Agree to a no-device time

But what if someone emails me?
I’ll be there in a minute!

One of the things that really frustrates me at our household is the time in the
evening when the kids are finally in bed, we sit down for our evening meal
with the TV on and on each side of the table or sofa arm is the dreaded blue
light of the mobile phone.

The constant interruption and distraction of social alerts, WhatsApp
messages, pointless notifications constantly interrupting what should be
quality time with my wife. And guess what? We cut off our conversations, put
the cutlery down, stop watching the film and direct our gaze immediately at
the handset on the side. It’s so annoying!

I get it, we live in a 24 hour world where anything can happen at any time of
the day. But what is that doing for our time at home? When is this time ring
fenced and no matter what happens, it’s our time?

The case for the defence here is that my Mrs tends to be the one who sorts
the kids school pick ups and entertaining them in the period after school and
my getting home so there is the argument that this is the only time she can
be active to ‘catch up’ on messages.

I’ve often suggested half jokingly that it’d be easier for me to message my
wife rather than sit next to her at home!

Something I want to work on in this regard is no device time. I’m bad for it
too, checking my emails at 8pm onwards or not being truly focussed on the
importance of that time at home.

Removing devices from the room, locking them in a box, putting them on
charge upstairs would be a really helpful thing to do and something I think we
can implement quite quickly.

But what does this look like for you?
Are devices a bit of a crutch for you and the ones at home?
Do they create unnecessary distraction and interruption?