UC Davis Digital Technologies and Digital Fasting in the 21st Century Essay This is a reflection paper on digital fasting. Please correct grammar errors as well as elaborating the sentences to make more sense. Digital Fasting
The staggering growth of technology in the past decades has altered people’s
way of life drastically. Throwback to the 90’s, the internet had just surfaced and majority
of people couldn’t access it easily, luckily this didn’t put them at a disadvantage since
people at that time didn’t rely too heavily on technology to do trivial things as much as
we do on nowadays. The development history of cell phone is nearly a perfect indicator
of how the technology has changed in the past twenty years. Transforming from giant
and bulked phones to a powerful and exquisite “mini computer” that we can easily carry
around, while it makes multitasks become so ubiquitous on nowadays. However, does
technology really make our lives easier and bring us with significant benefit that
overwhelms the minor adverse impact it brings at the same time , or it just deprives our
autonomy because we are too dependent on it? I may find out the answer in my case by
starting the journey of digital abstinence for 24 hours.
“How am I going to survive without the technology for one day?” the first
question immediately came to my mind while I was planning to do this digital
abstinence. Honestly, I had no confidence in completing this tough task, even worse, I
suspected myself would violate the rule and check the phone in the middle of the
session. As a person who was born into a technological age, isolating myself from
technology is like closing my channel of communication with the outside world. I guess
my mind will even shut down for awhile without the aid of technology for 24 hours.
Anywise, I begin my digital abstinence with a certain skepticism. I chose to do my
digital fasting with option A in view of the fact that this choice at least allows me to use
the phone for calling as well as watching cable TV, although I don’t have cable TV. I
initiated my abstinence session on saturday’s morning and ended it on the next
morning, such a tough choice to make! The night before I started my digital fasting, I
tried to make a to-do lists so that I won’t loaf and wander about doing nothing on the
day of fasting. Filling my time with abundant work will somewhat distract myself from
approaching the digital technologies, at least it was to me. I made this to-do list on my
schedule and assumed that it could help me to resist the temptation of using digital
technologies. In retrospect, I realized how naive I was to have such thoughts. An idea
came to my mind immediately upon I finished my to-do list for the next day, “How am I
going to set alarm clock? ” I’ve always use my phone to set an alarm to wake up in the
morning. Fortunately, there was no class on Saturday and I guess it’s unlikely to wake
up at 10:00am or later (I was planning to wake up at 9am the next day), so I decide to
wake up naturally with a fluke mind, although I haven’t woken up naturally for years.
The dazzling sunlight wakes me up from sleep, I subconsciously reach out to get
the phone and check the time. Yet, I realized that I have to insulate myself from digital
technologies today, a depressed mood instantaneously enshrouded me. This becomes
the first moment I attempted to get my phone on the day of digital abstinence, albeit I
retreated from it. My attention was caught by my dog as he came towards me with his
big tail dangling in the air, I decided to walk my dog and not thinking about the time for a
while. It happened that my neighbor was also on the street so I turned to him to ask
about the time after greeting. My mind was burdened after I knew it’s 10: 30 already, I
felt like my schedule for the day was going to be turned down in the absence of phone.
“ How am I going to follow the schedule if I can’t keep a watch on the time?” the
question came to my mind. I began to realize the importance of the digital technologies
to me. For the reason that I have a terrible sense of direction and can’t get to any store
without using GPS, I made a call to my boyfriend and ask him to buy a watch for me.
Fortunately, I was able to make a call and ask for help. But it took me some time to
figure out how to do my assignment without digital technologies when my laptop has all
of lecture slides and notes. So, I decided to work on my statistics handouts first,
because I felt confident to finish the calculations without doing any research online.
Nevertheless, the reality was that I couldn’t solve the problem even if I tried to teach
myself by reading the textbook, so I had to leave these questions blank until the digital
fasting ends so that I can search for the tutoring videos online, which is the common
way I’ve used to solve my problems, or asking help from professor during office hours.
