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A lazy Saturday morning, I go to bed and scroll through Facebook.
I am mostly uninterested, the exhaustion of social media coming up more often than not; however, it leaves me feeling lazy at weekends and I drink another sip of coffee to put off the day after a busy week. I'm about to make up for the impending chores when my eyes are drawn to a SMH article titled Meet the McCallums, one of the few Australian Amish families.
The name is familiar; I realize that this is a family I met and knew during the first years of school at home with my own family. I kept reading, fascinated by their complete reversal of modern life at Seventh Heaven and Little House on the Prairie.
What strikes me the most in their history is the awareness of the similarity of our lives once. yet having landed at a crossroads of 21st century of burnout, seeing how they chose a life so disconnected from society – such a contrast with the life we chose where I often wonder if my family has become too connected to it all.
I think about it as I start my day; the lifestyle of the McCallum family that is constantly parallel to my own lifestyle; so widely opposed, but not so different at all. Even though we may not have eight children, we have four – a family that is still quite large by today's standards.
We live at a distance on a farm of 2500 hectares, 350 kilometers from the nearest capital. Many of our values are shared; We strive as much as possible to achieve self-sufficiency by growing our own fruits and vegetables, raising chickens for egg-making, consuming our own steers and lambs fed at the same time. grbad, our house is heated over a wood fire, we buy recycled clothes the happiness of our children is not in consumerism, lives a lifetime less is more, and gives priority to spend time together to stay connected and engaged in everyone's life.
However, we also have a car, electricity and an embarrbading number of phones, tablets and computers; rarely disconnect from the internet.
We watch too many videos on YouTube, ask Alexa to turn off our TV at night, send messages through GIF files, stay up-to-date on social media, watch Eurovision. every May, chat with our kids in the next room when we can not be bothered to get out of the couch and talk to them, and have a possible addiction to Netflix.
I rationalize our use of technology: how, if my kids are out of touch with technology, it could have a negative impact on their career later on, how the world is changing so quickly that it's important that They understand how technology works in this context. to look at the Brooklyn Nine-Nine Seasons clothes and send funny memes to cats is only the family reunion of 21st century.
I want to think that I'm doing the best for my children; that it would be a disservice to move them away from technology today, that I give them the best chance of becoming adults who will succeed in their future lives.
Except that it is a beautiful sunny Saturday morning; One morning, I used to go cycling, climbing a tree or catching butterflies. My kids are inside I watch episodes they've seen at the Fuller House, Snapchatting, play Candy Crush, send SMS to her friends, film villains on PS4.
I allow it because I am tired, busy, exhausted and occupy me to do my work without interruption. Once I would have had them help with housework.
Once, I would have dragged their indolent backs to the outside and locked the doors. I do not know when it became easier for technology to keep my kids with technology, but here in this millennial age where there is too much time to do and never enough, I'm really grateful for not being disturbed a few hours.
One thought comes to mind and I wonder what the problem is with raising a family out of touch with modern society or raising a family that depends on it. I chose to ignore it.
A few weeks later, I still think of the McCallum family. I imagined their daily life as I go on my own. I've looked at the pros and cons of their lifestyle compared to ours and that of the average Australian family.
I've been thinking about family life as a result of technology; that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, whether it is the McCallum family or members of the same family who have an influence on something and should we all undertake a radical change to end our dependence on the technology and recovering traditional family values
And my answer is no.
What I understood was that disconnection is not caused by technology but only becomes a product when we allow it. Staying in touch with our family does not necessarily have to reside in such radical resistance to society, but in our desire to become more aware of how we integrate technology into our lives.
It sets clear and consistent boundaries around the time spent in front of a screen. It's eating together. Every week is the time to do things with family: bike rides, board games, plant a vegetable garden, spend Sunday afternoon by car. It's having regular time without a screen.
You need to turn off the phones at night to reduce the temptation to respond to business emails. That is to say no to more things, eliminate the haste of our lives, take the time to live together not only with our children, but to raise them consciously. It's about balancing technology control with control.
It's hard, raising a family these days; we are the first generation to face these challenges and there is much to learn to keep finding our brands. My fascination with the McCallum was not about selling our property and moving to mountains far from the ills of society – as tempting as it may be for a few days – but to realize the gap that has developed in my life. life. own family and the need to realign our way of life on our values; to pick up the ball, I dropped somewhere along the way when life became too busy to keep holding hands.
Do not isolate us from society as a solution, but find a better balance while living there.
I will not always do things well. But in the meantime, as I understand it, I will do some housework with my kids before spending time together and watching more episodes of B99 together. Noice.
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