24 Hour Tech Fast

Over the last week I assigned my students to conduct a 24 hour tech fast, their rules, their parameters. They will be reading the book Amusing Ourselves to Death which argues that the media which is most prevalent at a particular time in history becomes the metaphor by which people live.  I just read my students’  essays and the following are quotes from their writing.

I will write more on this subject tomorrow, but wanted all of you to see their thinking around technology after their experience.

“The tech fast hadn’t even started, and I already accepted failure.”

“It also made me realize that all this technology we use is just an illusion and is distracting us from the reality of life.”

“It’s absolutely crazy how this generation is consumed with behind the screen interactions and not generating intimate connections with their friends.”

“I have missed many things in my life due to the distraction of my cell phone.”

“It was if I had bad vision my whole life then put on a pair of glasses. It made me see my family and my friends differently.”

“For the 12 hours I was able to make it, I noticed and increase in my happiness.”

“I have realized that getting rid of negativity in your life that you can control, is necessary to being a happy person.”

“Drawing my life away from technology even for a little bit helped me to consider the sweet, simple things in life.”

“As I  thought further about my experience, I concluded that overstimulation, not tech addiction, is the true paramount result of the digital age. Tech addiction is not as real as addiction to over stimulation – which is why modern people are bored so easily and lack attentiveness.”

“I’m a changed person. If changed means having three mental and two emotional breakdowns within a 24 hour period, then yes, a changed person.”

“It means that as humans, we are starting to forget that the only evolutionary advantage we have is being together.”

“The solitude will help me find myself.”

“We have lost sight of ourselves in a “stunning,” “gorgeous,” “Retina” display.”