Day 2 of Miserableness

Ok so I'm finally blogging about my second day for this media deprivation project, and well it was hard. I didn't think that I would make it through the day. The first thing I do every morning is take a shower and get ready to music and have the tv onSo this morning really messed my rountine up for me putting me in a bad mood. Everyone that crossed my path that day entered into the war zone. The first hours all I did was lay around on the couch and then in my recliner and then got tired of the living room and went back to bed. I slept for a few hours and when I woke up I checked my phone and had numerous missed calls and texts. So i returned all of my texts and phone calls and decided to go out. Driving in the car on my way to go out was really hard to do. ok so every where i went the music and tv was on so i was glad that being in that envrironment was allowed because i would have went crazy if i was in silence for an entire day. after getting home i wanted to stay up and just relax and put a movie in but i realized i couldnt do that so i just went to bed and when i woke up the next morning i was ina much better mood and i got to start my day off with e normal routine. i'm so glad that this project is over and i will never have to do something like this again unless i'm in the middle of a village in Africa

Saturday

Since today was Saturday, I had the hardest time staying away from any kind of media. When I first woke up, I had numerous text messages on my phone. I had informed close friends of mine of the the media deprivation project and they insisted on tempting me with messages. I didn't reply to them because I had told them already what I was doing; however the people I never told were the one's that I replied to. I wanted to call some friends and see what they were doing and too see if they wanted to do anything that night, but that would be "breaking the rules". Instead I had to get in contact with a car dealership because I had to go look for a vehicle. I headed on over to the dealership and began looking for a car. I believe the time I went was a little after 12 noon. Shortly after that I found a vehicle. You would not believe how long it actually takes to purchase a vehicle. The amount of paperwork I needed to sign was outrageous!!! It literally took seven hours! I was completely drained. After the long process I drove away in my new car. And yes I did listen to the radio on the way home. ( in case you were wondering). You by a new car and not listen to the radio. I just doesn't happen. After knowing what a good system I had, I left it on. (You didn't think that I would actually turn it off did you?) Once I got home, I had dinner with my girlfriend and her parents. It was a nice quiet evening, but we did have some soft smooth jazz playing throughout the night. All in all I wouln't be able to function without media since I've been exposed to it for such a long time.

Friday

Well.....where to begin...... Friday's deprivation of media was fairly easy. I found that the busier I was, the easier it was living without the distraction of media. With that being said, Friday I woke up and got ready for work. I found it a little difficult while eating breakfast since I wanted to turn on the television and watch the news. I find it most important to know what exactly is going on in the world and with our country as well. After my morning meal, it was off too work. Normally driving to work is a farily simple task; however Friday was the exception. The sound of the road irritated me. I had too listen to something.....anything! I finally gave in to temptation and blasted some tunes. The sound of the rhythm and beats seemed to calm me down. That was probably the best drive to work I ever had. At the Hartford it is a necessity to work on a computer. Working was fine but on break I was tempted to surf the web. I didn't want to give in too temptation so I went for a walk instead. ( how boring ). After a long days work I got in the car and couldn't stand the noise from the radio. I had to shut it off. I just wanted to sit back in quiet and unwind from the busy day. It's so ironic to think that before I headed into work I had to listen to music; while heading home from work I couldn't stand the noise. Normally when I get home I turn on the television but it was an extremely pressing day. I sat down on the couch and and fell asleep for about an hour. I didn't want anyone to bother me much less watch TV. Once I woke up from my nap, my sister was watching television. ( my favorite show nonetheless) I couldn't help but be drawn to the drama, bright lights, and sounds. I broke down and ended up watching the rest of the show with my sister.

The day the earth stood still..

