A Day Without Technology
by Kaitlyn Wagner
Before much time had passed at all, I had already broken my swearing off of technology. I had to let my mom know, first of all, so she didn't worry. I also texted my friend goodbye who was leaving the country for a year, and wished one of my best friends a happy 18th birthday.
One of the hardest things to get past on my day without technology was not being able to play music. I usually have music playing at any quiet moment, even when I'm doing homework or reading, so that was a big noticeable change. My friend "helped" as much as he could, but with a caviot that I ended up listening to his heavy metal music while trying to read. Beggars can't be choosers?
Speaking of friends, mine were very supportive. They asked me questions about why I was doing it and how I felt about it. They also tried to play along when we were together by enforcing a "no phone zone" anytime we ate a meal together. They played music out loud while we were together which was nice, and we played a LOT of cards.
I got a new book in the mail the day before that I'd been looking forward to reading for a while, so I used my day without technology as an excuse to make time and read! My total page count for the day was 106 pages.
Looking at examples of other people's projects, it seemed like everyone cleaned their room. I was adamantly against succumbing to the trend, but looking at my side of the room and thinking "when am I EVER going to have this much time?!", I cleaned my room. My future self thanked me.
I also got my homework done in record time without the lure of my computer or phone to procrastinate. Where it would have taken me an hour to finish my Physics on a regular day, it took only 20-30 minutes.
Without technology, I also got to play some live music with friends. Without being able to look up tabs to songs on my phone, I had to listen really closely and try to find the notes on my own. It felt like putting together an audible puzzle.
Thinking back to Digital Nation, I remembered one idea on the world's obsession with technology is that technology is used to seek out stimulation. I very noticeably felt the awkward pull towards my phone during lulls in conversations, and took it upon myself to look for other windows to stimulation by starting conversations myself.
In my life there are definitely aspects of this experiment that I will take with me. Seeing the effects on my homework when technology is taken out of the equation, I'll definitely be hiding my phone during homework time in the future. I'll also be better equipped to tackle awkward situations without hiding behind my phone.
During this experiment, I also took time to reflect on the good things about technology. I like having information at the tip of my fingers, only a Google search away. It also makes friends and family more easily accessible. Not only could I not talk to my family at all yesterday, but even my friends living 10 minutes away from me living in Justice were hard to get ahold of to talk or hang out with.
photos c/o zazzle.com and Kaitlyn Wagner