My recent attempt to go a week without technology was a failure. Not because I wasn't able to do it, but because I found no point in doing it anymore. Sure, I was suppose to show that technology isn't everything, but the fact of the matter is, it is everything. As I went along with my week, the two days I went without technology only made me think about technology even more. It made me think about how much of life I was missing. It's not the technology itself that is my life, but the life inside the technology. For instance, my phone isn't my life but the people who matter most in my life are in my phone. And by shutting off my phone, I lost all contact with the people that mattered most to me. By not going on Facebook I had no clue what everyone was up to.
Attempting this experiment, I thought I would find myself more adventurous and a better person but that didn't happen. I isolated myself from the people who mattered most and the only adventure I could have was by myself. I wanted to share my adventure with my friends but I was unable to due to the lack of communication. Family and friends were not able to contact me if they needed me and that was a hassle on my part. I walked around with meaningless in my life and the only way I would have meaning back in my life was through communication through technology.
I figured that living life with nearly no source of communication with the people I care for the most wasn't living at all.
I asked myself the same question over and over, "Why am I trying to fight something that benefits everyone so well?" It's true that I did this experiment to see what it is like for kids in poverty to not have the type of communication and technology we have, but if we are able to provide them with the same items we have, their lives would evolve tremendously.
After the measly two days without technology, I came to a conclusion that I can live without technology, but I can't live without the people in my technology.
"So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning."
- Morrie Schwartz from the book Tuesdays with Morrie
---Meng Yang
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