This was a lovely way to start my day. We’ve just put our tv in storage, and it feels like freedom! This was just a personal choice for our family, but I was feeling what you were feeling. This was so well said. Thank you for the reminders and encouragements to show our children that people are worth seeing and life is worth living.
Thank you for writing this out! Like so many others, it seems from the comments, this is reaching me at the right time. It’s challenging (yet not at all judgy) and curious and funny, and it invites the reader to approach this (hard!) topic the same way. Excellent! Subscribed 🤍
Your words reached me at exactly the right time. I have been contemplating deleting my Instagram account and this might have been the push I needed! This is what I have been turning over in my mind lately: "I began to imagine what it would look like to separate myself from all of that input." Yes yes yes. Thank you for sharing your story.
Thanks for reading, Megan. I've been off Instagram for a year and I honestly haven't missed it for a single second. I have no idea what topics or products are trending—but this has been my most productive, and consistent, year of writing since before I had children. I can't recommend it enough!
Brilliant as always. You are wise beyond your years. Thank you for this-incredibly relatable. I have had “one foot out the door” on social media for a long time. You described the situation perfectly.
I have used a computer in my 18-20 years of employment, as well as personal research and some gaming after work. I gave up TV a long time ago -I notice that in the 60 Channels there was almost never anything I wanted to watch, and at my age, especially after my [near] death I do not want to waste a minute being psychologically abused by the increased race-trans anti-White man attacks within the program and in the advertisements.
My Web use now is to learn things I am interested in and did not have time to do before my retirement. In many ways my wheelchair has been a Blessing because I am no longer walking around and wasting time better spent here.
--
Your 'About' informs us you are a Christain, and you mentioned Simulation Theory. Earlier today I was reading about Hologram universe theory, and black-holes as a way to define our reality in terms of modern Sciences.
As a Traditional Catholic that has most of my life rejecting such theology despite having many of what I now realize were religious experiences - rejecting for the science I found a pleasure in since 5th grade and the determinism of computer programing since 7th, I find I now am a Solipsist where the One is Jesus Christ, who Hosts us each and all our worlds within His Body & Blood (mind and soul.)
Many of those reading this have experience Vivid dreams where at some point within a dream they knew they were dreaming and yet others in dream acted different the dreamer would, and so one may wonder, how many of you were there, the dreamer, you in the dream, and those others .. yet it is hard not to see - unless one assumes dream-connections beyond self, that only One exists.
I do enjoy the exercise of Catholic Apologetics in terms of the science of today, the many versions of the Passion or other common events in two or more Books of the Gospel as possibly explained by multiworlds, and Jacob's Ladder Levels as part of His Death in Levels above and the Darker Intelect seeming people around Him as He descends into Hell (Chaos, unTruth, inJustice, disOrder), much like anyone my age (60+) or older seems to know from childhood to today as we accept more insanities as normal, more than mothers killing our babies on whims, .., to Open Televised Genocide as normal.
For those of us with an engineering & computer science background and a bit of imagination the concept of [Holy] Simulation Theory fits well with this direction of Apologetics, not to claim Truth but as an example suggestion to many of what seems Paradox or unexplained Mystery in Traditional Catholicism Doctrines and Theological expansions, and if one limits Phylosophy to that which had grounding in Nature Law such as Thomas Aquinas and those unwilling to reject such and so fly into deliriums and seek graspingly in nightmarish tangents for the very Grounding they rejected, the Modernists Phylosophy that perhaps may be bracketed with a start in René Descartes to what we suffer today that excuses nearly every bit of Sanity and humanity.
A question I recently came across was: why was William of Ockham a Theologist and not a Naturalist (Naturalism), did he not apply his Razer to his own Theology. It seems he would and did and as one that followed soon after Thomas Aquinas he would be all that more sure of his Catholic Theology, and one might suggest that he would have rejected - as we all should - the insanities of the Modernist Phylosophy and the Modernist Sicken Catholic Church.
I suggest that - in answer to the Question posed - that William of Ockham would have argued in favor of Metaphysical solipsism with the Author of all the world and all our souls as Jesus Christ, of God the Trinity.
May this answer find us all ever closer to God, His Clarity and Peace.
This really struck a chord with me. I've been truly addicted to my phone for maybe over a decade (and I'm 31! Not even gen Z!). I've deactivated social media accounts, only to reactivate them a few days later. I used to love reading, and still do, but it feels like an unsurmountable effort compared to putting something on Netflix or losing an hour or two on YouTube shorts.
I thought having a baby would 'fix' me. Surely, I was going to be too busy looking after another person to be lost in the online world. Well, my daughter is a year and a half and she has learned that the phone is a coveted item that both of her parents seem to be glued to for the better part of the day. I want to change that, but, as you said, sometimes it feels like it kills me.
Heather this has always been my biggest struggle as an autism mom. How do I demand my kids get off their devices? Remove my sons fun iPad (that’s he grows more and more addicted to with every passing day) when I myself cannot put my phone down for more than 3 minutes? I cannot stop scrolling, videoing everything, shopping. I’m removed from my own life and demand my children have self control. What a hypocrite I am.
