The Digital Way of Life

I don’t have a TV at home. You read it right. I don’t have a TV – period.

I stopped watching TV about 10 years ago. When she was not my wife yet, she was an avid viewer.  But then marriage happened and she had to quit watching, simply because I did not own a TV.

Seven years down the line, we are glad and extremely proud of that fact. We really have a lot of time on hand for each other.

We actually end up LISTENING to each other. (While my wife may disagree, coz I keep getting sucked by this virus commonly known as Blackberry).

As parents, we could not take the easy escape route of putting our daughter in front of the TV with some food and go about doing our things. We actually spent time with her. Talking to her and engaging with her at every step. It has yielded amazing results.

However, we’ve ensured she’s not “left out” in conversations while she is with her friends. She does get her daily dose of edutainment and introduction to all famous kid characters either through downloaded material or YouTube®.

This has also helped us develop our hobbies. For example, the habit of reading and that habit is indirectly inculcated in our daughter as well.

Newspapers and internet ensures that we are updated on all the current affairs and events. There is no dearth of information in today’s digital world.

While we may all be mildly addicted to the social media like Facebook and Twitter on our gadgets, I realized it actually helps us interact with people, who we would not have thought of in years.

Meanwhile, we do physically meet all the close friends and relatives and interact outside of Facebook too. And when we meet, there’s no distraction in the form of a TV.

For the kind of lifestyle we have, with more number of hours spent in the office, it helps to have each other’s complete attention when at home.

Well, as for work-life balance, my wife has put down certain basic rules.

This may be radical to some orthodox minds. If I reach home early, I get my cup of coffee served. If I’m late, I’ve got to fix (thankfully not cook) my own dinner. Obviously coffee’s gone – assuming that I’d have had it while sitting in late at work anyway.

Sadly, I’m completely used to the second situation these days.

So, the next time you see me with coffee at work, you know why. J

Although the way of life has changed through centuries, the number of hours in a day has not. In the past few decades, the change in life-style has occurred at a break-neck speed. We better adapt in a way that is best suitable to us.

Let’s try and ensure we all have a LIFE and not just STYLE.

Let’s value Time – Ours and others’ too.