Living in a Digital World

In a small cabin overlooking the sun setting on Lake Champlain this past Saturday, my family discussed the beginnings of computers and the internet. I casually asked my parents, “What was it like when computers and the internet were first starting?” They both rolled their eyes and were brought back to another world in which computers took up entire rooms. The first programming classes consisted of typing keys into a machine that would create stacks of cards with holes in them. My dad would bring stacks of cards in to the computer to be run, and the next day he would get a “print out” in his mailbox of what the program did. He would either get some sort of language that indicated the program didn’t work, or he got multiple pages of what the program accomplished overnight. The idea was that the holes in these cards allowed wires to make contact with the metal below the cards, which signaled zeros and ones. If you got your cards out of order? Man, you’re screwed.

“Back in the day…” my dad was working with bits. Eight bits to a byte, 1024 bytes to a megabyte, etc. Nowadays, a single photo is multiple megabytes. My iPod holds thirty gigabytes – that’s 257698037760 bits of information.

My dad reminisced about the day that Windows came out with their first software. His eyes got big and he shook his head caught up in the memory, “That was huge.”

I have no real point in this blog post other than HOLY COW! I can’t even begin to understand how small computer memory started out, let alone what it was like to see that happen. When my dad got out of grad school and started working, he was the first person in his office to have a computer. Company tours included going to see the “Harvard Grad With A Computer.” How incredible is that? He has seen computers develop from the beginning up to today, when he manages huge files on his touchscreen iPad using complex programs without even touching the zeros and ones.

Every time I log on to email since I’ve been a college student, I have around 10 messages waiting for me. I’m on every email list, every club page, and every interest group you could sign up for. Since computers are a source of stress for me (unless I’m watching Netflix…), whenever I have things like email or long texts to respond to, I go into super efficient mode. Email is kind of a necessary, super convenient evil for me. I have to do it, I would never stop doing it, it really does help me with school and social life, but in the back of my head it’d be nice if it weren’t such a part of our society.

When I do email, I sit straight up and block out what’s going on around me until I’ve dealt with all the new messages. It really has felt since arriving on campus like you miss out if you don’t pay attention to your email. To become a Mountain Club Guide, I need to be on top of club email blasts; to do my homework, a lot of the time I receive and hand in assignments over email. Even social events on weekends I wouldn’t know about if I didn’t pay attention to my messages. I group them all into different “folders” – school, clubs, events, info, travel, personal, etc., so I basically just try to get them out of my inbox. This method reflects pretty well my feelings toward email, in general – just trying to get it out of the way as soon as possible.

I don’t know how to stop my negative feelings toward email. Sometimes the influx of messages is just too much for any information to get through to me – but how do I, or we, change that?

This Friday, I went backpacking with the mountain club for the night. We left from behind Proctor at 12:10 and quickly left areas of cell phone service. My phone, which was already on low battery, proceeded to die. Until the next day around 3 in the afternoon, I was media fasting yet again! What I thought was interesting, though, was the difference between this week and last.

Last weekend, when I ran around Burlington in a cow suit while everyone I was with remained connected to the digital world, I was an outsider. The experience wasn’t particularly uncomfortable, nor was it extremely difficult to be without technology, but there was a marked difference between myself and the people around me. People who knew that I was fasting from digital media kept forgetting not to text me or show me a YouTube video. In this way, I stood out from the crowd.

This weekend, on the other hand, not only was I fasting from digital media, but everyone I was with also participated in the “fast”. Since there was no service wherever we went, we pulled out the paper maps, turned off the cellphones, and limited ourselves to the technology of our backpacks, a stove and a few flashlights. It was not an intentional or planned event, even, it just happened! I think that is one of the best things about backpacking and camping – letting go of our cell phones and the internet. It reminded me also of something Nancy Baym said in her book Personal Connections in a Digital World: technology only takes away from a relationship when the people involved disagree about the usage of technology. When one person sitting at the lunch table wishes everyone else would stop using their phones, there is tension that could hurt their relationships, but if that person is just as content as the others, nothing negative happens. Conversely, when a group of people agree not to use technology, they are similarly compatible.

I am the type of person that loses my phone for 2 hours without even realizing it. I think it’s rude for people to text when we are spending time together, and I think that the presence of computers in the classroom takes away from discussion. This is one of the many reasons, or maybe they just go hand in hand, that I like spending time outdoors. I recognize the extensive benefits of technology and am not denying the fact that I rely on it for most of my schoolwork, but for me, to stay in touch with myself, I need to leave that realm every once in awhile. It was nice to reflect on the difference between this week’s fast and last week’s  – one was purposeful and intentional, and one was merely accidental.

What better time to turn off the phone and the computer for a day than the day my roommate’s neighbor comes to town? It turns out my roommate, Lydia’s, neighbor is writing a book about cow suits. A funny joke that started in college has led her to put on a cow suit with anyone who will join her to visit races, hospitals, events, and fundraisers just to see what happens. (Check it out at cowsuitsaturday.com.) The plan for Saturday was to put on some cow suits, traipse around Burlington, see Lake Champlain, and then go to the Ben and Jerry’s factory. 

