July 28: Going E-Free

In a plugged-in world, here's a blog about unplugging. Briefly, just briefly. And it's also about enjoying time in South Florida as a family. Why not do it for the kids? Assuming for the moment that you have kids. (Maybe my suggestion wouldn't hurt any of us, whether we have kids or not.) All right, let me back up a bit to explain. So your children have still got ... what? Around a month or less of summer vacation before returning to school, right? I'm going to take a wild guess that those school-age kids in your house have been pretty busy over the past several weeks. Possibly summer education of some kind to help them get ahead in their classes or it might have been camp somewhere or vacations with family or friends or whatever else.

I'll also venture another wild guess. In between all those busy outings here and there, your kids have spent a lot of their time texting friends. As most of us know, texting is huge with the younger set these days. Scary huge, if you ask me. And when they're not texting, it seems, they're online.

All right, now for that radical idea about unplugging. I'm putting forward the notion here of one e-free day each week for the rest of the summer. Not just for the kids, but for your whole family. Wow, an entire 24 hours without email or web surfing or texting. Nothing. Nada. Yes, that means you too. I know, I know. Sounds painful at first, doesn't it? But before you dismiss this out of hand, stop and consider the possibilities for a second. It could work something like this: At an agreed upon day and hour, you round up all of your family's cellphones and computers. If there's a desktop, take the keyboard and mouse. Only one cellphone for emergency calls would be allowed on this e-free day. Until that same hour the next day, your family mission becomes all about connecting - with each other. Without electronic interruptions. This might mean playing a board game together that evening or going out to dinner and then grabbing some ice cream. During the daytime, you could visit one of Greater Fort Lauderdale's gorgeous beaches. Maybe the next week you might want to head over to the Bonnet House or Butterfly World. Or take an Everglades airboat ride. Anything that will get the kids enthused and allow all of you to actually talk to each other. And laugh with each other as well. I admit that my suggestion has a slightly extreme ring in this society of texts and tweets and status updates. You just may be surprised by the results, though. For everyone in your family. Sometimes a little old-fashioned fun together can go a long, long way.