Dallas / Fort Worth Local News

IRVING (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ― Have you ever left your cell phone at home, and then felt completely lost without it the rest of the day? Imagine doing that for one entire week! We asked two busy North Texas moms to do that, and as we found out, they made some pretty dramatic changes.

Barbara Arnondin and Tina Wysk are sisters, business partners, mothers, and they're both addicted to their blackberries.

"We hang up to go to sleep and hang out with the kids, and then we're just right back on the phone," Barbara said.

"It's a constant, non-stopping, always on some electronic device," Barbara's husband, Jacque, explained.

The two created Metroplex Baby & Kids - a website full of resources for DFW area parents. They say they created it to give parents a one-stop-shop full of information, so they could spend less time looking for things and more time with their families. However, they both agree that the job has been getting in the way of their own families.

"It's work almost 24/7," Tina said. "It's difficult to separate."

"Even though I'm sitting down playing with them, or doing an activity with them, if the phone rings I'm guilty of stopping what I'm doing," Barbara said.

Dr. Sylvia Gearing, a psychologist in Plano, says she's seeing more clients who are trying to do too much.

"Overworking has become an American badge of honor," she said. "We think that the technology is making our lives easier, but it's pulling us apart from each other."

To see how deep their addiction runs, we asked Barbara and Tina to give up their cell phones for one week during non-business hours - from 5pm until 8am each day.

"We're either going to get very creative in finding ways to communicate without a phone, or our house might finally get organized," Barbara joked.

Blog: Day 1
Blog: Day 2
Blog: Day 3

Half-way through their cell phone intervention, Barbara became bored.

"I'm cooking dinner, and nobody else is in the room," she said. "What do I do? Do I just think?"

Tina, on the other hand, became very frustrated.

"Having my blackberry turned off has been a major source of anxiety for me," she said. "I felt disconnected and alone."

Both women noticed a change with their families, though they have differing views at this point.

"I was able to absorb more of my family without the blackberry in the room with me," Barbara said.

"I think I spend better quality time with them with the blackberry because I was thinking what was being unanswered, what was coming in that I couldn't respond to," Tina explained.

But both moms agreed that work was beginning to pile up.

"I literally felt like I was wasting time," Tina said. "I worry about how far behind I'm going to be at the end of the week."

"In today's world, you have to work more than just the basic 9 to 5," Barbara thought.

Blog: Day 4
Blog: Day 5
Blog: Day 6

But, at the end of the seven days, the two sisters seemed to have come to the same conclusion.

"I learned that it's ok to turn it off," Tina realized. "I had a lot of anxiety the first few days, and I'm not exactly sure what the turning period was...but all of a sudden there was this calmness and peace."

"I went from that missing limb syndrome not having my blackberry clipped to my waist, to on the final day it really irritating me when it was clipped to my waist," Barbara said.

Blog: Day 7

Tina says she now understands what effect an addiction to these devices can have on her and her kids.

"It's ironic, all these devices are supposed to give you more time, and they really do take time away," she said.

"I realize now it's not about productive or slacking, it's not about all or nothing," Barbara said. "It's about appropriate times to do things that I need to do in my life."

Blog: One week after the experiment

To help find a balance between work and family, Dr. Gearing tells her clients to start by reducing their nighttime work and other activities by four hours a week.

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