New Southern Dad: The value in ‘going analog’

Mornings are hectic once again in my home. 

I am a morning person. I love to ease into my day in the quiet darkness of the pre-dawn hours, with a cup of coffee and some light reading. People who sleep to the last possible moment before they have to jump out of bed to the noise of a blaring alarm clock and rush off to work are, quite frankly, insane.

The summertime months provide the best opportunity for such beginnings. With only my own schedule to account for, I am master of my time and my daily commute.

With the start of school, those days are over for now. I, along with countless other parents, am at mercy of carpool lines and dismissal bells once again, cramming my own responsibilities to fit the desires of the schoolhouse.  

But alas, such is life, and I know I’d better enjoy these fleeting years while I can. But I’m still going to complain a little bit. 

As precious as every passing minute is, especially under a tight schedule, there are many distractions that seek our attention. None are as difficult to avoid like the allure of a smartphone. 

Like the song of siren calling out to the Greek sailors of old (I haven’t seen the newest blockbuster rendition of “The Odyssey,” but I know how the story goes), a smartphone draws in the strongest of warriors and robs them of their most valuable asset.

Perhaps that is a touch too dramatic, but the best complainers have to have a flair for exaggeration.   

On a recent moment when it was time to be heading out of the door, I went searching for my children. Lo and behold what do I find? My one-and-only precious girl child glued to a screen. 

Now, most of you reading this are doing so in a newspaper and that I greatly appreciate. Technology should have stopped with the Gutenberg press, maybe Linotype.

“It’s time to go,” I bellowed, that’s what fathers do when they’re aggravated with their offspring, at her. 

“I still have to brush my teeth,” she answered, frantically shoving the phone into her pocket as if I didn’t have eyes and could see her. 

“You are addicted to that phone,” I said. 

“I am not,” was her retort. 

Just what a screen junkie would say. 

I’ve heard of a new trend of people “going analog,” not just stepping away from things like social media, but disconnecting from the internet as much as possible. There have been spikes in the sale of books, magazines and even newspapers (I may make a decent living out of this yet). MP3 players that have to be loaded with a curated list of songs are popular again. 

And it’s not people my age and older doing this, people who remember when devices did not hog our attention, but young people tasting digital-less freedom for the first time. 

There’ll be some mandatory analog time in my house for a few days.