Yesterday, I attempted to make it the entire day without using any electronics that are not useful or neccess ary to use. That meant no cell phone, or email, or plague inc. No chess.com, not even any youtube videos. And so I was forced, two days ago, to have my final fix of electronics and then go to bed.
My terrible dependance upon electronics was made apparent the moment I woke up. My morning routine usually includes watching something on youtube while eating breakfast and brushing my teeth. With that option no longer available to me, I had to survey my other options.
That which seemed like the most logical option to me was to read a book, and so I grabbed my copy of Midshipman Hornblower (which is actually a very good book), and started reading.
This was a great replacement for youtube, I found- almost too good, as time passes differently in the world of books. As such, I lost track of time and had to run all the way to school! Still, I was happy with myself so far.
The school day, I'd thought, would be easy enough to get through. I'd already expected that I'd be using computers in school, and decided that I would allow myself some work-related electronics. I thought I'd prepared for everything... and then came 5 clicks to Jesus.
For those of you who don't know, 5 clicks to Jesus is an extremely pointless game where you are given a wikipedia article and have to get to the "Jesus" wikipedia page in five or less clicks, using only the links embedded in the wikipedia articles. This game just so happens to be my favorite school time-wasting activity. (Hey, I'm still a straight 90% student, alright? Don't judge me!)
Halfway through one of my classes, I found myself playing said game instead of doing my work. That was when I remembered my no time-wasting on electronics rule, and realized I'd had my first strike against me.
I cracked a little after this, and even allowed myself a few more rounds in a separate class later in the day. Nevertheless, I figured I was still doing well.
Upon getting home, I found myself in a similar dilemma as I had found myself that morning. I couldn't play minecraft, or watch youtube videos. So what could I do?
In the end, I decided upon the interesting sport of reuning- reading and running. The game is simple; get on a treadmill, set the speed to a walking pace, and read. Every so often, put down your book and do a hard run for a mile. Then read once more.
I used this... interesting game to memorize most of my remaining lines for the school play. Afterwards, I practiced voice, and read some more.
By the time my dad got home, I was feeling quite proud of myself. I ate supper, and then decided to bake some chocolate-chip cookies for desert. And that's when all of my plans crumbled.
By this time, I'll admit that I was feeling rather bored. Surely a youtube video wouldn't hurt, I thought to myself. I could multitask! I admit it, I broke one of my golden rules coming into the challenge, which was to stay off youtube. I'm afraid I just couldn't resist.
Naturally, this slowed my baking speed down to a crawl. I was distracted by the video, and perhaps as gods punishment, something went horribly wrong with my cookies. I mean, look at this!
Those when I should have had plain, chocolate chip cookies. I don't quite know what happened... they just melted in the oven. Laura can testify, this picture makes them look great compared to other pictures I have of them. I tell you, they didn't burn. They just turned to sludge!
Anyways, this brief contact with youtube made me crave more. Before I knew it, I'd watched way too many videos, and my day without wasting time on electronics had failed.
So what can we learn from this?
If I had to say anything, its that electronics are in everyones lives, everyday, and I've learned that it's even harder to limit yourself from them then you would imagine. As useful as they can be, they can also suck your time, and take it away from other, more useful things.
That being said, I think that I'm going to try this challenge again in the near future, and perhaps a few other 24 hour challenges as well. They're alot of fun!
Until next time, thanks for reading.
-Mark
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