Going backwards: My tech-free day

Never had I put myself into such an unnerving situation. For those who do not know me, I am beyond addicted to technology and social networks, I cannot go on a day without both my smartphone and Ipod. More often than never, I find myself glued to my phone watching youtube videos, scrolling down Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr or sending snapchats to my friends. Not only do I use all these technological advancements to interact and keep in touch with my friends and relatives, but also to organize meeting, parties, casual get-togethers or just for planning lunch and dinner with my classmates. Needless to say, I was hesitant to go on a tech ‘’sabbath’’ for 24 hours. It gave me anxiety to the point in which I thought of making up a story so I would not have to endure the whole tech-free experience. 

Not being able to detach myself from my phone

Paradoxically, It was by scrolling down on Tumblr that I came across the following quote: ‘’ Life begins at the end of your comfort zone’’. These words of wisdom made me take the plunge and venture myself into this tech-free ‘’voyage’’.

Motivational words to start the assignment

I woke up in the morning by my inner alarm. I reached out to get my phone, when it hit me: TODAY I CAN’T USE ANY OF MY TECH DEVICES. I stayed in bed for approximately 20 minutes, the amount of time I usually spend in the morning going through social media before getting ready for life. It felt so weird not being able to check neither my Inbox, Facebook nor Whatsapp. Additionally, I had no sense of reality since I didn’t know what time it was. I had to ask my roommate for the time.

Once I got out of bed, I took a shower and put on my clothes. I went to the bedroom to do my hair, when I realized that the hairdryer was out of limits. NO ON POINT HAIR TODAY!!!! For the sake of this project, I decided to just leave my smartphone and iPod in my room, instead i took with a textbook and a novel.

the hair struggle is REAL!!!

My reaction to the fall landscape

After having overcome the hair problem   ( I ended up just wearing a beanie), I headed out to my friend’s room in Newland Residence Hall. When I was going down the hill ( I live in Mountaineer Hall), I looked for my headphones and iPod to listen to my life soundtrack, but they were not in my pockets. I took a deep breath, got it together and continued walking to Newland. On my way to my friend’s place, I cherished nature. I could rejoiced at the shades of different fall colors. The leaves were yellow, brown, red and orange!!! It was the perfect landscape to Instagram!!!  

Even though I’m widely aware of how beautiful our campus is, this unplugged walk from Mountaineer to NewLand gave me the opportunity to pay more attention to the environment itself and enjoy the sensuous feel of the rain. 

FALL'S ARRIVED :) Walking down unplugged gave me the chance to enjoy nature

When I got to my friend’s place, he was taking a shower so I made myself home and laid on his bed. That was when it hit me again: WHAT WOULD I DO WHILST WAITING FOR HIM TO GET READY?! Under normal circumstances, I would just scroll down on Instagram, Facebook or just reply to some friends on Whatsapp. Since I was not able to do so, I took out the novel from my bag pack and started reading. When my friend walked out of the bathroom, he was bewildered: What’s wrong with you? he asked. I explained to him what the project was about and what I was supposed to do. He said : ‘’ I want to be with you all day long, this is going to be EPIC.’’ After all the bets he placed on me miserably failing, we headed out to the library to get some work done.

I was impressed by how little time it took me to read the chapter assigned. Normally, It would have taken me more than three hours due to the multiple distractions. I would usually juggle reading and social networks, but this time there were no distractions around so I focused on my assignment rather than just waste time on social media.

After having our work done, we went for lunch at central. The previous night I made plans with some friends for lunch so we were waiting for them for about 15 minutes and that was when I needed to get a hold of the guys. Since I couldn’t do it myself, I asked my friend Ahmad to log on in my Facebook account and texted them to let them know where we were. It was a legal loop!!! I didn’t text anybody, I got someone else to do it on my behalf. This begged the question: How on earth did people from former times communicate and arrange meeting without technology? We are so used to instantly getting in contact with everybody in the world whenever we want. Not being able to get a hold of my friends drove me crazy, it is a bare necessity!!

Chitchat kind of conversations at lunch when everyone is on their phones.

Lunch was so much fun. Usually, my lunch conversations are about a video I previously watched on youtube or an article I read on Buzzfeed. Nevertheless, this time I got the chance to talk about other topics such as homecoming week, fall break plans, weekend plans and so on and so forth. I planned a homemade cookie night at Mountaineer with lots of internationals as well. One of my friends on the fly lunchtime said to me ‘’ I’m glad you are not using your phone, i can see your face’’. This made me put into perspective how I behave sometimes. I hadn’t thought about it before, but yes sometimes I tend to be so glued to my phone that I don't look at people’s eyes. I NEED A MASSIVE INTERVENTION IN MY LIFE. 

Pretty much me

As the day went on , I commenced to feel disconnected. I’m so used to knowing what my friends are doing, where they are , who they are hanging out with, and so forth, but since I was not on my phone I was at a loss regarding what was going on in my world. Additionally, one of the biggest fears in my life is to missing out. I shivered at the thought of not being part of fun stuff with my friends. Consequently, I got a little bit self-conscious about what my friends were doing without me since I couldn’t just contact them to hang out with them.

At three o’clock, I met one of my closest friends here at ASU: Carla Matheus. Since Carla knew that I was in a technology sabbath, she did not use her phone whatsoever. Not having distractions in our one-on-one time was priceless. In the wake of this, we got into a really deep conversation. I had the chance to talk about interesting and intimate stuff with Carla and this in turn, let us get to know each other better. It was a really fruitful bonding time. I was so glad that I hung out with Carla during my tech-free day. 

LET ME USE MY APPS PLEASE!

After that, I headed out to my children’s development class. I WAS IN NEED OF WHATSAPP, SNAPCHAT, FB, YOUTUBE AND INSTAGRAM. I realized that I feel the need of using apps when I’m not surrounded by friends and get bored. 

Throughout the class, I didn't use any technological device. I paid too much attention and the time passed by so quick. I could tell the difference between being plugged and unplugged in class time.

Once the class was dismissed, I went to central to have some dinner. Unfortunately, I forgot to plan dinner with my friends prior to the technological sabbath so I ended up grabbing a take out and walked back to Mountaineer Hall.

I want to catch up with youtube so bad! I deserve it after a really tough day

 It was really rainy that all I wanted to to do was to have dinner and catch up with youtubers. Normally, I would watch the new videos that my favourite youtubers upload on their channels at the end of the day so that why I was so desperate to binge youtube. 

In a nutshell, this experience helped me to realize that even though technology is so deep-rooted in my daily life, it is still possible to go on a day without using it ( difficult, though). On the fly this day, I appreciated too much the company of my friends and the value of a good quality conversation. Sometimes we are so immersed in our tech world that we forget to cherish little moments in our lives. The connection between technology and education I can identify is the lack of technology instruction we have in schools. I consider myself highly addicted to technology and think that this is due for the little or nonexistent instruction in how to use all these advancements. Were I to have received this kind of instruction, I would might had behaved differently.