CRACKING UP WITHOUT OUR GADGETS; Bored family spend their nights staring at the ceiling after switching it all off.(News)

Byline: DECLAN BRENNAN

A FAMILY who gave up gadgets for a week was reduced to spending their nights staring at cracks in their ceiling, a mum revealed yesterday.

The Sutton family from North Co Dublin have cut themselves off from all technology - including mobile phones, computer games and TV - since last Wednesday.

And mum Karen Sutton revealed the family spent Saturday night staring at the ceiling.

She joked: "We never realised there were so many cobwebs up there.

"We had nothing else to do what with no TV and we were just sitting in there staring up and looking at cobwebs and these cracks in the ceiling paint.

"We were listening to all these sounds in the quiet house and convinced ourselves there was a pipe leaking."

She admitted she is looking forward to coming off the tech fast. Karen said: "I'd love to sit down and watch a bit of TV in the evening. Even giving up the phone hasn't been as hard to give up as the TV."

Despite having no phones or internet, the family were not abandoned by the outside world - as neighbours embraced the challenge as well.

Their home became the centre of gadget free fun with pals of Karen's kids coming over to enjoy barbecues, trampolining and hide and seek.

Karen said: "I found it exhausting just trying to come up ideas of how to keep a bunch of children, aged between six and 13, entertained and happy.

"We toasted marshmallows in disposable barbecues in our back garden and all the children were running around for hours in the frost on Friday evening.

"We also had a disco inside. It has been great and everybody was definitely much more relaxed. We weren't tied down to what time such and such a programme is going to be on TV.

"The kids got more exercise and when the parents came to collect Shauna's friends they all looked exhausted."

And she said that actually making arrangements was hard because she usually calls people from her mobile phone.

Karen added: "We had to go over to people's houses just to give them a message. It's more time consuming because you end up having to stay for a chat and a cup of tea.

"It's much easier and quicker to send a text, isn't it?"

THE technology fast was organised by The John Murray Show on RTE Radio One and the Suttons will go on air tomorrow to talk about their experience.

CAPTION(S):

UNPLUGGED Tuning out OFFLINE Mirror man Declan with the Suttons