By Mark Naito
Wow! Where did 2026 go? We are already about to eat turkey and celebrate our Lord and Savior’s birth — Jesus Christ. I think, for me, the long season of forest fire smoke made it go even faster. Ahh… I digress.
With the holidays here, let’s go into this season with a different mindset. I’m going to share some top things that we’ve come across during our workshops this year. What will make myself or my kids relevant as a witness to the world? Will we be able to have the right tools and skill sets to do our jobs? How can I ensure we won’t fall into addictive or harmful things?
In today’s world, everything is on a screen — our banking, clothes, shopping, food, school subjects — or so this world pushes us to think that way. I say this because Bill Gates wrote a book back in 1995 that stated he was not concerned with the addictiveness of technology, porn/gambling/gaming, [and] that everyone in the world would not have access to it. Yet today he has an organization that is ensuring everyone has access to the point where, in Third World countries people don’t have food or shelter but still have a smartphone with internet access — all for free.
What does this tell us?
To address the top concern, what will make myself or kids relevant as a witness to the world? On the surface it appears the obvious is to be involved in screen-based things so your kids don’t stand out and are relatable. Right? However, our God-given need is to have in-person relationships with others and think about our relationship with the Lord. He is a jealous God. He wants nothing more than to have Him and us spend time together. If there is any kind of hinderance to this, He is hurt. Regarding your kids, they need more training in the in-person relationship model versus what everyone else is doing.
Why?
Think back to before we had so many screens — even TV. The key aspect to think about is how, being bored without entertainment, we got creative as a result. In that effort we pursued more in-person types of things. We had conversations, committed to more things, were less concerned about possessions, and supported each other if needs arrived versus relying on screen-based support, which tends to be superficial.
What if my kids go to Japan or Kenya for ministry — how are they going to survive? Language — most (including myself when we took a trip to Japan years ago) use the phone to interpret the language. However, what did we do before? We were forced to learn the local language and rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us. My family missed opportunities to make connections with the local Japanese by not finding a way to communicate.
I also think back on my days with a couple of Hispanic workers on our family farm when I was growing up. My dad had me take them with me to shovel — without any language training. I had to figure out how to communicate with them and so I used motions to show shoveling and how to start at a certain point and then keep going until you get to a certain area. I learned Spanish: aqui (here), ahi (there) and alli (over there). All without a screen!
In fact, AI has become a third person in our world. Instead of going to God or others, we now go to this other entity — for business strategy, information about our spouses and kids, planning a trip, and many other things. All this is leading to people being more isolated, polarized and depressed because of a lack of human interaction.
Because no one is choosing in-person relationships, when you do engage with people you will find they are hungry for what you have to offer: an actual conversation. Or sometimes they may shove you off because it makes them extremely uncomfortable to be so relational. And with your kids, if you can teach them by doing more of this yourselves at your home, you are investing in them something that will set them apart from this world: you will make in-person communicating more appealing to them and prevent them from desiring so much screen time.
Will they be able to have the right tools and skill sets to do their jobs? Yes. But you’ll have to teach them alternative things, such as instead of using a computer to learn typing, use a typewriter. What you’ll learn through this is that you’re going back to using each function with the individual tools we once used. Another example is using a physical alarm clock, timer, calculator, etc., and it makes it a fun thing for the kids to go explore places like thrift stores, yard sales, auctions, senior centers for sale areas, and similar places to find some of these items from the past. In fact, you will all be surprised at how much fun it is!
HAVE FUN again, rather than staring at a screen.
Also, there are many hands-on activities, such as mechanical engineering games made by people who sell at homeschool conventions. We recently crossed paths with a company called Covalent Moments. Their marketing material reads, “Finally, a science kit that teaches through problem solving, not just following directions.”; and the children learn the mechanics of how things are made so when and if they do use screens to do their job, they understand why they are doing certain things on the computer.
Bonus: If the internet or power goes down, they will still be able to work because they understand the fundamentals rather than over-relying on the screens to do their job — a true competitive advantage over others.
How can I assure you they won’t fall into the trap of addictive or harmful things again? The key in this area is to be as much in-person relational at home as humanly possible. Why? You will be fulfilling the children’s God-given hunger and desire to be with people instead of filling their time with superficial things like TV, gaming, social media, etc.
I am a living testimony of this. In my growing up we initially did more in-person things on the farm. As kids, my younger brother and I weeded onions with our mom and grandmother. We also did other farm-related tasks. Later, as I grew up, my dad and mom started watching more TV, to the point that if you wanted to talk to them, you had to do it with the TV going. Thankfully, I got my one-on-one time with my dad a year before he passed, because we drove from Idaho to Los Angeles to visit my uncle. That was when I appreciated my time with dad the most. It was just the two of us.
In the past, I worked in hospice and was a memory care administrator in the Boise area for about six years. There was never one person, when they only had a few weeks left, who ever talked about things like paying off debt, going on a vacation, giving their kids a paid college education, etc. The main thing many hospice patients wanted to do was talk to and reconcile with a loved one.
At the latest homeschool conference I attended, a lady talked about her aunt and how she isolated herself over the years, not reconciling with loved ones. It got to the point where no one visited her at the end of her life. The lady at the conference vowed to never do that to her family, and as a result she vowed to strengthen her relationships.
There are so many alternative activities for your family to do rather than stare at a screen; and when your family seeks these alternatives, all members can see it was worth it.
I can’t express this enough… There are many other ways to get the information, tools, and other things you need outside of the screens. You just have to ask around and tap into the resources around you. If not, make things up yourself — get creative. Don’t leave it all up to the technology to lead you and your family through life.
I am always surprised at the outcomes for me, my wife and our kids when we’ve chosen the non-screen way of handling things.
To summarize… I encourage you to go through life choosing relationships over screens. You will never regret it. And you will ultimately ask, “Why didn’t we do this a lot sooner?”
God bless you and we pray you are inspired to take the first step in being more relational.
Mark Naito is a family man with a wife, 6-year-old daughter, and 5-year-old son. He started Navigating Tech Family to educate, provide guided coaching, and help create intentional and sustainable new lifestyles in conjunction with modern technology. He is a public speaker and has been invited to speak at various workshops.
