Media Blackout

When given the task of spending a whole 24-hour period without any media, I initially thought it seemed almost impossible. Being that I was out of town for the Thanksgiving Holiday I was worried about remaining in contact with my boyfriend and my friends. I informed everyone of my assignment to hopefully eliminate any distractions my phone would create. Next I had to be concerned with my family’s media usage. I could not expect to spend the whole day without interacting with media, if my family did not attempt to do the same.

My media-free day began at 12 am on Friday. I just got off the phone with my boyfriend and picked up a book that I am currently reading for my Gender and Women Studies Class called The Bug. I read until about 2 am before finally falling asleep. The next morning my mom woke me up at 9:30 to go to South Moon Under and shop for my older brother Craig’s birthday that we would be celebrating later in the day. Once in the car I quickly had to turn the radio off so as not to fail my assignment so early on. We spent about an hour shopping before heading back home. At this point it was time to take a family holiday picture for our annual Christmas card. So being that we were at the beach we spent the next hour walking around outside looking for places to take the picture. After we got back to the house and had lunch it was around 1:30 and I was getting a little bored. But, mom and I quickly remembered that we had a puzzle in the closet and decided to work on that for awhile. Surprisingly awhile turned into 7:00 pm. We had all spent most of the day working on this puzzle. Finally we had dinner and then celebrated Craig’s birthday with presents and cake.

It was around 8:30 when I came upstairs and my father had the TV on and was watching an old country western. At this point seeing as how my assignment had failed with only 3 ½ hours left to go, I gave in and checked my cell phone. After which I spent the rest of the night until 1:30 am working on the puzzle. The experiment turned out to be easier then I had originally expected. However, I have mixed feelings about the assignment. Yes I spent 20 hours without interacting with the media, but in doing so I also was unable to take advantage of the day and complete the massive amount of assignments I have left to complete this semester. So while I enjoyed the day and learned that I am more than capable of spending a day without media, I am also more aware of the overwhelming need for these technologies.

Universities have entire websites where professors conduct assignments and communicate with their students. Completing a group assignment is completely impossible without the use of a cell phone or the Internet when all members of your group are across great distances. Those are just a couple of examples of the necessary uses of media for a college student. Walker states, “And while they have enjoyed some parts of their journey to a bygone era during the e-media fast, they couldn’t wait to press the power button and get back to the present.” She feels as though her students simply do not care to consider the way that society was before these new forms of media were invented. However, I believe it is much more complicated than simple ignorance.

Most college students today are among the Millennial generation, and were therefore born and raised during an era where technology was present and increasing daily. I myself am a part of this generation having been born in 1985, and believe that as technology was evolving so was society. Today a college student struggles greatly without access to a computer. Is this because they are a part of the Millennial generation, or as Walker refers to them, “digital natives?” While this may account for some of the reasons why the Millennial generation enjoys, appreciates, defends, and is often addicted to their media interactions, it does not take into account society’s reliance and even requirement for use of such technology. Do I believe that society’s obsession with media is necessarily better than a world without media? Not entirely, I believe that an equal balance of each is essential. However, at the same time this is extremely difficult to achieve especially for a college student.

Overall I enjoyed the assignment to an extent. Testing my ability to function on a daily basis without interaction with media was something I appreciated. Coming from a family where everyone usually sits around with their laptop and occasionally discussing something interesting they read or saw made it hard to grasp the concept of life before these technological advances were made possible. At the same time I did not complete as much work this weekend as I would have liked to, due to lacking access to the computer and the internet. I am more aware then I ever was at the role that such mediums play in my life, and have learned a great deal about myself through completing this experiment!!