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What could you live without?

 
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Buggheart Detroit Rock City, MI posts: 340
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posted on May 21, 2009 at 10:51AM Inappropriate? Quote Reply

I DVR'd yesterday's episode of Oprah where the subject was what could you live without. Watched it last night and was blown away!  They featured a family of 4 that was so addicted to their screens (laptops, TV, video games, cell phones) that they were actually texting each other within the same house and had not eaten together as a family in years.

They were asked to give up all screens and only cook at home for a week.  They ended up doing it for 2 weeks and may still be doing it for all I know, but the story really hit home.  My husband and I are not that addicted but I love my laptop and he loves the TV a bit more than is probably good for us.

So we decided that 2 nights a week we would forego all screens and do something more positive like sit and talk, go for a walk, hang out at a park.

So I'm wondering... are you addicted to screens or something else that takes time away from your family or health?  What could YOU do without?

replies: 12 latest post: May 26, 2009 at 11:29AM by FallenofTrack
2009 Writer
posted on May 21, 2009 at 11:32AM
 

Wow - that's a great topic.       I'm thinking thinking thinking.      

 

This is harder than I thought it would be.    I keep coming up with stuff - the tons of books we have, the ton of craft supplies I have,  the tons of pjs I have (oh wait - I need those - I neeeeeeed those), the extra 35 pounds I have......

2009 Writer
posted on May 21, 2009 at 11:44AM
 

Definitely agreed about the screens being an addiction.  I think this summer will start to be a breaker... I have always tried to make it a point to eat together as a family as much as possible, but most nights hubby will finish and head back to his computer even before the rest of us are done.  With the nice weather, I'm hoping most of our nights will be spent outside at this point.

Hehe... the extra 35 pounds cracks me up.  I think all of us have a little extra we could do without. 

2009 VIP
posted on May 21, 2009 at 12:12PM
 

Actually I don't think being in front of the screen is a problem - depending on your personality.  My husband and I can both sit at our laptops in the frontroom, with the tv on, and we are still chatting, laughing at things we see online, and laughing together at the show :)  I'm not saying we are like this ALL the time, but when we are it doesn't really take away from our spending time together.

We also do get out a lot too so that makes it easier to sit at the computer when we are home.

2009 Advisor
posted on May 21, 2009 at 01:09PM
 
In response to Buggheart's post from May 21 2009 10:51AM

Hi again, I missed Oprah. Had to work. Hopefully I'll catch it on a rerun. I could live with out alot of things. I'm not addicted to the computer, but I would miss this stuff and email and looking things up for knowledge. Work also. As far as anything else goes, I don't have a blackberry or things like that. I have a cell phone pretty much for emergency. Can't find pay phones anymore, so If I got lost driving somewhere (did that), lock my keys in my car (did that also), or run out of gas (did that one too).....lol....I just have a pay as you go, $20.00 every 3 months to keep the service. I'm good with that. I know boring :() It's better than looking like I'm talking to my self in a store...ha ha ha! They must not remember having to get up to change the channels on a T.V.

2009 Advisor
posted on May 21, 2009 at 01:11PM
 
In response to beebopper's post from May 21 2009 11:32AM

I love your shoes. Where can I get a pair?

2009 VIP
posted on May 21, 2009 at 11:04PM
 
In response to darlyn63's post from May 21 2009 01:09PM

"I would miss this stuff and email and looking things up for knowledge"

So true!  I feel like I KNOW so much more now that the net is around.  We didn't get the internet til around 1997, can you believe it?  Just 12 or so years ago we had no internet?  Anyway, back then if we wanted to know the name of the actor who was in that movie with that girl... .we'd just rack our brains til they hurt and give up.

Now we can look it up!  That and many oher random and not so random facts.  Weather, traffic, directions, and vacation planning have never been easier!  Or google's street view which makes you feel like you actually have been to the place before you even go!

OK, enough on that, I'm addicted :)  but we do try to make time to be offline and I won't let the internet be an excuse to skip the gym or going out with friends.

2009 VIP
posted on May 22, 2009 at 06:01PM
 

You want to know something really wierd?

I turn the television on and then spend the next three hours doing stuff in other places and not watching it at all.  Is that dumb or what?  At this rate, I might find myself having to do without a television when it wears out after all this "use."

 

2009 VIP
posted on May 22, 2009 at 06:05PM
 

Here's something a lot of us have become addicted to.  I can hardly believe that I once survived 20 years in a stifling hot top floor apartment without an air conditioner!  The landlord didn't provide one and I just couldn't afford to buy one in those days. 

Now I have a fancy in-wall unit, plus three fans, and I don't know what I would do if I had to go back to nothing but open windows again!  BUT I guess I COULD get along without if I had to!

 

2009 Writer
posted on May 23, 2009 at 06:43PM
 

I feel weird if I leave the house without my cell phone - sort of guilty.  Whodathunk we would be so connected to everyone.    It makes me feel wild and liberated when I go out without it.

2009 VIP
posted on May 24, 2009 at 05:02PM
 

It's sheer vanity on my part, but I spend a ridiculous time on my hair in the morning.  It's not that I CAN'T go anywhere with my hair being undone, but I feel weird without having curled it or straightened it, or done something to alter the God-given mess that I've got...so I guess I COULD live without my curling iron...if I had to.  I'm not signing on to one of those "go two weeks without..." plans though!  LOL

2009 VIP
posted on May 26, 2009 at 10:55AM
 

This is a great question.  I must admit that I am addicted to Go Fish and wouldn't want to give up my cards. 

2009 Contributor
posted on May 26, 2009 at 11:29AM
 

I didn't watch this particular episode of Oprah but she has done another episode like this a couple of years ago and I watched that one. It was basically the same question and she did the experiment with a couple of families to see how long they could go without all of the technology and products that they were used to using on a daily basis. One family pretty much broke all the rules on the first day of the challenge.I know that I could live without quite a few things. There have been times where I didn't have cable or the internet so I had to get used to doing other things to entertain myself. I don't use my cellphone very often except when I want to call my family and follow up on potential jobs.  When you don't have a lot of money you get used to not having a lot of the new fashion trends, high end gadgets and other products that are always being advertised. 

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