Then, I turned into my reading assignment from psychological class. I read quickly than
usual until the moment I met with new words, I subliminally to look for my phone and
search for its definitions in the dictionary app, but I withdraw as soon as I realized it’s
digital fasting day. “What should I do?” I asked myself. I read ebooks for most of the
time, and the definition of the words will immediately appear on the screen when I try to
look at it. Obviously, I couldn’t do it this time. I can imagine how people in the 90’s to
look for the definitions in the dictionary book, but I don’t feel any eager to use this aged
way, not only because I don’t have a dictionary book, but also because it requires more
effort to look for the definition than using the dictionary app. As a result, I tried to guess
its meaning by connecting it to the sentences come before and after it. Delightfully, I
finished my reading assignment efficiently than ever, and I think it’s definitely because I
wasn’t distracted by my phone. This is the moment I have come to understand how
technologies get involved with my study and help me learn my schoolwork, but I also
get benefit from not having digital technologies as I study since I won’t be distracted.
It’s time for the lunch! I was trying to head for McDonald’s for a quick lunch since
I only got half an hour before my conference started at school. Besides that, it’s located
next to my apartment, so it’s easier to access without worrying about getting lost on the
way due to the absence of GPS. Seemingly perfect place for lunch was dismissed just
after I stepped in McDonald’s. All of the services are done by artificial intelligence now, I
need to order food through self-service ordering kiosks instead of cashiers. This really
astounded me. I’ve never thought that the digital fasting would even impede me to
getting food. I swithered for a second as I wonder whether I should ask help from
cashier to use the self-service ordering kiosks for me, but I retreated because I was
afraid of being looked like a dumb.
Honestly, school is the only place I can get there without the help of GPS, even
though I’m still confused about the locations of some buildings inside the school. After
getting into the car, I subconsciously took out my phone and intended to play Spotify
through my car’s audio system after they were automatically paired up. But this idea is
out on the day of digital fasting, so I turned on the radio station instead. After arriving at
school, I turned to the passersby and asked for directions of storer hall, a place where
our meeting would be held at. But unfortunately, there were neither many people walked
on the road nor most of them are students, a group of people who are most likely to
know the location. After I didn’t get direction from three passerby, I became annoyed
and felt anxious at that moment, not only because I was almost late for the meeting but
also felt frustrated about my incompetent result from lack of technolgies. This awkward
situation would never happen if I can use google map, the App I normally use to find out
the direction. At the very last moment, I luckily found a campus map on the road and
finally got to the building. The side effect of digital fasting is far away from my
expectation.
I was exhausted after I came back home, and it’s probably caused by how much
trouble I got into when there was no digital technologies. I began to ponder that if I am
too dependent on technologies, but I quickly quit thinking about it since I was too tired.
“Oh gosh, I wish I could play some music to soothe my frayed nerves.” I thought to
myself. But this idea is apparently a fantasy since I couldn’t use my phone. How people
in the 90’s would do to play music instead? By CD players probably, but I don’t think I
have this option either since I have neither CDs nor CD players. I laid in bed and kept
thinking about things I could do for entertainment without digital technologies. Yet, I
really had trouble finding entertainment I could do without technologies, all of
entertainment I usually do dependent on the digital technologies such as playing music,
watch videos, browse Instagram as well as taking photos. So, I decided to clean my
apartment to kill some time, but I was still tempted to play Spotify as I did my
housework. Doing housework used to be an enjoyable thing accompanied by playing
my favorite music, but now it turned into a tedious thing to do when I can’t play the
music on Spotify. Surprisingly, I only took half of the time than I normally need to clean
the entire apartment. I guess it’s probably because I didn’t stop to check my social
media in the middle and it saved a lot of time!
