When I saw the words “abstain from as much technology as possible for as long as possible” my first thought was that it wouldn’t be the “as much techonolgy” part that was hard, it would be the “as long as possible.”
There is no doubt that I am a tech junkie. I sit pretty much everywhere with laptop in my lap, iPhone beside me, my kindle isn’t out of sight, and my ear buds are most definitely in. I knew for this media experiment I had a lot I could stop using. Maybe I won’t take my computer to any of my classes. Maybe I would leave my phone at my dorm for a day. But even the thought made me panic. I realized it was going to be a challenge for even a day, but I wasn’t expecting to HAVE to do it for three.
Around the time I was going to start this experiment, I lost my phone. Shortly after that, my computer completely malfunctioned and was unuseable. So here I was, like it or not, completely diconnected.
The shut-down happened on Monday. I walked to campus with no more than a notebook and pen in my backpack. I felt frantic, and slightly lost. “Think of all the texts I’m missing.” Apparently I had forgotten about my situation, because my first instinct when I got to class was to check my phone for missed calls or texts, only to have this sense of dread, as I shuffled around my book-bag. Then I sat back and realized it would not be there no mater how much I searched.
Meeting up with friends was nearly impossible. I couldn’t text them, call them, email them, tweet them, inbox them, or write on their wall. I essentially just had to show up at their door and hope they were there. Despite as stalker-esque as this might have seemed, they hid their annoyance and seemed to understand. I felt like a burden to all those around me. Why wasn’t I more reachable? This was all my fault. I’m being a terrible friend. By the time this is over I will have no more friends. Just a few of my paranoid thoughts.
I figured I would get used to it. But the paranoia and panic never went away. Not only could I not do any social networking, doing school work was difficult. I could not email professor, look up information, and any writing of any papers I had to do was done at the computer centers around campus; which if you have been there know is a less than relaxing environment.
Maybe it was because I was forced to do go through this process, rather than by my own decesion, but I was miserable and lost without my phone or computer. Yes, I do spend time idly surfing Facebook and other websites, and sometimes I will look at my phone for no reason, but the other times I’m using it because it is a necessity. If you can’t be reached by your friends in a single texts, relationships can be slightly strained, or overly complicated. If I can’t write a paper for class then I fall behind.
At one point spending time without technology could have been possible and rather relieving. However in a society where media is the glue for most of our daily activities and social interactions, it is hardly a “freeing” or blissful experience.
When I got my replacement phone Wednesday and my computer was fixed shortly after, I had a sudden sense of calm. Everything seemed to fall back into place. I no longer felt like some strange disconnected-outsider. I was back in my home-country, and felt like once again I was a member of society.
This process made me think about Marshall MuLuhan's ideas on "hot" and "cold" media. He makes the distinction that some media are hot because they have little to no interaction, while some are cold because they require lots of interaction. I wonder if any media can truly be hot. There may have been a time when someone using technology or watching a movie really did not have any other interactions. But now, we depend on our technology for those interactions. I was completely socially handicapped without my forms of media. Though a computer may not traditionally be thought of as "hot" since we merely sit with them and there is little interaction, it is much more complicated than that. I need my computer for my interactions. Any interaction that happens without it just doesn't seem real.
This process made me think about Marshall MuLuhan's ideas on "hot" and "cold" media. He makes the distinction that some media are hot because they have little to no interaction, while some are cold because they require lots of interaction. I wonder if any media can truly be hot. There may have been a time when someone using technology or watching a movie really did not have any other interactions. But now, we depend on our technology for those interactions. I was completely socially handicapped without my forms of media. Though a computer may not traditionally be thought of as "hot" since we merely sit with them and there is little interaction, it is much more complicated than that. I need my computer for my interactions. Any interaction that happens without it just doesn't seem real.
Below is a link of an article showing two sides of “unplugging”:
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