a throwaway mobile phone for $25 a month, with no contract.
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11 Responses to this article
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Keziah Hill June 26, 2012
Very timely. I’m going on a digital detox in October with Offline October.
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Kylie L June 26, 2012
Great piece, and so true…. Susan Maushart’s book “The Winter of our Disconnect”, about her whole family going tech-free for (gasp) 6 months is also brilliant on the topic, and inspired me to make some changes in my own family before it got too late. We miss too much when we’re always staring at screens.
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airdre grant June 26, 2012
Fantastic. The oppression of the digital world. Recently I travelled across the southern alps in new Zealand, on a train. As the spectacular mountains revealed themselves above gorgeous alpine rivers, thrilling rocky gorges and and aquamarine lakes, a youth, sitting nearby, did not look up once from his gameboy or whatever technology that dominated him, for the whole eight hour trip. Possibly he went to the refrshmetn carriage. one wonders why he was on the train at all. Should have been a a windowless room.
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Lynne June 26, 2012
I feel so sad when I see that sort of thing happening airdre grant. I find the compulsion to use technology very strong & you’re right Tracey it is the new smoking. It gives me something to look forward to instead of being in the moment & it helps me to ‘check out’ – and my daughter hates me using it…that’s telling.
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Sarah June 26, 2012
Thanks for another great read, Tracey (and i love the smoking analogy too).
p.s. This is written on the family computer (instead of my laptop) because I inadvertently shut down my laptop with the freedom app (http://macfreedom.com/) that I meant to download to restrict the kids computer use … needless to say I think the universe is trying to tell me something, as I sit online while my daughter hand writes her Christmas list in multicoloured pencils…
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Mrs Woog June 26, 2012
You must MUST detox regularly. MUST! Even if it means a straightjacket and a padded cell. xx
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Ro. Watson June 26, 2012
One word~ resistentionalism!
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Marina June 26, 2012
I don’t know if it’s because we’ve come from a space where we didn’t have much – to having alot – but we don’t have these issues in our house with four kids. Friends come over to play/hang out and yes – the unlimited internet is an attraction, they all plug in and start creating on Mine Craft – but then they’ll drop off and want to make Pizza, rumble in the lounge room, be happy to be sent on weird challenges when dad is home, stop for ten minutes and do housework and they’ll even log off and re-enact their online games in the real world – maybe it’s because they have full access, maybe it’s because we throw in other experiences that are more fun – but it’s a balance and kids will extend the culture that parent demonstrate. My kids think I won’t make a day without the computer, but they realise it’s a tool that makes my life easier and provides us with flexibility for work – but I have NO problem with letting go and thankfully, neither do they. When we travel – they aren’t interested in looking out the window, I wasn’t either at their age!
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Seana Smith June 27, 2012
Aha, yes this is an issue and I think your holiday sounds fabby. But having said that we’re off to Fiji on Friday and I’m still swithering about whether to take this laptop… the iPad and iPhone are coming for sure though, I’ve bought a zillion Kindle books to read by the pool!!
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shiralee June 28, 2012
My Great Uncle Tom lived to 102 years old. He owned a TV Video radio and a home phone. The other end of the scale is my 4 year old niece. At her home she sits infront of the TV like a zombie. When she comes to my house she wants to play. In 5 years I’ve only known her to ask for the TV on once. Even when someelse turns on she barely looks at it.
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Tracey July 9, 2012
Terrific comments guys – I’d forgotten about Susan Maushart’s book – must read it – I love her writing! I also love the use of ;resistentionalism’ – wahoo!!!