I made a cup of tea and sat down to read a fashion magazine. This time I could
only focus on the fashion related information and won’t be tempted to look at other
information I didn’t intend to if I look at it on social media. Suddenly, I was interrupted by
an email notification from my phone “Assignment Unmuted: Midterm, CMN 102 FQ
2019.” I felt a strong motivation to check my phone this time, since I was really curious
and looked forward to seeing my grade. But I tried to inhibit this motivation by
convincing myself that I shouldn’t do this otherwise I would waste all of the efforts I
already made, and it’s not a big deal to check the grade on tomorrow morning. After
having this battles in my mind, I finally compromised. Then, I went for a shower and
planned to go to bed earlier this time, as there were not many things I want to do when
there were no digital technologies. When I laid down on my bed and thought that I
hadn’t sent a message to my parents through Wechat app (similar to Whatsapp), an
anxious feeling enveloped my mind. Texting messages to my parents before I go to
bed is my daily routine, and I can only send message through App since my phone
number can’t either send message or dial to an foreign phone number. Fortunately, I
soon remembered that I already told my parents ahead of time that I won’t be texting
them on my digital fasting.
I never thought I would isolated myself from all kinds of digitals on one day,
although I’ve heard this happened among other people, and this seems not fun for
those of us who are “digital Natives,” which is a term that designates people who had
been born into a technological age and are exposed to all kinds of digital devices from
the time they are born (Prensky, 2001). Yet, without doing such practice, I wouldn’t
realize how much I dependent on digital technologies, as well as the benefits it can
bring to my life if I know how to use it wisely. For instance, how I rely on my social
media to play music or getting all kinds of information, as well as how it helps me to do
the assignments, while it may also distract my attention and lead to low efficiency at the
same time. Moreover, I’ve noticed that I may be one of the digital addicts. It’s not only
because I was too dependent on them to do minor jobs but also because my
compulsive feelings to check my social media during the fasting.
It’s true that digital technologies indeed bring tremendous convenience to my life,
but this shouldn’t be a reason that I can rely on them too much. Instead, after doing
digital fasting, I realize that life can be better or become more productive if I use it in
moderate way. For example, boosting my reading efficiency by using e-books as it
enables me to quickly search for the unfamiliar words. Meanwhile, I still need to isolate
myself from other social media since it significantly diverts my attention and prolong the
time to finish the reading. In all, after doing digital abstinence for one day, I realized that
I used to be hooked by digital technologies and it highly impede my autonomy on daily
life, although it does bring many conveniences such as providing quick access to varied
information. Try to be the leader of digital technologies instead of being their slaves,
otherwise it can eventually degrade my minds as well as quality of life.
Digital Fasting
The staggering growth of technology in the past decades has altered people’s
way of life drastically. Throwback to the 90’s, the internet had just surfaced and majority
of people couldn’t access it easily, luckily this didn’t put them at a disadvantage since
people at that time didn’t rely too heavily on technology to do trivial things as much as
we do on nowadays. The development history of cell phone is nearly a perfect indicator
of how the technology has changed in the past twenty years. Transforming from giant
and bulked phones to a powerful and exquisite “mini computer” that we can easily carry
around, while it makes multitasks become so ubiquitous on nowadays. However, does
technology really make our lives easier and bring us with significant benefit that
overwhelms the minor adverse impact it brings at the same time , or it just deprives our
autonomy because we are too dependent on it? I may find out the answer in my case by
starting the journey of digital abstinence for 24 hours.
“How am I going to survive without the technology for one day?” the first
question immediately came to my mind while I was planning to do this digital
abstinence. Honestly, I had no confidence in completing this tough task, even worse, I
suspected myself would violate the rule and check the phone in the middle of the
session. As a person who was born into a technological age, isolating myself from
technology is like closing my channel of communication with the outside world. I guess
my mind will even shut down for awhile without the aid of technology for 24 hours.
