The Technology Fast

My freshmen seminar, The Examined Life, is a class that focuses on analyzing yourself along with other aspects in today's society. We are currently reading Feed by M.T. Anderson, a book that is set in a future world where television and computers are connected directly into people's brain. The characters in the book deal with technology 24/7, so our teacher assigned us to keep track of how many hours during the day we use technology. Saturday was the day we spent tallying up our usage, while Sunday was the day we spent without technology. 
Here were my results from Saturday:
e-mail: 10 minutes
internet: 30 minutes
Facebook: 2 hours
Texts (sent and received):150
Music: 3 hours
Television: 2 hours
Phone calls: 30 minutes
Skype: 2 hours
Total= 10 hours 10 minutes

To see that almost half of my day was consumed of technology was really eye-opening. I was concerned I wasn't going to make it through the fast since I seemed too reliant on technology. Before going to bed on Saturday night, I made sure that I shut off my phone, computer, and I-pod to avoid any temptations on Sunday. When I woke up on Sunday, I did what I do every other day; I grabbed my phone off of my nightstand to see any new messages. Before turning it on, I became conscious of what I was about to do and immediately stopped myself. After my almost fail of a technology fast, I went over to my friend’s dorm. Luckily, I told him about the fast. He understood what I had to do, so he took me under his wing for the day. We planned times where we would meet up to go out to eat or hang out with our other friends. I think that was the part I was most concerned about, having to go to other people's dorms rather than sending a quick text asking to go to Alliot. Planning a schedule made that worry go right away, though.

The whole day without technology was quite refreshing. Instead of staying inside all day on my computer, I spent the day outside since it was a beautiful fall day. I didn't really even think about how I wasn't using any technology, it just seemed to be another usual day for me. Overall, it was a cool assignment that made me think about how cutting back on technology could help us with connecting more with the outside world.

Also, don't forget to tune into our first Knightchat is tomorrow night at 7:30-9pm! Knightchats give prospective students an opportunity to talk to current students about our experience here at Saint Mike's.

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