Technology isn’t usually a word associated with building family relationships. However, with some out-of-the-box ideas and an open mind, you’ll find countless ways to use technology as a vehicle to bring the family together.
In today’s digital age, we often view technology as an individually-charged mechanism for narcissistic venting, binge watching, self-deprecation, exploiting one’s ego while scrutinizing the world and actions of others with our own lives. In many ways, these characteristics of today’s technology are true; but on the other hand, there’re just as many constructive, educational and impactful components of technology that make it a wonderful tool—and this goes especially true for families.
Here is how you and your loved ones can strengthen your family relationship through the ever-revolving world that is technology:
Family television entertainment
Between sports, reality, cartoons, cheesy soap operas, laugh-out-loud comedies, shows about dragons and zombies and everything else circulating the tube, finding something the whole family can enjoy and agreeon can easily become a taxing and time-consuming process. Fortunately today, many cable and satellite TV service providers offer their customers with a catalog of family entertainment selections that are specifically designed to help solve that problem. In fact, you can get more TV channels for less by doing a little research on customer reviews, comparing prices with service competitors and exploring entertainment packages, all within a matter of seconds.
Family social networking
A great way to bridge the gap between you and your family is through social media. Find a niche topic that interests you and someone else in your family and investigate deeper into that subject. For example, if you and one of your children enjoys prank videos, you can branch into a world of prank platforms that are scattered throughout the social media universe. From popular prank YouTube channels, to Facebook account pages entirely dedicatedto pranking others, you can spend the whole day laughing together. But remember step #1: find a topic that interests the two, three, four or five of you first—then explore.
Family tutorials
From cooking pancakes to learning how to make an elephant balloon animal, the Internet is caulk-full of fun and easy tutorials that you can do and learn together. This is a wonderful way to gather up ideas from the Internet and apply them into reality.
Family makeshift trivia
Considering that the Internet is a platform of infinite information, you can easily create your own fun trivia game tailored to the interests of your family members. From what sounds does a hyena make to which sports teams are named after birds, the options are endless—so use your creativity and get the family thinking!
Family gaming
Gaming can already be used as multi-person entertainment system, however you can one up it by creating your own virtual tournament. Sports games, such as FIFA or NFL Madden are great places to start, but you can get even more creative with more complex games. If you don’t like gaming or never played before, ask one of your family members to teach you so in the future you can play together.