The Analog Adventure Company

The Analog Adventure: Rediscovering Life Beyond Screens

My phone vibrated in my pocket as I sat on the couch in our living room. Another string of Microsoft Teams notifications appeared, wondering why data from our old system wasn’t filtering through our new software correctly.

“Daddy, look!” my two-year-old daughter exclaimed, proud of her new skill. She laughed, borderline cackled, spinning in circles, eager for my attention. I gave her a momentary glance as I pulled out my phone and began helping our team, a time zone behind, troubleshoot issues.

The Impact of Digital Distractions on Family Moments

“Daddy, watch this!” she called, spinning again. “That’s great,” I murmured, typing out a process guide. “Daddy… Daddy, are you watching?” My eyes drifted up briefly. “Wow, that’s amazing! You’re going so fast,” I said, my enthusiasm fading with my focus as I returned to my phone, responding to new issues popping up in the thread.

I had just begun typing the proposed solution when I heard the sound of books hitting the ground, a LOT of books, and then crying, a LOT of crying.  Rushing over, I saw my daughter sobbing. “Mama!!” she shrieked. My wife, balancing our youngest, hurried over to comfort her, eventually soothing her with a kiss on her elbow. After accepting an offer to help my wife make dinner, our daughter trudged to the kitchen, still a little shaken from the tumble. 

My wife hung back for a moment to ask what happened.  “She was spinning, and I think she just knocked the books onto herself,” I said, somewhat exasperated. The truth was my wife’s guess was as good as mine. I wasn’t really watching her. Sure, I was in the room, but I was really at work. My wife left the room to make dinner, and my attention returned to my phone where I noticed the other members of the thread had a new status, away.

Struggling to Be Present: The Cost of Constant Connectivity

I closed the work app, and without thinking, opened YouTube. Lost in a couple of videos, I felt a tug on my phone and heard, “Can I see?” from my daughter. “No sweetheart, screens aren’t good for our eyes,” I replied, quickly putting my phone away.

Thirty minutes later at dinner, a consultant called, needing help with access issues. After sorting everything out, I headed back to the table to finish my meal. Finding the table vacant and hearing my daughter’s protests against bathtime, I sat down to finish my dinner and finished the YouTube video from earlier.

After dinner I put my phone away, got my daughter into her pajamas, read her not one, not two, but three stories, prayed, and kissed her goodnight. I helped my wife load the dishwasher and clean up the aftermath of two kids under three. Once the house was back in order, by my standards, I retreated to our living room to lay on the couch and watch TV. Then fifteen minutes later, once the house was back in order by her standards, my wife strolled in.

In an attempt to make conversation my wife asked what I was looking at on my phone. “An article,” I replied, my tone less than friendly. I watched her walk away, feeling oddly irritated. But why?

The Realization: I Wasn’t Really There for My Family

As I laid in bed later, staring at the ceiling, I felt a pang of shame. I’d spent the day with my family, yet wasn’t truly present. I didn’t know how my daughter fell under the books, even though I was right there. And why was I irritated with my wife? I was disconnected from my family while being connected to work and digital distractions.

I was irritated, ashamed, and exhausted. I knew something had to change. 

Starting Our Analog Adventure: Choosing a Screen-Free Lifestyle

The next day, I didn’t immediately make a change. It wasn’t until months later that I began to realize how deeply screens had infiltrated our lives. I didn’t realize how it had already affected my family’s habits, communication, and expectations. In the months since that night, our family has tried to implement new routines, new boundaries, new rhythms and has felt the effects of that effort in three meaningful ways:

1. Our Oldest Daughter’s Favorite Toy is No Longer a Phone
2. We’ve Eliminated Screen-Related Meltdowns
3. We Are Fully Present with Our Kids When We’re Together 

Early on in this journey my wife and I searched high and low on Amazon, on podcasts, and seemingly everywhere for something that could fix the issue. We didn’t find it. There was no toy or cool activity that I could hand to my daughter that was more interesting than my phone. Especially when that’s how we took her picture doing the cool activity… We found it took something more. Absolutely nothing worked better than modeling screen-free, intentional living.

Discovering Screen-Free Living: Why We Chose the Analog Adventure

Since committing to a screen-free life, our family has experienced more meaningful connections and positive changes. I’ve lovingly dubbed this journey our “Analog Adventure.” Despite my wife’s amused eye-rolls, I think it’s a pretty good name! I think by definition it is exactly what I am looking for when I am spending time with our family. An unusual, exciting experience or activity not involving or relating to the use of computer technology; a contrast to digital.

In our search for screen-free family activities and ways to build new routines, we discovered there was no one stop shop that met our needs. We wanted a place where families could find ideas, tools, and activities for unplugged, real-life fun.

Join the Analog Adventure!

We hope our story, resources, and products help other families on their own Analog Adventure. So here is your invitation to rediscover the joy of being truly present and making lasting memories with your family, without digital distractions.