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.
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!
Then I would just sleep and sleep and sleep.
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!
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.
I felt the same way when I cooked without listening to anything.
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!