Just to brighten your day!

Disclaimer:
[I decided to take a different approach to this assignment. This is a more relaxed account of EVERYTHING that happened during my media deprivation assignment]

It began with the sound of a phone ringing; naturally my first instinct was to pick it up, wait! What time is it? I rush to the only bedroom with an analogue clock (my mother’s); oh god. Please say it is 1:30am! PM?!
None of this would have happened if my phone was on...
*much of this account will be done without time because it seems I have forgotten how to use a clock other than the one on my phone*
So it is mid afternoon and my day just began, I feel like, well a bum. Downstairs my brother is playing music so can’t go there (unless of course food becomes a necessity). I am sitting in my room, with a pen and blank paper trying to put my thoughts in writing but it seems my mind is working faster than my hand is writing (this is why I could never have a diary). I have come to the realization that my handwriting is horrific because I honestly have not written in a while. I should turn this in to show what the manifestation of an addiction to technology looks like. But naturally I won’t. I will wait until I can use my handy dandy computer and make this all perfect. Possibly even change things around to make them more scholarly (sorry but I have to). Just imagine if I had to write everything, better yet, imagine needing to chisel away at a tablet whenever you want to put an idea down. The task would be so tedious it would it would seem like more of a burden than a chore (communication in history, pg 23-24) it would take an eternity to get a word down! But it does not stop there. What if I had to take a bucket and get water from a water hole and make a fire to heat it up? What if I had to put oil in a lantern to light it up? But this all sounds familiar…I had to do this as a child when I was living in Ghana. See the government would have to regulate the energy and water consumption and on occasion they would ration water and electricity. It is so strange how I remember distinctly carrying water and how natural it was to me and now I get irritated when my shower does not get hot quick enough. How soon we forget.
At this time it is 1:30. It seems I really do not know how to tell time anymore because it was 12:30 when I woke up. What a shame. This is going to be a long day.
As it was stated in Danna walker’s article “the longest day”, we have “over-medicated ourselves” but unlike the student; I am highly ashamed of this. The way this is hitting me, is the lack of music. This is possibly the longest I have gone (while awake) without music. Now I think I am going crazy because songs are playing in my head. In fact there is a CD playing in heavy rotation on my head.
I think I will read for a bit.
Readers digest. My monthly routine, tear all advertisements out, read all jokes, then the articles if I have time.
5:45pm Done. Actually half way through, don’t worry I took about a 3hr long nap that crept up on me. Right about now I miss my phone. I keep looking at it lying silently on my table. The assignment is getting so much harder to complete. To say give up the TV for a day is very do-able, to say give up using the phone is ok if I can still check the time, but; to say give up everything including music is truly ridiculous. How can anyone go a day without music?! I am quite ready to give up but I feel the need to finish this successfully and remove the hold media has on me. I hate the thought that anything can control my life; but me.
If I had an eating disorder, this would be my worst nightmare. There is absolutely nothing to do. You may be thinking “get up and go outside!” to that I say; to go where? I know absolutely no one in my neighborhood and I live far away (counties away), there are no parks around, I have no bicycle. This is bad. Just going outside may make me look like a trespasser in my own neighborhood! I have already made two photo albums and read 3 readers digests to pass the time. I have redecorated my room, worked my way through a pack of bubalicious, and I feel like I have accomplished nothing. I just keep thinking of all the ways I could be utilizing my time and it stresses me out that I can’t do those things. I feel lazy; I have been confined to my room for just about a whole day because it is the only place without a TV, radio, or cd on. I have exhausted all the activities I can do to pass the time. WHEN WILL IT END?!
Honestly, I have the urge to sleep through the rest of the time but I have too much energy. It is now 8:45 and I am pacing around my room thinking of ways to make this interesting. When I was mentally preparing myself to do this experiment, I thought it was going to be relaxing. I consider myself (before this experience) as someone who is not at all controlled by technology so this was supposed to be easy. But now I am fining that I am held very firmly by my I-pod, phone and other things.
[So far what have I gained from this: knowledge from 3 readers digests, two new photo albums, and a new found anxiety. Priceless]
What have I learned from this experience? Hatred can form very quickly toward people who can do things you cannot do. I will never do this again. It feels like more of a punishment than an experiment. Instead of raising awareness about the control media has over us, I think I have a new found respect for it. As soon as 12am hits I will use all the forms of technology simultaneously. Just because I can.
10:45pm. almost done. I sang very loudly for about half an hour to pass the time. An hour or so passes, with high anticipation I yell “is it 12 yet?!”... “Almost” is the answer I get. Can freedom come any slower?
8 minutes... what to do.
1 minute...pacing.
12:00 am FREEDOM!!!
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I decided to do a journal like entry because it seemed like the truest way for me to recap the events without missing anything. I learned a lot during this experiment because I did not realize the importance any of these things played in my life.