On Friday, I decided to go almost technology-free, and there were both negative and positive outcomes. First, the negatives. I usually bring my phone to the gym and listen to music from it while I work out, but I left my phone in a locker on Friday so that I could experience it without the aid of technology. It sucked. Music pumps you up when you’re lifting, and not just on a psychological level, but if you listen to the right type of music it can actually increase your physiological potential as well. Not having that aid put me through a “meh” workout where I was just thinking about how soon until I could stop and go back home. Later that day, I did homework that was done using a book and paper that is due later in the week, instead of doing the homework that required the use of technology and was due on Monday. This incovenience wasn’t too bad, but it did change my plans of how I had to spend the next day. Other than those two things, it didn’t seem much different from a normal day because I recently decided to abjure from extensive social media use. I didn’t want to completely “leave the grid” but I didn’t want to waste as much time on there as I was currently doing. I’ve been fairly successful so far, enabling me to focus more on the priorities that need to get done for school and my career.
Now for the positives. Like I said above, I already try to abstain from extensive social media use, so it wasn’t some life-altering change. I did notice a slight increase in productivity during homework because I didn’t have the opportunity to get distracted. There are many times throughout the day where I get online to look something up, and then I see a link that looks interesting, and then another one, and then another one, and soon enough I’m tumbling down the rabbit hole.