Well..more like the day everything went slow as hell. This weekend's experience was something especially out of the ordinary. No talking to my peeps and hoeskis, no watching television when already bored, no Xbox 360, and absolutely no music! I already knew before i began this test of endurance (yes it was a boredom endurance test) that it would be difficult. Then i found out that my lovely job at Game Crazy hadn’t scheduled me all weekend! Usually i would be very excited to have an entire weekend off. But with out the mass media in my life i actually would have preferred to work with the one thing i couldn’t do on my own time for once, be around video games and electronics. So Friday night, my last night of fun lasted until early Saturday morning. I did not start this exercise until i actually woke up from whenever i went to sleep so around 7:00am Saturday, i was still up playing a new game a purchased "Left 4 Dead" an exciting zombie shooter. Finally i was asleep and didn’t wake till around 3pm so lucky for me the day was already passing me by. But of course the rest of the day was just dreadful. Unfortunately i had already finished reading a book i had purchased a week before "The Mystery Method", a book about pick up artist and to be honest actually works when tested on the field! =). So there i was just sitting on my couch looking at the ceiling. I felt like actually sitting in a closet in the dark just sitting and make a endurance test out of it almost as if it were a David Blaine special on TV pushing his bodies to the limits, well there i was pushing my boredom to the limits with bags under my eyes and everything! But instead of Bobby Deleon's special "Closet of Doom" i helped my grandparents put of Christmas lights. To my surprise i wasn’t that bad at all, as it made time go by pretty fast plus i was up on their roof and was able to scream "I'M BORED SOMEBODY HELP ME". My grandpa told me to STFU and i got down so i wouldn’t make the neighbors think im the crazy guy on the street. Afterwards putting up lights i went out to eat with some friends at CI CI"S PIZZA and then found out that i would have to cheat in this mass media diet. I just had to play the Simpsons arcade game. I've been playing that game for years and being the gamer i am i just had to cheat for ten minutes. By the time i ate and was done chillin with the friends i tried to go to sleep. It being 10pm i was still widely awake due to the fact i didn’t wake up till 3 but to my luck i was able to pass out. The next morning was Sunday, the day god created Football. I knew when I awoke that there was no way in hell I was going to miss a huge monsters Cowboys game. I knew I would last till the Cowboys game, which was a 3:15 kickoff, so I decided to go play some basketball at Home Court America with some friends around Noon. That made time go by extremely fast and enjoyed playing the sport I had grown up with and have not done much of as of late. Of course I was rusty in the beginning but soon found my shot back in it was buckets after that! Afterwards I boogied back to my house, showered, changed and went to go watch the Cowboys at a friend’s house. It parents bar be qued and it was nice to take a break from the project for about 4 hours. Sadly the Cowgirls lost thanks to Tony Homo and the offense and I was pissed off so we had a couple beers and went outside to play some basketball again because I figured that would not only make time go by quick, but take my mind of the football game. By the time I returned home it was already dark outside and was nearing the end of the endurance test. My iPod was dead when I began the weekend so I figured I’d just charge it and get it ready for midnight so I can blast the hell out of my speakers. Around 10 or so I received a phone call from a friend to go play Xbox 360 and by then I was already done with it so I went over and cheated for the last time! Luckily we played till after midnight so it really was my last time cheating. Even though this weekend wasn’t too much fun for being off of work, I did enjoy playing basketball which I believe really got me through it all.

