Thursday, November 30, 2006

to cell, or not to cell?

In thinking about how to practically apply some not-so-thouroughly-explored thoughts about American society and its emphasis on instant gratification/individualism, as well as reading a superb article by one of my favorites, Lauren Winner, I'm thinking about the possibility of giving up cell phone/ipod/facebook usage for a week (maybe longer?). Completely. I admit I'm overanalyzing here, but...

What I think I might learn:
- to commit myself to being on time (I can't call last minute to say I'll be late)
- to enjoy anticipation/patience
- not to rely on music-listening as an "out" on days when I'm stressed
- (more) authentic ways of connecting with people - not checking up on them through a screen, but face-to-face
- to appreciate silence (I kind of already do, but this is really, really hard to come by in a campus environment)
- to only spend "necessary" time on the computer (I wish I could give up parts of email too)
- to talk to God more
- hopefully much more.

What might be difficult:
- breaking habits
- communicating with people that they can't reach me by cell (will this sound selfish to them?)
- beating procrastination
- not allowing other "screen times" to spill over into what would otherwise be spent as time without cell/ipod/facebook

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yikes - sounds pretty radical. But you might like it. One of highlights of my day is walking in silence (except for traffic) on my way to the bus each morning. Or this weekend sitting in silence and reading a good book. In this case "The Life you've Always Wanted" Ortberg.

Dad