The year we stopped talking to each other.

That's how 2011 was described in a recent article I read. It's the age of iphones, smart phones, laptops, ipads. People are connected 24/7. Every seemingly important, yet meaningless detail of our day is broadcast for all to read. Just arrived at a BBQ restaurant? Your "checked in" status will appear on Facebook so all your friends know. Had a funny, random thought? Post it on Twitter for all your followers to read.

We recently purchased a Macbook Pro laptop. Dayven is in love with it, but I'm now wondering if a laptop was the right choice. I'm a desktop girl. I like an oversized monitor and a full size keyboard and yes, a mouse. I love my iMac. Sure, I love the convenience and portability of a laptop and I definitely understand the appeal, but sometimes I think it makes it too easy to go online and disconnect from those around you, where ever you are. If Dayven is sitting on the sofa setting up his fantasy football teams, he may be with us physically, but his attention is somewhere else. I'm in the same room with someone who's communicating with someone else who's not in the room. I instituted a no Blackberry at the dinner table rule a while back. Is it too much to ask to just have a few minutes to ourselves without any outside interruptions?? Same thing with smart phones. Everywhere you go, you see people reading and typing on their phones. Who are they texting and what are they saying? "This grocery store lineup blows!"?? When I'm at the park with my kids, I'm at the park with my kids, not texting with someone who's 1000 miles away or updating my facebook status to "playing at the park with my kids", which technically, you're not. You're updating your facebook status at the park while your kids play.

I'm not making a new year's resolution because they just seem destined to fail. But if I were to make one, it would be to spend less time online. So far, I'm not doing that good. It's frightening how much time is wasted on the internet. Every day, I drop Wyatt at school, put Hadley down for her nap and sit down to check my email before tackling my "to do" list. Ok, maybe I'll check out Facebook for a second and see what's going on. An hour and a half later, I'm surfing through the vacation photos of someone I haven't talked to since grade school. Laundry still piled up and dinner not started. Facebook is the black hole for productivity and time.

Over the holidays, I was pretty out of touch with the online world and I really didn't miss it. Being unplugged from email, Facebook and Blogging for a couple of weeks was really refreshing. Do I really need to know that someone just folded another load of laundry or ate a McRib sandwich? No, I don't. 

So, my goal is to read less about others lives and start living my own. I'll post more on my blog to chronicle our lives for future preservation (I just ordered books of my blog for the kids to read when they're older - it's the new scrapbook!) and stop reading other people's posts. I will be present in the moment and enjoy my kids while they're little. They'll be grown soon enough and then they'll be texting on their smart phones and ignoring me...