A Day Without Techonology

When this digital-fasting assignment was first given, I thought there was no way I was going to be able to go an entire 24 hours without any technology. I am not glued to my phone and computer as much as some people are, but I definitely like to text my friends and check Facebook from time to time. Also, the only way I get to talk to my parents is via my cell phone so I knew it was going to be unusual to go a day without talking to them. I decided to complete my 24 hours from midnight to midnight, that way I just had one whole day without technology and it didn't start halfway through my day.  

Turning off all of my electronics was not easy!

My boyfriend is also a student here at Appalachian, so I didn't feel totally disconnected from everyone, since most of my friends and family live back home. I told him about the assignment and I suggested that he try it with me, but not surprising at all, he declined the offer. One of the first things I noticed was that it was really hard for me to resist picking up my phone, even for the simplest things like checking the time or weather. It also didn't help that I was seeing my boyfriend constantly on his phone and/or computer. He kept trying to show me things that he had found on the internet but every time I would literally shield my eyes and he would immediately remember that I was fasting.

Hiding from the technology being shown to me

After having fasted for only a matter of hours, I was getting bored. So I decided to have my boyfriend take me to the Boone mall so I could be distracted from my phone. But, the first store we go in is the AT&T store, which houses plenty of tempting smartphones. My boyfriend needed to check out the new phones to see which one he wanted; while he was playing with the different phones I tried to keep my mind on other things. Towards the end of our time in the store, somehow I completely forgot about my fast and played with one of the sample phones. Within 5 to 10 seconds of messing with the phone I realized what I was doing and quickly turned away and walked out of the store in order to remove all temptations.

I didn't get to take a picture in the AT&T store but this can stand as a representation of my 10 second accidental fast-break.

 After finally leaving the oh-so-tempting AT&T store, we went into Belk to browse around. As we were walking around, I noticed other customers using their cell phones; there seemed to be a very high volume of people using their phones at that time. But now that I think about it, I probably noticed so many more people on their phones simply because I knew I could not have mine therefore I was paying more attention to who was and who wasn't using a cell phone.

Slowly we made our way to the dress section of the juniors department, which is my favorite part of the whole store. I convienced my boyfriend to let me try on all the funky dresses with no intention of buying any of them; being a boy he didn't understand this concept but he agreed to wait while I tried them on. Most of the times that I came out to show him a dress, he was finishing a text, which made me think about the times that I am with friends and have my phone in my hand. I began to ask myself questions like, 'am I being rude by texting in front of them?' 'Or it is now considered a social-norm to text in front of your friends?'

One of the many dresses I tried on in hopes of distracting myself from technology

It was truly enjoyable to be out-and-about without having to carry my cell phone. I felt physically lighter because it wasn't weighing down my pocket; but more importantly I felt emotionally lighter because no one was texting me about their relationship issues or about a test they failed. It was nice to not have to worry about other people's problems, which can often come up when I'm texting my friends.

Another positive thing that I got out of this digital fast was something that I completely did not expect. I found myself drinking a lot more water than I usually do, which says a lot because on a typical day I drink about three 24 oz. bottles of water. This was certainly an unexpected effect of not using technology but I think I subconsciously needed something to occupy my hands and carrying my water bottle did the trick. Normally, if I am just sitting down watching television or hanging out with friends, I have my phone in my hands whether or not I am using it at that exact moment, so my water bottle was a physical replacement. I also managed to eat a whole lot of chocolate chip cookies throughout the day! And since I couldn't get on the computer to look up any new recipes I took a quick trip to Wal-Mart and picked up some ingredients to cook a 'fruit-pizza' that I make at home quite often.

I found myself constantly filling up my water bottle throughout the day

Filling my digital void with junk food!

Yummy fruit pizza!

Also during my digital fast, I was able to visit my niece and her giant cat for a few minutes.

Cats are a great way to escape technology!

During the day I was out and about but I still had time for some homework. Normally I would type my papers and homework on my computer, but since my computer was off limits for this day, I had to handwrite everything and type it when my digital fast was over. Without my digital devices distracting me I got my homework done much faster than I normally do.

Handwriting my homework was a certainly a big change but I didn't mind it though

Successfully completing my 24-hour fast was a truly amazing feeling. I felt like I had accomplished something that most people in today's society could not imagine doing. Although I did feel somewhat disconnected from my friends and family back home, I liked the fact that I was much more carefree and didn't feel tied to my phone and computer. My free time was more abundant and I got to spend time with my friends and my boyfriend without any distractions. I would absolutely say this experience was positive and has encouraged me to shut out the digital world sometimes, even if it's only for a couple of hours.

My overall rating of this project...thumbs up!