couldnt be better

Day two of media deprevation. Thought i would give into using my media but turned out i was occupied again and it wasnt necessary. Im never home anyways, always out with friends, so i still didnt feel the need to make unecessary phone calls or sit on my butt and watch a film. Now if i was sick i think this project would have been a little harder, but luckily i wasnt. In a way im glad that im not drawn to those things when i get bored , i just go walk my dogs or find something to clean. Now thats a way to stay occupied. I woke up saturday morning and helped set up my friends christmas tree and a bunch of decorations. I love getting into the spirit with those old school fat lights you put on your roof. Man it really feels like xmas. I techically gave in when i took a break and they had " Mrs. Doubtfire" playing on their tv, ( couldnt help it ) but i didnt press the button so im not at fault :]. After that i just took a nap overwelmed with a hangover from the night before. Taking up the rest of my afternoon, i awoke to a phone call which i didnt take. But only becuase i didnt feel like yapping to someone on the phone lol. I still needed to relax so i took my kids (pitbulls)as my friends mom calls it, on a walk and took a smoke break with the fam. They dont have internet at their house or a computer or cell phones ( not kidding in any way) so i didnt find it hard at all! as long as i am entertained, i dont need media. What ever happened to the days when someone would come looking for you at your door instead of calling? NOBODY used to use cell phones so why now, why is it so important. Convienient yes, but it takes alot of meaning out of it when your not meeting in person to discuss things. but as usual the world progresses and we all somehow have to tagalong. This experience showed me that i dont need to rely on these such things and that yeah there is a world out there without using media of any sort. I found this assignment to be easy just another guidline that helped me get around without media, In all i barely cheated and had a good time without it.

I was so close

Sunday 10:21 am.
I cracked!!!!! I was doing so good too. I tried my hardest and stuck it out as long as I could. I thought I was going to be able to make it seeing that I had to go to work on Saturday and was going to be there until midnight. But it happened. I got into my car after work and turned on the radio forgetting I was still media deprived. I have no clue what made me think I was finished with the project maybe it was the fact that I was answering the phone at my work all day. Granted answering the phone is no talking to your best friend but it still gives you a chance to sneak in a little conversation with the associates from the other store. When the project first started I thought I was not going to be able to do the talking on the phone or text messaging thing. But little do I know it was the radio that kicked my butt. Saturday morning I woke up and started putting on the Christmas lights outside. After two hours of holding lights and nailing them to the roof I went inside to eat some menudo that my mom made before I started to get ready for work. After doing my daily routine of showering and getting dressed it was off to work for me. Getting to work I knew that the media deprivation project was out the window because my job revolves around the phone and the computer. During my lunch break I got the urge to text one of my best friend Samantha but resisted and went to eat lunch with my friend Julio considering it was his last day working with me : ( Well we went to Jack in the Box and talked until it was time to go back to work he asked why I was not turning on the radio and I told him about my project. It was at that moment that I knew my life revolved around media when he told me “wow and you’ve lasted this long already”. The rest of my day was a big blur between the complaining customers and the messy shoe boxes. After punching out I could not wait to get home and just relax. I got inside my car and thought “why is the radio off?” I turned it on and began jamming out to Beyonce the whole way home. It was when I turned off my car and grabbed my books that I realized I just broke the rule of not listening to the radio.

Media Deprived

Friday Night 11:25 pm.
Media. Radio, internet, TV, phone, text messaging. These are the things that today’s society find necessary. Today a research paper can not be finished without using the internet. Telephone calls are are now over rated and many just result to sending a simple text message. The conversation one has with their parents about going out with friends can simply be shortened to a text message saying “goin 2 da movies wit sum frnds c u wen I get home”. Media has not only taken over society it has also over taken my life.
In my Mass Communications class I am currently media deprived. I have not been able to listen to the radio, watch television, or use my phone for the last fourteen and a half hours. This is by far the hardest project I have ever participated in. I now realize how apart of my life media is. How the little things such as the internet and the radio I take for granted. I know being media deprived sounds easy, but when your used to turning on the radio as soon as you get inside your car or texting your best friend to see what your going to do later on, you find that your life revolves around the media.
This morning when I woke up I was ready to turn on the television and listen to the morning news. When I got in to my car I was ready to turn on my radio to begin singing to my favorite song. When I arrived home I was ready to turn on the computer and surf the web the way I usually do. But when I woke up this morning I took a shower with no music playing. I got into my car and turned the radio off. I came home and for the first time in a very long time I sat down and played a board game with my sister. During dinner my family wasn’t busy watching football or trying to diagnose the patient on “House”. My family sat down and talked. We chatted about our day, school, work, and church.
When I first heard that I was going to be deprived of media for 48 hours I thought that I was going to die and not be able to last. I thought that nothing good would be able to come from this. But little did I know that not being completely surrounded by media I was able to have fun with my sister and actually get to have a decent conversation with my parents and not have to wonder when my friend was going to text me back, or when my favorite show was about to come on.

