Media/Technology Fast

Double posted at my culture and modern American society blog, St. George Street.

My latest Facebook status, posted at 6:12 A.M. yesterday, reads something like this:

I am feeling the need for a media/technology fast. I am finding it a bit harder to kickstart than I expected. How about starting with a 24 hour fast? Ready, Set, Go!

I feel like the media are manipulative, and that my son is apt to grow up thinking his parents are attached to their iphones at the palm. I watch families out for dinner with children glued to small devices and zero interaction with their families. Sometimes even out with friends this happens. My mind balks at first; not believing this could actually be reality. Then my mind always goes next to the young adult novel "Feed", by M.T. Tobin, in which teenagers of a certain age are implanted with a direct internet feed in their brain. Creepy. Propaganda reaches a new high with pop-up ads that just appear in your mind and there is even M-chat, a form of telepathy where you can communicate with others on "closed channels" without actually speaking. In any case, I was viewing the three mothers of the prisoners in Iran (the young hikers have been held for quite a long time) and something snapped. I needed to break my habit. I decided to start small.

The rules:

The first fast would be 24 hours long, 6:12 A.M. Thursday, May 20, 2010 to 6:12 A.M. Friday, May 21, 2010.
No facebook, internet surfing, iphone apps, texting, email, tv, or unnceccessary phone calls.

The easy part:

I picked a day when I would be very busy with open house at school so I would be less likely to break the fast.

The Challenges:

I wanted to let my hubs know that the bike techs put air in my tires on the way to school, but decided I could just tell him when I saw him.
I needed one piece of information from an iphone app. It took 2 minutes to get it and that was it.
I wanted to research some information on toddler feeding and find some nutrition related charts but decided to wait until the fast was over.

What I did with all the extra time:

Biked to work instead of driving
went to bed early
got extra paperwork done at school
spent my break at school socializing


Breaking the rules:

I woke up in the middle of the night (4:30 A.M.) and wanted to compose this blog post. I decided that it was ok because I wouldn't be able to do it later (if Owen wakes up) and I could just set the post option for after 6:12 A,M. (cheating? probably
Was the fast still worth it? Definitely!)

I plan to break the fast around 6:15 A.M. with a facebook and email check and a dose of morning news. Then I will probably up the ante with a 48 hour fast from 7 am Friday to 7 am Sunday! whoo-hoo!