What Is Life Without Media?
Can you imagine life without media? No? Well, you aren’t the only one. Media has been playing such a big part in our lives, that we spend every second of every day around it. For this assignment, we were challenged to compare our days with and without media and then see the impact both have on us.
For the 12 hours of no media, I decided to walk around through Boston and just observe everything around me. Walking through the streets, all I saw were people on their phones, focused more on their online lives rather than their real lives. For the first hour I felt anxious and bored, I couldn’t hold it; I kept watching the clock. Sadly, for a moment I turned on my phone to see if I got a message or a notification, but I regretted it and then kept going without media. I keep looking at my phone just so tempted to use it. The, I decided to turn it off and go out for a walk. I went to the Public Garden and witnessed something that really shook me. I saw a little girl walking around with her mom. The little girl was trying to call her attention, but the mother didn’t even looked at her, she was too busy on her phone. This scene really shook me, it made me realize how addicted and obsessed we are of what lives through our phone screens. I’m not going to lie, I was still tempted to use my phone, but in a way I felt free. Saturday evening I was going to attend a concert. I thought I couldn’t go without recording it, but then I decided that was going to be the ultimate challenge. When the concert started I wanted to take out my phone and record the entire concert, but I chose not no. For the first time, I think I truly enjoyed a concert. I saw it with my own eyes, instead of watching it through a screen. Unfortunately, I didn’t complete those 12 hours without media. I realized that even if I felt free, I was still anxious to use it. I realized that without media, we are completely lost. We are so focused on our “media lives” that we can’t even hold 5 minutes without using it.
In terms of logistic, with media I was focused on my phone, talking to my friends, scrolling through social media; I felt “busy”. Without media , on the other hand, I felt bored and anxious, I had nothing to do. At first, I was surprised on how hard it was; it was horrible. I felt the need to use media.
I had to deviate from my normal day routine, since I always begin my day by waking up, turning off the alarm, and then spend a while in my bed scrolling through social media.
Tracking my use of media during those 4 hours, made me realize how basically I can’t do anything without media. I didn’t do anything differently just because I was recording my use of media, I just did it consciously. I spent those 4 hours using media just like any other day, it surprised to realize how we use them all at once. Whatsapp, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Netflix, everything.
After all, this experience shows me that nowadays media has completely taken over our lives. Society is now so focused
I had a feeling like I was disconnected from the world, but the truth is I was actually more connected to it than ever.
