El pasado jueves al dejar a mis hijos en la escuela les dije que por la tarde cuando los recogiera seria "un atardecer sin tecnologia "... Si hubiesen visto las caras de horror que pusieron ante tal noticia.
Last Thursday while dropping off my children at school I told them that when we pick them up later that day it would be a "technology-free evening"... if you've seen the horror faces thay had after receiving such news.
"Ni siquiera podemos ver television?", exclamo la mas pequena.
"Ya veremos en la tarde", le conteste mientras nos despediamos.
"Not even can we watch TV?", protested the youngest one.
"We'll see about that in the afternoon", was my answer while we said goodbye to each other.
Cuando en la tarde ya regresamos al hogar, pude sentir la resistencia y la inevitable preguntas: "De verdad que no podemos usar nada de computadoras, Ipad o tabletas? Ni siquiera el Wii? Hasta que hora va a ser esto? A que hora vamos a dormir hoy?" continuaba el torrente de cuestionamientos.
Once back home in the afternoon I could feel the resistance and the unavoidable questions:
"For real we can't use none of the laptop, Ipad or even tablet? Not even the Wii? For how long will this be? At what time are we going to bed?, the flow of questionings continued.
Solo para ver una reaccion adicional les dije: "Bueno, van a dormir a las 9:15pm, y siempre tienen que apagar sus artefactos 10 minutos antes de acostarse para enviarle mensaje a su cerebro de que es hora de descansar...entonces yo diria que de 8:59pm a 9:05pm estaria bien". Nuevamente, las caras de protesta y asombro especialmente de la menor. Fue un momento Kodak.
Just to explore an additional reaction I said: "Well, if I let you go to sleep at 9:15pm, and always you have to turn your devices off at least 10 minutes before going to bed to send a message to your brain that its time to rest...mmm...I would say that you could use them from 8:59pm to 9:05pm". Again, more disgrunted and schock faces, particularly from little Sophie. It was a Kodak moment.
Abner vio que no habia muchas alternativas y trajo una pizarra blanca con marcadores borrables y comenzamos a jugar Tic-Tac-Toe. Luego cambiamos a Hangman, haciendolo exclusivamente de programas de TV. Mirando con el rabito de ojo, Sophia no pudo contenerse mas y pidio permiso para jugar. Estaba sorprendido de la dinamica que se habia creado. Lemuel mientras tanto se sento en la butaca cerca de nosotros a leer un libro.
When Abner saw that there were no further alternatives, he brought a small white board with erasable markers and we played Tic-Tac-Toe. Then we switched to Hangman, but exclusively with names of TV shows. Looking with the corner of her eye, Sophia couldn't contain herself and asked permission to play. I was surprised of the dynamic that was created. In the meantime Lemuel sat to read a book on the love chair close to us.
Pero Sophia despues de dos horas de desintoxicacion, me volvio a pedir permiso, y les dimos 45 minutos y luego ya no habria mas computadoras. Todos aprovecharon esa ventana de tiempo para hacer sus cosas y luego nos reunimos. Les explique que mi proposito era forzarles a comunicarse con las personas a su alrededor en vez de con alguien a la distancia. Hablamos de la importancia de conectar con las demas personas sin depender solo de la tecnologia. Al final, luego de Andrea llegar del colegio con Aisha, todos nos sentamos a ver la pelicula de Godzilla. Fue tierno ver a mi hijo mayor recostarse en mi hombro como no lo habia hecho desde mucho tiempo. Acordamos que hariamos una "tarde sin tecnologia" un dia a la semana de ahora en adelante y lo sabran reconocer pues en ese momento les dire "hoy no habra wi-fi y tendran que hablar entre ustedes mismos".
After detoxing for two hours, Sophie asked permission again, and we conceded them 45 minutes and then no more for the day. All of them took advantage of that window of time to do their stuff and reconvene together after. I explained my purpose was to leave them with no other choice than to be forced to communicate with the persons surrounding them instead of someone at the distance. We discussed the importance of connecting with people without depending on the crutch of technology. Later when Andrea arrived home from college with Aisha, we all sat to watch the new "Godzilla" movie. It was a tender moment when I noticed my oldest boy leaning his head against my shoulder like he used to do when younger, but hasn't done in a long time. We agreed to continue the "technology-free evenings" at least once a week from now and that they will be able to recognize it when I say "today there will be no Wi-Fi and you will have to talk among yourselves".
