Techno-Mom

Technology: It’s invading just about every aspect of our culture and lives, and much of what I do depends on it. IPods, Email, cell phones, podcasts, blogs, and online shopping are all a part of my family’s daily life and vocabulary. But I am finding that without intentional regulation, this information explosion can easily lay waste to my schedule and take over many of my waking hours!

I have seen the need to build some helpful constraints into my schedule keep technology in its rightful and useful place. Scripture says, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10) Technology can be a useful tool for accomplishing what God has called me to do, or it can distract me from his purposes. Here are guidelines I have found helpful for regulating my use of technology and some questions I frequently ask myself:

• Start with priorities. If I am a wife and mother, caring for my husband and family come first.

• Question: Am I allowing the use of technology (checking email, blogs, and computer games) to interfere with the priorities God has given me?

• Set some limits. I try to limit when and how often I check email or blogs. If you must check email often because frequent communication is necessary for your family or ministry, try to stay focused on necessary communication and save less urgent items for a time that you can schedule.

• Question: Am I mastering my email, or is it mastering me?

• Stop surfing. Try a blog-feed service that will combine new posts on blogs you frequent. That allows you to go to one place for everything instead of wasting valuable time logging on and off. And try limiting the number of blogs you follow. It keeps me busy just following up on the many wonderful resources our pastors recommend along with their sermons.

• Question: Am I maxing out on information and forgetting about application?

• Stay in touch. Our lives as wives and mothers are primarily relational. Try using a speaker system for your IPod so that when you are listening to music or sermons, it is not to the exclusion of your family. Monitor amounts of time spent in chit-chat on the phone.

• Question: Am I practically unavailable to my husband or children because I’m plugged-in, on line, or tied up for extended periods during the day?

Take it one thing at a time. And be encouraged…a little thought and application go a long way.