Jennifer, I hope you know that there is no judgment on my end. Obviously, this is an online newsletter and I want people to read my newsletter. My husband earns a living online. We are not a screen-free household. There was a time my son's nervous system couldn't tolerate a family dinner around the table (too many transitions, too many different volumes and vocal pitches from multiple people at the table, and too many expectations) and, in order to get my son to eat, we ate most of our meals in front of the TV. We did what we needed to do in order to get through the day. I can't and won't apologize for that.
I have a difficult time writing about this topic because, in so many ways, the internet has made my life better. Without the internet, I might've never known there were other families like mine. I appreciate being able to order groceries online. (Before grocery pickup, I shopped at 9-10pm at night after my kids went to sleep.) Alongside the good, however, is the not-so-good: addiction, loss of other interests or hobbies (or never discovering certain interests or hobbies due to being "terminally online"), and just an overall feeling of being disconnected from your own life.
My intention isn't at all to guilt parents into taking away technology that is serving their families. If your child has an iPad but doesn't have a Switch, celebrate that as a win. If your child has a Switch but doesn't have a phone, celebrate that as a win. If your child has a phone, but doesn't have social media, celebrate that as a win. I don't believe in a one-size-fits-all solution for every family. My convictions will probably differ from your convictions. My intention is to initiate an honest conversation about the good and the bad.
Only you know where the Lord is calling you to shift habits. "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Ohhh friend I would never ever think you’re judging anyone ever! I love your words. Your shared stories. This has been a conviction in my life for 2 years but as a coping mechanism, and probably survival, I disconnect from my kids by allowing the iPads and screens way too much. But the lord has nudged me ever so kindly to remind me I’ll never get this time back. Maybe someday my autistic son will be able to tolerate tv or iPads in small doses but as of now it makes him very aggressive and he has many addict behaviors in an actual drug addict. Once he broke his iPad and went 48 hours w out it while it was getting fixed. He didn’t get used to it. He had Withdraw symptoms. Fever shaking throwing up which all went away the moment iPad was back in hand. Just reading this felt like another nudge from the lord that I need to do this for myself and my family. I’m a zombie and I don’t want to remember life like this at the end
This is one of my favorite essays you've written -- so much that we are all thinking about as parents.
And -- If you can decipher my penmanship, I'm game for switching to handwritten letters!
This was a lovely way to start my day. We’ve just put our tv in storage, and it feels like freedom! This was just a personal choice for our family, but I was feeling what you were feeling. This was so well said. Thank you for the reminders and encouragements to show our children that people are worth seeing and life is worth living.
Also, I love Joni Mitchell too.
Thank you for writing this out! Like so many others, it seems from the comments, this is reaching me at the right time. It’s challenging (yet not at all judgy) and curious and funny, and it invites the reader to approach this (hard!) topic the same way. Excellent! Subscribed 🤍
Your words reached me at exactly the right time. I have been contemplating deleting my Instagram account and this might have been the push I needed! This is what I have been turning over in my mind lately: "I began to imagine what it would look like to separate myself from all of that input." Yes yes yes. Thank you for sharing your story.
Thanks for reading, Megan. I've been off Instagram for a year and I honestly haven't missed it for a single second. I have no idea what topics or products are trending—but this has been my most productive, and consistent, year of writing since before I had children. I can't recommend it enough!
That is so great to hear!! It’s nice when your suspicions are confirmed ;)
Beautiful thoughts and heart behind this. Thanks! All praise to Jesus.
Preach it!
“Me, age fourteen” 😂
Brilliant as always. You are wise beyond your years. Thank you for this-incredibly relatable. I have had “one foot out the door” on social media for a long time. You described the situation perfectly.
Hello Heather,
I have used a computer in my 18-20 years of employment, as well as personal research and some gaming after work. I gave up TV a long time ago -I notice that in the 60 Channels there was almost never anything I wanted to watch, and at my age, especially after my [near] death I do not want to waste a minute being psychologically abused by the increased race-trans anti-White man attacks within the program and in the advertisements.
My Web use now is to learn things I am interested in and did not have time to do before my retirement. In many ways my wheelchair has been a Blessing because I am no longer walking around and wasting time better spent here.
--
Your 'About' informs us you are a Christain, and you mentioned Simulation Theory. Earlier today I was reading about Hologram universe theory, and black-holes as a way to define our reality in terms of modern Sciences.
As a Traditional Catholic that has most of my life rejecting such theology despite having many of what I now realize were religious experiences - rejecting for the science I found a pleasure in since 5th grade and the determinism of computer programing since 7th, I find I now am a Solipsist where the One is Jesus Christ, who Hosts us each and all our worlds within His Body & Blood (mind and soul.)
Many of those reading this have experience Vivid dreams where at some point within a dream they knew they were dreaming and yet others in dream acted different the dreamer would, and so one may wonder, how many of you were there, the dreamer, you in the dream, and those others .. yet it is hard not to see - unless one assumes dream-connections beyond self, that only One exists.