Last Thursday while dropping off my children at school I told them that when we pick them up later that day it would be a "technology-free evening"... if you've seen the horror faces thay had after receiving such news.
"Ni siquiera podemos ver television?", exclamo la mas pequena.
"Ya veremos en la tarde", le conteste mientras nos despediamos.
"Not even can we watch TV?", protested the youngest one.
"We'll see about that in the afternoon", was my answer while we said goodbye to each other.
Cuando en la tarde ya regresamos al hogar, pude sentir la resistencia y la inevitable preguntas: "De verdad que no podemos usar nada de computadoras, Ipad o tabletas? Ni siquiera el Wii? Hasta que hora va a ser esto? A que hora vamos a dormir hoy?" continuaba el torrente de cuestionamientos.
Once back home in the afternoon I could feel the resistance and the unavoidable questions:
"For real we can't use none of the laptop, Ipad or even tablet? Not even the Wii? For how long will this be? At what time are we going to bed?, the flow of questionings continued.
Solo para ver una reaccion adicional les dije: "Bueno, van a dormir a las 9:15pm, y siempre tienen que apagar sus artefactos 10 minutos antes de acostarse para enviarle mensaje a su cerebro de que es hora de descansar...entonces yo diria que de 8:59pm a 9:05pm estaria bien". Nuevamente, las caras de protesta y asombro especialmente de la menor. Fue un momento Kodak.
Just to explore an additional reaction I said: "Well, if I let you go to sleep at 9:15pm, and always you have to turn your devices off at least 10 minutes before going to bed to send a message to your brain that its time to rest...mmm...I would say that you could use them from 8:59pm to 9:05pm". Again, more disgrunted and schock faces, particularly from little Sophie. It was a Kodak moment.
Abner vio que no habia muchas alternativas y trajo una pizarra blanca con marcadores borrables y comenzamos a jugar Tic-Tac-Toe. Luego cambiamos a Hangman, haciendolo exclusivamente de programas de TV. Mirando con el rabito de ojo, Sophia no pudo contenerse mas y pidio permiso para jugar. Estaba sorprendido de la dinamica que se habia creado. Lemuel mientras tanto se sento en la butaca cerca de nosotros a leer un libro.
When Abner saw that there were no further alternatives, he brought a small white board with erasable markers and we played Tic-Tac-Toe. Then we switched to Hangman, but exclusively with names of TV shows. Looking with the corner of her eye, Sophia couldn't contain herself and asked permission to play. I was surprised of the dynamic that was created. In the meantime Lemuel sat to read a book on the love chair close to us.
Pero Sophia despues de dos horas de desintoxicacion, me volvio a pedir permiso, y les dimos 45 minutos y luego ya no habria mas computadoras. Todos aprovecharon esa ventana de tiempo para hacer sus cosas y luego nos reunimos. Les explique que mi proposito era forzarles a comunicarse con las personas a su alrededor en vez de con alguien a la distancia. Hablamos de la importancia de conectar con las demas personas sin depender solo de la tecnologia. Al final, luego de Andrea llegar del colegio con Aisha, todos nos sentamos a ver la pelicula de Godzilla. Fue tierno ver a mi hijo mayor recostarse en mi hombro como no lo habia hecho desde mucho tiempo. Acordamos que hariamos una "tarde sin tecnologia" un dia a la semana de ahora en adelante y lo sabran reconocer pues en ese momento les dire "hoy no habra wi-fi y tendran que hablar entre ustedes mismos".
After detoxing for two hours, Sophie asked permission again, and we conceded them 45 minutes and then no more for the day. All of them took advantage of that window of time to do their stuff and reconvene together after. I explained my purpose was to leave them with no other choice than to be forced to communicate with the persons surrounding them instead of someone at the distance. We discussed the importance of connecting with people without depending on the crutch of technology. Later when Andrea arrived home from college with Aisha, we all sat to watch the new "Godzilla" movie. It was a tender moment when I noticed my oldest boy leaning his head against my shoulder like he used to do when younger, but hasn't done in a long time. We agreed to continue the "technology-free evenings" at least once a week from now and that they will be able to recognize it when I say "today there will be no Wi-Fi and you will have to talk among yourselves".