To be honest, when I first read that I must refrain from the Internet for a full 24 hours I thought to myself, " Well, I better start now before school starts and this task becomes next to impossible!" So that is what I did. I have never really been a procrastinator, so I made my final rounds of checking all necessary e-mails and important sites such as Blackboard, Moodle, MySpace, Hotmail, banking and actually turned off the computer. I felt that by turning off the computer, this experience could be a little more manageable and a blank screen could set as a reminder.
I always knew I greatly depended on the Internet, but this experience gave me even a greater understanding of how resourceful the Internet really is and I found myself sort of surprised at the alternate ways I managed to communicate and use my time.
My ability to communicate was affected by having to resort to traditional ways of giving and receiving information and contacting others. On Sunday morning, I picked up the newspaper and found myself searching the paper for information that I would have so easily otherwise typed into Google. I turned onto FOX news and watch TMZ to get some gossip fix, even though there really was not much besides Britney news. I noticed the differences on the availability of resources projected on a television or newspaper compared to the Internet. On the Internet, a search engine can literally be one click away from finding the information desired. With a newspaper or news broadcast, all of the information needed may not be so conveniently there, and in a timely manner. I realized how much I took for granted the ability to find information so quickly online, where other methods of communication may be less convenient. Not having the Internet as an option was frustrating in this manner.
To consume the normally couple hours spent online, I found alternate activities to engage in. I did laundry, cleaned up my workspace around my computer desk, watched television, and actually got out of the house for awhile. I realized within that time refraining from the Internet, there were still alternate ways to communicate and enjoy time. I better understand how the Internet can practically eat away time on the clock that could have been better spent. For example, I am pretty sure I would not have been as productive on Sunday if I would have turned on my computer and logged into MySpace and/or began browsing my favorite clothing sites.
For handling communication, I actually called three people during this time that I know I would have otherwise used the Internet as my first option of communicating. Two of the people I called regarding small issues, I would have probably just wrote to on MySpace if the Internet were available. Realizing that I would have to use my phone for the use of communication, I discovered that I relied on the Internet as a tool to communicate socially more that for very important, school related issues issues. Although my connection with the Internet seems to be for both social and school related purposes, I feel like my alternate communication techniques come into play more for social reasons. For example, this online class in ONLY online, I have no other way to communicate this information on this blog other than on this blog! I can’t just go call up everyone in class and recite my blog. That would be, well, not a blog! And for assignments for my nursing program, everything is to be handed in via Moodle. Therefore, without the Internet, my ability to perform in school would be pretty much ruined because taking away Internet access would take away my ability to present work and receive grades. On the other hand, although calling my friends to communicate small discussions was not the way I would have first chosen to communicate, it was possible, and did work fine.
Overall, although I knew it before, I am convinced that the Internet is hands down the most resourceful and convenient way of communicating and receiving information in general. Although the journey was tough, I actually felt a bit relieved that I had a reason to refrain from the Internet and explore other ways to use my time and communicate. I think I am going to try to reduce the time I spend on the Internet for non-school related purposes and try to fulfill the time with other more productive activities.
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3 comments:
It is really interesting how it affected you. Going off line for 24 hours doesn't seem like very long until you are about 2 hours into it. lucky for you there was some previous experience with other modes of communication (phone, in person), and other ways to obtain news and information. I wonder how the children of today say around age 6 will do with this kind of excercise when they get into college. With out the experiences of newspaper, phone books, library, research on foot, they might not be able to function. Well if you take away the game system and internet at the same time. I like how you were able to use your time and access information which helps keep the mind at ease and keeps you somewhat up to speed on world events. I have to share my experience when I was offline we had a funeral for a family member and in the first 24 hours the obituary had been printed in the local Newspaper and it was wrong, so I had to wait for the next paper to get the corrected version. family told me the internet version was correct there was just a problem with the printing for the paper. So that is a down side to paper print is when there is errors or new information it usually takes time to fix (24 hours) for newspapers, even longer for magazines.
Casey
When I was completing my abstinent 24-hour session, I realized the same problems that you did with feeling disconnected with the surrounding world. To me, I felt almost stone-age for having to resort to making phone calls to the people I needed to contact. Email is so easy and is a great resource for making contact with people who are busy. I even find that I can more easily contact people I have not met yet over email. This test of an Internet-free 24 hours was difficult for me as well, because I learned many of the same things as you did.
You are headed into the medical field, so i asked a friend of mine (online of course) who is a physician at GW whether 24 hours offline was practical (he is a good friend who I mostly I communicate online with now that 3000 miles separate us).
Interestingly, his primary comment was that he felt it was fundamentally a matter of what you were doing. He has 36 hours shifts from time to time, and with sleep in an 'on call' room, and rounds... frequently he is out of touch just normally for 72 hours with the world in general.
I wonder with fields of employment, and fields of study whether there are ebbs and flows of connectivity which we take for granted. My job, I am always online, my friend, almost never. As a student, by necessity, as a social life, by choice.
Somehow I like the idea of a river of connectivity which moves among us all. Then again, its late and I am still staring at this electronic beast in font of me.
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