This Christmas for two days, on the 25th and 26th of December I have decided to do a digital switch off.
I am going to go completely cold turkey from my mobile phone. No phoning, no whatsapping, no photographs and definitely NO SOCIAL MEDIA. I think it's going to be hard. Really hard. But I'm determined to do it.
Why? It's for the kids innit! My two are now at a perfect ages to really enjoy the magic of Christmas. At 5 and 2 they understand what it's all about and they delighted by the rituals, the lights, the food, the presents. Of course the presents. And I want to be there with them, enjoying it every step of the way. And I can't do that 100% with my head in Twitter or by trying to find the perfect filter for that cute Christmas image on Instagram. So I've decided something has to go. And that something is my phone.
Of course, to do this properly, I'm going to have to do a bit of prep work. Here it is:
- I'm letting any family and friends that I won't see on those days, know that I'm not ignoring them I'm just offline. Novel idea, I know! They do have the capacity to use the landline if they want to chat with me. Remember those things?
- I'm also making sure that I have my old digital camera fully charged and ready to go. There are going to still be some special moments that I want to be able to capture. But I hope this year I will just take 20 photos rather than 200 (a day).
- I'm not banishing all screens entirely, I think a Christmas movie as a family is part of the whole experience isn't it? Or the Eastenders Christmas special if that rocks your world.
- And I'll also be scheduling a few posts automatically to go out on my social media accounts but I won't be interacting with anyone. See you Dec 27th online folk! It's only 2 days I'm sure they'll cope. No one will even notice, let's face it.
But I'll notice it and what I hope for is that my kids and family will notice it. By doing these small changes I can leave my phone in a drawer and forget about it. And work on creating special memories for my kids rather than special online posts. And that's the thing isn't it. The present that our children want more than anything, more than that Paw Patrol toy or that FlutterBy Unicorn, is us Our presence. This year I'm going to make that my main gift to them.
“The present that our children want more than anything, more than that Paw Patrol toy or that FlutterBy Unicorn, is us Our presence. This year I’m going to make that my main gift to them.”
I'll let you know how I get on!
Wish me luck, Jo x
#yourprescenceisthepresent
IMPORTANT: This campaign and hashtag was thought up by the brilliant Ali Chapman of Mum in a Nutshell and I am joining forces with her and another friend, Ali of MIndfulMadrid to see if we can encourage others to do the same in order to have a more mindful Christmas. Why don't you join us?