Digital Dependency: Reporting on My Media Diet

The media fast is finished.

Okay, maybe my media diet wasn't that bad, especially when you compare it to what other people went without this weekend during their media fasts.

One thing I learned during my diet is that I really do waste a lot of time with digital media.  Here's what I got done in 24 hours when electronic distractions were removed:


1. Laundry--I haven't done any laundry in about a month, so I got three loads in and out yesterday.  Don't judge, just be happy for me.  I once again have clean pants to wear.
2. Medical school applications--I filled out and submitted a full secondary application, and started on a second one.  Ironically, both of these were online (remember, mine was a media diet, not a fast).
3. My honors thesis--My goal is to finish my creative writing thesis by the end of this month.  I got about four pages done yesterday, which means I only have a few chapters left.
4. Chemistry homework--I have a huge report due on Tuesday, with lots of calculations involving Excel.  Amazingly, I nearly finished all of it.

It was a productive day, though I certainly had many temptations to cheat on my diet.  Several people invited me to go watch a movie and I had to refuse.  Saturdays are also one of the few days I get to play computer and video games, and there were a couple of times that I really wanted to just give up on the diet.  But I stayed strong... for the most part.

Okay, here's where I confess: I didn't quite follow the diet completely.  Early in the day my roommates started listening to music and I thought, "Well, it's their music.  It would be rude to make them turn it off for me."  And then I got in the car and after listening to the radio for about five minutes I suddenly realized a radio might count as a digital music player.  Then, later that night, my roommate and I were singing Les Miserable songs, and we decided we just couldn't remember enough of the words on our own, so we pulled the music up on Spotify.  We reenacted most of the musical.  It was a lot of fun.  I regret nothing.

If I learned one thing this weekend, it is that I depend on digital media, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.  I needed the internet, a word processor, and Excel to do homework, applications, and my thesis.  Our culture requires that we use electronic media in order to survive.  Although I enjoy playing computer and video games, watching YouTube videos and movies, and checking Facebook and other websites, those are just for fun.  If I didn't use a computer at all, however, I would not be able to do homework or apply to schools, which are more essential tasks.  And, apparently, I really need music in my life to be happy, and the only way to get it is by using a digital device.

Now, being dependent on digital media doesn't mean I'm addicted to it (although I'm not ruling that out).  It just means that's where our culture is.  Technology has always been important to human life to accomplish things.  Our technology involves ones and zeros and is more immediate than previous technologies, and it is just as necessary for us to get on in our civilization.  Progress is not bad.  We have to be careful with the way we use technology, and how much time we devote to certain activities, but we have to accept that digital media allows us to do great things we couldn't do any other way.