Saturday night, however, was a different story. Saturday morning I was really craving the radio on my way to work, but once again, held true and did not turn it on. Again work was busy, and I explained to my coworkers why I couldn't sit in the breakroom and eat lunch with them. There's a television that plays all day, and we usually sit and watch the news or Maury or Jerry Springer. They commented that they would never be able to spend a whole weekend deprived of the media. Fortunately, my cell phone doesn't carry internet, so the only way I can surf is at home on my laptop. I was eager to put up all the pictures from the night before onto my pages, but reminded myself that I could do it the next day and that it wasn't of utmost importance to notify the world of my daily happenings. Because I couldn't really use my phone, I was so sad to not be able to talk to my boyfriend. We're used to texting and calling each other throughout the day to say how much we love one another and that we hope our days at work get better. Some of my friends at work were eager to go out dancing that night, so I made plans with them to keep myself occupied. Unfortunately, when I got home, my boyfriend was watching a Britney Spears special on television, and once again, I reminded him of my project. He laughed and told me to go to my room! He was like, "I'm sorry baby. I'll turn it off." I let him keep the tv on though, and I did go to our room to get ready for the night out. The next problem came when he reminded me about the De La Hoya fight. I had completely forgotten that it was on paperview, and he wanted to go see it at his friend, Hector's house. Once again, my poor baby had to be reminded that he too was in on the project. The solution came easily though when HE looked on the internet and found that Boston's Pizza Place and Bar was going to be showing it. We got dressed quickly and arrived in time to a crowded bar. We finally found seating and were able to watch the De La Hoya lose his fight. By the time I got home the girls called and said they were already at Dolce, so I dressed quickly and met them there. I was never so happy to see a DJ in my life and we stood right next to him requesting songs and dancing all night long. The drive home was especially tough as well because I was a little tipsy, and I usually listen to the radio to stay alert on the way home from a night out. This definitely was the hardest part the whole weekend of the media deprivation project. I made it home okay though, and it was long before I fell asleep. Sunday morning, the first thing I did when I got in my car, was play that same song that had come on the radio early Friday morning. La Ley's "Dia Acero" never sounded so sweet. Believe it or not, I didn't get on the internet until today. It was as though the Media Deprivation project helped me realize that I don't have to be online everyday. Maybe every other day though.

A Busy Friday

To prepare for my nightmare of a weekend of media deprivation, I spent all of Thursday night on the internet. I'd have to say I was on from about 10 PM until 2 in the morning. It was as though I had to say goodbye to all of my online buddies or at least explain to them why I wouldn't be responding for a couple of days. I answered emails, commented on my myspace and facebook, shopped a little, and did research on some songs that I'd have to sing the next day. I woke up at 9 am the next morning and rushed out to my car to make it to work on time. Of course, as soon as I started my engine, one of my favorite songs came on that I'd been playing on my cd the night before. That was my first taste of being self disciplined. I immediately pushed the button to turn off the radio and sighed. I usually jam my favorite music in the mornings on my way to work. I'll listen to a little bit of cumbia or my rock en espanol CDs to pump me up, and I don't turn it off until I'm ready to lock the car doors. Not only did I not get to listen to my morning music, but my eyes were bloodshot red and tired from being on the computer that whole night before. Thank goodness for Macy's wonderful music! At this time of year it's nothing but Christmas music, so yeah, I'm being a little sarcastic. The day was busy with tons of shoppers, of course I was unable to carry my cell on me, so I left it in my purse. It was the hardest thing to not want to run over to my bag and text somebody about how long my day was going to be. My cousin came to see me and on our way to the Nordstrom's Bistro, in my car, i explained to her that I was sorry that we couldn't listen to the radio. She asked why, and I told her because my new boyfriend won't let me. She gave me this killer look and said, "Why not?!" I laughed and proceeded to explain to her that I was just kidding that it was part of our last project for my media class. She thought it was a crazy idea as she texted away on her sidekick the whole dinner. On the way home, there was a major traffic jam on I10 thanks to an accident. I thought, boy, if I couldn't listen to the radio, I would have known it was coming! Fortunately, I found a faster way home, and quickly got dressed for my show at 8:30PM. I explained to my boyfriend on the way to the dance that I couldn't listen to the radio, so he laughed, but respected it, and we spent the whole ride over there talking about our day. The hall, itself had a DJ who played some fun music for my ears, and the performance was a success. I sang about ten songs, and danced my feet sore. After the show, we decided to hit up Cabo since we were already dressed up, so I got my hip hop and bachata fix there. All in all, Friday night was fun, and the media deprivation didn't concern me too much because it was such a busy day.

