Where will you be this Thanksgiving?
The usual posting schedule is Monday and Friday, but I wanted to share this post with you early so you could read it before Thanksgiving; Friday would be too late. So this post is coming 2-days early this week. I hope it helps you have a great Thanksgiving.
This week I sat down and tried to remember where I’d been every Thanksgiving since I got married in 2012. Fortunately our phones geotag our location when we take photos which helped greatly. However one year, 2015 continues to elude me. I have no photos, no record, and apparently no memory of that year.
This was a fun exercise to remember and reminisce on years gone by. But this also sparked some thoughts about this year.
Thanksgiving is a holiday where many people go great distances to gather with friends and family. This year our family drove 15 hours to Texas; last year we drove 7 hours to Illinois.
What is so strange, almost ridiculous, is that after spending so much time and money to gather, we waste so much of our time together isolated in our own little online worlds — we’ve gathered but we aren’t together.
This happened quite a lot last Thanksgiving as we gathered with family in Illinois. So I’m making a conscious effort this year to put my phone away on Thanksgiving day. I believe that if I’m unable to go one day without needing to be tethered to my phone I have a problem.
Where do I plan to be this Thanksgiving? Present, not just physically but mentally. Where will you be this Thanksgiving?
From my home,
Matthew
Founder, DADS™— Dads Against Devices™
Our pledge.
I will lead my family — by example and instruction — to be present, build relationships, strengthen the body, and nurture the deeply human attributes of love, communication, empathy, kindness, gratitude, humility, forgiveness, critical thinking, imagination, discipline, patience, integrity, resilience, courage, wisdom, and faith. To protect my family, I will not allow social media or unlimited, unmonitored, and unrestricted access to screens, gaming, or the internet in my home, nor will I provide personal smartphones to my children until they demonstrate the maturity to use them responsibly.