A day without technology is unheard of in today’s society, let alone three days. The millennial generation is referred to as the technology generation and I couldn’t agree with this statement more. The 72 hour without technology was a hard challenge for me because I am glued to my cell phone and my laptop since the first day I received each.
I was 13 years old when I got my first phone and I think I was 14 when I got my first laptop. I spent all my time surfing the internet, texting friends who were sitting right beside me, playing games, and throwing away my life away in that virtual world of mine.
The only time that I’ve not been on my phone or laptop since then is when I’m either sleeping, taking quizzes or exams or whenever they weren’t allowed but it was still in my reach. I started my challenge on the morning of September 19th till the end of the day on the 21st. This is my reflection on how the challenge went and here’s what I learned:
There were many things that I learned through this challenge. Some of the big things that I had learned are that I'm very dependable on my phone and laptop, social media has a huge impact on our lives, and that our generation really avoids reality.
Though the advancement of technology can be seen in many positive ways and might be necessary, I learned that it is possible to go at least a day or a few without it. I have also learned to survive without it and apply different ways to pass my time efficiently, like reading, going out more and participating in things, and noticing things and people around me more because face-to-face communication is more important that having your face behind a screen 24/7.
It was much easier to stay away from when I was a kid, but that is because most of this stuff didn't exist on the levels it does now. During this challenge, I had way too many urges to cheat and was frustrated at times, and eventually gave in twice and cheated.
This showed me how dependent I am on the world of social media and how much it controls us. I also went two days without having non-essential uses with my devices and I didn't even use my phone at all but cheated with my laptop because it was at a much easier reach.
This challenge was a very educating experience and it made me think differently about how technology plays its role in our daily life. What I will apply to my life after this challenge is that I will try to find some time every day without worrying about what someone is posting on Snapchat or Instagram and gave more time to myself just exercising reality without my virtual world and talking to the people in front of me because that's important too.
To those of you reading this, I really recommend trying out this challenge as well, because just like me you can learn many surprising things!