Anywise, I begin my digital abstinence with a certain skepticism. I chose to do my
digital fasting with option A in view of the fact that this choice at least allows me to use
the phone for calling as well as watching cable TV, although I don’t have cable TV. I
initiated my abstinence session on saturday’s morning and ended it on the next
morning, such a tough choice to make! The night before I started my digital fasting, I
tried to make a to-do lists so that I won’t loaf and wander about doing nothing on the
day of fasting. Filling my time with abundant work will somewhat distract myself from
approaching the digital technologies, at least it was to me. I made this to-do list on my
schedule and assumed that it could help me to resist the temptation of using digital
technologies. In retrospect, I realized how naive I was to have such thoughts. An idea
came to my mind immediately upon I finished my to-do list for the next day, “How am I
going to set alarm clock? ” I’ve always use my phone to set an alarm to wake up in the
morning. Fortunately, there was no class on Saturday and I guess it’s unlikely to wake
up at 10:00am or later (I was planning to wake up at 9am the next day), so I decide to
wake up naturally with a fluke mind, although I haven’t woken up naturally for years.
The dazzling sunlight wakes me up from sleep, I subconsciously reach out to get
the phone and check the time. Yet, I realized that I have to insulate myself from digital
technologies today, a depressed mood instantaneously enshrouded me. This becomes
the first moment I attempted to get my phone on the day of digital abstinence, albeit I
retreated from it. My attention was caught by my dog as he came towards me with his
big tail dangling in the air, I decided to walk my dog and not thinking about the time for a
while. It happened that my neighbor was also on the street so I turned to him to ask
about the time after greeting. My mind was burdened after I knew it’s 10: 30 already, I
felt like my schedule for the day was going to be turned down in the absence of phone.
“ How am I going to follow the schedule if I can’t keep a watch on the time?” the
question came to my mind. I began to realize the importance of the digital technologies
to me. For the reason that I have a terrible sense of direction and can’t get to any store
without using GPS, I made a call to my boyfriend and ask him to buy a watch for me. He
was initially surprised by how I reached him from phone call, since I’ve always text him
through What’s app. But this time I have to contact him through phone call since What’s
app doesn’t exist in 90’s. Fortunately, I was able to make a call and ask for help. But it
took me some time to figure out how to do my assignment without digital technologies
when my laptop has all of lecture slides and notes. So, I decided to work on my
statistics handouts first, because I felt confident to finish the calculations without doing
any research online. Nevertheless, the reality was that I couldn’t solve the problem even
if I tried to teach myself by reading the textbook, so I had to leave these questions blank
until the digital fasting ends so that I can search for the tutoring videos online, which is
the common way I’ve used to solve my problems, or asking help from professor during
office hours. Then, I turned into my reading assignment from psychological class. I read
quickly than usual until the moment I met with new words, I subliminally to look for my
phone and search for its definitions in the dictionary app, but I withdraw as soon as I
realized it’s digital fasting day. “What should I do?” I asked myself. I read ebooks for
most of the time, and the definition of the words will immediately appear on the screen
when I try to look at it. Obviously, I couldn’t do it this time. I can imagine how people in
the 90’s to look for the definitions in the dictionary book, but I don’t feel any eager to use
this aged way, not only because I don’t have a dictionary book, but also because it
requires more effort to look for the definition than using the dictionary app. As a result, I
tried to guess its meaning by connecting it to the sentences come before and after it.
Delightfully, I finished my reading assignment efficiently than ever, and I think it’s
definitely because I wasn’t distracted by my phone. This is the moment I have come to
understand how technologies get involved with my study and help me learn my
schoolwork, but I also get benefit from not having digital technologies as I study since I
won’t be distracted.
It’s time for the lunch! I was trying to head for McDonald’s for a quick lunch since
I only got half an hour before my conference started at school. Besides that, it’s located
next to my apartment, so it’s easier to access without worrying about getting lost on the
way due to the absence of GPS. Seemingly perfect place for lunch was dismissed just
after I stepped in McDonald’s. All of the services are done by artificial intelligence now, I
need to order food through self-service ordering kiosks instead of cashiers. This really
astounded me. I’ve never thought that the digital fasting would even impede me to
getting food. I swithered for a second as I wonder whether I should ask help from
cashier to use the self-service ordering kiosks for me, but I retreated because I was
afraid of being looked like a dumb.
Honestly, school is the only place I can get there without the …
Purchase answer to see full
attachment