Ridiculous

Ok so it's Monday evening and right before class and I'm finally blogging about the media deprivation project. It was difficult, and I'll admit I did not make it the first day. The first thing I did on Friday morning was get up and turned on the radio while I was taking a shower and half way through I realized crap I can't be listening to this. So after I got out I went and turned it off and made myself breakfast, and all I could think about while I was eating was I wonder what is on TV. I finally had to leave the house and go for a run because it felt like all the forms of media in my house were tormenting me. I got home and was sitting on the couch bored out of my mind. I picked up the phone and dialed my friend just to chit chat and realized I couldn't do that either. It was about 3 pm on Friday and I finally just said screw it I can't do this anymore and I put in a movie, ok actually 3 movies and called my friend and told her to come over. Afterwards I felt kind of bad about breaking the rules and watching the movies and using the phone. So for the rest of the night I sat around and actually thought about people who don't have these sort of "lifelines" and what they do without them. Alot of people don't know what it is like to go forty eight hours without tv, radio, or their cell phones, they don't know how difficult it is. Before I went to bed on Friday night I told myself that Saturday would be different and that I would try really hard not use any forms of media

GO CLARK!

Saturday was a little bit more easy than getting through Friday.

At 7 AM I was up and about and drove my friend back home. On the way back to my house I stopped to get some delicious hash browns from McDonald’s. After finishing I wrote my previous blog and somehow fell back asleep.

At 11 AM I woke back up and was ready for the day to begin. I talked to my parents for a while and then took a long shower to waste time. By 1 PM I was out the door and on my way to the Alamodome. Like I previously stated in my last blog, I was there to watch the Tom C. Clark Cougar football team play Austin-Westlake in the state quarterfinals. The game was super exciting; best fourth quarter ever! Clark ended up winning 24-21 and will go on the state semifinals! They play next weekend in Memorial stadium and I can’t wait! GO CLARK! After waiting in traffic for nearly an hour, my best friend Antoinette and I decided it was time to eat. I’m sure she was super bored with me considering we couldn’t listen to music in the car but I’m glad she stuck it out with me.

We ate some Dino Nuggets from my freezer and then went off to get ready for our night. At 7 PM we left my house to go watch a talent show that some of our friends were hosting. It was really funny and took up a lot of our night so there were no worries about the media for me! By 11 PM the talent show had finished and we continued our night at our friend Cody’s house. At Cody’s I decided I was going to play with our other friend’s, Brent, dog. She is so cute! Her name is Belle and she was wearing a sweater! Ahh it was so adorable! We all pretty much sat at Cody’s kitchen table talking about random things until 1 AM when I took Antoinette back home and I returned back to mine, where my parents were once again missing for the night.

All day Sunday I was in Houston so I was still media deprived and I couldn’t even blog! It was bothersome but I got to see my other best friend Kelsey so it was worth it.

