When planning time for four hours without technology, I thought I had a plan. I would wake up on Saturday morning, and start my time from about 8:30 onward. Saturday rolls around, I fall back asleep for two of my four hours. Sighs. Ok, I guess we’re trying this again tomorrow. I had no idea the extent of what I would learn that day. My four hours without technology Sunday morning started out great. I cleaned my room and finished my book I had been too busy to make time for as of late. I was really enjoying the feeling of not being consumed by screen time as soon as I woke up. It not only meant that I was using different methods of entertainment. I also got to take a break from email, homework and the myriad of useless notifications that fill my phone every day. Two hours in, I was enjoying this break from my over-connected world, and since have been mulling the idea of trying to have unplug time every weekend.
The first half of my screen-free session went along the lines of what I was expecting. I was enjoying my free time, and prepared to go run errands to finish out my time. I offered to drive because my roommate had driven me around yesterday, and left my phone at home. On the way to shop, I was rear ended waiting at a stoplight on 72nd Street. A young lady had rear-ended another woman who was then pushed into me. She got out of her car and said “I’m so sorry, I had GPS on my phone and looked down to see where to go,” (although, she was wearing a College of Saint Mary t-shirt, from which we were less than a mile away, so I think she was just embarrassed to say she was texting). I had to borrow my roommate’s phone to take pictures of my car and call my dad. I wrote down the names and numbers of the two other women involved on a piece of paper. After a frustrating ordeal that lasted almost two hours, we were finally on our way. My four hours without tech became much longer.
My experience without digital media came in two phases, and each brought different lessons. During my morning at home, I was reminded that taking a break from technology is very freeing. It felt good to “detox” and sit down with a book, chat with my roommate and just enjoy the morning without the constant distraction of my phone. So often in my day-to-day, I find myself wasting so much time by just getting sucked into it. It starts with responding to a text and devolves into squandered minutes scrolling around. I found that leaving my phone charging on my bedside table where it spends the night meant I was far more intentional in whatever I was doing. When I was reading my book, I just sat down and read without glancing at my phone every time it buzzed. Same with talking to my roommate. Often on weekend mornings, he plays video games and I sit and talk to him. This morning, he paused his game and we just sat and chatted for 20 or more minutes. It also allowed me to be productive and focus on things I had to do that didn’t involve a screen, such as doing the dishes and cleaning my room, which often go by the wayside when I would rather watch Netflix or do homework on my laptop. Later in the afternoon during my automotive misadventures, I received a whole different set of lessons. Throughout the process following the accident, I wished I had my phone so I could take pictures of the damage, call my parents and save the contact information for the other parties involved. Luckily my roommate was with me. It was a very real example of how technology can be extremely useful in a variety of unexpected situations. Simply having a cell phone on-hand provides a lot of guarantees against disaster. On the other hand, distracted driving with a phone is what caused the whole mess. We really do need to be mindful for when technology blurs our vision, rather than enhances it as it is supposed to.
It is safe to say my experience without digital technology was an interesting one. In my more typical morning, I already learned quite a lot about the benefits of stepping away from technology. When things got weird, I found myself in a strange situation that taught me more than I ever would have guessed. In the modern digital age, it only is growing more important for each of us to individually reckon with our technology consumption and the role it plays in our lives.
Media in our World 