There was time when I was hooked to Television. I could
watch 6-7 hours of TV. I could watch and re-watch episodes. I had evenings and
nights of ‘back-to-back’ watching all those detective series. And then I cut it
off at the source. Yes I cut off cable. Its has been six years now since we cut
cable at our house. Since we moved from the US to india, there was a mild urge
to get cable back on the pertext of the kids watching Discovery and Animal
Planet. But considering that I am so ‘hooked’ we have progressively been able
to push of cable by buying DVD’s with the wonderful soothing voice of Sir David
Attenbourgh talking about the ‘Life of Birds’.
You could say I found freedom from the addiction. And while
that lasted a good deal of time, here I am again with yet another ‘issue’.
Social media and its kind has taken over my life. I am hooked once again. Don’t
get me wrong. I love Facebook and Whatsapp. I like that I can send my DH a
picture of my little girl crying in an instant or post this blog for a hundred
friends to read via my Facebook page. But truth be told – I am hooked.
As the convenience of keeping in touch becomes easier, as
the world becomes smaller, as we network faster, the addiction is growing stronger.
A few days ago a nephew of mine told me for a 100th
time that I was hooked to ‘whatsapp’. In his words, ‘Whatsapp was becoming my
idol’. So I decided time to cut the tree and pull of the addiction from the
roots.
Well, I wish it was that easy. Considering pretty much all
communication for me is via Whatsapp and Facebook. I rarely pick up the phone
anymore to call anyone. But there has got to be plan of action. At least let
social media know – They do not rule my life.
The Kissanpur ad (see link below) is phenomenally cute and
got me a little teary eyed. But I decided there were a few things I was already
doing and I just needed to add a few
more things to my list and I would be on my way to freedom again.
A few months back I quit my vegetable garden due to a monkey
menace. I recently started planting seeds again. I even plucked a few lady
fingers this past week. But better still every morning last week from 6-7 am, DH
and I went up to the terrace and started cleaning up the area to make space for
my kitchen garden. We cleared up the pots, planted a few seeds and sad down
with our cup of tea afterward to enjoy our menial work. We never took our phones
up with us. This was step one to freedom.
This week I decided I would turn off my phone internet at
least for a couple our hours during the day time and all night! I really do not
understand why I have my phone data plan or Wi-Fi ON while I am sleeping.
Unfortunately current communication methods, I cannot cut off WhatsApp
completely – but I am on my way to freedom.
I have two more plans and if they are successful, I will
blog about it. But for right now enjoy this simply cute Kissanpur Ad!
This blog was written for ##RealTogetherness
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