Overall I have never gotten so many questions about watching movies or text messages I couldn’t respond to because I would end up feeling guilty. I’ve also never felt so disconnected with the world and it was really hard not to watch or read the news. Besides all of these upsets my weekend was pretty much amazing. :]

I am back again

I am here again because i am still media deprived, not by choice but because my ipod still doesn't work and my phone is still turned off. Not that I miss it all that much or anything its just so darn tootin inconvenient. Boy when this whole mess is over i reckon im fixin to paint the town red in a haze of gunfire!

Haha....yea im not really sure what that means but talking like a redneck amuses me. As of 6:17 p.m. monday night i am at work bored out of my mind. People are leaving everywhere around me but yet i sit here collecting hours becuase i like money. The cool thing about my work is that on most days they let us leave if we want, and today is one of those days.

The bad, I am and have been on the verge of passing out due to a big workload and dealing with finals and the what not i havent had much time to sleep because strange people think it's funny to wake me up considering the fact i got to get up early in the morning. On the plus side I was actually on time to school today. Matter of fact i was a bit early today but sadly was still late to class. I dont know what it is about me but i am incapable of being on time. Well, almost because i was on time to work today.

I dont know about anybody else but i've been reading other peoples posts just to kinda get an insight into other peoples lives and i must admit, i kind of like being media deprived. Not so much music and phones but T.V. and internet i can do without. I actually hate T.V. and the internet is a close second but i feel it is a mixed blessing as the internet is probably the greatest innovation of mankind and can potentially lead to our downfall. I don't want to fill anyones head with doomsday scenarios of battling terminators but hey, it's possible.

On to a more happy thought, Lil Wayne is gay with Birdman. I'm sorry but i just can't get over that. I swear those words are like candy to my eyes. Reading that statement makes me feel an untapped sense of joy and saying Lil Wayne is gay with Birdman is almost like hearing you're favorite song. Don't get me wrong, i dont hate on Lil Wayne. I really do respect him as an artist and i personally enjoy his and Birdman's music but that is just too funny. i think they should make a movie about Lil wayne and Birdman's love affair but then it would probably be innappropriate for anyone to watch.

HAHA....i have a better idea. They should make a spoof of Brokeback Mountain and put the big black guy from white chicks to play Birdman and cast Debra Wilson (black chick from MadTv) to play Lil Wayne. Instead of being about gay cowboys in the mountains it will be about gay gangsters in the hood. That's gold, someone should submit this idea to Universal. Even though this is my idea i dont think i would ever put that much effort into something like that, come to think of it ill probably lose interest in this tomorrow.

Seriously though, who would have ever thought that Lil wayne was gay? The most popular rapper in the business is standing there with half his foot sticking out of the closet. Who could've seen this coming? I dont know but Lil Wayne IS freakin' wierd. Excuse my french.

I dont know what else to write, that didn't kill any time at all......*sigh* I need to cash my check.

Wasnt that bad

So Friday i thought was going to be a good day. After all no school. But with this media deprivation assignment i didnt realize how much i really need and use it. I woke up thinking i was gunna sleep in like a lazy bum and watch tv, ( im always busy with something or someone) so i figured screw the tv, no cheating. SOO TEMPTED i unplugged it. ha yeah i really tried it. my cell phone however was another story. i DID make a few phone calls but only because i needed directions. cough cough. but anyways other than that i didnt even listen to the radio except when i went to best buy THEY WERE BLARING some crappy music so that actually turned me off to wanting to listen to anything. lol. although that incident sucked, i wanted to go shopping for christmas gifts and get my mind off things. all the other stores didnt have lame music on so i was calm and assured that i didnt need my cell phone or have to watch my loevly tivo'd show cheaters and cops . They would be there when i was off deprevation so yet another worry off my mind. All i had to do was keep myself occupied and my mind off trying to keep in touch with friends, they would be around wether or not i used my phone or not, they still pop in from time to time, so i didnt worry about calling anybody to go out and have a good time.ironically i had a good time keeping my mind off things and was glad i didnt have to be glued to my cell phone or anything for that matter. so my day went on and i found myself drinking with some friends and family. They kept me entertained for the most part and then we all got hungry and went to CHACHOOSS for the king kong nachos and margaritas :] . i didnt find media deprevation hard when im entertained by a crowd. so FRIDAY WAS NOT THAT BAD. im not that much of a computer person, just the occasional cheking of myspace, but other than that, i find it rather boring so again that deprevation was easy.Day one of deprevation was easy becuase im not that much of a technology person anyway, im kinda upset that we rely so much on it.

