Technology Disconnect: After
Wow! This technology disconnect was way harder than I thought it was going to be. The piece of technology that was the hardest to give up was my cell phone. I kept my lock box on my desk and when I was home I was able to hear my phone vibrating from calls and texts and I wanted to check it each time I heard it. If it wasn’t for my lock box I think I might have gave in to temptation checked it so I’m glad that I had the lock box during this disconnect. The piece of technology that was easiest to give up was my TV. I don’t watch television very often so it didn’t bother me to give up using it for a short time period. I only find myself using a television when playing on my Xbox. I was expecting that my Xbox would be one of the hardest things to give up, but I only thought about playing it once so obviously I didn’t miss it that much. The most challenging part of this disconnect was not being able to contact any family members that I talk to everyday. My mother especially. We talk everyday so not hearing from her left me wondering if anything was happening that I should know about. My phone was receiving texts and calls very often so I was worried it was my mother. I expected to worry about who was texting me, but I didn’t think I would have worried as much as I did. This assignment was very hard on my mother as well. She knew I was doing this assignment and she was calling/texting me anyway not to talk about anything important, but just to talk because she missed me. She is used to talking to me every day so just going a day without talking to me was a big deal to her. The easiest part of this disconnect was spending time with my girlfriend. My girlfriend and I helped each other a lot during this disconnect by doing thigs together that didn’t involve technology like going to the gym, reading some books and magazines, talking our dogs to the dog park, and by going for a ride on our bikes. I expected that we would have trouble disconnecting, but turns out spending quality time together without technology was just what our relationship needed. I was surprised by how many times I went to check my pocket for my phone. I always have it on me when I leave the house so when I was out doing activities I often checked my pocket for my phone. I enjoyed this assignment because it allowed me to become closer to my girlfriend and I enjoyed not being glued to my phone for countless hours throughout the day. In the future I think I might use the lock box more frequently to put my phone inside to stop myself from checking it all the time.