Going Tech Free

How successful were you at going Tech/Literacy free for a day?

I think mine was successful. I did a lot of preparation for my tech free day. I chose Monday, when I did not have to go to school and my daughter went to school. I printed all my papers I wanted to read, so I did not have to use my laptop or printer.

What was the hardest thing about trying to go Tech/Literacy free?

The hardest thing for me is to ignore the notifications of mobile social apps. I was worried about that there would be some important messages or emails I would miss.

How did your friends/family respond to you do the task?

My daughter did not notice it at all. I was cooking and reading at home, that made no much difference to her.

What was the short term impact on you of doing this task?

I realized it is really nice to be free from mobile phone and internet when you do not really need it. It actually kills a lot of my time even when I need to study.

Was there any long term impact on you?

I will try to quit mobile phone, or social network apps, to be exact.

Did going Tech/Literacy free cause you to get more physically active or less? Why?

I got more involved in physical exercise. When I finished my reading and assignment, I just did some Chinese physical exercise which will do good to my back pain.

What did you miss the most while you were going Tech/Literacy free?

No, I got my job done, my meals cooked, my exercise done. There was nothing to miss on such a wonderful

What did you miss the least?

I have to say that actually I love going Tech free. I do not miss anything.

I asked you to keep a simple journal about your experiences. Please review those entries and discuss something of interest that you wrote down.

Technology just wasted a lot of my time and made me lazy.

Overall, what did you think of this experience?

This is really a good experience. Although I knew a lot of negative effects of modern technology, I can never really quit those things. The feeling was like quitting smoking. I will definitely try to use less of those unnecessary technology.

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A Tech-free Day

This event happened on September 26, 2016.

5:30

The alarm clock woke up at exactly 5:30 in the morning. I habitually took up my mobile phone to check up the time. Soon I realized that it was my Tech-free day today. So I got up and cooked breakfast for my daughter.

6:10

When I was having breakfast, I looked for my mobile phone unconsciously.

6:21

Before my daughter left home, she asked me whether there would be rain today. I was about to check the weather forecast on my laptop and then stopped. I looked out of the window and told my daughter that it was not raining for the time being.

6:30

After my daughter went to school, I began to do reading for my courses. All the reading materials were printed last night for the tech-free day today. Frequently I needed to look up some words. Of course the first thing that came into my mind is my mobile phone, but I could not use it. So finally I found out the “book version” of a dictionary.

8:30

Time passed quickly and two hours passed. During this time, I wanted to use my laptop to search for some articles and wanted to use google doc as well as Endnotes many times. The  similar things repeated until noon.

12:00

Time for cooking lunch. I made fried rice because it was easier and saved time. I also made myself some green tea, in case I would feel sleepy.

13:00

I still felt so sleepy after lunch, I decided to take a nap. I had to sleep without the help of an alarm clock. Thinking of this, I was a little bit nervous.

15:10

I slept for two hours without the help of the alarm clock on my phone. My phone was beeping and I began to read the messages on my phone. After this, I came back to consciousness that I was not supposed to use my mobile phone today.

15:20

I washed my face and started to do the reading again.

16:30

Cooked supper. Wanted to listen to music with my music player or watch videos on TV as a kind of relaxation while cooking. I had to do the humming by myself.

17:23

Sat at the desk habitually and wanted to use my laptop to check out what was going on there in the outside world. Then I told myself that there is only half an hour to go and then I would not be free form a tech-free world anymore. In order to welcome the end of the tech-free day, I did some exercise to kill time.

17:45

Still some time to go. I went out to collect my mail. I found two a letter from my car insurance company.

 

6 thoughts on “Going Tech Free

  1. I have to admit that I also did preparation Saturday for the tech free day on Sunday. Imagine that we didn’t have time to prepare for it! It would have been so much harder!

  2. Hey Zhigang!
    I relate to your post very much! Specifically, when you mentioned having to hum instead of listening to music. I too, had to improvise my listening to music because of this assignment. I sang the songs I loved; however, I found that I did not know the lyrics as well as I thought. I have concluded that I need to practice lol! Great Post!

  3. It’s really awesome that you had a lot of preparation before starting your Tech Free Day! I think I should have done the same thing.

  4. Hi Z,

    I know you cannot because you are oriented in technologies! I make sure to sit next to you whenever I have Tech issues!

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