Assignment/Activity Title— Digital Downtime
Year— Junior
Skill— Media
Portfolio Category— Social Awareness
Essentially, digital downtime forced us
to limit our use of digital technology for a week. According to my personal
contract, I could still use my laptop for homework and work related activities
– but all Netflix, TV, movies, and iPod use were prohibited.
The
first thing I realized is that I can live without texting my friends every 20
minutes. I was actually pleasantly surprised the amount of time I now had to
myself, which I could focus on reading or relaxing. I went through five entire
books in the week off of digital technology.
Giving up social media in general was
not that hard for me. I try to limit my Facebook usage anyway, because I
realized a while ago that it generally has a negative impact on me (and I'm not
on Twitter or Instagram). I actually found that not being on-call for each of
my friends was liberating. I had an excuse to not reply to people, and I
definitely used it. It's tricky now that we're off of digital downtime though –
there's a fine line between doing what you want/feeling liberated and messing
up your relationships because you're not online. Now, more than ever, we're
expected to be online almost all of the time – and when we're not available for
communication, it's seen as a personal slight of some sort.
I was also surprised by the amount of
time I spend playing video games before digital downtime (specifically FIFA15).
I realized that it’s my go-to method of relaxation, and I start it up almost
through force of habit. Instead of playing a video game, I could be using my
time to practice piano or work on a new painting. There are so many
applications of my time that I discovered during digital downtime that are more
productive and satisfactory than video games. It made me realize that video
games are a crutch (at least for me), and that I can do almost anything else
with my time and be more productive.
Digital downtime was productive in that
it taught me a lot about myself and my usage of digital technology. Even for things
I wasn't aware I relied on, I realized that they're an integral part of modern
life. And the assignment affected my style of life now, as I try to spend less
time online and more time pursuing other endeavors.
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