The first assignment for this term was to abstain from using the internet for a complete 24 hour period. This was ridiculously difficult for me, the first day I set out to ‘remove the internet from my life’, I failed. With three on-line classes, two research classes, a language class that incorporates the use of on-line work into the daily grade, and an internship based solely on the practice of on-line research, marketing and coordination- I immediately “fell off the wagon”. The second try proved more successful, although perhaps in part that I became ill halfway through the day…….
Despite being sick, I there were so many times I reached for my laptop to access the Internet (but remained abstinent), that I eventually stopped counting. I think I stopped at 57. I remember sitting at the dinner table with my parents and listening to them complain about kids and their cell phones, “I can remember when we didn’t even HAVE cell phones…let alone phones we regularly used!”. This of course, inspiring moments of self-reflection wondering what I would do without MY phone. I never thought I would be as relient on anything (other than water and food, of course) as I was to my phone. Since this assignment, I have realized I am fully capable of functioning successfully without cell phone in close proximity. The same cannot be said of me without the Internet. My LIFE is on the Internet. My work schedule is procurred via e-mail. Assignments and lectures are supplied via Internet. I even listen to NPR on the Internet as I get ready for class in the morning. Before this assignment I would never have considered myself an Internet-junkie, but now I certainly feel as though one.
Things I use the Internet for:
Finding phone numbers for businesses I need to call- personal and work-related.
Mapquest (despite having lived in Bend for a year, I still rely on this site to get me basically anywhere..)
Blackboard (for both schools I attend)
5 diffferent e-mails- 2 school, 1 work, 1 personal/work, 1 research-related
To coordinate with friends
To browse that evenings activities i.e. bands playing, bars having specials nights, etc
Check weather….for here, home home, places I will be going
*GOOGLE* I Google EVERYTHING! From something I find interesting in the news to the lyrics to a song heard on the radio in the car, recipes for tonight’s dinner, gift ideas, health/fitness ideas, shopping, and the list goes on.
Research- both academically and for my internship.
To keep up to date on my best friend’s belly (baby!)
To name a FEW…
What to do with yourself when you cannot get on the Internet…
The better half of my day was spent in the library- researching the “old fashioned way”, at Townsend’s Teahouse catching up on reading, going for a run down Farewell Bend.
Then I came down with a 104 fever- which confined me to bed for the remainder of my Day of Abstinence. Ironically (in light of my previous failure to truly abstain) I was then so ill, that I was virtually unable to even LOOK at my computer for the next five days, let alone navigate the Internet.
The assignment was the ultimate for reflection, both of self and of society. Previously oblivious to my own Internet-dependency, I am left in awe by how much technology has taken over our lives. We are not just consumed by it, we are driven- we function- underneath its “power”. Is Postman’s comparison of our societal submittion to words/technology just the tip of iceberg? What exactly have we created? There is quite obviously both negative and positive effects, but does the good outweigh the bad? Which way are we headed- where does our control sit?
I’m just like you Anne Terese in that I depend on the Internet for almost every single thing I do. It’s my main source for information and entertainment making it really tough to do without. I think our society has grown so reliant on our new technology that most of us forget what it would be like if all of it were taken away and how much our lives would be different if we were to go back to a time before computers.