Right before the popularity of phones skyrocketed in the world, people spent their time engaging physically with one another creating long lasting bonds and productive results. Families engaged in meaningful conversations, understood and worked through their differences together, created a safe space to make members feel included in every activity/decision enabling the kids to grow up in a loving, caring and an emotionally safe environment.
Prior to the phone era, the dinning room was regarded as a sanctuary where every family member gathered to not just feast on meals (especially dinner) but also discuss both important and casual things. Family members did not even need to always plan out times when they got together to bond. Whenever there's a certain time frame when nothing happens, the home immediately bubbles with recreational activities. Scores are immediately settled, beefs quickly squashed so grudges usually don't last long under this setting.
However things took a complete U-turn when phones and the Internet became permanent residents in societies. Families don't even have time for each other anymore and kids would rather spend their time on TikTok rather than communicate with one another choosing to bond with people on the internet than their own family members. At this point I don't even think televisions even have relevance in the living room anymore because nobody really makes use of it except old folks who want to watch the news. Game night has become a thing of the past and members of the same family have become strangers living under the same roof.
I remember when I was still a youngster growing up in a family where the only people who owned phones were my parents. Honestly those were the best moments cause I really had people physically present in my life, siblings who were always ready for friendly banter, talking about our day after dinner even playing games together. We had a lot of cousins over at our house, relatives visited and we did the same. But the moment we stayed having access to phones, things started to change. Information that was once delivered face to face was now easily done by text. Kids preferred to play Mobile games or chat and these healthy traditions slowly began to die until they became distant memories.
I can't speak for others but I do know one thing for certain when I finally have my own family, there definitely going to be moments when using the phone or anything with access to the Internet will become a taboo one of which will be during dinner. I don't want the constant tapping or notification sounds to interrupt such an important family time. Another will be during game activities whether they are indoors or outside. One of the things I value most is family time because I want my people to enjoy the same manner of attention and affection I got from my family growing. In all honestly I don't even think this is an infringement of any rights, this is just me creating rules to regulate the behaviors in my family. So as important as phones are, there are times when they are nothing but nuisance so the best thing thing to do is to put them away until after that particular period.
Thank you.
All images are mine