Day 2

Charmaine Baldonado
Prof. Albert Lopez
Intro to Mass Comm.
6 December 2008
Media Deprivation: Day 2
It’s Sunday morning and I’m so happy. I’m relieved from a life of no music, television, internet, cell phones, or any type of media. The past two days were so rough on me. Though Saturday wasn’t as bad as my Friday, I’m still glad that I don’t have to go through that again. Saturday morning I woke up more irritated and upset than I had in a long time. I had wasted my Friday night sleeping because I felt so drained from work. I blame it on the lack of music and media to keep me awake and aware all day.
Again, I showered, and got dressed in silence. Except today, my attitude was a little better. I wanted to be active! I refused to willingly sleep my weekend away, so I went to the nail spa. I spent about three hours at the spa as I relaxed and got a manicure, pedicure, and my eyebrows waxed. It was my day of beautification! By the end of all my treatments, I glanced at my watch to notice that it was only 2 o’clock in the afternoon. What else was there for me to do that didn’t require interaction with any forms of media?
I went to the La Cantera, and $300.00 later, I decided it was time to go home. I called up a few girlfriends to have lunch and gossip about our lives, so we did. We all had such a blast, that they wanted to take it somewhere else. “Let’s all go watch a movie”, Trisstin, my dearest friend said. I wanted to go so bad with the girls, but I knew I couldn’t. I insisted they went anyway. They didn’t need to suffer just because I was.
At 8 P.M. I started on some homework. I typed up a three page essay for my government class, and as I clicked on the Internet Explorer icon, I naturally typed in the URL www.myspace.com into the browser. It was an instinct that I had acquired throughout the years. It has always been the first thing I looked at on the internet every day of my life for the past four years. Luckily I caught myself. It was almost over. I turned in my assignment on to Blackboard Vista and called it a night. I turned off my computer, and lay down. The day had felt just as long as the day before, and I couldn’t wait to wake up and go back to my normal way of life. Media Deprivation, it’s hard, but I’m glad I experienced it.

Day 1

Charmaine Baldonado
Prof. Albert Lopez
Intro to Mass Comm.
5 December 2008
Media Deprivation: Day 1
I’m tired. It’s Saturday morning, and I’m feeling irritated. I’ve just spent the past 24 hours without having listened to soothing music, reading magazines, watching television, text messaging friends, or talking to them on the phone. I couldn’t check my MySpace or Facebook, so I have no idea on any upcoming events for this weekend. What am I going to do? Yesterday was such a long day. I had so much free time. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I’m dreading having to do it all over again today.
I woke up yesterday morning at approximately 6 A.M. to get ready for my normal day of work. I rolled over to the right side of my bed and simply turned on my television like I normally do. It was already on the MTV Hitlist channel which plays music videos throughout the day. I totally forgot about the Media Deprivation experiment, but I quickly remembered and immediately turned the television off. I was mad. “This is going to be a bad day” I told myself.
I jumped in the shower thinking to myself, that this experiment shouldn’t be so hard. After all, I’ve endured US Air Force military training. We had no TV, music, cell phones, I-pods, magazines, or the internet for seven weeks, what’s 48 hours, right? I finished with my shower, put on my clothes, fixed my hair, and did my make-up. It was silent the entire time; I thought I was going to go nuts! I had to get out of there.
As I was on my way to work, again, all I heard was silence. I was tempted to phone a friend to pass time, but of course, that’s not allowed either. The only thing I could think about doing was to sing to myself, which I did. I suppose it held me up until I got to work. I parked my orange Suzuki Reno in front of my office; I didn’t want to go inside. Working in my office in silence wasn’t something to look forward to.
It felt like I had been at work for days before I was let off. Music and magazines are what normally get me through the day. On my way home, I was nearly used to the silence that the ride back wasn’t so bad. I was so tired from work that I threw my belongings on the ground and went straight to my bed to take a nap. To my surprise, I woke up at two o’clock in the morning. I was so drained from a borings day of work that I slept the rest of my day away. After peaking at the time on my clock, I laid my head right back down hoping that tomorrow would be a little better. But now I’m awake again, still feeling irritated, and drained. I need to get it together.

