Thanksgiving UNPLUGGED

UNPLUG

As most of you know, our nation just celebrated one of the best holidays, Thanksgiving. Now that most of us are getting over our "food comas," let me tell you a little story about Thanksgiving UNPLUGGED. It was a glorious time, and it began with an idea from a family member - "no phones this Thanksgiving." One-by-one the stack of phones on the counter grew, and what resulted was a truly glorious sight. 10+ phones lying untouched in the middle of the living room and 10+ people engaging in meaningful conversations. Now, lets dive a little deeper into the difference this "policy" made in our holiday experience.

This was the first time in a long time that my Thanksgiving was celebrated with my whole family. My family plus two aunts, two uncles, grandparents, and a whole slew of cousins were all in attendance. This usually means copious amounts of laughter, and a whole lot of phone time. With the majority of cousins being in high school and younger, they are attached to their screens unless advised otherwise. While this does make for a quieter room, it also impedes on quality family time (something we weren't about to let happen this year). Thus, Thanksgiving unplugged was born in an attempt to thwart the evil phones from taking over.

This meant one mission - go around and steal everybody's phone. At the conclusion, we had 13 of the 17 possible phones in the stack. of the 4 we didn't swipe, 1 was broken, 2 were in the car, and the last was solidly in the pocket of my grandpa (and you don't want to mess with his stuff). As you can see to the left, the beginnings of the stack was captured, and what resulted was the best Thanksgiving ever.

Instead of people mindlessly scrolling on their phones, football was played in the yard. Instead of sending texts to people you weren't with, relationships were strengthened with the people in your presence. Laughs were shared, and conversations thrived. Food was eaten, more food was eaten, and then we had dinner (where more food was eaten). When I looked around the room I saw smiles; I saw people I love interacting with other people I love. Unplugged was one of the best ideas we have ever had, and I could go on for days about the benefits of this wall of phones. Instead of boring you with all of my experiences, I am going to instead suggest something to all of you out there - UNPLUG.

Next time you are celebrating a holiday, have relatives in town, or are simply going out to dinner with family/friends, build your own great wall of phones.

Great Wall of phones

Take a night away from your email, social media, and texting conversations and really connect with the people around you. Find it in yourself to talk to someone you may not know that well. Don't let your phone take over your life, and don't let your holiday look like a DMV waiting room with everyone playing on their phones quietly. I urge you to make your next get-together an unplugged edition and experience all of the benefits that I did.

Once you've done this, take a picture of your phone stack. Take notes of all the benefits you experience. Realize the greatness of being unplugged. Be present, and then continue to be present. Maybe, once you do this, you can take more steps, get rid of your social media accounts and cut down on your "screen time." Disconnect to Connect.

Post your great walls of phones in the comments below, I would love to see them! and feel free to comment about the great experiences you had with your unplugged times.

Till next time.

Bye-bye