So I woke up, checked my email one last time, and at 10:00 a.m. the clock for my media fast started. I turned off the phone, ipod, computer; everything. We immediately hopped into some cow suits in the parking lot next to the student center, got into Billy’s rental car and started the journey. All along the way we stopped at a country store, a herd of cows by the side of the road, and a random farmers market to take photos. All along the way people had impressively different reactions. They would either be delighted to ask us what the story was, or they had stone cold faces unaffected by the 4 cows walking around in public. It was a very interesting dynamic.

When we finally made our way to Burlington, we found ourselves in the middle of their Saturday morning market! Artists, college students, vendors, farmers and locals all gathered in the plaza for a beautiful Saturday morning. People would come up to us every few seconds to ask to take a photo or to hear our story. And let me just say, Vermonters are probably the cutest people ever. One old man came up to us and, once he found out we were new to Vermont, waved a wrinkly finger at us saying, “Watch out! Onc      e you come here you might get hooked. A lot of people come to Vermont and never leave.” And I could definitely understand what someone’s adorable grandpa was trying to tell us. Vermont is awesome. Especially with the leaves starting to turn, the landscape is beautiful, the air is crisp and fresh, and despite the weather change, Vermonters keep such a warmth in their hearts with every season.

 

We moooved on to visit the lake, took some great photos and, again, met tons of cool people along the way before we drove to the Ben and Jerry’s factory. As soon as we pulled up to the parking lot, though, we knew that Ben and Jerry’s was going to be the perfect place to wear a cow suit. We sent our friend Nick to buy the tickets, where the guy gave him his ticket free for wearing a cow suit. He came out with three paid tickets and his own, but when we walked inside to join the tour and the guy saw our own cow suits, the man waved us back over and emptied the money Nick had just paid from the register for a refund. Everybody loved us!

The tour was awesome; we learned a lot about Ben and Jerry’s, how they do business, how they make their delicious ice cream, and got free samples at the end. 🙂 By now it was approaching late afternoon, so we headed back to Midd for a dinner out on the town (we took off the cow suits for this one).

Coming back to campus without technology was when things started to feel strange. While we were in Burlington and at the Ben and Jerry’s factory, I really didn’t miss my phone or my email because I didn’t need it! My friends were snapchatting and texting as usual, but I didn’t feel the need to. When we got pack to campus, however, it started to feel strange. I took a nap and woke up to an empty hall – no one was around! And I didn’t know what to do with myself. I ended up taking my bike out to go for a ride and, of course, eventually ran into some people I knew. I sat with them for dinner and for the rest of the night, I had no idea what was going on except for where I was at that moment. Usually on a Saturday night at Midd, I text a few people to see what’s going on in other places around campus and maybe go to meet up with them, but this Saturday I simply went to where I was going and enjoyed it!

What was hard for me was hanging out with friends when they wanted to show me a youtube video or something on the internet. I tried to distance myself from this type of technology use also, but it was also something I forgot to pay attention to at times. It’s interesting how one is exposed to media that isn’t even his own. However, the media fast really did feel like a breath of fresh air. After living at least half of the last 3 years of my life without a phone and with limited internet access, being on email and on my phone all the time is a source of stress for me. Letting go felt therapeutic. I definitely noticed the difference when I remembered that my brother was in Burlington, and I couldn’t text him to meet up for lunch, or when I was going out with friends on Saturday night and didn’t have the option of communicating with people who weren’t with me, but it was fine overall. I think more people should know what it’s like not to have a phone or a computer.

In Louis C.K.’s appearance on the Conan O’Brien show, he reveals one of the scariest and most well-avoided conflicts in our lives: the fear of being alone. That mildly soul-crushing feeling that creeps into consciousness in that moment we find no one else around. The vast majority of the time, however, we simply turn to the World of Technology to accompany us; thus completely avoiding the problem. Technology has become our go-to friend that we use to hide from ourselves.

As I have discovered in the past few years, and as C.K. would concur, one needs to let go of technological distractions to experience a present moment with true emotions and to get to know oneself. Learning to be truly alone (i.e. without technology) is especially important in the raising and socialization of children. Louis argues that, firstly, kids need to be socialized without the medium of technology because they need to learn important emotional relations like sympathy and guilt. Behind a computer screen, a child can’t sense the emotional response of someone whom they insult, for example, thus inhibiting the development of interpersonal comprehension. Secondly, he says that children need to develop the ability to simply “sit,” because that is how they learn to be themselves and function as real people. In this way, technology can take away from the development of both social skills and of core identity of self.

The best part, for me, in the interview is when C.K. describes an emotional experience he has while listening to the radio. Bruce Springsteen’s wailing causes an overwhelming feeling of sadness, encompassing his entire emotional experience in that moment, led by a feeling of happiness after having enjoyed the song. That is a true emotional experience.