I do enjoy the exercise of Catholic Apologetics in terms of the science of today, the many versions of the Passion or other common events in two or more Books of the Gospel as possibly explained by multiworlds, and Jacob's Ladder Levels as part of His Death in Levels above and the Darker Intelect seeming people around Him as He descends into Hell (Chaos, unTruth, inJustice, disOrder), much like anyone my age (60+) or older seems to know from childhood to today as we accept more insanities as normal, more than mothers killing our babies on whims, .., to Open Televised Genocide as normal.
For those of us with an engineering & computer science background and a bit of imagination the concept of [Holy] Simulation Theory fits well with this direction of Apologetics, not to claim Truth but as an example suggestion to many of what seems Paradox or unexplained Mystery in Traditional Catholicism Doctrines and Theological expansions, and if one limits Phylosophy to that which had grounding in Nature Law such as Thomas Aquinas and those unwilling to reject such and so fly into deliriums and seek graspingly in nightmarish tangents for the very Grounding they rejected, the Modernists Phylosophy that perhaps may be bracketed with a start in René Descartes to what we suffer today that excuses nearly every bit of Sanity and humanity.
A question I recently came across was: why was William of Ockham a Theologist and not a Naturalist (Naturalism), did he not apply his Razer to his own Theology. It seems he would and did and as one that followed soon after Thomas Aquinas he would be all that more sure of his Catholic Theology, and one might suggest that he would have rejected - as we all should - the insanities of the Modernist Phylosophy and the Modernist Sicken Catholic Church.
I suggest that - in answer to the Question posed - that William of Ockham would have argued in favor of Metaphysical solipsism with the Author of all the world and all our souls as Jesus Christ, of God the Trinity.
May this answer find us all ever closer to God, His Clarity and Peace.
God Bless., Steve
This really struck a chord with me. I've been truly addicted to my phone for maybe over a decade (and I'm 31! Not even gen Z!). I've deactivated social media accounts, only to reactivate them a few days later. I used to love reading, and still do, but it feels like an unsurmountable effort compared to putting something on Netflix or losing an hour or two on YouTube shorts.
I thought having a baby would 'fix' me. Surely, I was going to be too busy looking after another person to be lost in the online world. Well, my daughter is a year and a half and she has learned that the phone is a coveted item that both of her parents seem to be glued to for the better part of the day. I want to change that, but, as you said, sometimes it feels like it kills me.
Heather this has always been my biggest struggle as an autism mom. How do I demand my kids get off their devices? Remove my sons fun iPad (that’s he grows more and more addicted to with every passing day) when I myself cannot put my phone down for more than 3 minutes? I cannot stop scrolling, videoing everything, shopping. I’m removed from my own life and demand my children have self control. What a hypocrite I am.
Jennifer, I hope you know that there is no judgment on my end. Obviously, this is an online newsletter and I want people to read my newsletter. My husband earns a living online. We are not a screen-free household. There was a time my son's nervous system couldn't tolerate a family dinner around the table (too many transitions, too many different volumes and vocal pitches from multiple people at the table, and too many expectations) and, in order to get my son to eat, we ate most of our meals in front of the TV. We did what we needed to do in order to get through the day. I can't and won't apologize for that.
I have a difficult time writing about this topic because, in so many ways, the internet has made my life better. Without the internet, I might've never known there were other families like mine. I appreciate being able to order groceries online. (Before grocery pickup, I shopped at 9-10pm at night after my kids went to sleep.) Alongside the good, however, is the not-so-good: addiction, loss of other interests or hobbies (or never discovering certain interests or hobbies due to being "terminally online"), and just an overall feeling of being disconnected from your own life.
My intention isn't at all to guilt parents into taking away technology that is serving their families. If your child has an iPad but doesn't have a Switch, celebrate that as a win. If your child has a Switch but doesn't have a phone, celebrate that as a win. If your child has a phone, but doesn't have social media, celebrate that as a win. I don't believe in a one-size-fits-all solution for every family. My convictions will probably differ from your convictions. My intention is to initiate an honest conversation about the good and the bad.
Only you know where the Lord is calling you to shift habits. "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Ohhh friend I would never ever think you’re judging anyone ever! I love your words. Your shared stories. This has been a conviction in my life for 2 years but as a coping mechanism, and probably survival, I disconnect from my kids by allowing the iPads and screens way too much. But the lord has nudged me ever so kindly to remind me I’ll never get this time back. Maybe someday my autistic son will be able to tolerate tv or iPads in small doses but as of now it makes him very aggressive and he has many addict behaviors in an actual drug addict. Once he broke his iPad and went 48 hours w out it while it was getting fixed. He didn’t get used to it. He had Withdraw symptoms. Fever shaking throwing up which all went away the moment iPad was back in hand. Just reading this felt like another nudge from the lord that I need to do this for myself and my family. I’m a zombie and I don’t want to remember life like this at the end