• How successful were you at going Tech/Literacy free for a day?
• What was the hardest thing about trying to go Tech/Literacy free?
• How did your friends/family respond to you do the task?
• What was the short term impact on you of doing this task?
• Was there any long term impact on you?
• Did going Tech/Literacy free cause you to get more physically active or less? Why?
• What did you miss the most while you were going Tech/Literacy free?
• What did you miss the least?
• I asked you to keep a simple journal about your experiences. Please review those entries and discuss something of interest that you wrote down.
• Overall, what did you think of this experience?

I kind of cheated on my tech-free day. I spent the weekend with my closest friends (on the East coast) in a cabin in the West Virginia woods. We had no internet and no cell phone service. We had board games, catching up, and lots of topics to debate. It was the perfect scenario for going tech-free.

And yet, I still resisted the project. I have a strong appreciation and awareness of my technology usage. I’m also not concerned about being dependent on technology. Going without technology for a day seemed repetitive to me.

Still, I decided to give it a go and see if I was surprised by anything. I failed immediately. Even though I didn’t look at my phone right away–which is what I usually do–I still looked at a clock to find out how long I had slept. I then turned on the lights, ran water, and brewed coffee. To try to get away from the necessary technology, I decided to read instead of watching a show or something.

Most of the day was spent playing board games and hanging out with my friends. I tried to avoid being the one to touch/initiate technology when it had to be in use, but I didn’t actively avoid electricity and plumbing, for instance. I tried to make the day at least “device-free” and I did do a good job of ignoring my devices.

That is, until we went into the little town at the bottom of the mountain. I brought my phone with me. I know, I know, I probably should’ve/could’ve left it at home. However, I have a deep fear of being without a means to communicate with my family/friends if something bad happened. As soon as we got within range of a tower, my phone started buzzing and beeping like crazy.

My parents sold our childhood home and over the weekend, moved to Salt Lake City (from Kansas City). It was a really emotional move and they were keeping us, their parents, and their KC friends updated of their progress. I felt bad that I wasn’t available to offer them support immediately. My texts were delayed nearly 24 hours.

That’s when I realized how deeply significant technology is to sustaining relationships with my family and friends. The support network that I have built, that sustains me through challenges, and that I continue to want to foster, is entirely dependent on technology as a means of connecting.

It was at this point that I abandoned the project completely. Connecting with my parents, extended family, and our community during this time of transition became much more important to me. So, I unlocked my phone and texted them back.