Survivor: Social Media Edition

Before starting our experiment, I decided to change to rules of the assignment. First, I started my disconnection at 9 PM Friday and ended at 9 PM Sunday so I could let more people know about my situation. And second, I added another challenge for myself; not to use the internet for any entertainment purposes our searching other than for school assignments. I really enjoyed the idea of this assignment, and wanted to see how I could test myself in other ways. I knew not using the internet for fun would be tough, since I always have the urge to research a place on Wikipedia, browse news sites, or check my status on the addictive game Cookie Clicker (I warn you; DO NOT play this game. It will consume your life.)

Surprising to me, not using my phone was one of the most difficult tasks. I’ve never cared much about my phone as much as others; I’ve used the same penny phone for about 4 years. However, being unable to text friends to coordinate activities kept me isolated. Without knowing where they, I was secluded in my dorm waiting for people to arrive. Combining this situation with being unable to check social media sites, I felt a small but real separation from my friend and family when I couldn’t learn what they were up to. This comes to show how our use of communication technologies may cause us to attribute social connections to our devices, and a separation from technology feels like a separation from people.

My personal goal of not using the internet other than for school was equally as difficult. I felt a constant itch to check my usual sites, and this drive urged me to fill this time with other activities. I cleaned my entire room, organized my papers, started some homework early, and played some more videogames. While doing the latter three things, I started to believe my disconnection from the internet was really causing me to become more productive. But later I questioned if it was merely the fact that I was doing this assignment that I felt compelled to do activities contrary to what I normally do. It felt like I was taking on a new behavior not because technology disabled me, but because the assignment prohibited my normal variety of activities.

In the end, I broke my personal rule and looked up a video game walkthrough I just “needed” to look at. But I did go through without using any of the prohibited communication technologies. Immediately when I finished, I called my parents whom I knew really enjoyed talking with me. We talked about my experience, and throughout these conversations with them and my friends I thought of another idea. Isn’t language a social medium? It’s a technology we developed to communicate with others, a means of sending messages. If I really wanted to test what life is like without social media, would I have to not speak with anyone? I’m not sure, but my experiment already showed me the dependencies I have with many social media that I never appreciated before.