Yes, you read the title correctly- 48 hours with no screens. Phone, laptop, and TV all turned off. Now, I didn’t willingly do this I must admit. It was for a Philosophy class, but I was very intrigued because technology has consumed my life for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I played outside as kids do; however, I did watch educational shows like Sesame Street, and as I grew up I of course watched more age appropriate TV. Then, I got a phone, and my high school introduced IPads, and finally I currently have an IPhone, Laptop, IPad, and a TV. It’s crazy to think that these devices have overtaken our lives, so I decided to take the challenge and go an entire weekend “in the dark.”
Starting this weekend off, it didn’t seem that bad. I have a really busy schedule, so I’m not on my phone much, plus I wouldn’t miss social media because I gave that up for lent. However, once I woke up the first morning, the first thing I looked for was my phone to see where my friends were, but I couldn’t. That had to be the hardest thing was not being able to easily contact my friends or family. Overall, the whole weekend went better than I thought it would. I did miss Netflix, but it was nice to just get away for awhile. It also helped me be present in what was going on. I never realized how much I checked my phone while I talked to my friends.
My main takeaways were to overall limit my screen time. I always fall asleep to Netflix, and I’ve been trying to limit that. I also realized how much tedious and useless time I spend on my phone. While standing in line, I immediately go on my phone, when I am walking in the hallway, I’m on my phone, and even in class when I get bored I’m on my phone. This experience taught me that I need to focus more on what’s going on around me and to only go on my phone if I need to. For example, communication obviously, or if I need to look something up. The bottom line is that technology is majorly helpful, but I think we all need to focus and find out ways to cut it out when it becomes life consuming.