Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard were more extra than usual while promoting their CHiPs remake, which did miserably at the box office and with critics. There was some backlash against them and their propensity to overshare, but they still have fans who find them refreshing. They went relatively silent for a few weeks, which seems to have worked in their favor.
Kristen made an appearance over the weekend at a Baby2Baby event sponsored by TinyPics. Baby2Baby provides low income families with diapers and needed supplies. Kristen is very active with charity work and is known as an empathic person. E! caught up with her and she had some things to say about unplugging her devices around her daughters Lincoln, 4, and Delta, 2. She said she’ll leave her phone by the door when she gets home and not check it. She also admitted that she’s privileged to be able to turn down jobs if they’ll keep her away from her family for any length of time.
“Personally,” Dax Shepard’s wife shared, “My first priority is to stay territorial of my family time. So when I have the luxury of looking at a job and seeing if it shoots out of town, I’m probably not going to do it.”
Bell added, “Are the hours awful? Will I miss six months of my kids’ life? I’m probably not going to do it.”
“So for me, spending their baby years alongside them and not on FaceTime is very important,” Kristen shared. “And when I’m at home I put my phone by the door and I’m just with them.”
She described disconnecting from technology as “hard in the beginning, but now that I do it, it’s quite liberating.”
Kristen and Dax welcomed daughters Lincoln in 2013 and Delta Bell a year and a half later, an experience the actress told us was a wakeup call on perspective.
“Motherhood right sized all my problems,” she said. “Anything I thought I was worried about kind of evaporated when I realized my babies were healthy and that I could provide for them… I have become acutely aware of the fact that is not everyone’s situation.”
That’s why Bell said she’s invested so much time and energy into helping fellow moms: “If I were in a different situation, I would want other mothers to reach out and help be my support system.”
“We’re sort of all in this together,” she continued, “It used to take a village and now this, we’re recreating a village.”
I doubt I could unplug like that, but I run an online business and work from home. I do try to take a few hours off here and there but not from the moment I get home at night. I also try to be present for my son. We’ve all seen the parents glued to their phones ignoring their kids, and I’m guilty of that occasionally. Good for her for doing that, it’s a hard habit to break. I could also relate to how she explained motherhood because my kid always comes first. I try to remember as long as he is healthy and doing well that there’s little need to worry.
As for her outfit for the Baby2Baby event, what is she wearing on her feet? That ruffled floral dress isn’t bad for a day event but it looks like she’s wearing slippers with poofy tassels on them.
These are not Kristen’s kids, she doesn’t post photos of them and tries to block the paparazzi from her family. These are kids from the Baby2Baby event.
Photos credit: Getty Images via TinyPrints PR
I commend anyone who is able to do this. I think completely ignoring any phone calls at night would be difficult, unless you have a house-phone (remember those??) where family could call you if there was an emergency. Parents scrolling through social media around their kids is something that should be avoided if possible. Even when you’re out with friends – I hate when you see a group of people all out together, just sat on their phones. Be present, in the moment, with the people you’re with.
I’ve become more conscious of this since having kids too. It’s weird but my mom is totally guilty of face-in-phone syndrome around her grandkids and I don’t know how to tell her to stop. Whatever we’re looking at is usually mindless and not worth it, but we just can’t help it. Like Kristen says it takes a deliberate effort on my part to put the phone in another room. It’s hard.
My mother is the same – she has a new man in her life and damn… she CANNOT STOP looking at her phone. She is using Whatsapp to chat to him a lot. I’m happy for her but she never puts the thing away. And she’s in her 60s! It’s not just young people… often older people are almost worse because it’s such a novelty to them.
From my personal experience the people who can afford to switch off so completely are either absolutely established powerfull A-listers, that know they will be accomodated at any price or the ones who don’t get that many calls anyway and try to sell it as a virtue.
I agree. It’s great if you can have a personal assistant to screen your calls, or be accommodated when it suits you. Many people unfortunately have to check in for work even after they leave the office.
Honestly, I disagree. I have to stay plugged in for my job even when I get home, but I leave the phone where I can hear it, but not constantly use it. It’s one thing to take a call or two, it’s another to be glued to your phone screen – and I see so many parents doing exactly that. If I have to check email, I schedule one/two times, and get back to it after the kids are asleep.
It is hard to disconnect. I felt a panic when I first started doing it. But it does become a habit, and it is really nice if you are able to do it.
I know the article comes from E and not you guys but WTF is up with calling her Dax Shephard’s wife? Like I find that pretty insulting in general, but especially since Kristen is arguably more well known because of Frozen, like, get away from me with your sexism.
Anyway, to the actual article in hand – I understand that because of her job (the long set hours, all he traveling etc) that she would want to spend all her time and focus with her kids and husband. But, for other people (that maybe work like a regular 9-5 job, and are there for their family everday – morning and evening) that might not be as realistic. Sometimes, you might need a little “me” time and so I think that’s fine if you want to take some time surfing the web or playing a game or whatever. I think as long as you’re not doing it when you’re having dinner (cause that’s just rude) or doing it when a kid needs some homework help, then fine. Kids aren’t going to want to spend every waking moment with you anyway.
The thing is, when they are little, children look at you looking for reinforcement, for eye contact.
Cell phone use is diminishing this eye contact a lot. be it because the parents are glued to the phone or because the children got a hand on it. I think it is wrong. I haven’t reedman studies, but those years are formative for children, they need their parents, not cellphones in the middle.
I understand many people take it too far, but I can totally understand parents needing some escapism from being 100% tuned in to their kids whenever they’re near them. Ideally if one parent needed some time for themselves, the other or grandparents would be available to entertain the kids instead, but that’s often not possible. Judging someone’s parenting based on a couple of minutes of their lives we witness is often just jumping to conclusions. Perhaps we’re all so irritated by parents checking their phones around their kids because social media is tacky. If they were reading a book instead, would it be seen in the same way?
A little boy was saying, “Grandpa, Grandpa” over and over at the mall yesterday as I walked through the food court, tugging on his sleeve trying to get his attention but Grandpa ignored him…..he was too busy with his phone. I see this every day; young mothers are the worst as they are stuck with crazy glue to their phones. It kind of gets me in the feels seeing people out with their kids having lunch and then ignoring them. Perhaps the tables will be turned one day.
hahaha, I know many a mom like that who constantly posts pics of her children as a happy family, I bet they’d like to share quality time with her that just having her checking her FB and whatsupp.
A while back it was on the morning news that there was a new App that could identify your babys’ cry. My teenager yelled at the TV “That’s easy. It’s saying ‘PUT DOWN THE PHONE’.”
That has to be tough, but I think it’s great if she can do it for her kids.
I like that she acknowledges her good fortune too. She seems to be a very caring person.