Unplugging, 24 Hours

Timeline- Technology

Video Reflection

Going twenty-four hours without any sort of digital technology, wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be, but knowing that the technology was at my finger tips and I had to choose not to interact with it for what felt like an extremely extended period of time was rather tough.  However, eye-opening is another way I would describe this unplugging experience.  I specifically remember one time my father made a comment about me being glued to my phone. Naturally, I shook it off, saying to myself that I could break the habit of being on my phone most of the day if I wanted to, and it was only something that helped pass time on car rides or waiting for dinner in that case.  After twenty- four hours of intentionally avoiding my phone, I think I understand the point he was trying to make.

In a world of email, iMessaging, Spotify, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, avoiding any of these digital platforms for a day will set you back socially amongst peers and acquaintances.  This generation bases popularity off of social media followers, most interactions on the internet, and who is up to date with the newest, flashiest devices. Social skills have diminished as the audacity levels of society have grown; however, only on a technological level. God forbid someone stands up for themselves in person, or confronts an individual whom they might have conflict with. Therefor, we are naturally glued to our devices following the latest gossip or post about someone else within seconds of the said material being posted. This happened to be my problem.  Being away at Virginia Military Institute (VMI) we are almost cut off from the “real” world, which allows for us to be drawn in to technology. I check Snapchat to see other school’s party life.  Instagram and twitter are used to see what people my age are up to that aren’t going through military school.  I quickly realized during my twenty- hour period of no digital devices, that usage of my phone was mostly based off of keeping up with peers, all with no contact with them of course.

I never found that these devices haltered my ability to accomplish anything, but this was partly due to the fact that I planned for a twenty-four hour shut down period.  I checked email right before I clocked out for the day, and made sure that any homework I had to do on the computer was done ahead of time.  The first three to four hours went smoothly, I was distracted with some reading and a gym session, and then a craving for technology took over.  I knew that there wasn’t anything urgent that I needed to see on my phone or computer, but I wanted so badly to check what the latest tweet was, or the most recent picture on Instagram. I had to see what my friends were up to or what the latest controversial political topic was being debated on Facebook.  It’s not like I couldn’t make it throughout my day without seeing these topics but a big part of me just felt uncomfortable not being able to pick up the device that connected me to the world, which was sitting right next to me.  I felt slightly hindered with my academics because I couldn’t refer directly to a syllabus, a problem which came up multiple times.  I counter acted this with asking my roommate to check for me.  I was also limited in my ability to search anything I was having trouble with as well as email teachers.  The urge to email teachers never really was a problem because it was only a twenty-four hour window but I feel if I had to go for one more day that it would have been a major academic set back.  I didn’t feel to affected by not having television or an Xbox as I was never really too hooked on them before; however, it was a very odd feeling having to ignore my phone and computer, which were accessible to me the whole process.

This twenty-four hour digital shutdown was very eye opening to me.  It showed me both the pros and cons of unlimited technological access. Pros consisted of extremely accessible communication anytime of the day, advanced research with little work, and the ability to stay in touch with previous friends while attending a rigorous military college.  Consequently, this abundance of technological accessibility comes with multiple cons. For example, internet usage on social media platforms can turn into what seems like an addiction.  It seems that sometimes I feel a longing for my phone when I am away for it for a while and this is something that I would like to work towards breaking. Another negative of this digital age is the social media competition that is created by who has the best posts or the most followers. It is less involved at the college level, but I distinctly remember that has become an ever growing problem at the high school level and below. Overall, I am happy I “unplugged” for twenty- four hours as it showed me parts of my life to work on, as well as made me appreciate the many uses technology has at making day to day living that much easier.