THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONNECT (a family unplugged everything)

[Holly]

What happens when mom unplugs teens for 6 months? (*she unplugged herself, too*)
Beth J. Harpaz, Associated Press

NEW YORK – Susan Maushart lived out every parent's fantasy: She unplugged her teenagers. For six months, she took away the Internet, TV, iPods, cell phones and video games. The eerie glow of screens stopped lighting up the family room. Electronic devices no longer chirped through the night like "evil crickets." And she stopped carrying her iPhone into the bathroom...
As Maushart explains in a book released in the U.S. this week called "The Winter of Our Disconnect" (Penguin, $16.95), she and her kids rediscovered small pleasures — like board games, books, lazy Sundays, old photos, family meals and listening to music together instead of everyone plugging into their own iPods.

Her son Bill, a videogame and TV addict, filled his newfound spare time playing saxophone. "He swapped Grand Theft Auto for the Charlie Parker songbook," Maushart wrote. Bill says The Experiment was merely a "trigger" and he would have found his way back to music eventually. Either way, he got so serious playing sax that when the gadget ban ended, he sold his game console and is now studying music in college.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_fea_paren ... _unplugged


Susan Maushart is a fan of Thoreau and at first cut off all the electricity. The family lived by candlelight and kept food in a cooler for a while.

[Robin]

Overkill...

Everything is good in moderation. I think what this lady found more was what I like to call "PARENTING"

[cheekychook]

Yeah my whole family did this for 11 days two winters ago---it was called THE WORST ICE STORM IN HISTORY. No power for 11 days. Meh.

And I agree. Sounds a lot like parenting.

[Falen]

Yeah my whole family did this for 11 days two winters ago---it was called THE WORST ICE STORM IN HISTORY. No power for 11 days. Meh.
.

Hah! Snap!

Yeah i agree, all things in moderation. I mean, i play a crap load of video games. And yet, i still find time to play board games with my family and hit up the racquetball court.