New Media Fast

Part I

I chose to fast from 8 PM Saturday to 8 PM Sunday

Part II

I fasted from using my laptop and my cell phone

Part III

When I saw what this blog was about I knew I was going to have a hard time. My life completely revolves around new media; especially my computer and cell phone. Since I talk to my family and boyfriend most of the day through text messages I had to give them a heads up about what I was doing so that they wouldn't be alarmed when I didn't answer any of their messages. Since I worked on Sunday I had to find a way to not use my phone when the salon was slow. This is a lot easier said than done, let me tell you. We happened to be extremely slow this Sunday so it made it really difficult for me to force myself not to use the computer for non-work related activities and to not check my phone or send texts to people throughout the day. Since Facebook involves using either my computer or my phone I couldn't waste time by stalking people's profiles and updates.

After a few hours I eventually found other things to do such as reading magazines, cleaning the salon, and making small talk with the customers who came in just to pass the time. Eventually I began to not notice my phone but since I still had to use the computer to put clients into the system it was very tempting to just log in to check my e-mail or Facebook. Which brings me to the quote from C&T pg 67, "...the problem concerning technology is the fear that technology controls us, rather than the other way around, or that progress has undesirable side effects that we have to deal with." My life is probably 90% controlled by technology and I'm proud of it. I could never be a Luddist and foresake technology just because there is a fear that its taking over my life. I enjoy the technology that I have in my life, it makes my life easier, and more enjoyable. That does not mean that I hated my time without the technologies I decided to do way with for a day. I did find other things to do which were just as enjoyable, they just tend to take up more time than I am able to part with on a regular day.