Going tech free? During a Summer PhD program? SERIOUSLY!?!?!
Hour One-
I went to Little Caesar's in K-Mart in a mall...yes, that's right- a Little Caesar's in a K-Mart in a mall. That's Indiana Pennsylvania for you. So, within the first hour I had already broken a rule. I had used a car and a credit card. But, I only looked at my phone once which Darius rolled his eyes at reminding me of our mission.
By the way, Darius turned right on red at a "no turning right on red" intersection. I told him it was ok because we weren't supposed to be dealing with technology anyway. So, we can tell the officer to call Dr. Pagnucci to get us out of a ticket.
Hour Two- Four
I spent the next couple of hours at the Summer Cohort social that John geniusly (spell check is telling me this isn't a word- it is now!) put together. I actually did not even know where my phone was as it was not on my mind at all. Well, maybe a bit. I am always wondering if I should check the phone to see if the kid is ok. Other than my minimal of parental concern, I hit hour 5 with low tech exposure.
Hour Five- Twelve
The cohort spent an hour or two at dinner/ drinks. Some moved seats in order to avoid watching the TV hanging in the corner, some spoke of missing the "phone limb", while others reveled in the freedom from responsibility. I did not tell myself I was tech free as I would have had to take my last three Xanax pills, and those have to last me for the rest of the Summer.
I had my purse with phone in it on the table behind me. It was there. I did not touch it (other than a walk to the bathroom for a very cursory look to see if I had 180000 phone calls telling me my son had an emergency- nothing! Guess I didn't need to look. Life goes on without me?!?)
Walking back to our summer homes, a few of us joked about our last few hours without tech, trying to ignore the virtual crossing guard telling us when it was and wasn't safe to cross the street. What would we do without him!?! Midnight in Indiana is treacherous road crossing!
Some food I had hidden from the party was in Bita's fridge, so we went to retrieve it. She mentioned the crayons and coloring book I had bought on my foray with Darius to the Little Caesar's in a K-Mart in a mall (!), and we colored the early morning away speaking of relationships, cohort funnies, and our little girl hopes and fears. Hearing our very happy laughter, Abby joined us, and all three girls got drunk on boxed wine whilst coloring and gossiping.
Funniest part of the whole night- Abby was coloring and broke a crayon; Bita admonished her for she was "coloring too hard"... maybe you had to be there and see Bita's teacher face and Abby chagrined "I broke a crayon" face.
FYI- As we were coloring, the fact that we were "wasting so much time" came up over and again. I pointed out that if we had to do a whole 24 hrs, that's equivalent to a week of the academic year cohort time.
The following ten hours of tech free were mainly tech free as I was sleeping. I cannot account for what I do in my sleep- my family is notorious for sleep walking, eating, and worse, talking! So, if anyone has a missed call or text from Mellissa that night (more like morning of Saturday)... then, I slept tech'ed!!!
Here's my coloring:
I went to Little Caesar's in K-Mart in a mall...yes, that's right- a Little Caesar's in a K-Mart in a mall. That's Indiana Pennsylvania for you. So, within the first hour I had already broken a rule. I had used a car and a credit card. But, I only looked at my phone once which Darius rolled his eyes at reminding me of our mission.
By the way, Darius turned right on red at a "no turning right on red" intersection. I told him it was ok because we weren't supposed to be dealing with technology anyway. So, we can tell the officer to call Dr. Pagnucci to get us out of a ticket.
Hour Two- Four
I spent the next couple of hours at the Summer Cohort social that John geniusly (spell check is telling me this isn't a word- it is now!) put together. I actually did not even know where my phone was as it was not on my mind at all. Well, maybe a bit. I am always wondering if I should check the phone to see if the kid is ok. Other than my minimal of parental concern, I hit hour 5 with low tech exposure.
Hour Five- Twelve
The cohort spent an hour or two at dinner/ drinks. Some moved seats in order to avoid watching the TV hanging in the corner, some spoke of missing the "phone limb", while others reveled in the freedom from responsibility. I did not tell myself I was tech free as I would have had to take my last three Xanax pills, and those have to last me for the rest of the Summer.
I had my purse with phone in it on the table behind me. It was there. I did not touch it (other than a walk to the bathroom for a very cursory look to see if I had 180000 phone calls telling me my son had an emergency- nothing! Guess I didn't need to look. Life goes on without me?!?)
Walking back to our summer homes, a few of us joked about our last few hours without tech, trying to ignore the virtual crossing guard telling us when it was and wasn't safe to cross the street. What would we do without him!?! Midnight in Indiana is treacherous road crossing!
Some food I had hidden from the party was in Bita's fridge, so we went to retrieve it. She mentioned the crayons and coloring book I had bought on my foray with Darius to the Little Caesar's in a K-Mart in a mall (!), and we colored the early morning away speaking of relationships, cohort funnies, and our little girl hopes and fears. Hearing our very happy laughter, Abby joined us, and all three girls got drunk on boxed wine whilst coloring and gossiping.
Funniest part of the whole night- Abby was coloring and broke a crayon; Bita admonished her for she was "coloring too hard"... maybe you had to be there and see Bita's teacher face and Abby chagrined "I broke a crayon" face.
FYI- As we were coloring, the fact that we were "wasting so much time" came up over and again. I pointed out that if we had to do a whole 24 hrs, that's equivalent to a week of the academic year cohort time.
The following ten hours of tech free were mainly tech free as I was sleeping. I cannot account for what I do in my sleep- my family is notorious for sleep walking, eating, and worse, talking! So, if anyone has a missed call or text from Mellissa that night (more like morning of Saturday)... then, I slept tech'ed!!!
Here's my coloring:
Love this!! Had so much fun drinking and coloring with you and Bita!
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