There’s something I always forget when I prepare for these kinds of fasts:
My children are delightful.
They are not perfect, but they are so willing to go along with whatever we’re giving up. Of all the areas, this is by far the one that has sunk its claws into their little souls the deepest. And they’re doing so well!
Now, this disclaimer needs to be made: this week there have been even more rules broken! Dan was off work Tuesday, so some sweet friends offered to watch our boys Monday night. We proceeded to go to dinner and a movie. I can’t stop love, friends. Then Tuesday we were invited by friends to watch that new movie with a marshmallow-looking robot. And we went without regrets.
All that to say…this isn’t that much of a stretch some days for them.
But they really are doing well and having great attitudes.
And we really are looking to other things first before we fill our TV quota. Success.
And from The 7 Experiment:
“A recent New York Times article, citing dozens of sources, reported that this is your brain on computers:
‘Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information…
The stimulation provokes excitement – a dopamine squirt – that researchers say can be addictive. In its absence, people feel bored. The resulting distractions can have deadly consequences, as when cell phone-wielding drivers and train engineers cause wrecks…
And for millions of people…these urges can inflict nicks and cuts on creativity and deep thought, interrupting work and family life.’
Even after this multitasking ends, fractured thinking persists; because evidently this is also your brain off computers. Researchers at Stanford found that media multitaskers seem more sensitive to incoming information than nonmultitaskers, and that is not necessarily good:
‘A portion of the brain acts as a control tower, helping a person focus and set priorities. More primitive parts of the brain, like those that process sight and sound, demand that it pay attention to new information, bombarding the control tower when…stimulated.
Researchers say there is an evolutionary rationale for the pressure this barrage puts on the brain. The lower-brain functions alert humans to danger, like a nearby lion, overriding goals like building a hut. In the modern world, the chime of incoming e-mail can override the goal of writing a business plan or playing catch with the children.'”
(7 An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, pg. 102)
Fractured thoughts, lower creativity, less ability to think deeply. I truly don’t know anyone in my sphere of influence that seems to struggle with this, but I have seen it “out there.” I’m completely old-fashioned when it comes to actually talking to the people at your table when you’re at a restaurant. And being with the people you are with in the moment. And not always needing to be connected to cyberspace.
What about you? You or your family struggle in these areas?
Hope you’re having a lovely (now frigid) November!