In participating in a technology free day, my own experience reflects claims from Christine Neuleib’s “Changing Our Minds,” Andrew Sullivan’s “I Used to be a Human Being,” and Mattison’s Introducing Moral Theology. The vices and habits of excessive technology use with the intent of information consumption leads to a lifestyle driven by curiositas, lack of recollection and mindfulness, and ultimately not flourishing in society.
In knowing I would need to complete a technology and social media free day, I planned as many activities as I could to keep my mind busy. The concept of detaching from the world behind my easily accessible screens for 24 long hours was truly dreaded. But I built up the courage, powered my phone off, and tucked the device on the side of my bed. Immediately I felt a rush of bareness and emptiness, as if a vital part of me had been stripped away. In my everyday routine, screens and the vast amounts of information behind them run most of the things I do. I begin a normal day waking up to an alarm set on my phone. I then browse on my multiple social media platforms to update myself on what my friends had done last night, and as I begin my day to study off of a laptop, iPad, or e-book, I find myself constantly distracted and wasting time by the information behind my screens, the social media updates, and even the urge to look up a fun fact. All these actions are done to grasp more ideas, information, and be constantly updated on the lives of others and the environment surrounding me. But, this technology free day turned my routine around entirely. I no longer had the convenience of using my cell phone to wake me up or to distract my concentration. Through this day I was able to reflect on the impact of technology use and social media on my own life and that of a community and society.
In chapter 3, “Why Virtue” of Introducing Moral Theology, Mattison states that, “Habits are the more enduring quality that make you a certain sort of person…habits are more indicative of who we are now than individual actions.” Regarding this claim to my experiences with social media, I would say that my vice of constantly attending to social media to grasp knowledge, feel comfort, authority, and control has and continues to form me into a controlling, regulating, and restraining person, friend, and teammate. While I had begun to realize these negative characteristics uprising in me before the technology free day, participation in the assignment and added knowledge from Mattison’s excerpt cleared up my understanding. There was now a clear connection between my desire to constantly attach to my devices for more information to my controlling “driver’s seat” type of characteristic. In my situation, cell phone use is the main factor and contribution to an authoritative characteristic. This negative trait may set me back in the cardinal virtue of justice, forming quality relationships, in new environments and restricts me from being satisfied with myself, affecting my well-being. Since my well-being is now negatively affected, according to the Common Good of Catholic Social Thought, “the idea that the well-being of society is linked to the well-being of individuals,” my participation in social media and technology impacts the well-being of society and therefore does not allow me to live a flourishing life.
In “Changing Our Minds” Christine Neulieb explains curiositas, “losing the ability to control one’s consumption of information and sensory input.” Throughout the day many people find themselves wasting hours on the internet and social media. What may start off as searching up a fact on an old friend on Facebook can lead into hours of deep internet surfing, one piece of information can trigger someone to find out more and more, wasting continuous hours. This desire to know has powerful abilities and is able to consume one’s life. Almost like an addiction, the satisfaction that an abundance of information gives us may keep growing till our lives begin to depend on it. Having the internet at our fingertips does not make avoiding curiositas any easier. Through my technology free day, I felt as if I had been set back a day in knowing what was occurring around me and as if I knew my friends and environment a little less, proving that curiositas had been running my life. My curiositas allowed me to feel comfort, control, and knowledge and when I did not have the resources to consume information in my usual way I was left with uneasy feelings.
Neulieb also explains recollection, dwelling on things that matter rather than trivialities, and mindfulness, knowing what is happening in the present moment. While the ideas stated earlier focused on the negative feelings of a technology free day, recollection and mindfulness were two enjoyable factors of being apart from my screens. During my technology free day, I went out to brunch with a friend. If I had possession of my phone at the time I would be trying to capture the perfect picture when the food arrived in order to impress my social media followers and be checking Instagram and Snapchat during the meal. Instead, I was able to forget about the trivial brunch picture post and social media standing to being able to enjoy my food immediately and focus on spending quality time getting to know a new friend. Looking at the bigger picture, the up and coming generation of teenagers are focused heavily on their social media screen profiles rather than their actual, physical and mental, well-being. With the high amounts of technology use, communities may begin to see a decrease in recollection from those focusing on the trivial social aspects of technology over the meaningful act of caring for oneself. Hand in hand with recollection, mindfulness, knowing what’s happening in the present moment, may also being to decrease from the uprising of technology. Cell phone enthusiasts may get so caught up in taking a video or picture that they forget to enjoy what they are actually trying to capture. In my technology free day, I was able to be mindful and present in the moment, which allowed me to enjoy my time spent with a friend more than if I had been attached to my phone unfocused from what was right in front of me. The lack of mindfulness and recollection that come with technology use decrease the ability for one to live a life of flourishing. If an individual or community is so caught up on miniscule aspects or issues, less attention is concentrated on what needs to get done which will eventually compile and set the society back, not flourishing.
Experiences from this technology free day allowed for much needed self-reflection and realization. The world of information behind a tiny screen has the powerful ability to ingrain a vice for information satisfaction, take away single person’s or community’s life of flourishing, and may become the root of future world problems, setbacks, and lack of advancements.