Though Louis C.K. approaches the subject with a comical tone, making ridiculous claims like 100% of drivers on the road are texting, he has a point. There is something missing when people don’t have the ability to be alone (in the sense that there are no people or technology around). For me, discovery of self has everything to do with a separation from technology. One can learn about an unlimited number of outside topics, connect with friends and family, play games, and discover all sorts of interesting facts with the help of technology, but technology can’t help much (if at all) in the discovery of self. In Louis C.K.’s example, the experience of listening to music and solely doing that is so much more closely related to one’s self and one’s emotions than is listening to the same song while texting or browsing the internet.

Thusly Therefore Henceforth and In Conclusion, you gotta get down to the oh-so-lonely you to find anything real about yourself.

 

Now I’m gonna go for a walk 🙂

I’ve noticed among friends at home and people here at Middlebury a distinct effort to focus on the here and now. Just last night at dinner, as the four people I was sitting with were all occupied with iPhone-related distractions, I sarcastically commented that my phone was dead and I had nothing to do. Immediately they all apologized, finished whatever they were doing, and commented on how they try not to look at their screens while at meals or in social situations. At home it is the same; people decide to put their phones in their pockets or to put their computers away and instead engage in other activities.

Though at times I feel like a mother telling her kids to play outside instead of staring at the television, this seems to be a big social movement. People hike or go biking or learn to play an instrument in distinct efforts to control time “wasted” mindlessly browsing Facebook.

There seems to be a reported decrease in social media that explains this amazing phenomenon. People peaked a few years ago with digital media, and now are learning how to check that use.

The question many of us ask ourselves in a digital world: Is technology taking away from our personal connections? Many argue that with the increased use of text messaging, email and social media sites, people are losing more personal, face-to-face connections.  Relationships are depending more on digital communication, and with this, too, comes a deterioration of language. I am someone who tends to agree with that argument. Daily I find myself competing against technology for the attention of the people around me. Simply not owning a smartphone excludes me from what feels like the majority of social life as a modern 19 year old: snapchat, twitter, instagram, or whatever game is popular at any moment. Sometimes it really does feel like the use of digital media takes away from face to face socialization.

I am, however, forcing myself to see the other side of the argument. What people do socially online simply mimics how they act socially in person. Technology can add to a relationship rather than replace it, and new forms of communication, likewise, are not meant to replace oral conversation. The two are fundamentally different. Awesome. I can accept that; but I’ve also seen it change a social environment in what feels like a negative way. I spent the last year traveling in South America – without a phone, without internet for (gasp!) days at a time – and most of the people around me were the same. The locals who had phones more often than travelers did had simple calling and texting phones that they would use occasionally. I could get to know a person incredibly well without ever becoming their friend on facebook! The point is: whenever I was talking or experiencing something with other people, all of our heads were right there in the moment.

Coming back to the states, however, I was abruptly met with a different relationship between technology and social life. My friends would stop to “snapchat” (something everyone but I had heard of) in the middle of a conversation, people would stop during an experience to tweet about it, and at least one person was always texting a third party. I could be sitting with a group of friend staring into space because no one was fully “there.” In this way, technology takes away from fully experiencing what is going on around you.

Maybe this still doesn’t mean that technology is the culprit; maybe it just means that we need to learn how to use technology in a way that keeps it from taking over. I know many people who use digital media conscientiously, who put their phones away while at lunch with friends and know when keep their attention in the moment. I personally am a proponent of stepping away from the mainstream “addiction” to technology, but I can also understand the vast benefits of inter-connectedness, the great source of information, and the positive impact it can have on social life as long as people know when not to use it.

Here’s a video that reflects what technology can do to people:

 

After logging a few days of my digital media use over the summer, I realized something about myself: I didn’t have much to record. In general, I consider myself a frequent user of facebook and texting. After all, isn’t everyone always connected to some sort of digital media nowadays? Over the course of three days, however, I received only 36 messages and sent 34 when my little sister literally tops that number in under an hour. In total, I spent less than five minutes talking on the phone and averaged a tad under an hour a day on the computer. While many of my friends and peers refresh their facebook newsfeed every other minute, I checked it maybe twice a day, and my time on the internet mostly consisted of online shopping for college (yay!) and general last minute research about classes and fire codes… I have no twitter, no smartphone, no snapchat, and no instagram. Let’s just say I’m a little bit illiterate when it comes to these many types of digital media. So, a daily average of 12 received text messages that seems like a lot to me isn’t really much to record in the scheme of things.
As far as television goes, my TV stopped working months ago and I haven’t had enough of a reason to fix it ever since. I did, however, watch a couple of movies on Netflix and iTunes during those few days over the summer. (How great was the new Great Gatsby?!) I also read Game of Thrones for two hours one day on my Kindle!

Overall, I feel that my log showed that digital media it is a big part of my routine because I usually check my facebook and text messages every day, but at the same time I don’t really spend much time interacting with other forms of social media. I do love to read on my kindle, I read the newspaper when it’s sitting on my kitchen counter, and I love to snuggle up to a good movie, but that’s pretty much as far as I go as of yet. I’m interested to see how that usage will change as I morph into a college student.