time suckers

This isn't working. By "this" I mean, the 7 experiment. At least so far this month. Yes, I am taking more time for prayers, reading, and other great things I love. But Mother's Day yesterday pretty much proved to me that this isn't working like it's supposed to be.

Yes, it was a good Mother's Day. We had a great time at church. We had a fabulous lunch. Then, I sat down to check my email. For just a minute. Everyone else sat down to do something similar. And an hour or two later, that's what we were all doing. Sitting in front of screens. Zero human interaction. Zero recognition that it was a gorgeous day outside, we had just bought a croquet set at a garage sale the day before, and for heaven's sake anything should be a preferable use of time next to taking quizzes on "Celebrities that start with 'G'."

We're good at shaking our heads at people who watch TV thirty hours a week, or can't sustain a real relationship because they spend too much time on Facebook, or make us fear they're part of the zombie apocalypse after fifteen straight hours of video gaming. What kind of people behave like this?!

Ahem. Those people are us. We. First person plural. Maybe not guilty of those things. But what right have I to judge when I can spend an entire evening with my family in the same room and none of us talks to one another because we're all behind a silver screen with a half-eaten apple on it? (OK, mine is blue. I have a crazy-cool case on mine. Silver is for boring people.)

And maybe it's not the forbidden 7 sites or media centers. But it's something. Because we're trained to fill that time with something. And when a void presents itself, it's human nature to fill it. Not usually with the best stuff but with the most convenient. I hate this, and I am a huge part of it.

My vow for this week is not to fill space with the closest thing. Swearing off three favorite sites is clearly not enough. No more. No more anything mindless that is just taking time from where it needs to be. Instead of opening the computer (or the phone--got my first smart phone Saturday. I am already sensing the danger) as a first resort, I will make an effort to find something else. Maybe even something involving other human beings.

It's a thought. What do you find sucks your time away? How do you restrain it?