Could You Go 72 Hours Without Technology?

The challenge presented was for a group of students to go one weekend, Friday at noon until Monday at noon without their cell phone or Facebook. Out of 27 people only three attempted this feat and only one accomplished it.

“I took one look at Dr. (Robert) McManus and shook my head,” said Corryn Muench, sophomore at Marietta College. “I am on my phone all day, everyday and there is no possible way I could go without it. I wasn’t going to do it, let alone even try it.”

Leadership Professor at Marietta College, Dr. Robert McManus is teaching a class on Global Leadership and decided to see if his students could survive without this “steroid” of technology.

“I thought a few would take me up on it, but I didn’t expect anyone to be able to do it,” he said. “Maybe one, which was the case. Even then I was surprised he made it, but good for him!”

Only one student in the class was able to accomplish this by having his girlfriend lock his cell phone and computer in her room. Fifteen years ago college campuses hadn’t really even heard the idea of a cell phone.

“I lived in a dorm with two pay phones for about 100 men,” said McManus. “There was always a line for the phone and a number of runs to the grocery store to find quarters.”

This would have been a simple task back then but in today’s world students are connected to their phone and the Internet 24/7 with school, work and social networking. Some students did try and attempt this task but found themselves having to think of things to do because they could not use their computer or cell phone.

“The minute I got back to my room I was about to go to my desk to flip my computer on and I stopped myself. I couldn’t believe that my first instinct has been to go for my computer!” said Kristin Norton, sophomore at Marietta. “I then proceeded to sit on my couch for a good ten minutes trying to figure out what to do. I read a book.”

Norton lasted 24 hours without her phone or the Internet, which was much more than anyone else did, but she forgot when she came back from a dance and wanted to show her friend in Peru a photo she had taken that night. After she had already uploaded the photo she realized she broken the assignment.

The technology of this world is starting to take over our every day, making us overly dependent on it. The question is though, is this a good thing or is it in reality hindering us by taking away that face to face real connection with people?

The challenge to you is think of any part of your life that is not reliant upon some form of computer.

This article was written by Danielle Staub, a student taking Media Writing 2 at Marietta College.  Look for more articles from the class to appear on Writing on the Mall in the coming weeks.  If you are interested in writing for Writing on the Mall, please e-mail patrick_h at writingonthemall dot net.