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“My tech-free day was a nightmare,” said one of the students at the start of their final presentation on technology and nature and its internal experiences in both. I was so mocked that I repeated it a lot during the day when describing this project to other students and colleagues at St. Francis University, a small university located in the hills of Allegheny Mountains in central Pennsylvania.

As part of the curriculum in my Environmental Sociology class, students are required to write in two different types of related experiences: two days free of technology and 6 times in nature, in isolation without mobile phones or iPods. Their reactions to these types of experiences are both surprisingly profound and surprisingly life-changing, but in reality, life-enhancing. In this article, I will link their experiences with technology-free days.

For this task, I was given some instructions, but I left them how they wanted to define a "technology-free" day. When I know how much most undergraduate students are addicted to their cell phones and laptops with Facebook book and iPods, I hate to tell them how long they should spend without such support. Some students extend themselves and define a physical day from day to day after dinner. Others can only switch to setting one hour as their day. 'I ask them to think about the following questions and write about them in their magazines.

How do you feel to spend a day without technology? What effect does this have on your mood? Your mind? Your emotions? What differences do you notice between a technology day and a technology-free day? Similarities? What are some of the things you like about a technology-free day and why? What did you not like and why? How has being technology-free affected your social interactions? He explains. Please describe any other notes.

In our culture, most of us have become dependent on communication technology in one form or another. Most of us have become dependent on this technology without realizing how much we depend on it. For example, we are texting friends, blogging and we're on Facebook & # 39; (creating a new verb in the process). With college students, it surprised me, and touched me secretly, by the number of times they called their parents. Many students demanded that their parents be contacted every day. Others said that they contacted their parents, usually their mother, between each season. Some students complained about missing meetings or practices without technology (apparently, their schedule changes every day and this is how they are informed).

On the other hand, I am dismayed by the amount of interaction between the computer that replaced direct interaction with college-age students who live in the hall directly from each of them. They inform me that they might send a message to their friend, instead of walking in the hall to say hello.

I have used this assignment for hundreds of students over several years in dozens of classrooms. I am always amazed at the insightful awareness that this simple exercise brings to them about their social interaction and lifestyle. Here are a few personal reactions:

Being present: "On a technology-free day, you focus completely on what you do and who you are. You have no distraction to take you away from this place. My mind was what I was doing."

I became more social: "This activity made me more social because in order to know when to go to dinner and when I had to go to people and ask them instead of sending text messages or instant messages. I also note (d) how beautiful this campus really is" .

"Days (free) of technology have improved my social interactions. I participate in more conversations with my friends and daughters in my bedroom than just sitting in the room talking with an instant message and through texting. Talking personally with people is more personal than just sending instant messages and texts."

A waste of time: “In the end, my time is wasted. I thought about the idea in my mind,” What do I really do with technology? "

Tech addiction: (While riding a bus for 7.5 hours to her basketball game, without technology,) “I didn't think I was going to make it happen. When we stopped at our first stopover, I was tempted to ask the bus driver to open the bottom of the bus, But instead my team mates encouraged me and decided not to do that, and when we got to the hotel, I immediately arrived in my book bag for my phone because I really wanted to see my missed calls and voicemail messages. I felt like a drug addict. I realized how obsessed I was with my cell phone. (Without my phone), I didn't know what to do with myself. I felt like crazy. Sure I mixed my feelings and felt sad at some points, but again happy that I didn't manage to use my devices on the bus. "

Spending time with the family: A female student extended a tech-free day to her family: “While I was sitting in the living room yesterday, the phone rang. I looked up and looked at our TV. The caller ID appears on every TV in the house: When I look down On my laptop, my sister sent an instant message and asked him who was calling, and that was the moment when I realized how much my family relied heavily on modern technology, and later that night, my mom told her she knows my sister & I live in separate rooms and send a message to Each other if we needed something, so I asked her if she could Four of us did something one night one evening. Idea! ”

Keep playing two games from SORRY and 1 game from SCATTERGORIES. "To our surprise, we enjoyed ….. who knows! Maybe this will become our new tradition!"

Start a new tradition in your home! Enjoy technology for free for a day, relieve stress, and have some fun!

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