Taming Tech: Tip #2

TIP #2: PHONE-FREE ZONES

Phone-free zones are good for both places and times. When you are having dinner together, that’s both a time and a place to not let phones encroach on this important family time.

There was a scene in the documentary The Social Dilemma that showed a scripted vignette of a concerned mom making an effort to get her disjointed family together for a family meal, without phones. She repurposed a plastic kitchen safe with a timer meant to lock up cookies to secure everyone’s devices for an hour during dinner.

The scene shows the awkwardness of a family who doesn’t know what to do with themselves around the table without their phones. Conversation was forced and when the eleven-year-old daughter, Isla, hears a notification alert, she gets up from the table to get to her phone. Her mom tells her it’s locked and to ignore her phone during dinnertime.

As the family attempts to get a conversation going again, they are interrupted by a loud crash as everyone at the table suddenly turns towards the noise and sees that Isla has smashed the container into pieces with a metal tool. She obstinately grabs her phone and stomps off to be alone in her room as the family gapes in shock.

It was a cleverly scripted scene that could possibly happen in many homes today, but don’t let it scare you from trying.

Other phone-free zones might be family vacations, or eating out together, and during church activities, or visiting family or friends.