What I was doing while you were on Facebook.

“What I was doing wile you were on Facebook…

So, my alarm clock went off at 5:30 this morning. Notice, I said alarm clock, and not my phone. I woke up and took a shower, and got ready to go running. That has its protocol. I went out the door and went off like a… I started running. I got down to the track and put my Poweraid, hat and jacket down on one of the seats. Then I started going in circles. There was something missing though, my headphones. Am I bitter? Well, maybe some. I ran some laps, but then I lost focus. I went home and took another shower, grabbed some pizza and a bier rock and took off munching away at the pizza. At the crosswalk, I saw a person from my ward. We said tentative hellos and eventually started talking. We parted ways. As I started toward the Richards Building I could hear some birds. I went to class and the teacher remembered my name. I had seen her once before! After class I had some time and I was in gym style clothes so I went to the gym and rolled out my legs. I got some sit-ups done and squats on a cool balance thing. I came out and walked up the stairs and went to the Twilight Zone. As I bought my water and gum the cashier and I exchanged a few pleasant words. I left, and I am sitting here writing this before my next class starts.

            It is a little annoying not to be able to call my mom, but I have gone longer stretches without doing that before.”

            During my experience of the media fast I wrote this short description of what I had done with myself. What do you do if you don’t have a computer, phone, radio, etc.?

            During the period of time scheduled for the media fast I took a trip to my home in Idaho. According to Google, this trip takes around six hours. My experience says that the trip takes more along the lines of seven hours. That is seven hours that I had to spend virtually alone. The radio happens to be my friend during this time. I luckily started the trip before the media fast. I took off after midnight and got to my house around 8:00 in the morning. I had a great weekend with my family.

I decided to start the media fast on Saturday night. I knew that I had to start then or I would not be able to go the three days before the media fast was up. I tried to start it, but then I couldn’t, I had to figure out my schedule. I used my planner to schedule the things that I would need to do through out the week. I had reading assignments and other things written down. I started the fast around midnight. The next day, being Sunday was fine. I went to church with my family, ate bierrocks, took a nap, visited my grandma, and then took off toward Provo.

What came next was something that no one should ever have to experience. Like I said before, the trip to Provo takes about seven hours. Thank goodness there is a stretch where the speed limit is 80 miles per hour. I did not get to use my radio in the car. Obviously I can’t help what other people do, like the sound at the gas stations and such. I had to come up with ways to stay awake or entertained, whichever was required at the moment. I sang and did other things to pass the time. By the time I parked in the underground parking lot at Glenwood, I was talking to myself in a weird accent. I went crazy, that’s all I have to say.

The next day, being Monday was good because I had class. This is when I wrote what is quoted above. It is impressive that my teacher remembered my name. I have a block class and at the beginning of the semester I went to it even though I wasn’t scheduled to be there. I went to the class only once. My teacher still remembered my name when I went there several weeks later.

In society today many people are, “plugged in.” What I mean by this is that we often times find ourselves shut off from the world by using headphones or searching the internet as we travel around doing our day to day tasks. My mother does not have a cellular phone. She says that when she doesn’t want someone to reach her she doesn’t have to be reached. She isn’t anti-social, she just likes her alone time. I wonder though, how many times do we miss opportunities to talk to others because we are, “plugged in?” I myself am a culprit of this. I like to listen to my music in my big green Skullcandy headphones. I do this while I am just walking from place to place. I pass people and don’t talk to them. This is another example of a non-anti-social person who doesn’t talk to people.

Not very long before this experience I had a bad experience with social media. I am not a Facebook hater, but I do see where, when used incorrectly, it can be a way for people to voice unfriendly comments.

When people have the ability to talk to other like-minded people they can gain a stronger opinion than they had before. It is amazing what kind of courage people can have when they have a group of people supporting them and they are removed from the situation, because they are communicating on the internet.

I spent lots of time on Facebook. I had it on my phone as well as on my computer. A while after the media fast I took the Facebook app off my phone. I tried to put the message app on it but was unsuccessful. I currently do not have it on my phone. I think that it is better this way. I still spend time on Facebook. Could I use my time more effectively?… Yeh.

One of the benefits of this media fast was that I could see that I spent a lot of time on electronic communication. I think that my time can be spent in other more productive ways. Like the volleyball game I am about to play!
P.S. The picture was taken in October of 2013.