Slippery Slope

Hello.  My name is Mama D, and I'm an addict.

Until three years ago, my phone was just a phone.  No internet or email capability whatsoever (I didn't even text!)  But then Thing One started playing baseball, and my entire life began to slide downhill, one byte at a time.

The baseball coach was one of those guys who would schedule additional practices or cancel or change existing ones with very little notice, and always by email.  In order to keep up, I needed to be able to check my email on the go, not just while sitting in front of my computer at home.  So I asked Himself, who had purchased an iPhone a few months before and loved it, to please get one for me as well.  Famous last words.

I now get upset when I forget it at home.  I check it obsessively from parking lots and doctors' offices and the pickup line at school.  I have no set daily computer time, but since I am virtually never without a computer courtesy of that phone, the greater powers of the Internet threaten to take over my life on a daily basis.  We do have a no-devices-at-meals rule, and I do my best to stay off all devices entirely when my kids get home from school, since that's when they most want to talk to me.  But a never-ending battle, to be sure.  Curious to hear if any of you limit your own screen time too!

Tuesday, Nov 19: How much of the day are you plugged in? Do you consciously set aside offline time, or does it happen whenever it happens?