Thursday, May 3, 2012

14 1/2 minutes...

I read today that the average family spends 14 1/2 minutes per day intentionally talking and listening to each other.  I don't know whether or not that number is true and quite frankly, it doesn't really matter.

I think we can all agree on the fact that connecting with technology is becoming more important than connecting with our family to many of us.

We'd rather update our Facebook status than help our kids with their homework.  We'd rather Tweet our latest adventure instead of seeing the look on our kids' faces when we experience it together.  We'd rather check our [fill in the blank: LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, etc., etc.] than actually connect with family and friends through real conversation... and it's ruining us.

We took a walk last night.  We left our phones at home.  We stopped and talked to a good friend.  It was the best 45 minutes that I've spent all week.

You can have thousands of Facebook "friends", but if you're not listening when your family talks to you and you're not engaging in real conversations with your kids and spouse on a daily (or at least, weekly) basis, you're missing it.  We need to do better.