Trumping Digital

I hope you’ll allow me a little personal indulgence this Friday morning. I’ve vacated the Pond taking my kids to the Memphis Zoo during our Fall school break. We’re having a blast so far, and I’ve been watching (and shaking my head a little) at how much the digital sphere has meshed with all our lives.

When I say I’ve vacated the Pond, I’m sure you understand that I haven’t abandoned it for three days by any means. I’m tethered to it through all kinds of digital media. I’m pretty mobile during a normal week anyway, with the technology to do my job at a client’s office, my fave local coffee shop, my office couch or the back patio.

So, during our drive to Memphis yesterday and our first night here, I checked and responded to email, browsed some favorite websites for possible Plop! post highlights, managed some client social media accounts, and now I’m writing a blog post on my iPad 2. I let my kids pass the driving time with Leapster and Nintendo games. I presented them with a newly kid-outfitted iPad 1 (my old one) complete with movie shorts, digital storybooks, and apps for games, music, math, reading and all the fun they could handle. As you can see, it took them all of five minutes to master the iPad system and become engrossed in it — even the three-year-old in the mix. I even used my iPhone google app to locate the original Corky’s for dinner last night and give us moving directions from somewhere on Perkins Road. Whoa. It’s a digital world! And, yes it’s great to be so connected to the world at large.

But, last night at bedtime with my boys piled up in a hotel bed with their favorite items, it hit me. Their bedtime companions were the old-fashioned kind… bears and lambs and dark-haired dolls. And at the end of the day, it’s still the people stuff that really moves my heart. It’s the opportunity to hear the voice of someone who matters, even if that voice comes on the phone. It’s the opportunity to inconspicuously stare at them while they fall asleep. Trumps Google every time.

This weekend, I hope you’re enjoying your digital life and making it count. And I hope you take some time to stare. I’m sure enjoying that opportunity!

Happy weekend!

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