Walden, you were a tough cookie...
So I definitely felt like I wanted to be masochistic this past weekend since I decided to embark on this mission. Pain cannot describe what I felt to be without technology. I’m kidding, of course! I wasn’t born with technology in my hand so I certainly could live without it for a day. My experience certainly wasn’t so extreme or dramatic as my earlier joke, but it was much more difficult than I imagined it would be. I did find that throughout the day, I was reaching for my phone when I knew it was off. I also was sad that I wasn’t able to watch Haven, a sci-fi TV series that I like, because I usually look it up on my phone or computer since I always miss it on Friday nights. In a sense, I felt a little like I was going through a withdrawal because I just couldn’t help but notice the lack of technology, like it was a phantom limb. I really felt naked without my electronics since I always carry them with me. It made me realize just how much a part of me they have become. It made me think about the way that technology has become such an intimate and necessary part of my life and it kind of irritated me, but that’s something for later.
So I decided to do this mission starting from Saturday night to Sunday night. I wanted this experience as planned as possible to get back to my happy state. But, just to make this possibly any clearer, I missed my phone with a passion! Let me count the uses. I use it as a phone, a music player, Internet, alarm clock, occasionally as a watch, basically a source of entertainment via video player and game system, and to communicate via text. I’d like to admit that if it fed me, bathed me, housed me, gave me a bed, and talked to me, it would cover everything.
Of course, I had other things I was able to do. With this semester, there are always things that need to be done, housework and homework, for instance. I forever need to read to keep up with my classes and I have three classes, including this one, which requires an ample amount of my time in reading. I have read The Iliad, The Odyssey, part of Greek Lyrics and Herodotus, six pretty boring books and primary sources from another class, and the books for this class. I chose to read a novella from this book called “Sweet Francaise”, which I need to finish by this Sunday in order to write a response and be prepared for class on Monday. As I was responding to this mission, I kept looking at the Walden 2.0 mission page to get an idea of what to think about and I just wanted to randomly mention that I feel I am probably the only person with a practically deactivated facebook since I never go on it, no twitter, no instagram, no activity on pinterest or tumblr outside of what I do for this class. I am already not networked and based on how other people are glued to those sites, I am more than a little grateful. I happen to be one of those people that really get into stuff thought I try not to. I liked to watch asian dramas because they can be really cute, funny, and just plain emotional. However, when I start a drama, I have to watch it until the season finishes, so I like to find dramas that are relatively short or are halfway done so I can watch them uninterrupted. If I find one I really like or relate to, it’s like finding a book you can’t put down until you’ve finished it. Anyway, enough of my tangent; My point was that I was mostly cut off from my phone and the computer and it was more impactful than I had hoped it would be and thought it would be, and this was definitely one hell of an experience.