Logged Out

This weekend I went home. I left Thursday because I didn't have any classes that day, and my only class on Fridays is our discussion. So when I posted on our FIG Facebook group asking about what I missed the first answer was "Stay off social media". At first, I hesitated. I knew that I had to use my phone to get in touch with my parents, because I had to spend time at both my mom's house and my dad's house. But at the time I was with my mom and my little sister at the Mall of America, and even though I was shopping with my two favorite people, I had already pulled my phone out several times to text or browse Twitter. 

First I logged out of Twitter--then Facebook, then Instagram, then Snapchat, then Pinterest. There was so reason to be on my phone other than to text. I let my friend know that I had to stay off of social media for two days, and she replied "That sucks. I would die. How are you going to do that?" Initially, I wondered how it would work but, at the same time, I didn't think it would be that difficult. I don't actually like Facebook--most of the time I just mindlessly scroll down the newsfeed for a couple minutes, because it is almost automatic to navigate to Facebook when I'm on the Internet. I also thought that it would be easier because it was my first weekend at home and I was more concerned with being home and spending time with family than with what was going on back at Madison. However, I forgot a few things. 

1) I use my phone for more than a place to chat and keep up with social media

2) I hadn't print of my homework for one of our classes

3) I was with the cutest three-year-old I know, and my camera was on my phone 

So, I did cheat a little, but I would like to think that I still at least partially participated. I stayed off of social media--no matter how natural it seemed to check when I had a down moment. I limited my phone use to calling my parents, using the alarm clock, and taking pictures of my sister. 

When I logged back on I realized that I wouldn't miss social media like Facebook and Twitter if I completely stopped logging on. The time that I would normally spend mindlessly scrolling was replaced with reflection on the assignment. It made me think that my temporary boredom could be better spent thinking. I thought maybe my memory wouldn't be so bad if I spent that time reviewing what I had to do or what the professors had talked about in lecture rather than plugging reminders into my iPhone's calendar. I don't think that Disconnected was meant to make us think technology is a complete waste of time, but rather it provoked thought about why we spend so much time with it and whether or not it was becoming a problem. 

As I was writing this post I was listening to a song by Kinetics, and it seemed to really reflect my weekend: 

"So just relax Lay back and Be Easy 

Take your time, let it go, live freely And Be Easy 

I watch the sun travel over the sky 
See how long I can survive without a phone at my side 
And in this moment I can flashback back to my youth 
Imagine a BlackBerry and fathom an Apple as actual fruits "