#eme6414 unplugged challenge – My day without the Internet

It’s hard to imagine a day without the Internet! It’s hard to admit that you’re a member of the “Facebook generation.” A phrase constantly trotted out by the media, it refers to the people who spend their days crouched over a laptop or on a smartphone, disengaged with reality.

Of course, that’s an exaggeration. But once you have an access to the Internet and social media, it becomes very difficult to “unplug.” So, I decided to go a day without the Internet to see how I’d cope. Would my social life suffer? How would I keep up-to-date with news and trends? And did this mean I’d have to find my real-life calculator?

Well, I began to think of my day “unplugged” as a kind of retreat. In a world saturated with images, we feel a need to document our every action; just recently I caught myself Instagramming my l’il Italy Pizza dinner experience. So, as I unplugged, I didn’t have to swim through an ocean of images, collages, memes, videos, snaps, etc. Did I miss them? Well, not really! During our “unplugged” day, my wife and I were on our way back to Tallahassee from India, which was a 22-hour journey! We had to change four flights and wait for “countless” hours at the airports. During our travel, there were many opportunities where we thought we could stop, take a picture and share with friends and family. But, no, we didn’t! We were firm about staying “unplugged”. What did we miss out on sharing? Quite a few things, like: The model of the 2022 Qatar Football World Cup stadium at the Doha airport; showing off that we bumped into a Bollywood superstar at the Mumbai airport; and other funny instances at the Miami International airport. But, boy, as the day progressed and we passed through multiple timezones, we found ourselves sleeping far better – simply because we weren’t lying down double-checking the ‘newsfeed.’ So, my unplugged challenge, to that extent, was actually “refreshing” which was something I didn’t expect.

However, we didn’t like being out of the loop. This “unplugged” also proved to be a period of self-imposed social exile. How? We were unable to Skype our families back in India. We were unable to tell them until the clock struck the midnight that we safely reached Tallahassee, which no guesses, what they were eagerly waiting to hear. So, while some might complain that the Internet renders real-life interaction null and void; for students like me it’s a life-line: family, friends from home and friends abroad are all just one click away.

It’s not just socializing that got affected by this digital detox. The Internet is an integral part of my student research initiatives. I constantly find myself using the databases and library sources to find important literature pertaining to my research. I especially struggled with my class readings for Week 4 without an access to the Internet. Older relatives often tell me how lucky our generation is; while I love stumbling across a book perfect for an upcoming research, the Internet allows us to condense hours of research in the library into minutes with just a few Google searches.

So, did I reach any conclusions during my day without the Internet? Yes – as a student, it’s virtually impossible to go without the Internet for a significant period of time. Not only do you miss out on social events, but your work suffers too. However, I’d also recommend logging off occasionally; even if just for a few hours. Trust me, this escape from both hypothermia and Kim Kardashian taking 1,200 selfies on a holiday is a blessing in disguise! You’ll find yourself sleeping better, which is vital for a good health. Yes, you can sleep without reading that last story on Facebook, or watching that last video on Instagram, or even playing that “white noise” of a Japanese garden!

I am looking forward to hearing your #eme6414 unplugged challenge experiences. Do share them in the comments section below.