When I was preparing to take on 24 hours of media deprivation, I could not stop thinking about how bored I as going to be. When I tried to think of what I was going to do when extreme boredom struck and every idea I had unfortunately involved electronics and media. I then figured I would just wing it and see what happens.
The most difficult part of the assignment was explaining it to my girlfriend. She loves keeping in touch with me throughout the day, on the cell phone. To be hones, I hate my cell phone. The constant beeps and rings drive me crazy. Just the responsibility that goes along with having a cell phone bugs me. You can no longer have excuses to be unaware of anything that is going on because someone will contact you on your cell phone. I was excited to tell my girlfriend I couldn’t use my phone for a day. After she bickered and cursed my professor for designing such an assignment, she came around to it.
When the day started I slept a bit long than usual, figuring that I would wake up, eat, play soccer for as long as I could, and then the day would be practically over. This assignment seemed like a breeze. Unfortunately I underestimated the task at hand. When I woke up, I realized that I couldn’t call my usual boys to play soccer with, because that would go against the rules. This was my first problem. I sat for 30 minutes thinking of ways to get in touch with my friend, Sung. My mind stayed blank, and I eventually went to a park with a raquet ball wall and kicked the ball back and forth with myself, juggling and pretending I was playing with other people. I couldn’t help but notice when I was enduring this deprivation period, the disconnection I felt with the rest of society. Now a days every aspect of life is ran by technologies and media. I began thinking of when I lived in third world countries, like brazil, and Senegal, and even they all had cell phones and television, and even went to internet cafes and such to stay in touch with the rest of society.
After a few hours of soccer I was tired and bored. I went home and sat on the couch, wishing I could go on the internet, or at least call some people to see what they are doing. I didn’t feel guilty for my dependence on these technologies, I just felt that over time they have become social norms and necessities. I cooked food, read a book, and wondered what it would be like to live in a society without these mediums. The Amish people, or the Tribes in
All in all the assignment was a great experience, that gives me new perspectives of past and present, but at the same time makes me aware of the current state of dependence our culture has on technologies. For most of the assignment I caught myself thinking about various things. No I can understand why there were people like Albert Einstein, or Isaac Newton. They didn’t have as many distractions as we do today in the modern world of communication.
