Blog Assignment 13

E-Media Fast:
I started my 24-hour electronic restriction Friday night around 10 o’clock. The reason I started this late was because I went to the Shinedown concert and I knew I would need my phone/camera. It wasn’t as bad as I thought because I went to sleep when I got home and I was pretty busy all day Saturday with family events. However, it was rough not getting on FaceBook or taking pictures. Lucky for me, my mom is an amateur paparazzi and managed to take lots of photos. Another struggle for me was no television. I can’t go to sleep without the T.V. I wasn’t sure if this was cheating, but my boyfriend turned on his audio book of “The Hunger Games” and that’s how I fell asleep. Technically, it wasn’t me using the electronic device, just mooching off of someone else’s. Those were my only struggles. I kept my phone upstairs in my room while I spent the day with my family out on the boat, and I went to sleep around 9 o’clock on Saturday since we woke up at 5 o’clock in the morning to go fishing. I didn’t realize how dependent I was on electronic devices, until I couldn’t use them.

When I was in elementary school, I remember doing a no television challenge for a week. Your parents had to initial next to each day their child did not watch television. I completed the challenge, but mainly because parents wouldn’t let me watch T.V. If it were up to me, I would have given in the moment I got home from school. I hate to be a pessimist, but if I were to give my students this task today they would, more than likely, fail. I don’t know how children survive without their video games, cell phones, television, or MP3 players. Often times, parents encourage these electronics to keep their kids from acting up. Whatever happened to good ole fresh air and hard copy books? I would challenge my students to restrict themselves from a certain electronic device a week. Once they have successfully completed each task, I would have an optional assignment to restrict themselves from all electronics for 5 school days. Whoever completes this task would be rewarded with no homework for a week, or something along those lines. It’s not a bad idea to get them to resort to other forms of entertainments.