Essay Sample on Living Without Technology: My 24hr Challenge

Introduction

Living without technology looks very impossible. At least that is what I thought as I took the challenge to stay a whole day without engaging anything technology. For most people including myself, technology has become an everyday application as more people are gaining knowledge on how to make use of the communication devices. New technology has become even more addictive now that they have improved standards than previous technologies (Turel, 2019). Even though technology has influenced me in so many ways, I decided that on Saturday of early this week I was going to take a day without technology. In my head, I knew my phone was the most challenging part of the assignment and I decided to put it off and threw it in my cloth cupboard. I locked it up and kept the key in the living room so I don't take it until the night. I began the challenge at about seven in the morning. I used the alarm technology but after it went off signifying the start of the challenge.

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Breaking Down How the Day Was Spent

I didn't want to think much about what was supposed to happen this day. If I did the same way, I feared I could get depressed. I woke up, took a quick shower. My roommate had made breakfast so I did not struggle much to make breakfast for myself without using technology. I just noticed I should check my diary after breakfast to determine what was in the schedule for the day. I just realized my diary is saved on my phone. I realized using my phone would be legal. Therefore, I decided to pick my leisure at random. Being a baseball fan I decided I had to go to watch a baseball game. I was not sure when the game would start but later in the afternoon. It was about five hours to the baseball game. I had a lot of time to spare.

I must say I thought of going back to bed, but since it was against the rules I decided to take a walk down the library which is down the street not more than four kilometers. When I told my roommate I was going to walk all the way, he refused to join me and preferred calling a taxi. Calling a taxi would need a phone and internet which would mean I was going to go against the rules. I walked down the library for about half an hour. When I got there I was quite tired but I gained from reading the books. I read through the first chapter of a novel. It was interesting that I had anticipated. After a few hours, I had to walk all the way back to my room to get ready for the afternoon baseball game. My roommate hired a car that took us all the way to the base ball game. At the baseball game, everyone else was taking pictures with their phones. My roommate wanted to take one with me I denied.

My roommate really though it was unlike me to reject a photo session. However, I had to keep to the challenge. The baseball game was very interesting. I didn't have a phone so I cheered every single moment. Every move turned out interesting. After the baseball game which took approximately three hours, I asked my roommate to allow me to walk all the way back. I thought about walking back as the best way to help me waste off some time. The walk turned out to be very tiresome than I had expected and so I decided to take a bus. I arrived at the apartment when my roommate was watching his favorite evening comedy. I then decided to prepare dinner which I was sure would bring the twelve hours to an end.

I thought I would have had a very boring day. However, it turned out quite interesting. With technology, I would have spent a lot of time on twitter analyzing the trends of the day. Instead of going down the library, I would have wasted the whole morning replying to emails, updating statuses and reading online blogs. While on the game I would have taken and posted a lot of pictures just to show mine imagine friends how I was enjoying my leisure time watching a baseball game. Instead of taking the long walks and stopping at the parks to take a rest, I would have used my phone to order a taxi. While in the taxi, a better part of the time would have been used still to comment on my Facebook posts and followers. Well, my leisure would not have meant much more than just enjoying the company of my phone. Without technology, I had used my time to read a novel, watch an interesting baseball game, leisure walk down the streets and take a bus back to the apartment. A number of things I did are things I have never done before. The confession is a show of how most people spend leisure time on their phones and laptops. Technology has made the traditional leisure time something inexistence (Lancioni et al., 2018)

Inability to Use Technology

It goes without denying that technology has become part of life and it is almost impossible to do without it. I needed technology to help me spend my leisure. At the library, it was quite hectic to access a novel without searching through the catalog. The catalog required the use of a laptop or a computer. I literary walked through every single shelf to get an interesting novel to read. I also wanted to borrow the text for use outside the library and it was not possible. Apparently to borrow a text the library needs to make a connection to the phone. That way it is easier to trace the book. I was not able to borrow the book for off library reading. I even needed technology to take a few pictures during the game and it was not possible.

A number of times I was tempted to use technology until I realize it was not allowed. I almost called for a taxi through online means. I then realized it was not allowed. I almost used technology when preparing dinner. I needed to get a recipe for preparing food, I had saved it on my phone and if I did not get it I already knew I had destroyed dinner. Since it was against the rules I went ahead and prepared dinner without the recipe.

The inability to use technology impacted very positively on my day. I noticed I had a lot of time to spare. On the bus, it was easy to engage with the passenger seated right next to me. Since he was a kid at my age, it became quite easy to connect. Apparently, his phone had gone off and so he gave me the attention we had. We talked about a lot of interesting topics. We shared a lot and I left the bus feeling excited. My day became further positive when I made dinner which was delicious without looking at the recipe. I felt a sense of self-belief.

Not using technology provoked a sense of responsibility for how I should spend my leisure time. I just realized that with technology I wasted a lot of time on my phone, laptop and other devices of technology. However, unlike me, most of the students who undertook the same assignment explained how a day without technology was boring. They exclaimed that leisure without technology was so boring. Many of them agreed that resisting the temptation of using technology was a challenge. A number of them argued that they needed technology to get directions and get updates on what was going on. However, all these were not possible.

Analysis

Not using technology for a whole day awakens me to the fact that leisure is an important time that can be used productively. Using technology during leisure limits the way in which people can engage (Sharaievska, 2017). It also limits creativity. Having technology during leisure also limits one on one interaction with other people. If technology was not available it becomes easy to interact with people and gain their honest opinion on issues.

Leisure time spent with less technology becomes very valuable. There is a lot of time that is saved for the library. From the experience, I gained a lot of insights. Firstly, I learned the importance of technology. Technology has helped us a lot in doing a lot of activities. I also learned the importance of spending leisure to do constructive activities other than just commenting on social media platforms (Lancioni et al., 2017). From the experience, I learned it is better to get opinions from one on one interaction than on online platforms. Technology also complicates a lot of health benefits activities. Taking a walk down the streets and walking to the library helps burn a lot of calories especially when done frequently. Just sitting and typing on the phone and laptop replying to emails is really dangerous for human health (Silk, Millington, Rich, & Bush, 2016). The body becomes very weak and can lead to a lot of complications. If I had a chance to take another day without technology I would do it again without a doubt.

Conclusion

In conclusion leisure without technology especially for the young population in the world is really beneficial. However, the millennial ages are so used to technology so that they no longer think about engaging in leisure without technology. It is through spending leisure time without the technology that activities like charity can be encouraged among the youth in society.

References

Lancioni, G. E., Singh, N. N., O'Reilly, M. F., Sigafoos, J., Alberti, G., Perilli, V., ... & Campodonico, F. (2018). Supporting leisure and functional activity engagement in people with multiple disabilities via a technology-aided program. Technology and Disability, 29(4), 173-181.

Lancioni, G. E., Singh, N. N., O'Reilly, M. F., Sigafoos, J., D'Amico, F., Ferlisi, G., ... & Pesce, C. V. (2017). A basic technology-aided programme for leisure and communication of persons with advanced amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: performance and social rating. Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, 12(2), 145-152.

Sharaievska, I. (2017). Updating the family operating system: A literature review of information communication technology and family leisure. Leisure Sciences, 39(5), 400-414.

Silk, M., Millington, B., Rich, E., & Bush, A. (2016). (Re-) thinking digital leisure.

Turel, O. (2019). Potential'dark sides' of leisure technology use in youth. Communications of the ACM, 62(3), 24-27.