Post #11

In my exercise of unplugging from technology, there some interesting things I learned. The most prominent of these was how much I felt like I had to prepare to simply unplug for an entire day. I had to think about when certain homework assignments were due and if I would need my computer and the internet for them, I had to think of if I was going to be making plans with friends via text, and I had to consider when any TV shows that I watch come on TV. At first I was going to try to go all of Sunday without technology, since I knew I would not have very much to do that day. But I quickly realized that would be even more challenging because then I even more wanted to cure my boredom by watching TV and playing PS4. I couldn’t unplug on Tuesday or Thursday because I work on a computer day all on those days, so being on social media would be inevitable. I ended up choosing Monday to unplug. This was challenging because I had to use my computer in a couple of my classes that day. However, I was able to stay off of social media and text messaging until the very end of the day. I never actively felt like, “It feels great to not be on Facebook right now,” but periodically I did reflect on how nice it was that I had so easily been able to disconnect from my usual constant connection with the world – and how nice that felt to not have that extra, useless information in my mind, adding to my stress.

 

I don’t know if there is one big thing that sticks out in my mind that I learned this semester. I do remember many statistics that were very interesting and often surprised me. Things like how many people are actually on social media to how many people own cell phone and what percentage of those people own smartphones. Among these statistics, I found it very interesting to see how the displacement theory worked itself out. Seeing the percentage of people every year began using DVD’s instead of VHS tapes was very fascinating to me. Also, seeing how quickly new technology makes it’s way into society. Like, how radio became integrated, then TV, and all the other ways of playing music and video. The time in which it takes society at large to accept and adopt a new communication technology is always a very interesting pattern to observe.