The other day my daughter wrote a blog post about how difficult it is sometimes to live without envy when you have nothing but sunshine and roses all over Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram...you name it. Everywhere you look, people are posting about the good things in their life. Don't get me wrong...I'd rather see a lot of good things than all the bad things. That's not the point. What is the point is that this thing called the Internet sure does make it difficult to live our lives without comparing ourselves to others.
Her whole post got me thinking about how glad I am that the internet only came into my life when my kids were a bit older. I remember being ecstatic when Ms 23 yo was one year old and I got a computer and put it in my bedroom so I could do my graduate work on it and not have to go out! That was living!
I remember getting our first cordless phone when the first two were little and feeling as if I had been set free.
But beyond those exciting advances in technology, my life was not full of distractions that came in the form of snapchats, sound bytes, posts and pictures. I didn't have to fight the temptation to browse one more time instead of paying attention to the littles around me (and I know it would have been a HUGE temptation for me). I didn't have quick access to how everyone else was raising their kids so that I could compare myself to them (it was hard enough not to do that with friends or acquaintances I saw in person).
Again, don't get me wrong. With everything bad about the internet, there are good things, too. I'm just very glad I didn't have to deal with it for the majority of my life so far. Now my kids are older and more self-sufficient and so I actually have some time to myself (shocking, I know!). That's when I can post and snap and share pictures without feeling too guilty! I also know what a strong pull it all has on me, even at this age!
There is one thing, however, that I really think I would have benefited from while raising small children....my Kindle. Man, how many times I'd drop a book while trying to read and nurse a baby at the same time. How many times said book would drop and startle a sleeping baby! To be able to prop my Kindle up and just do a little flick to turn a page and not the gymnastics I used to do; that would have been beautiful!
I can't wait to see how my children balance their internet usage with their families. They've been involved with digital devices for most of their lives so they have a different view point of them then people "my age". It will be interesting to see if they struggle with it when there are tiny tots running around.
In the meantime, I'm going to shut this thing down, plug in my android for the night and tuck away my Kindle so that we're already for another big day tomorrow!
God Bless!
