[1] These first few days of 2012 find me returning to my desk and computer after a nice long break over the Christmas holiday to savor time with family and friends. The excitement and busyness of the past few years, with the growth of this website, my speaking engagements around the country and the publications of The Handbook for Catholic Moms [2] and A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms [3] have left me working non-stop. As we led up to Christmas and I felt my stress level rising, I knew that the time had come to build in a bit of down time over the holidays. I want to thank all of you for being patient with this break and being so encouraging of my need to step away from the keyboard to regain some perspective. I hope this was — for you as well — a time of restoration and celebration.
As I prepared to return to work today, I found myself pondering my New Year’s resolutions. I’m a big resolution-maker, so I typically spend the first week of January thinking over and praying about my goals for the coming year. My list is always way too long, and has too many items that have been repeated (and remain unattained) year after year. That being said, I wanted to share with you a subset of my goals for 2012 — my “Digital Resolutions”.
Lisa’s Digital Resolutions for 2012
- Responsible use of digital technology — update virus protection and child monitoring software, limit “elective” use of technology and establish set work hours
- Innovative use of digital technology — focus on learning about emerging tools in the new year, both hardware and software, to more effectively perform duties and imagine new possibilities
- Financially savvy use of digital technology — investigate major acquisitions to avoid “impulse buys”, of big ticket items such as phones and computers but also of “throwaway” expenditures such as iPhone apps — only invest in new resources when they will promote enhanced results
- Spiritually led use of digital technology — refrain from use of technology on Sundays, leave cell phone at home during Mass, practice “unplugged” prayer and protected time for family priorities, do not allow social networking relationships to hinder “real world” relationships
Since you are reading this blog, perhaps you also spend a great deal of time in the digital realm. And perhaps you too will want to set your own “Digital Resolutions”. I’d love to hear yours, and would also love to hear from our readers who don’t engage in the practice of setting of resolutions but have personal goals for the effective and spiritually encouraging use of technology.