For me, my biggest distraction was Facebook. My use of Facebook had become compulsive. It was like an itch that had to be scratched. I was constantly checking my phone. Even when I'd checked it only just before. I would get excited if there was even one new notification and if there was a new notification then I felt compelled to check it immediately.
I checked Facebook while I was playing with Rafael. I checked Facebook while I was eating breakfast. And lunch. And dinner. I checked it while Rafael was in the bath. I checked it while watching television, doing the groceries, waiting at swimming lessons, standing in a line.
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| I was on Facebook while we 'played' in this cubby |
When I actually stopped to think about what I was doing, what I thought about was what I wasn't doing.
I wasn't acting on my son's requests to play with him, because I was distracted by Facebook.
I wasn't watching him show me his new bath trick, because I was distracted by Facebook.
I wasn't watching him learn to swim, because I was distracted by Facebook.
Sometimes Rafael would even ask me to put my phone down and I would reply "in a minute".
Once, he hid my phone from me right before we were leaving, delaying us by 30 minutes while I frantically searched everywhere (it was under a pillow, in his rocket tent, in the family room) and I still didn't recognise what he was trying to tell me.
Increasingly, though, I was coming to realise that Facebook was distracting me in a way that wasn't right. I knew that I was using my phone more than I should be and that it was interfering with my time with Rafael but I didn't really have the courage to do anything about it for a long time.
Then one day, something clicked and I uninstalled Facebook from my phone.
And it was the beginning of something great.
