The assignment is to go 24 hours with out using the internet.
Bold and ready to show that going with out the internet for 24 hours would not affect me, I end my internet usage on Thursday. The assignment is for 24 hours of no internet usage which translates into no email, blogs, or instant messages. No searching for news or other information, or school work using the internet. I knew it would be difficult because of online classes. So I made a big push on my classes so I can go with out posting or needing to get online to check them during this period. To my surprise it was harder then I had envisioned, my internet dependency has increased and I have become very reliant on the internet. Personally it was interesting because you don’t really realize how much time you spend in front of a computer using the internet until you step away from it. Time filler was simple because of classes I chose to read materials for class. But then the things that you don’t really realize you depend on the internet for. I had social plans for the evening Friday and I needed to find out information before leaving home so instead of using the internet to look up needed phone numbers I had to dust off the old phone book and explore the pages to find what I needed. At work it was difficult to get through the day because most of our policies and procedures are now available online in our intranet (not internet) but the same thing, I had planned for this and if I could not get through the day with out looking something up I would start over. I was lucky and the only things that I would have needed to look up were still available in print form and I was able to find the needed fees and information for my customers, it just took a little longer. My employer has decided to no longer print and update printed policies and procedures manuals because of the cost involved with printing and inserting into notebooks. Our intranet has a very good design for searching and in most cases it is faster to find then in print form because you can search for what you need with common words or terms instead of what the rule is called in the paper form.
So the time ends, but is extended at the same time, I am able to get back online because the 24 hour period has ended but other things have come up (funeral, travel out of town) So I actually get 48 hours of no internet. By the time I am writing this I just got back online and have to mention that even though I stopped using the internet the internet didn’t stop, I have emails and messages that I have not read and have to respond too. And catching up with news online, sports scores and blogs takes time. I also see how dependent on the internet I have become looking up information and news, when I had to only use paper printed news and what is available on cable television I feel like I am out of the loop and all my knowledge is day old and it takes longer to get through all of the news and cut the extra information from the stories out and gain the true message of the story. Just look at the stories from the tornado in Vancouver Washington. The news stations had miss reported information and had posted warnings about tornados after the fact. So it took 2 days to get the correct information from the national weather service, which would be available online instead of waiting for the news stations to report it. It would take me just a few minutes to find out about the earthquake on the Oregon Coast instead of just a little note on the news.
1 comment:
I like how you mentioned that even though you refrained from the Internet, the Internet did not refrain from you. Therefore, on return, you had to play some catch up! I think it is especially hard to stay away from the Internet when you know you are expecting some greatly important message or some new updates such as sport scores. When you mentioned that other issues came up such as traveling, that reminded me of the last cruise I went on. My dad bought around 50 dollars of Internet minutes to use during the week between us (my dad, my sister, and myself). Although I think I would have managed without the Internet for a week, because it was available, it was too tempting to stay away!
Kayla
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