Tuesday, November 27, 2007

My Media Deprivation Experience

Well when I first began this whole day without using any electronic media, I honestly thought that it would be pretty simple. I just figured i'd stay away from any computers, televisions or radios. But something that I KNEW I was going to struggle with was using my cell phone and my ipod. Basically, I can't live without my cell phone.
I tried to sit down and read a book, The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold, but for some reason that just didn't seem to be working for me. So after having breakfast, I decided that I’d sleep for a few hours, and right before I was about to lay down I suddenly remembered that I wouldn't be able to use my ipod, and the best way for me to fall asleep is by listening to music. Now this was getting out of hand, I really needed something to do outside of that was outside of the house.
My mom and I got to spend a lot of time together, we walked the dog (Ginger, my golden retriever) and we went grocery shopping. I remember that while we were walking through Giant they were already playing Christmas music, and I was loving it because it was the first time I'd heard music all day. But of course, I had no control over the fact that Giant plays cheesy music in their stores.
Afterwards my mom suggested that maybe could go and do a little shopping at the mall, since it did happen to be black Friday. So then we went to the mall, and of course I had to avoid the Apple store and the Sony store and all the other stores that involved any other type of electronic media, even though apple was selling ipods for 20% I was a little upset about not being able to go inside and at least take a peek.
But towards the end of the day after eating dinner, I decided I’d play a board game with my little brother and sister they really enjoyed that.
Even though this project was meant to torture me , it made me a little closer to my family and it made me happy that I was able to spend some quality time with them, since I am so rarely at home. Even though I was very tempted to turn on my cell phone I resisted because I knew firstly, that I’d have to start the project over the next day and secondly that I needed to spend my time with the people around me.
I feel like this project was good for me and it not only helped me understand how people get around without electronic media, but also how much time you are able to spend with your family when you aren’t using simple things like the phone or the computer.

No comments: