The day that I chose to abstain from any internet activity was this past Saturday. The reason I chose Saturday was because I had a basketball game so I figured I would be busy most of the day, running from shoot around, to pre game, and then finally the big game, hopefully keeping my mind off the fact that I could not get on the internet. I woke up that morning and realized I was already in trouble, I had forgot to put my parents names on the ticket list and wouldn’t you know the only way to go about doing that was to add their names online. I felt so bad! They were going to drive all the way down to my game and I couldn’t even get them a free ticket! Because of my little ticket dilemma I started thinking if there was any other way to go about putting their names on the list. That’s when I came to the conclusion that our world totally relies on the internet. I mean all it involves was putting two names on a sheet of paper, but the people in charge of the tickets don’t allow you to come up to them face to face and add the names, because they said it was too hard and we needed to work within the system, which happened to be the internet. So that was problem number one.
I went through the rest of the day doing pretty well not even letting my mind have enough time to think about all the facebooking I was missing out on. The next problem came after my game; I thought to myself “I wonder how all the other Pac-10 teams did tonight?” So I reached for my phone to check the scores when I realized I was about to use the internet, but instead of using my laptop I was using my phone. The internet is everywhere! I was lost I didn’t know what to do. I felt like everything I needed to do involved getting online in some way shape or form.
Later that night while I was sitting on my couch I had to resist the urge to get online, and check my email or do some shopping. So I watched TV, which is something that I don’t do very much of, probably because when I have a free moment to sit down and relax I get online and deal with people and issues that are in my own life, instead of turning on MTV and watching other people’s lives.
So the next morning I wake up and finally I can get online! So naturally the first thing I do Is check my facebook, and I had a message from a friend asking me what my plans were for the previous night because she wanted to get together. Of course this was sent on the day I wasn’t allowed to use the internet so I didn’t see this message until it was too late. That’s when I realized how much we rely on the internet for communication.
Not having access to the internet was not an enjoyable time, and I hope that I never have to go a day without it again. Because as I found out the world revolves around the world of email and web addresses, and it is a world I need to be a part of.
I feel you with the whole not getting the facebook message in time. I had a similar situation as you did on facebook. I was trying to figure out the exact date to one of my friend’s birthday and write on her wall and missed out because I couldn’t go on the internet! So annoying, and I agree this is a digital world and I hope I never have to go without it again. Unfortunately that might be too much to ask =/
Hi Stacey,
That’s lame that you missed hanging out with your friend due to your lack of connectedness. Couldn’t she have called? I dig your word “Facebooking”; perfect.
I too don’t watch that much TV when I’m home by myself, but I am constantly plugged into my laptop. When you cut yourself off from an addiction it’s hard not to substitute it with something else; like when someone quits smoking but then puts on a bunch of weight. Yes, it’s very enlightening to see how much we depend on the net.
-Casey