The holidays are a time for peace, joy, and family. It’s also the season where we show the ones we love how much we love them by showering them with gifts. It’s a tradition as old as time, and it has pure, well-meaning intentions. However, the powers-that-be have turned simple gift-giving into a multi-billion-dollar industry. An industry we so willingly participate in each year, without so much as a consideration for the effects on our environment, mental health, and bank accounts.
Over the years, the time we spend on our screens (whether that be our smartphones, laptops, TVs, or iPads) has increased significantly. Add in a global pandemic, and watch those numbers soar even higher. I know I don’t speak for myself when I say I certainly have spent more time on my smartphone than I did five years ago. Hell, it seems like my screen time percentage increases each week!
When we suffer a sudden loss from our daily routine it is generally job loss, moving, the end of a friendship, or the death of a loved one. Those all come with a prescribed grieving period. But when you have an empty nest? Society has depicted parents as throwing a party and renovating the child-turned-adult’s room into a craft room.