A little over a week ago, I decided that my son needed a reset. To this end, first, I determined that he should stay home in the evenings for the remainder of the school quarter. Second, I resolved that he needed a break from his iphone for the same time frame.
My wife backed me on the “stay at home” order. In response to the iphone moratorium, she agreed with my son that he should retain his phone because he might need it for emergencies. My argument that he didn’t need a cell phone for emergencies because he simply could borrow someone else’s phone fell on deaf ears.
Accordingly, I offered a compromise. I would get in my time machine and travel back to the 1990s. While there, I would pick up a flip phone and bring it back for our son. This way he’d have a basic phone for any emergencies, and yet he wouldn’t have all the insidious distractions of a smartphone. To my son’s chagrin, my wife agreed with this idea.
Now, my son is sporting a flip phone. Man he would have been cool with that back when I was in high school! He’ll have it through December 21st, at which time his iphone will be returned to him, and the “stay at home” order will be lifted.
Flipping Out and Signing Off,
P. Gustav Mueller, author of The Present