Blog Post 13

E-Media Fast

I didn't fool myself into thinking this assignment was going to be easy. I remember one day last semester I accidentally left my cell phone at home and even though I was on campus and could communicate via the internet, I felt lost. How sad...hah! So it took some careful planning for me to prepare myself for this endeavor. I timed it so that the day of my fast fell on a day I was most busy with classes and work. I wanted as little down time as possible so that I was the least tempted for distractions. I managed to get it done in the first attempt, only because I'm a perfectionist and reviewed every detail a thousand times over so that I felt ready enough to get it right the first time. But as "ready" as I was for this, there were still plenty of temptations.

I'm an avid texter, and I have at least one friend that I must text every day. She's my best friend (more like a sister) from Maryland. We tell each other everything that goes on or crosses our mind throughout the day...and I mean everything. I told her about this task I was facing. She laughed and said she could never do it. Although there were numerous occasions throughout the day that I wanted to share something random, I managed to refrain from communicating that to her. I just made a mental note and saved it for the next day.

At work, I tend to catch up on homework or just kill time by surfing the internet. One day, my shift was from 1-6. My intention was to complete a couple of online assignments and study for an upcoming test. That was a bust. I spent five hours on my laptop looking through photo albums, choosing the right photos, uploading and editing said photos on BeFunky, creating a collage, and posting them on Tumblr. REALLY?! It is so easy to get lost on the internet. Because of that incident, I decided it was crucial not to bring my laptop to work with me during my fast. That meant I had to get any homework out of the way. I brought a book with me that I previously started and never finished. I actually found a lot of satisfaction in that. I'll admit there were moments that I wished I could just quickly check my Facebook or the latest tweets, but I put my nose right back in my book. I had to constantly remind myself, "It's only for a day."

At the end of the day, it's typical of me to crash on the couch and turn on the tube. Because of this assignment, I had to make other use of my time. The bathroom was cleaned. The living room was straightened up. The floors were swept and vacuumed. The dishes were washed, dried, and put away in the cupboards. The bed was made. Paperwork was shredded or filed. Talk about exhausted.

What I learned from this assignment is how connected I feel to the world through technology; however, I hate that I feel so dependent on it sometimes just to get through the day. I'd rather incorporate other productive hobbies into my day. I used to read a lot. I used to crochet, draw, go out and take photos. I still respect the use of technology. It's just the aimless browsing for countless hours that I would like to find an alternative for. Considering my life right now seems to revolve around it, I don't think my future students could grasp the concept of even just one day without electronic entertainment or communication devices.