Since I was given the assignment to perform an entire day without media, I decided to refuse any forms of media Sunday November 26th and on that day, the only major issue was forcing myself to not do things. With that being the case, I was required to do things that I usually do, but they were not the same.
For example, I am an avid juggler. I enjoy every part of juggling, the concentration, attempting new tricks, and everything in between. Although, I usually do it to music, either my headphones in or my bluetooth speaker blasting. Due to the assignment, I was stricken to my inability to listen to music and only focus on my juggling, which I realized very quickly made me not do as good as I usually do making one of my favorite hobbies annoying on all levels. Not having music for an entire 24 hours didn’t stop being annoying there either, typically I listen to music on car rides, while showering, or just chilling at the house. That didn’t happen. All of those things I did were in complete silence… creating the entire experience miserable.
In respect to the difficulty of the assignment as a whole, it wasn’t that difficult. I don’t like over flowing myself with media so I tend to not be attached to it in the first place, but like I said, the lack of music was the worst part. Although I didn’t get to listen to my music, I did realize that there were some parts of not having media I didn’t miss. One being the constant texting, snap chatting, and just plain keeping up with other people because in all honesty I don’t care. This assignment made me realize that I don’t need to do that as often and I won’t in the future. On the other side of that, I did miss one thing. Being able to communicate with the people I needed to communicate with, like my mother, my girlfriend, or someone who needs me in general.
The short deprivation of media had a huge impact on how much social media I use regarding snapchat specifically. I usually am very headstrong about keeping my streaks and after this assignment I didn’t have anyone keep them for me so I then realized that streaks honestly aren’t that important, so I don’t need to take them so seriously.
My overall feelings about the assignment and its outcome is that I might do it again. With that being said, I think it says a lot because giving yourself, even a single day, media free can be really relaxing and refreshing. I told my mom the day I started it to not be mad when her calls went to voicemail because I had turned it off the night before and that was so amazing, knowing that literally no one could contact me without face-to-face contact and I prefer that method anyway. Also, one thing that really surprised me were the large number of funny looks and questions I got from my friends when I said I couldn’t listen to music if I was in the car with them due to the assignment. They were flabbergasted by how adamant I was to doing it right and honestly didn’t understand but I made them do it anyway.
On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 indicating whether I control the media that I consume and 10 being my consumption of media controls me, I think I reside in the 3 area. Due to the fact that I do not need media all the time, but my music is essential and without it I think I would have more potential to go crazy.
Finally, I would recommend this assignment to anyone who is willing to do it. Nowadays we consume ourselves with the amount of media we decide to part-take in, therefore if we are able to take a step back from all of it for a short time, we can see, do, and interact with things we don’t typically enjoy on a day to day basis.