What is my relationship with technology? In order to answer this question for myself, I unplugged from technology for 24 hours. In this post you’ll find an inventory of the technology I use (and disconnected from), a timeline of the technology I use, and my experience from unplugging!
Technology inventory:
- iPhone 5s (Used for about 3 hours per day)
- Social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Yik Yak), email, phone calls, texts, games, camera, internet access, listening to music
- Frequented apps: Snapchat, Facebook messenger
- Lenovo Laptop (Used for about 4 hours per day)
- Games, internet access, school work (MS Word), email, social media, watching tv/movies, listening to music
- Frequented websites: outlook.com, facebook.com, Steam, Microsoft word
- Xbox 360 (Used for about 3 hours per week)
- Games, movies
Technology Inventory Timeline:
http://timeglider.com/t/b6d611cd2750deba3347
The Experience:
Sometimes it takes a bit of a shock to show us just how much something means to us. This was especially true for my experience during my 24 hour “unplugged” time. Before the 24 hour experience, I considered myself far removed from my peers that cannot function without technology. Unplugging forced me to take notice of the ways in which technology envelopes my daily life. After the experience, I had to seriously rethink and question the role of technology. Through this, I discovered that technology has changed behavior, social interaction, and our reality. But, it has done this in ways similar to pre-technology mediums.
Thursday, September 8th, 2016 at 5 p.m.; the day and time I picked to initiate my 24 hour unplugged experience. I picked to initiate it then because most of the unplugged time would take place on a Friday, which are my busiest days. I figured that if I am busy, my mind will stay off the fact that I can’t use technology. But, even before starting my 24 hours without technology, I ran into problems. I found it difficult to disconnect. I had to send the last text, the last email, the last Snapchat, and so on. The idea of sending the “last” form of communication seemed to be a never ending cycle that I couldn’t possibly put a stop to. I thought this as I laid in bed at 11 p.m. on Thursday, September 8th, still not disconnected from my technology. So, I decided that the next morning after I woke up, I would check my phone one time, and then disconnect.
It was 7 a.m. on Friday, September 9th, and I had initiated my 24 hours of being unplugged. My first hour was uneventful, as I had a busy breakfast and class right after. But, after my class ended I returned to my room and approached my computer so I could surf the internet. Suddenly, I remembered that there would be no internet surfing happening. So, I opted to stare out the window to procrastinate doing homework since my usual habit was off-limits. It only took me a few minutes to realize how much time I was wasting and actually begin doing homework. At about 10 a.m., 3 hours in, I was waiting for the professor to arrive for my second class of the day. As I waited, I looked around and saw the rest of the class was on their phones. So, I instinctively reached for mine and sadly realized it was not there. After class ended, I walked to my room to prepare for the day’s physical training. Part of my preparation ritual is listening to music while I get dressed for physical training. But, on that day, I couldn’t prepare as usual because using my computer to listen to music would violate my unplugged time. This made me feel less prepared than usual. Following physical training, around noon, I went to lunch. On my way to lunch, one of my roommates asked me about an important email that was sent to me. I had to respond by telling him about my no technology period, for which he laughed at me. This made me frustrated not only because of the taunting, but also because there was an important email just sitting in my inbox, waiting to be read. The next few hours of my day were full of classes and uneventful. But, after my classes ended, I realized a major problem in the way of my unplugged experience. My weekend plans were to ride home on Friday evening, which would require me to use a computer in order to sign out and leave. I thought to myself; is this a violation of my 24 hours without technology? The answer to that was yes, obviously. I considered scratching my plans and not going home at all. However, I ultimately decided that I would use my friend’s computer, log into the website, click sign out, and that would be it. No big deal. So, when 5:45 p.m. came around, I did exactly that. As I departed my room, I slid my phone into my pocket. In this act, I entrusted myself with resisting the temptation of using my phone during my three hour car ride. By the time I arrived home, it was later than I had anticipated. I opened the door not to the happy greeting of my mother, but to her chastising me for not answering her calls or calling to tell her I would be home late. I explained to her the unplugged experience I was undergoing, to which she, like my roommate earlier, replied with a laugh. At this point, I was 16 hours into being unplugged and totally wanted it to be over with. I decided to sleep the rest of the time away. Saturday, September 10th, 2016, at 10 a.m. I woke up and paused to reflect on what I learned from being unplugged. After a few seconds of reflection, I realized I could be doing more productive things, so I reached for my phone and once again, I was plugged in.
Jokes aside, I learned a great deal from being unplugged. It opened my eyes to the way that technology can eat up my time. For example, I was more productive with doing my homework when I did not have a phone or computer screen in front of my face. This has made me more conscious about my relationship with technology as it pertains to enabling procrastination. Also, through my mother’s reaction to my late arrival home, I realized that nowadays human to human interaction is based on the assumption that communication can always be carried out in a non-face to face manner, i.e. with technology. My mother assumed that I could be reached because I have a cell phone. This connects to Sherry Turkle’s statement, “if we can be continually in touch, needing to be continually in touch does not seem a problem or pathology but an accommodation to what technology affords. It becomes a norm.” (Turkle 177) Being laughed at for disconnecting was an interesting experience. It made me understand that it is frowned upon to be unplugged. To not be “with” the technology of the day is a bad thing, something that is associated with older generations. I came to understand the urges to use technology I had throughout my 24 hours of being unplugged. Whenever I have technology, I constantly spend long periods of time accessing information online, through social media, online articles, or forms of communication. The simple availability and easy access to information bred a behavior within me where I feel like I always need to know information. The urges I felt were a result of this behavior of mine. So, it seems that technology has, at least on me, created a certain set of behaviors. But, that’s not to say that others don’t have the same urges when it comes to reading a book. Finally, I took notice to the way that technology can affect a social environment. I was able to spend more time to observe social situations without the distraction of technology. I noticed that on many occasions people would rather sit back and look at their phones than make conversation with other classmates. Did technology make people completely disconnect from social situations? From my observations, no. Technology can be was used to make social situations a little less awkward, but if need be I could engage with someone without them being completely distracted by technology. Again, the same could be said for reading a book.
I believe my reality in 2016 and what my reality would have been in 1996 is not that different. In 1996, computers, television, video games, and cell phones all existed. As Alison Gopnik says, “each new generation rapidly acquires all the accumulated innovations of the past.” (Gopnik 2) So, everything we have in 2016 is just an extension of technology from 1996. I believe this will be the same for 2036. The technology in 2036 will just be an extension of what already exists in 2016. However, in the process of these innovations, my generation will continue to age. As my generation ages, forming the habits and knowledge required to use new technology will be more difficult. I believe the key to keeping up with technology will be to actively make use of it. By doing this, it is hard to fall behind and become technologically illiterate. But, at the rate technology is surrounding our lives, we may have no choice but to conform to whatever new technology comes about in the next 20 years.
Listen to me talk about my unplugged experience:
My notes during the experience:
Help Received: Peer review, teacher feedback, Wikipedia for timeline information
Turkle, Sherry. Alone Together : Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. New York :Basic Books, 2011. Print.
Gopnik, Alison. “Sherry Turkle’s Alone Together: Will the Digital Revolution Really Change Us?” Slate Magazine. N.p., 07 Feb. 2011. Web.