Media Binge and Fast

The media binge that we had to do for the first three days was a bit challenging for me. Personally, I am not the type that likes being on my phone much.  When we got tasked to do this assignment, I knew right away that I was going to have troubles staying on a screen as much as I could.  

On a normal day I usually do listening to music on my way to class.  However, I am not actually looking and typing or looking at things on my phone. It was hard for me to feel comfortable walking while looking down at my phone.  I had the constant thought that I was going to walk into something, or someone.  My biggest challenge during the media binge process was being on a screen while being at home.  For me my house is the place where I get to come out of my college mode for a while and wind down.  The usual way I do this having a conversation with my roommates, or cook something for dinner.  I still did this but I made sure a screen was always in the background.  When talking to my roommate,  we sat in our living room with the television on.  We still had the usual conversation about our day, but I noticed that we would sometimes get distracted by the tv and stop talking to watch a commercial, or the show that was on, which we had no actual interest in.  The other thing that I did for the binge that I try to usually stay away from was watching youtube on my phone while in bed, before I fall asleep.  I noticed that I stayed up way too long.  I would get to watching videos, and I almost found that it was hard to stop.  Once I forced myself to put down the phone, hours had gone by and it would take me at least 20 minutes to get my mind in sleep mode.  Because I was up so late, and because it took me so long to fall asleep, I was very tired during the day.  For the first time in a long while I fell asleep in one of my classes and don't remember a thing from the lecture.  Overall my experience with the media binge was not good and I did not like forcing myself to be on my phone at all times.  

    We were also tasked to perform a media a fast.  This was the part of the assignment I excelled at.  I already have no problem being off my phone and not watching or using a screen.  The thing I did found was difficult for me to do was not listen to my music when I was walking to class.  However, because I didn't have music in my ears, I was forced to notice the environment and other people.  One thing that I was somewhat taken back by was how much noise there was.  I noticed the birds chirping, people talking, all the construction noises going, and even the bell tower playing “The Impossible Dream”.  I actually enjoyed it, and since have not gone back to walking with music in.  The one part that was rather hard for me to do, along with most other people, was not being able to aimlessly check social media.  When I get to class early, or I have down time between classes, the first thing I do, (almost unconsciously) is whip out my phone and immediately scroll facebook and instagram.  Instead of doing the usual, I would get my notes out and look over what I had written down the previous class.  This I found was very beneficial because it got me in the right mindset for that class, and prepared me to jump right into the conversation for the class.  One last thing that surprised while doing this fast was the amount of students and teachers I saw on either a phone, laptop or tablet.  Both walking, and sitting, I saw almost no one that was just enjoying the day without their face buried in a screen.
    Throughout this media binge and fast, I have learned that it is not impossible to go a few hours without being on your phone.  I also learned that it is almost impossible to always be on your phone.