Media has consumed my life, in some ways more than others. The basic, somewhat simple forms of media have become a necessity in life. Facebook, texting and email are all things that I literally cannot live with. Between school projects, assignments, and communicating with both peers, professors and potential employers there is a sense of urgency associated with it that makes it something that must be constantly checked.
My media binge was surprisingly difficult. I don't normally maintain a presence on a variety of websites and apps, but the binge forced me to expand what I looked or else I was stuck looking at the same things over and over again. I normally patrol Facebook, Instagram, Yahoo! and Buzzfeed. None of these outlets are updated all that quickly. I don't have a huge number of "friends" on Facebook, or follow many people on Instagram. As a result of that, I had a very limited exposure to new articles and posts. It was so hard to stay constantly connected, I almost always have my phone, and I check it whenever I get a message, email or update. If my phone isn't alerting me of something, then i'm not really on it all that much. I had to expand what I looked at and start to patrol new sites and apps.
When it was time to start my media fast, I was actually relived! I was thankful to finally be off my phone. I couldn't just put my phone or computer away completely though. I still had to remain connected for job hunting/interview purposes, group project purposes and have nearby to have it in case an emergency happened with my daughter. I did stay off of Facebook, Twitter and other sites/new sources. I abstained from texting and email when it wasn't essential. "Media" to me is mainly phone/laptops. I didn't really count watching "Netflix" as using media. I don't have cable, and it was raining all day on Saturday in Omaha so it really just seemed like my only option. I was able to hold off on being on my phone or computer, but I just wasn't able to stay away from Netflix.
If I were to do something different I would have done the media fast during a time that I wasn't searching for employment and wasn't actively involved in group projects. I also would have liked to have done it during a time that had better weather. I would have liked to have been able to literally just unplug the internet for a weekend and be completely free from it.
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