When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”
—John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra
I’m up early here in Northern California, before the sun. The wind is audible. The air is hard to breathe. Checking the EPA’s AirNow site for my area, the air quality is in the red Unhealthy zone with a warning that “everyone may begin to experience health effects,” not just sensitive populations. I watched the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department fire briefing streamed live from their Facebook page yesterday to get a better understanding of what my many friends who live in the area north of me are facing. I’ve checked in with all of them by email and Facebook. I was pointed to a KQED article on air quality by one of those friends. That article has helped me understand the severity of the air situation for those of us in the Bay Area so I can take care of myself (I’m minimizing time outside) and help my friends—one was the mailman I noticed wearing the wrong kind of protective mask yesterday in his open-sided mail truck.
I am grateful for my Internet connectivity and the devices that enable me to access the net. Hearing the accounts of so many people in Sonoma County who have lost connectivity due to the many downed power lines throughout the area, I am not taking Internet access for granted. And I’m thinking about appreciation.
I think appreciation can help us with the challenges we face in creating a Mindful Digital Life. What do you most appreciate about your smart phone? I think of the joy on my 85-year-old mother’s face when she learned how to use her new iPhone, her first smart phone, to connect with her friends. I titled this photo taken about 5 years ago “iPhone fun.” The iPhone had a practical purpose as well—FaceTiming with her from my home 300 miles away let me see how she was doing when I couldn’t be there. I’m guessing this aspect of your phone is something you appreciate as well if your close family and friends live at a distance.
Now let’s shift the conversation 180 degrees. What do your kids most appreciate about smart phones? Many younger kids won’t have them yet but most certainly they have their eyes on them…maybe they even use yours—to chat with a traveling parent or a grandparent, or to play occasional games like Monument Valley 2 (notice that this Common Sense Media app review has a “Talk to your kids about…” section at the bottom). The challenge is to ask and really listen in a curious and non-judgmental way (whether they have a phone yet or not)… “What is it about smart phones that you appreciate the most?”
So many of our conversations about technology focus on the negative. Mindful Digital Life holds the negative AND the positive, skillfully, in creative tension. It all begins with noticing.
As always, I would love to hear about your experiences. Does this post bring anything up in particular? Please do share your reflections and conversations if you have the time.
And if you’d like to make a donation to help Northern California families recovering from the fires, you can do that HERE.
Go Deeper?
Conversation Catalyst: Here’s a great Conversation Catalyst from Newseum for kids old enough to be using Facebook. It’s a poster titled Is This Story Share-Worthy? Note: Newseum will ask for your email to download a high resolution version of the poster—this will put you on their email list. This is a high-quality email list. Newseum has excellent resources on media literacy. If you don’t want to do that, visit the Newseum Facebook page and you will find a smaller, readable version of the poster there.
Next Up…In my last post I mentioned I would write about Jordan Shapiro’s exploration of styles of parental mediation and joint media engagement in this Forbes post. I really will dive into this in my next post and talk about why I think it is relevant and important.
Upcoming Talks and Presentations: I will be speaking on November 11 at Parenting U, presented by Julia Morgan School for Girls and SOS4Students. If you’re in the San Francisco Bay area, please consider attending.
