24 Hours in 1985

For a class project we went 24 hours without certain technology. We decided that we could not use any technology that we did not have in 1985. That meant no cell phones, no dvds, no cds, no Internet (well the stuff that we use anyways, such as this blog), and no iPods. I thought that this would not be a problem for me. 2 summers ago I went to Israel for 2 weeks and did not have access to a cellphone or the Internet. I did not miss it and it was relaxing not having it with me. However, this time it was different. For those 2 weeks it was not just me that did not have access it was the majority of the group. It was easier not to care about it when I was not around it.

These past 24 hours, however, have been hard. Technology has become a convenience in my life and without it was difficult. I have become reliant on my cellphone, even so much as that I use it as a clock instead of a watch. I had people calling me and texting me and it was a hassle to have to be at home or to go home to use a house phone with a cord in order to call people back. I thought that not being on a computer for a day would also be easy, however, it wasn't. I did not mind not being on facebook, twitter, or a blog or a day; however, I relie on my computer to look everything up. My sister and I wanted to go and see a movie yesterday, but I could not get on the computer to look up the times. I wanted to know what the weather was going to be like, I could not get on weather.com and look at the forecast. I wanted to look up things that I found interesting in a commercial, but I couldn't. I did not realize how much I actually do on a computer on a daily basis.

The hardest part of this assignment was that even though I was not using these things does not mean that I can stop others from using theirs. My sister has an iPhone and was on it all day. Driving in the car with my dad, he uses his GPS in order to go anywhere. Whenever, I come home my mom likes to take pictures using her digital camera and always wants me to upload the pictures to her computer. My dad does not listen to the radio, but always listens to XM in his car. I did not break the rules, but I could not stop my mom from wanting to take a picture of me and my sister, I could not make my dad not use his GPS, and I could not make him listen to the regular radio in the car. At my house we have a home phone (with cords), but no one uses it anymore. My grandmother calls the phone occasionally, but for the most part the people who call it are usually trying to sell us something or wanting us to take some sort of survey.
This assignment was difficult. I really missed being able to just talk to someone on the phone when I was driving of away from a land line phone. I missed being able to look anything up with just a touch of a button online. This was a hard assignment and I have learned that I don't know what I would do without my cellphone or wireless laptop.