Technology Disconnect

For the past few weeks I have been working on our first project in my digital media course. The assignment is to disconnect from technology for 24 hours. In today’s society we don’t realize how much we rely upon technology. We use technology for class, homework, work, and most frequently for entertainment. I find myself checking my phone in between classes and checking social media just to pass time each day. You wouldn't think disconnecting from technology for only 24 hours would be so difficult until you begin to think about how much technology is in our day to day lives.

I have been working on preparing to disconnect from technology for about a week now. To prepare for the disconnect I have made a list of homework I will need to make sure that I complete prior to the disconnect. These assignments are ones that require the use of the internet to complete. I have also made a list of devices or items I can’t use during the disconnect. This includes things such as my cell phone, laptop, radio, car radio, and TV. I even had to borrow my mom’s alarm clock for this project, because I use my cell phone as an alarm each day. I have also warned my roommates and my family that I will be away from my phone for 24 hours as well. I told them if an emergency were to happen to call my roommate's phone to get in touch with me. My parent’s are even less thrilled than me about this assignment. They are not fond of the idea of not being able to reach me in a split second.

I think the most challenging part of this assignment will be having to stay away from technology when I live with roommates. It will be tempting to want to join my roommates while they watch a movie and many other things. Oddly enough I think the easiest will be not communicating with people through text and social media. I am slightly looking forward to not having to keep up with communication for a day. I think it will be slightly peaceful. I think the most difficult will be giving up my cell phone. I am periodically checking it throughout the day. It is used for music, my alarm, email, social media and communication. I think it will feel very odd to not have it with me for an entire day. I wasn’t very excited for this assignment at first, but as I have prepared I am dreading it less and less. Overall I am slightly excited to see how difficult or easy I find this assignment to be.