Pioneer Week Challenge: Can you live without it?

I'm a geek. I love all things technology and new-and-shiny. If it has buttons, batteries, or does something I could have done with my own two hands then I want it. I have an eight year old son who complains of being bored unless he's watching a movie, or playing a game on my laptop or Android phone. Technology is integrated into our lives in such a way as to make us appear to be the first iteration of the Jetson's. The only thing we lack is a robot maid (my wife is waiting for one). We document our life in an almost exclusively digital manner. Analog is something that my kids will likely never understand.

Recently this addiction came to a head with my son (and myself) being at the receiving end of some serious talk from my wife. It seems we neglect Real Life when we stare at our glowing screens. Who would have thought there was life outside of Lego.com, Google+/Facebook/Twitter, and Angry Birds? So my wife said we were going to have an entire day without computer, TV, or cellphones. Being the "good husband" that I want my wife to believe I am I one upped (+1) her and said we should do a whole week without technology. Talk about putting your foot in your mouth. That taste will never leave. Sooooo here's the deal:

We will be shutting down our technology consumption from Pioneer Day (July 24th for those not aware of Latter Day Saint celebrations) and conclude on Saturday (which just happens to be our Ward Pioneer Day celebration). What does shutting down mean? Well this means that we will not have our cellphones, our TV, our computer, running for the entire week. This could result in some serious energy savings for our family. The lesson we'd like to learn from this is that there is more to life than 0's and 1's arranged for our entertainment. We may take this to a new level and even do as much of our cooking using less conventional methods (i.e. Dutch Oven, BBQ grill, solar oven etc.). We will either come closer together by weeks end or we will not see the week end. In either event I feel strongly that it's going to be quite the adventure.

So now the challenge to all who are willing. Join us. Take the Pioneer Week Challenge and turn off the digital world as much as possible. Take out the things that distract you from your family and focus on things that bring you together. If you survive then you just might be a Forever Family.

Are you going to take the challenge? Leave your ideas for "Pioneer activities" in the comments section and we'll try and do some of them during our experiment. When it's all over I'll post a blog about our experience.

NOTE: We are so digital that our only phones are cellular style so if you need to get hold of us during this week you'll need to come by and talk to us in person.