the infamous media fast

We knew from the beginning that it was going to happen... our Social Media class accomplished our midterm by spending from 9 a.m. Friday to 9 a.m. Saturday with no. social. media.

Yikes. This meant no internet (Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, etc.), no cell phone, no DVDs, no CDs. Not a whole lot. I have spent time without the internet before, and I can live without texting, but I knew not being able to make phone calls would be a challenge.

I woke up around 8:30 a.m.... just in time to get some Facebook/last minute texts in before I had to say good-bye. I found my classmate, Preston on Facebook and he and I spent our last few minutes chatting about how we were going to spend our day sans social media. I had to send some texts to friends who had called me the night before explaining that I wouldn't really be able to call them back for at least another day.

I actually felt a little aimless without the internet or my phone to make plans. Also, not having class guaranteed that I would see less people than usual during the afternoon.

I could feel a little bit of anxiety about my inability to share my thoughts with my friends... or the whole world. I spent my day packing and was surprisingly very productive. I suppose I have a lot more time when I'm not bumming around on Facebook or compulsively checking my phone. I also had a lot more alone time because I couldn't really make plans with my friends.

People had to come to my house to even tell me one thing, which was kind of a pain for everyone. I went to dinner for a friend's birthday and he had to come to my house to tell me all the plans. That night, my friend Katie was visiting and I had no real way of getting in touch with her. My friends, who had my phone (because I wasn't using it) called the birthday boy's phone in order to get in contact with me.

I will admit that I did a teensy bit of cheating... I participated in a phone call via speaker phone.

It was hard to live a day without social media. I was already fairly aware of my dependence on it, but it was much more obvious once I really had to restrain from using my cell phone, Facebook, whatever...

I was definitely glad the next morning when 9 a.m. finally rolled around. I made many phone calls and caught up with all of the business I had to abandon the night before.