Well... What Do We Do Now? - Jour 101 Assignment

The Assignment: Fast from ALL forms of Media for a 24 Hour Period

Well… What Do We Do Now?

            Well here’s been an interesting experience of willpower and adventure. It’s been so long since I shut out the world of media, I've nearly forgotten how to do it. I’m just finishing my fast and I feel it was mostly successful. One day isn't too difficult because I've already done my own experiments like this, but I’m sure for some it was a bit more difficult. The hardest part for me was figuring out how to avoid using the media which I actually HAD to access in order to complete my school work. To accomplish this and truly fast from media, I decided to schedule my fast between 5 Pm on Saturday October 20^th and 5 PM of today, Sunday the 21^st. This would allow me to use media for school-work without actually breaking the fast.

The clever name means it's good.

            On Saturday morning I woke up around Noon, grabbed a cup of coffee and smoked a cigarette (my usual Saturday breakfast). After a shower I went to my cousin’s house to hang out. They have two TVs set up in his living room so we could play some old N64 games while simultaneously watching several episodes of Arrested Development on Netflix. Later, when 5 o’ Clock finally rolled around, I shut off my phone and computer - officially off the grid for 24 hours. Being that my cousins and I are pretty similar, they were also excited about the media fast and we decided to pass the time by driving up to Clinton Lake to watch the sunset. Afterwards, we went back to my house to drink and play Beer Pong. After all, a Media Fast doesn’t mean you can’t drink, right? By the way, Hazed & Infused is a delicious ale. We cut the night short because I was so exhausted from the school week and stopped drinking around four.

            I get out of bed at Noon, pour myself a cup of coffee and fix some scrambled eggs, French toast, and bacon (my usual Sunday breakfast). I lounge on my balcony wondering if I’ve missed any important calls or text messages. Who’s been desperately trying to reach my only to find no reply? I just found out the answer to that question a little bit ago - Nobody. I strum my guitar, reverberating the strings as the sun moves through the sky but it only fills so much time. By two o’ clock and I’m starting to get bored so I decide to pass some time taking a walk to Mass to grab a smoothie. The walk is long and aimless. I had nothing better to be doing and I knew it. Relaxing on Massachusetts street, I watch people pass and observe what media they are using. I return home at four-thirty to find my neighbors outside on their back porch. We hang out and talk to fill the final stretch until I finally go inside for school work at five-thirty.

          And here I am, using the computer for the first time in 24 hours, checking my emails, facebook, text messages, news websites, movie websites, and listening to music on my MP3 player. In just one day I feel as though I’ve missed so much content, so many pictures, stories, conversations. In the grand scheme, I haven’t missed anything at all; Just one more day in a vast sea of information media. What I find most ironic about this is the feeling that there’s nothing to do if it’s not thru a media. There was a time when people knew how to occupy that time and have fun throughout the day and we take that for granted. I’m happy to live in the world I live in. It’s enriched with information, knowledge, ideas, art, and culture. That said, a day to Clinton Lake to watch the sunset in complete silence with my cousins is pretty enriching too. 

Photo by Dr. Marciana. 2009.