By Amanda Schroth
Twenty four hours without telephone, text, Facebook…something that is impossible to comprehend in our generation’s life. Something as simple as checking email, I couldn’t do it. This experiment was something I would never personally do.
It’s difficult to ignore these lines of communication, figuring I can simply unlock my phone, press an app button, and then suddenly be on Facebook in five seconds tops; I don’t even need to look at the screen. The websites and cell phones have become an invisible crutch to my daily activities.
What time is it?
Check my phone.
What’s my best friend up to?
Go to her Facebook page.
Anyone send me an email?
Head over to AoL.
It’s amazing to think what I managed to get done without stopping for two seconds to respond to a text or update my status.
At my workplace at the library, I’m allowed to check my email or go on Facebook…in other words, I can be very unproductive with the four hour time period if I’m not busy with a patron. Yesterday, at the late night shift, I picked up a book I had wanted to read but never took the time to. I was constantly being distracted by those internet and mobile connections. Without them, I managed to sit down and read the entire novel and it was worth it.
But, communicating via email or Facebook is too engrained in our society to not use it. Texting is too convenient to ignore. My brother sent me a text in the middle of the assignment, and I couldn’t respond to him until the twenty-four hours was over. Once it was done, I instantly went on Facebook to explain why I didn’t reply to his text right away. This form of communicating is natural now. I will always Facebook first, then text, and never call. That’s how our generation runs, so turning the phone and computer off and ignoring them for twenty-four hours? Extremely difficult.
We are a society of instant streaming. Waiting to speak face to face to someone is too slow now and days, and requires too much time. Facebook, email, texting—it’s all about the quick connection and fast exchange of information. We even have shorthand for typing to make sending our message that much faster.
Ironically though, these quick connections aren’t really saving us any more time. We’re simply filling up the same amount of time by communicating with multiple people instead of reading that book we’ve been dying to finish or doing the homework we were assigned for the next day. The easy access to these sources of communication distracts us, being right there in our pockets during any given time. Yes, more productive things can be done instead of checking Facebook every minute, but it has become society’s daily routine. Bored? Text a friend, check your email, go to Facebook. It’s every student’s method for starting the ten-page essay. Honestly, I can’t imagine starting any paper without that first—that’s how I started this one. And that’s how I’ll finish it too.
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