Weekend Project: Minimal Technology

This weekend project was definitely a challenge but it was quite refreshing. Similar to Sam L, I am in a sorority with 55 girls living in the house, so I would make the conseious decision to walk to the person's room and talk to them rather than text or call them. I mainly stayed with my sorority sisters this whole weekend, so when I was out I was not on my phone at all. However, one thing that was difficult was that my best friend from home kept texting me and because I wasn't responding she was asking if I was okay, if I was mad at her, etc. I responded saying "so sorry I've been mia. haven't really been wanting to be on my phone at all" and she got really offended. I would be offended as well if I got that text, but I just didn't feel like explaining the project to her. She said she just felt a little far from me this weekend because we haven't been able to talk. I agreed. It was hard for me not to talk to her. She goes to Stanford and we were inseparable in high school, so we talk to each other all time in order to compensate for the distance. My parents, on the other hand, didn't even expect to be in contact with me this weekend because it was Halloween. I refrained from using Facebook, until Sunday. Sunday is usually the day that everybody uploads pictures from the weekend, and as stupid as it sounds, I like to see what people were up to. I had to break the rules when trying to make plans with my friend in a different sorority. We needed to study for our economics midterm together, and since I cannot just walk into her house and in her room, I had to call her. Over all, this was a very difficult project. I refrained from using the internet and my phone as much as possible, but to be honest I was only able to minimize my usage rather than completely eliminate it. The biggest thing that I realized were how people would be offended and take it personally if I did not respond, or responded with a really short text. They know that I don't usually do that. I always respond right away, so if I don't people assume that I am in some sort of danger. It's sad that I have to explain myself when wanting to simply limit technology usage.