Weekend Without Technology

This past weekend, not using technology was easier than it normally would be because I ended up going back to my hometown for the weekend. My initial feelings about the assignment was that there was no way I was going to be able to not use my phone for the whole weekend, and I would end up caving and just using it anyways. However, I found that I lasted until Sunday morning with the assignment because everyone that I had to talk to from home was my family that did not need to communicate through technology. The media that I missed the most was definitely texting and phone calls to different friends, especially friends that go to different colleges and had not known about my non-media use assignment for over the weekend. I found that instead of texting my friends, I spent more time connecting with my family members back home and it just allowed to catch up with all of my friends once I got back to campus on Sunday. I found that I was not able to dismiss all media such as emails through school use for group projects and club meetings. I also communicated with friends through Snapchat, but I do not know if that counted as a social networking source. At the end of the assignment I found that I am very connected to my phone, I initially found myself wanting to look and check my messages and Facebook multiple times throughout the day. However, I found that after the first couple of hours, I forgot about this media and just spent time with high school friends and family from home. At the end of this assignment I feel as though social networking communication tools such as texting, Facebook, and telephone calls are necessary for college students today to connect with both friends at UW-Madison and with friends at different colleges. Overall, I think that this assignment did not really change my view on my media use and that I will still use these networking tools to communicate with others.