How much time do we spend mindless time online? For me it's lots. I have caught myself just automatically reaching for my phone, clicking on the blue 'f' icon and just scrolling through Buzzfeed, competition, funny animal videos and memes. Facebook was suppose to be a place to keep up with your friends activities, to share your moments and thoughts - but now 90% of my feed is taken up with tedious "stuff". Yet I still spend hours staring at this stuff everyday.
What am I missing when I look down? What chances have escaped me? How much do I actually need the internet?
Recently I changed phone plans and determined to save money (and my soul) I reduced my data plan to 500mb. Great, a chance to free myself from the constant connection. To my disappointment - or delight, I'm not sure yet - this hasn't effected my internet usage all that much. Probably because you can get wifi pretty much anywhere now.
So when tasked to 24hrs internet free, the "erghh can't be bothered with that shit" feeling passed over me rapidly and I was eager to give it a go.
I wanted to chose a day which would make the most of this task. Thursday I had planned to go to Leeds to do some market research and felt this would be a perfect opportunity to experience an internet free moment. I was excited at the prospect of not wasting time scrolling through feeds, or being bothered endless memes in group chats or getting exciting about a new email just to see it's from a store I bought from 2 years ago and have never been back to. What a free feeling day is ahead of me. No Google though.
All set: wifi is turned off, emails up to date and Boyfriend aware he cannot Whatsapp me. To bed and ready for tomorrow.
So what actually happened...?
1) I got ready in the morning a lot quicker then I normally do.
2) On the bus I caught up with some work, read a book and magazine. Also I looked out the window and realised how close Leeds is to some beautiful countryside!
3) Could only listen to the playlists I saved on Spotify - which turned out to be just one!
3) I found the best shoe stall in Kirkgate market! There were so many shoes that you couldn't see the table!
4) Seen how much nicer Leeds has become over the last couple of years, it's definitely improved.
5) I spoke to an House music artist who was trying to sell his CDs. Not a big House music fan but we got to chatting and listened to some of his stuff and I've been converted!
6) Scary moment, I had to look at a street map on the road to work out where to go. I hate looking like a tourist.
7) Got to talking with a young busker, had to write down my name and email address, instead of just adding him on social media there and then - ironically, now friends on Facebook!
9) Couldn't check what time the trains are so by the time I walked to the station to find out I couldn't be bothered to walk back into the city, so just went home.
8) Had a lovely conversation with a lady on the train home about her cats. Kept it to myself that I am more of a dog person though.
9) Actually went into the swimming pool to ask when the different session times were, and because they saw me and said 'look forward to seeing you later' I felt even more motivated to going later (which I did).
1) Read magazines and newspapers to research for a project.
1) but once I finshed that I couldn't put my research on Tumblr.
10) used the old fashioned texting method to speak to my boyfriend which meant I couldn't see when he 'received', 'seen' and was 'typing'... so the stalker in me had a break.
11) Had to experiment and guess how to make a tortilla wrap pizza - delicious.
12) Nothing good on TV, couldn't put on Netflix.
1) Couldn't look up where I recognised this actor from, annoyed me throughout the film.
1) Had a full on, interesting, no interruptions or general 'hmmm, yes, *nodding*' but not knowing what at conversation with my Mum and Dad.
1) Got a great night sleep. Didn't decide to go to bed but then scroll through social media for another hour and actually end up sleep a lot later. Also no disruptive vibration or beeps from my bed side table.
So what did 24hrs offline tell me.
Well I did act friendlier and feel more motivated without social media - I wasn't distracted and put into a lump on the sofa scrolling through mindless media. I must have looked more friendly to others too without my head down too as I was approached by more people - or maybe I just didn't ignore them.
I used my EYES - and my brain. Without leaving it up to my phone to it out, I felt I achieved so much more.
All lot of information is online now and lack of it is frustrating. It ended up being the little things, like not knowing who that actor was (by the way I was watching Behind the Candelabra and it was Cheyenne Jackson - the name doesn't help but IMDB the next day did help to me realise that he was in 30 Rock) for the whole film it was niggling at me, could have been solved by a quick search.
TV has a lot of mindless stuff on it too. At least with the internet I can choose something I would actually be interested to watch and not just something there in the background.
All in all, I can easily cut down on what I do online. Tedious social media scrolling because I scared I might have missed something, which I haven't. Pointless online shopping - well browsing which leads to buying nothing but I do end up doing this a lot. Using my head in general just makes me feel better at the end of the day, not relying on the web to found everything out for me, but going out there and discovering it for myself.
Yet it also taught me, this generation wouldn't be what it is without the madness of the world wide web. The discoveries you can make, the efficiency of your day and the connections that are created are amazing and makes us so much more open minded.
Try it yourself, experience a day without the instant and constant connection. You might realise how much you love the web and never want to part from it ever again, you may be like me and see how you need to use it to it's advantage and not let it take advantage over you, or you might notice such a sense of relief and freedom that you remove it from your life completely. What ever conclusion you come to, it can't hurt to try.
