Technology hasn't yet been the biggest concern for our family since our kids have been so young. We don't (yet) have teenagers wanting to play video games at all hours of the day, we don't have devices for the kids that we need to monitor, and they never watch or access anything we don't know about. 

But our oldest twins just turned 5 in December and we can see that world looming closer to us. Plus, Jason and I always need to check our technology usage and we can always do with healthier media and technology standards. 

Listen to the Podcast:

We also recorded this blog post as an audio podcast. If you want to listen in instead of reading, click play below or do a combination of both 

And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. 

Right click here and save-as to download this episode to your computer.

So in August, Jason and I both read a book called The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place. I also recently read a book called 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You (which happens to be the free book on Christian Audio in January)! I wish I had waited to buy the book.

Both books cover similar ideas and they are both convicting in different ways. So much of what Jason and I have been discussing this year about technology comes from these two books. 

There's a lot of reasons to start having these conversations, but one of them is this. When asked "why do they think parenting today is more difficult?" 65% of the test takers said "technology/social media." I would certainly agree with that statement! 

Where the very best of life happens

"Our homes aren't meant to be just refueling stations, places where we and our devices rest briefly, top up our charge, and then go back to frantic activity. They are meant to be places where the very best of life happens." -The Tech-Wise Family Page 29. 

In his book, Andy Crouch discusses 10 wise principles for using technology. There are several of his ideas that stood to us that we are going to be working on (see below). Here are the 10 commitments: 

Ten Tech-Wise Commitments 

We develop wisdom and courage together as a family.

We want to create more than we consume. So we fill the center of our home with things that reward skill and active engagement.

We are designed for a rhythm of work and rest. So one hour a day, one day a week, and one week a year, we turn off our devices and worship, feast, play and rest together.

We wake up before our devices do, and they “go to bed” before we do.

We aim for “no screens before double digits” at school and at home.

We use screens for a purpose, and we use them together, rather than using them aimlessly and alone.

Car time is conversation time.

Spouses have one another’s passwords, and parents have total access to children’s devices.

We learn to sing together, rather than letting recorded and amplified music take over our lives and worship.

We show up in person for the big events of life. We learn how to be human by being fully present at our moments of greatest vulnerability. We hope to die in one another’s arms.

Commitment #3: 

"So one hour a day, one day a week, and one week a year, we turn off our devices and worship, feast, play and rest together."

I talked at length about this one back in episode #99, so hop over to listen to that. We've generally been following that. The one hour a day is no problem at all. In fact, we've been stretching this one further. 

We've declared January TV free for us. It's January 17th as I record this, and we've been perfect on this goal, we've read a lot more, been playing board games together at night and don't miss the TV at all!