When we were first told about our latest blog post for Communication Technology to be about “unplugging” ourselves for I day I got a little nervous to be honest. I thought, “When will I be able to afford to go without my precious phone or the internet for a whole day!” But then I stopped and thought it over for a little bit. If I’m really busy on a weekend when I don’t have work or homework to be done and I am already with all of my friends then why do I really need to be “connected”? So I decided that this last Saturday on April 11th, that I would spend all day unconnected from the internet and my phone.
I spent all of my day at my fraternity’s biggest philanthropy event of the year. It is our Slam N’ Jam volley ball tournament that we host at Bernie’s Volley Ball Course. When I got up in the morning at around 8am; I checked my texts, sent a few emails, and made a call before getting dressed and heading to help set up for the tournament. I left my phone at the house.
My day was spent helping out others, playing volley ball with some of my best friends, and hanging outside all day as we grilled out and listened to music. Of course, all of my friends had their phones and we connected all day but I was not. They made say, “Hey did hear about so and so or the game?” and I would have to say no and explain that I was without my phone for the day. I have to say it was definitely tough to go without my phone for the whole day especially in between games. But it helped being in a fun and lively environment where we could just party and play volley ball all day without worrying about where other people were, what each score was to every sports game, or what funny video had gone viral on twitter all day. I just had old fashion fun.
After the tournament ended around 5pm, I went with my friends out to eat and stayed at the bar with all the guys for another 2 or 3 hours before returning home to finally see my phone again. It was a long day but I really appreciated it because it taught me that I didn’t need my phone to have a good time or be connected with friends. Yes, I missed my phone and wish I could have taken pictures of the first day of Slam N’ Jam and made social media posts about it. But I still had the second day of the tournament on Sunday and got to experience almost a relief of not having to stay connected all day and all the time. It definitely gave me perspective on how we as a society need to focus on living in the moment instead of focusing on planning or seeing someone else moment. I truly believe technology has done more good than bad to our culture but as with anything in life if we don’t control it and let it run our lives then that’s where it becomes a serious problem and I fear there are some who are too focused on being socially connected and let their phones run their lives.
Sam's Guide 