Tech Disconnect

I’m in a digital new multimedia class where we will be performing an experiment in which we, my classmates and I, will disconnect from the digital world. In order to disconnect we are restricted from all technological uses for a twenty-four hour time interval. To prepare myself for this self-restricting challenge I will speak to my family and let them know that I will be ‘off-the-grid’ for the day. I also have to write out or remember the recipe for this delicious-looking meal I found that I’m going to make for my sisters’ when they come home Tuesday night. I personally picked a day in which I don’t have to work, so I won’t have to worry my mom with her not being able to know if I made it work safely, also our cashiering system is all electronic where I work. The more I focused on what I do everyday with different technologies I realized this might not be as easy as I might have thought. I went on a trip to Montana and stayed at a retreat camp for one week over this summer, they took our phones and we didn’t have access to computers. So, I think this would be an easier assignment/experiment for me than maybe it will be for others. I predict that the most challenging aspect of this will be the communication barrier with my family. I alway send my mom a quick ‘good morning’ text to let her know I made it to school, work, etc. safely and everything is alright. She is okay with my disconnecting for the day, but I’m still concerned she’ll be worried. My phone is a needed necessity of my life, it’s an item that is attached to me. This will most definitely be the hardest piece of technology I’ll have to live without. If I simply remember something I tell Siri to make a reminder for me later in the day, or if I just google what I don’t know right at the snap of my fingers. It’s always been accessible to me, right there when I needed it, and now in my normal average day I won’t have it. On the other hand, I can easily live without my laptop or my Ipad, mostly because everything I do on those devices I could access on my phone. This is going to be an exciting challenge that I’m ready to accept, I hate the way technology has changed our culture to be based around the digital world. There are improvements, of course, that the internet and the social society has created, but currently I’m watching a movie with my family and I’m barely watching the movie. I continuously complete multiple tasks at once, I’m watching a movie and typing, texting, snapping, or pinterest-ing. I’m not the only one either, both my mom and my step-dad are currently sitting on the couch both on their phones while a movie plays on our television. I will go a day without electronic distractions, I will go a month, if I was strong enough I would go a year, and I personally think everyone should ‘shut-down’ and just live for a day.