{"id":243,"date":"2018-09-18T04:52:14","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T04:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commtech.nyuad.im\/homework\/?p=243"},"modified":"2018-09-18T04:52:15","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T04:52:15","slug":"digital-detox-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/commtech.nyuad.im\/homework\/2018\/09\/18\/digital-detox-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital Detox"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lauren You<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The\ndigital detox has been a very enriching experience overall. It was a perfect\nexcuse for me to get offline and focus on real-world interactions and give\nmyself time to think more. This is ironic because we’ve said that we use\ncomputers as a tool to think. But when we’re too engrossed and consume too much\nof it, we become lost and unable to think clearly about what matters in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve\nfound that most of my phone usage has been focused on checking social media,\nrefreshing my feed and watching countless videos throughout the day. This\nwasn’t for me to think about anything, but purely to entertain myself. The\namount of new entertaining information had become addictive over time and I\nfound myself checking my phone every time I had the chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During my digital detox, I was able to fully concentrate on\nmy readings and assignments without distraction. I was able to talk with\nfriends without checking my phone constantly and even have some deep\nconversations. But this was by no means easy \u2013 I was so tempted to just switch\nmy phone back on and get back to my oh-so-convenient life. I was surprised that\nI even had to do some preparation for this before I started. For instance, I\nhad to tell my friends and family that I won\u2019t be able to contact them online,\nI had to print out everything that I would have otherwise read on my computer,\nand even had to take out my IDs from the back of my phone so I don\u2019t carry the\ndevice around. The most fundamental parts of my ability to function daily\nseemed so dependent on my devices \u2013 I actually don\u2019t have a watch so I had no\nidea what the time was unless I asked someone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This made me reflect a lot on myself and my uncontrollable\nusage of my devices. I\u2019ve let my phone and computer become the brains of myself,\ngiving it my daily notes and reminders, my contact information, everything. As\nE.M. Forster\u2019s \u201cThe Machine Stops\u201d puts it, technological devices seem to \u201cfeed\nus and clothes us and houses us, through it we speak to one another, through I t\nwe see one another, in it we have our being.\u201d After the detox, I\u2019ve become much\naware of my relationship with my phone and will consciously reduce its influence\nover how I live everyday. To do this, as I\u2019ve written in my journals, I\u2019ll look\nfor offline alternatives and keep my mind focused on real-world interactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Journals:<\/div><\/p>\n\n\n\n