Do This: Unplug

For this activity you will be asked to “unplug” from a media technology that regularly takes up your time and attention in order to focus on the ways technology permeates our everyday lives. This will help us understand what happens when we resist or try to reverse technology’s influence. Discuss after you’ve unplugged!

1) Choose a media technology for the experiment. This should be something you use regularly but that you can safely turn off for a period of time. Why did you choose this technology, and how does it represent an interesting experiment?

2) Determine how long you will go without the technology; it could be for an hour, an afternoon, or three days, depending on how often you use it. What’s important is to create an impact by turning it off. Is the time period you determined adequate in length to provide meaningful results?

3) Go about your daily business while you refrain from using your chosen technology during the designated period. Don’t become distracted. Keep a part of your focus on what’s happening with the experiment and check in on yourself frequently. Take field notes at points during the research process or immediately upon completing it (refer to the Chapter on Research/Studying Sociology for a reminder about “field notes”)

4) What happens as the experiment unfolds? Are you having any difficulties? When and why? What are your thoughts, feelings, and sensations? How attentive are you to the details of your reactions?

5) What happens as time progresses? How is it different the further or closer you are to the end of the allotted time for the experiment? Are you relieved to turn on your device again? Or were there some unexpected benefits of turning it off? What do you see now about using the technology that you did not notice before? Does it feel any different to resume using this technology after having conducted the experiment?