Monday MomTrepreneur: No Phone Zone

We recently had a 3-day Jewish holiday.  The word 'holiday' can be different to each person.  To some, it’s a time in their religion to pray to G-d, to others, it’s a time to eat and drink with friends, and to still others, it’s a vacation!  To me, it’s a time to spend with family and friends.  It’s a time to zone out from the world and be with the people we love the most.  So there are no phones, emails, and electronics.  Sounds impossible!!  

My husband and I took our children upstate for the 3-day holiday.  We hung out with friends, ate, and spent time outdoors.   When we were ready to leave, we were both so sad.  We’ve been on vacations before; week long ski trips with the family, upstate for weekends or summers by the beach and pool in Florida. But there was something special about this time.

We both realized it was the lack of phones or distractions.  Our iphones become the biggest distraction.  It does so many great things for us, but at the same time, it distracts us and wastes time.  How many times have our children said “put down the phone, you’re not listening to me”.  Or  we tell them “hold on, let me finish this email” and forget to ask them what they wanted.  On this holiday, we were “in” everything we did.  There were no phone calls, emails, or instagram.  No watching the news or choosing songs to listen to.  It was just us and our kids.  It's incredible how much you can enjoy, when you don’t have your phone constantly beeping or ringing. I was able to sit down and enjoy every moment without anything cutting those special times short.

I went back upstate this weekend hoping to recreate this idea.  A whole weekend without my phone glued to my side.  And although I did missed texting my best friend or checking my family whatsapp every time it beeped, it was nice to keep our phones away and be in every moment.

Let's be conscious of our cell phone usage, it's hard to fully enjoy life with the phone interrupting.

And yes, I do cheat sometimes, the iphone does take the best photos, so I need it near me at all time.

But you get what I'm saying – right!??