Day Without Technology
Hunter Wood
Shock and Awe
I have been attached at the hip with my cell phone since I got it my Freshman year of high school. Now all of a sudden I was faced with a 24 hour time period without any technology. When could I do this? How could I do this? A few emotions I was feeling: Stress, anxious, sad, depressed, etc.
Setting the Date
I wanted to pick a day where I had a lot on my plate that did not require technology. I settled with Sunday, August 30th! It was perfect because I had church that morning and work that afternoon to keep my mind off of it. This proved more challenging than I originally thought.
THE DAY HAS COME
The Day came and I had to quickly find stuff to keep me busy.
My throne
I decided that since it was still the weekend that I would lay in bed and gain a few more Z's. This would keep my mind off of technology and the stress that comes with it.
My two loves
My girlfriend and I went to church together and then went and got lunch with our best friend Meredith. This took a large part of the early day out.
Making fun of Meredith
One thing that I love to do that doesn't require technology is to make fun of Meredith. Such an easy target and she takes it so well. We love her dearly!
Working 9 to 5!! Actually 2-11:(
This was the biggest help to my success in the day. I am not allowed to have my phone when I work anyway, so this wasn't very hard for me to do.
Home
Boone is a wonderland. The scenery is unlike anywhere else on Earth, and even the people addicted to technology can take a second to pause and look around them.
Why am I here again?
Homework. Ew. I was kind of hoping all of my homework would be online so I would have an excuse not to do it; however, there were a few things I had to get done after work.
Challenges
- My roommate playing Xbox was hard for me that morning. Especially since I had the option to just lie and say I went all day without technology.
- I constantly felt naked during the day. I would have mini panic attacks about losing my phone, only to realize I had left it back in the dorm.
- Lunch was hard because my friends had done this project the day before, so I was the only one without technology. I now know how they felt when I did that to them.
- At work, I am required to run a cash register, which of course is technology. Almost all aspects of my job involve some piece of technology like automated carts, computers, etc. I had to drive my car to work as well. On my 30 minute break, I had a moment of weakness and used my phone. I am a terrible human being.
What I missed the most
I just bought Madden 16 for my Xbox One and I am quite in love with it. My roommate thought it would be great to torture me by playing multiple games while I was laying on my throne of sadness.
Grey's Anatomy has become as much a part of my life as breathing. I watch at the minimum 2 episodes a day. Really, I mean how did people survive before Netflix? It is literally the greatest thing on the face of this Earth.
PASS OR FAIL?
If being honest, I failed miserably. I used a ton of technology throughout the day and even voluntarily started getting on my phone. I knew the project would be hard, but not as hard as it actually was. I consider myself a pretty strong willed person; however, I could not last even 12 hours without technology. I never realized how dependent I was on the technology in my life. It would take all the technology around me getting destroyed before I could truly go 24 hours without it. First world problems, right?
Technology as applied to education
Technology runs our entire world today; we literally can't live without technology. That is why it is important, as teachers, to stay up to date with the current technology that our students will be using. In addition to that, technology can be used in a classroom as a teaching tool. Most of the time, technology in a classroom is considered a distraction, but if we use it to our advantage we could use it for great things! For example, in my high school English class, we used an app called Edmodo. It was like an educational Facebook page where we could have discussions, post interesting related material, etc. This boosted my learning in that class and I hope to implement something similar in my classroom. It is time to break the chains of education norms and revamp the educational process using technology.
Hunter's Button
I wanted to make a button really bad soooooo... This takes you to ASUlearn