As I watched Disconnected yesterday – on a computer in the library, I must point out – I struggled with the purpose for which someone would ever attempt to go without a computer for three weeks. The students in the movie, I think, found that over and over again they were only frustrating librarians, teachers and friends alike. In the end they simply needed to rely on others to do their computer work for them. One of the kids’ boss had to log his work hours for him, the same person had to make a friend send out an email for him, the other guy made his classmate who works at the library look up the call numbers for certain books for him, etc. Perhaps going through the process of realizing that most systems are online has value in itself, but to me it seems impossible to live without computers while being a student. It is certainly possible to take a long backpacking trip or to buy a cabin in the woods where you live happily without computers, but in the modern university it is pretty much required to have your own personal computer.

In the end these three people found that even without computers, they depended on computer systems simply to survive as a student. If someone tried to do this today, it would be even more difficult. The students in the documentary  used the typewriters available in the library to type their work, whereas today typewriters aren’t even accessible. They are fully put away, shelved, or fully trashed by 2013. One of the guys registered for classes by paper, which probably wouldn’t be possible at Middlebury anymore either, unless you wanted to get the last pick of classes or make someone to register online for you.

It is important to understand that most of our systems to make a university work depend on computers, but trying to reject computers only puts yourself at a disadvantage and inconveniences everyone around you. You don’t need a smartphone, an ipod, a camera, or an ipad, per say, but you do need to be able to use a computer, and that will never change.