According to a Yahoo poll, at least 90 percent of families in America are now online, which translates to adults spending on average 5 hours on the computer at their homes. People are connecting more with friends and family members based far from them using technology, but despite the benefits, technology has brought, there are moments this overreliance on technology has led to complications in life. Some people would rather bolt through dinner to catch up with friends on social media, which means you could be spending less time with those closer to you.
The family’s identity has been at a risk with the traditional bond weakening with each day due to the disconnection brought about by family tech. If you would want to keep this bond strong despite using technology, here are things you could embrace to limit the usage of gadgets in the family.
Protecting your kids
Kids are the most affected by the use of technology excessively and parents have a key role in protecting them from the threat. Some parents even go ahead to post many photos of their children online before giving it a thought, and this happens without even thinking about what that could mean to the child several years later. Photos posted online are accessible to the world and anyone could download them to use them for whatever reason they see fit.
To ensure you don’t take image sharing to extreme levels, you could use platforms like Flickr that allow you to password-protect images so you can share the photos with only trusted contacts. You could even create a secret Facebook group then add your inner circle if you intend to share moments about your family through the internet.
Monitor online habits
If you need a handy way of gauging your family’s online habits, you could check out some information on sites like rescue-time.com, which cracks down how each of your family members spends time online, and it also plots data by hour, week, days and hours. Additionally, the site allows you to block distracting websites from your family and yourself.
Manage your mobile device
The most difficult thing for people nowadays is controlling their time on mobile devices, and this is motivated further by visible alerts as well as vibration notifications. To contain this habit, you need to switch off all types of alerts so you only have to check updates when you are through with the tasks you have at hand. Keep your gadgets on but ensure it remains in silent mode for alerts except for calls. This way, you will minimize the need to keep checking your phone and the lure to view more updates will also be curtailed.
Reconnect with people away from your computer
Experts like Martin J. Stallone suggest that spending more time surfing the internet could kill your relationship with people who matter in your life. You need to create time for physical interactions with other people in your region and family who you could reach easily in case of an emergency.
