Tech Free Tuesday & Thursday: Aftermath

Tech Free Tuesday and Thursday has come and gone, and not without a few hiccups. However, they were both a successful learning experiences. Having thought a great deal about the motivation behind the days, I'm likely to amend things a bit, as I feel that I can still embrace certain forms of technology with next to no guilt.

Tuesday began with a small dilemma. Upon waking up, I realized I forgot to clarify the checking of emails, which I ended up doing on my iPod. Justification that I may receive an email from a potential employer, a reasoning that I'll hold to in future Tech Free days, as long as I'm looking for work anyway. That being said, not finding any emails from potential employers, I left my email to continue accumulating as the day passed (it would the same for Thursday).  Throughout the day, I used my laptop for job search related efforts and nothing more. My Kindle was used, but only because I felt the intense urge to finish the book I was reading. In the future I'll read from my old fashioned stack of "real" books.  The Kindle is arguably a "Greener" option anyway, but that topic is for another time.

Long story short, no television was watched, only work related business was conducted on any laptop, no video games were played, nor did I use my cell phone; in short, I was very pleased with the day.

Tech Free Thursday was very much the same, however, there was one very major difference from Tuesday to Thursday; I had nothing to do all day on Thursday. Tuesday I was kept busy, but by the waning hours of Thursday, I felt the urge to begin a write up of my experiences of the two days. Using the excuse that I'm not sitting idle, that I'm doing something productive so maybe I was wrong to totally abstain from my laptop, as far as writing is concerned.

Wouldn't ya' know, however, that irony would make an appearance this evening, likely as punishment for cutting off my Tech Free Thursday by two hours. Nearly finished with my write up, I - or the ghost in the machine - caused the site to reload, which normally wouldn't be a problem but in this case the site failed to save the document at regular intervals. All that work down the drain, and why? Stupid technology...

A small amendment I'd like to make is the reluctance in using my laptop for writing purposes. Yes, I can resort to pencil and paper, but I'd eventually like to make the transition from paper to digital copy anyway. Also, I write impeccably slow, so there is the feeling of time lost when I write the old fashioned way (more the reason to practice handwriting perhaps). In short, I'm an intensely more productive writer with good ole' technology at my finger tips.

My ultimate goal of the Tech Free Days was achieved. I wanted to spend less time connected and more time in thoughtful contemplation. Conversation with friends prior, during, and even following (the first day) yielded more positive feelings of worth and a reduction in the sense of stagnant inertia. Technology's fault it is not, but nor do I think this is a bad thing to embrace. While I may, in future Tech Free Days, open the door to using my laptop for writing purposes, I might do so with a price. Even hiding from social sites might not happen completely, but similarly only after a condition is met. Conditions such as a heavy limit of the time spent and a time in the day when it's allowed. Perhaps only after 9pm and only then if I've achieved a set aside number of goals and tasks for the day. Though I can better spend the time wasted on Facebook with my nose in a book or my lips smooching up on my Special Lady Friend.