OREGON CITY, Ore. — All week at KGW we are trying to take a break from our phones and all those gadgets and devices that seem to always eat up way too much of our attention.
On Tuesday, Christine Pitawanich introduced us to the Garners, an Oregon City family willing to take on a weekend-long digital detox. That means the goal was to go the whole weekend without smartphones, video games, or other smart devices. The Garners are made up of Cydne and her husband, Jeff, nine-year-old Cooper, five-year-old Chloe, two-year-old Collyns, and their dog Bella.
Cydne, decided she would not text either, but movies would be fine because the family normally watches them together.
We set up a GoPro camera in their home so Cydne, could record video diaries on how the detox was going. Here's how they did.
In the Garner house, phones, gadgets, and digital devices aren't hard to find.
Both Cooper, and Chloe have an Amazon Echo smart device in their rooms, and there’s another one in the kitchen.
When we visited, Chloe demonstrated how she liked to use the device.
“Alexa, play ‘Into the unknown’ on Spotify,” she said to the Amazon Echo.
Her mom sometimes uses it to set timers for cooking.
But for a weekend, the Garners decided do a digital detox. Cydne said she wanted to do it to show her kids they can go without playing their video games, to spend more time together as a family without screens, and to show others that they can do it to, and survive.
A GoPro camera set up in Cydne’s room helped document the family’s journey.
Day 1: Friday
“It is Friday and it's a little after 11. We just got back from Les Schwab,” began Cydne, as she recorded a video diary entry.
“Each table had one person sitting ... They were all like nose to phone. Nobody had a smile on their face,” she said.
But because they decided to digitally detox, Cydne Garner and her family didn’t automatically whip out their phones.
“(We) spent the whole time looking out the window, looking at the cars, just talking about things. It was really nice,” said Cydne.
Later the same day, Friday afternoon, Cydne described spending time with her daughter Chloe.
“Chloe and I snuggled on the couch and watched a movie together, which was really nice to just (...) be with her and not be scrolling through social media,” she said.
Then it was time for the grocery store.
“To make sure that nobody sneaks on the electronics while I'm gone at the store, because I don't trust Jeff and I don't trust Cooper. And Collyns has a mind of her own. I'm gonna take all the controllers and iPads, and phones, and watches,” said Cydne during her video diary.
“It kind of forces them to have to bond together and be together. Now to find a place to hide them.”
Presumably that went well.
At the end of the first day, Cydne and Cooper sat down to record a video diary together. When asked how the day went, Cooper said it was okay.
Day 2: Saturday
On Saturday morning, Cydne logged another video diary entry.
“It's Saturday morning about nine o'clock ... I got up first before Jeff so I stole his phone and hid it so that when we woke up it wasn't the first thing he could look at,” she said.
“Day two at a start and going good.”
But then little Collyns caught a bug and had to go to the hospital. Still, Cydne remained committed to her digital detox and continued her video diaries.
“It's Saturday and it's about 7:30. I'm in the hospital with my baby ... it's really hard not using my phone and social media to update family and friends,” she said while using her cell phone to record the video.
We told her if she didn’t have access to the GoPro in her room, she could use her phone instead.
Don't worry, Collyns got better. But back at home on Saturday night, the kids and their dad Jeff played board games together. It’s something the kids might not usually be doing on a weekend, since they like to spend their time playing video games.
“It's kind of boring,” said Chloe while seated at the dinner table playing her board game.
“You only have tomorrow. We finish tomorrow and Monday we'll be able to play video games again,” said Cooper in response.
Sunday was much of the same, with the kids waiting for their next opportunity to play their video games again come Monday.
But they might have had to wait a little longer. Cydne and her husband, Jeff already try to limit time on electronics during the week.
So did anyone cave?
Well, Cydne texted a few people when she had to go to the hospital with Collyns. But the more than 20 texts that didn't have to do with Collyns went unanswered.
In addition, Cydne was waiting for an important job-related e-mail. So she checked her e-mail twice. At the end of the weekend, she said she had more than 200 e-mails in her inbox.
Otherwise, she tells me no one cheated and everyone survived.
On Thursday, we’re sitting down with the Garners during family dinner to get their take on their tech-free weekend.