Fields of Green: Titus Tuesday: A Much-Needed Break

I am on a technology hiatus for the month of August. A much-needed technology hiatus, although I haven't cut it out completely; just reducing screen time. I am thinking hard about my passions, my strengths, my goals, and my time constraints. Ironically, I have spent about five hours looking at this screen today, wiggling my way through 1340 images from various shoots, family snapshots, volunteer work, etc., trying to get cleared and ready for the fall. I barely put a dent in all of it.

In other words, I need a faster computer. Oh, first world problems.

But apart from today, I have been doing even more of this than usual:

During an afternoon thunderstorm during free time at YoungLives camp.

Now, don't get me wrong; I am a stay-at-home mom and I spend a ton of time just cuddling and snuggling my baby. But running a (very) part-time small photography business still demands a tremendous amount of screen time. In fact, it demands even more than I already put in; I have purposefully puts holds on how much I do because I am adamant that I am first and foremost a mother.

Technology stresses me out. My e-mail inbox feels like a list of demands and to-do's. I feel like I have lost the ability to be still. There is always something to edit, something to research, something to find, some Pinterest project to try, something new to learn, something to Google, some song lyrics to learn, some recipe to search, and on and on the list goes.

Combine that with a photography business that requires looking at a screen (which I love and am very passionate about) and keeping up with this blog (which I love and am very passionate about) and I could be on this bad boy all. day. long.

I don't involve myself much in social media. I read blogs instead of magazines, but I don't really get involved with lots of commenting and BlogFrog-ing and forums. I don't have a Twitter account. I have basically cut Pinterest out of my life because I realized it was just a time sucker and not really helping me be better at life. But even just checking my e-mail in the morning can every now and then turn in to a two-hour ordeal during which my child is playing by herself or watching more Elmo than either of us want. How is that being a stay-at-home mom?

So, here's my Titus Tuesday question: How do we stay-at-home moms do it? How do we manage screen time for ourselves appropriately, especially if we are working small at-home jobs that require the computer?

Unknown8:22 AM
Great question! One I don't have the full answer to. I know each person and their situation is different though. For me, having 2 kids actually helps as they play so much with each other now. I am like you, Taylor, in that I don't use many electronic devices (twitter, pinterest, instagram, a smartphone, etc). I do use FB but only to keep up with other people (I use blog to post our family happenings and updates). It is very hard and challenging to fully parent our kids and get things done. I can only imagine what it would be like to have a part-time job that uses the computer a lot! My kids are not much of snugglers either (just rare moments and believe me we try to get them to snuggle more but they are just to active). I try to limit my computer time to just a little in the morning and then reserve more time during their naps or after they are in bed for the night. I'd say for a person with a part-time job, a mother's helper might be the way to go?!