Assignment:
Abstinence: Students must abstain from the Internet…ALL Internet interaction for one 24 hour period. You cannot use email, check Blackboard, see the sports scores, research, or do anything else on the Internet. If you fall off the wagon, you have to start all over again. WHAT HAPPENS? You should blog about your period of abstinence. How does it affect your ability to communicate? How does it affect how you spend your time? What do you do to replace your time on the internet? These and other questions should be discussed in your blog.
From eight o’clock in the morning on Saturday June 21, 2008 until 8 o’clock in the morning on Sunday June 22, 2008 I ‘abstained’ from all Internet activities. This was not an easy task for me because all of my schooling and most of my communication with friends and family is done on-line. I started this assignment by writing myself a big, bold-faced note which I taped over the top of my computer screen. This was a helpful reminder and kept me from cheating. Plus, I told my husband that he had to keep me accountable for 24 hours. He did a great job!
As I said above, this assignment was not easy for me. I have never been an addict of any chemical substance, but I literally felt like I was going through withdrawal. I also noticed how having the Internet in my home seems to make things more convenient for me and my family. For instance, usually if I need to find directions to a particular place I will look it up on Mapquest, but during this period of time I had to physically get a map, a phonebook, place a call to a restaurant for an address, look at the map, and chart my course. While this stretched areas of my brain that had not been used in a while, it was frustrating and time-consuming.
Another lesson I learned was in regards to communicating with friends and family. Three years ago my husband and I moved from California. I have a myspace and facebook account specifically to keep in touch with people who are a long distance away. I check these accounts every single day. It was tempting to get online, because I knew that I had friends coming up to visit and I wanted to check in. I noticed though, that despite my thoughts that I would somehow “miss out” on something in a 24-hr time period, I actually did not. I found that not being on the Internet gave me more time for other things that are at least just as important.
One of the more important things that I got to do on my day of abstaining from the Internet was spending more one-on-one time with my husband and daughter. The sun was shining so we went to the park and had a picnic. I also got to call my friends who were going to be visiting. Even though the call was short, just hearing their voices was worth not having to type out our conversation. The biggest joy I got out of the experience was sitting down to eat with my husband. We had not had a date in a long time and it was nice to reconnect on a personal level, which is very difficult to do when you are facing a computer and a not a human being.
Overall this experience was excellent! I actually decided to plan a day of abstinence in every week…maybe if I get organized I can even have two! It was not easy, especially when my job is being on-line, but it worked out and I am really looking forward to my next exercise for this course.
It sounds like you were able to get a lot more done without the computer on all day. When I’ve abstained from the past (wow, I sound like an addict, don’t I?), I noticed the same thing. It’s amazing how much time we actually spend on the internet on any given day.
I agree that it’s hard to go off-line when you are used to being able to pull up all of the information you need by typing a few words into the search engine. What’s a phone book?
I bet your husband and daughter thoroughly enjoyed having you all to themselves that day!
I know how you felt! I never thought I had any sort of addiction until I had to stay away from the internet for 24 hours! I found it family that you shared the responsibility with your husband! HA I had the same idea to have my roommate remind me, but he probably would have teased me with the entire idea rather than help. Congratulations on passing your 24 hours of abstinence!
Brad Tauscher
I can totally relate!
It’s funny how I would have never thought of the internet as an addiction, but you’re totally right in that it has the same side effects as any other addiction (in a positive way, I think): you don’t think that you need it, until you don’t have it!
I’m glad that you found this to be a positive experience and that you’re trying to continue it because, as like you, I did find myself feeling lost without it (the internet) at the same time, enjoing my freedom!
It’s also interesting that I had a similar problem in regards to the phone book and mapquest…it’s nice to know that I am not the only one who doesn’t use one anymore!
Great reflection!