day 2 of deafening silence

I am so happy that this media deprivation is over. If I had to go with out my precious internet, ipod or television shows I would probably go crazy due to boredom.

I woke up a little later today since I didn’t have anything but laundry and cleaning to do today. If I only had one or two loads of laundry it might not have been that bad just sitting there staring at the wall waiting for my clothes to wash then dry. Well I had six loads of laundry to do. That is like an all day chore. Oh my god if I didn’t have two extra hyper dogs to play with and walk I don’t know what I would have done. I mean I like to read sometimes but if I tried to read through all that laundry the words would have started to blend together. Luckily my mom called me. She is deployed and I only talk to her twice a week so I always have a thousand things to tell her. I would say that we were on the phone for at least a good hour and a half. It doesn’t show in class but I love to talk and I tend to talk a lot. After a few loads of laundry and hours of playing with my dogs my friend graciously drives to this side of town to hang out at my house with me for a little while before we go out.

After all of my laundry was washed, dried, and put away we went to the mall so that I could see what I would potentially be getting for my mom and my boyfriend for Christmas. That trip to the mall wasn’t long enough. I still had hours of time to kill. I was running out of ideas. This is when I decided that I would meet her back at her place later and I would go to my boy friends house for a few hours. His family is very funny and that’s with out any television. They say the most random things and they laugh at everything which I have a tendency to do as well. Not to mention his niece has a ridiculous amount of energy and was none stop bouncing off the walls.

When I left my boyfriends house to my friend’s house I had to bring a change of clothes since we were going out to the club to dance. Sorry but I can’t just tell the dj to turn the music off. Thank god. We danced till about 2:30 and left but again due to the fact that I like to talk so much we stayed up talking about everything under the sun until five A.M. that’s when I realized that the torture was over. I wanted to jump up and down but instead I blasted my radio as I drove home.

This project made me realize how much I depend on media for many parts of my day. I’m grateful that I am alive in this world and not the world that had no radio, television, and God forbid no ipods.

Saturday December 6; Day 2

OK so on to day 2, come on now, when does this end??? It seems like it's going on for forever. I can read at my own leisure, but when there is nothing else for me to do, such as watch television, going to the movies, talking on the phone...what else is there to do??? I am not working today, so I'm not consumed with work today, nor do I have any finals to worry about, I already finished my presentation that I had for my art class, and luckily I don't have a final in my other class, which is my technical writting class. Sheesh, I never thought that I'd wish I had homework, but in this case I wish I had tons of homework to keep me busy with, but unfortunately in this situation I don't. So I'm somewhat bored, even though that I've already ventured out in the crazy mall with the rest of the bargain shoppers like myself this morning, it still wasn't enough to keep me busy, nor distracted with the wonderful inventions that the media has created today such as internet, radio, television and finally my phone. I had to use my phone today so far, because I was at the mall and my sister and I had got seperated and I was carrying the "gold fish" snacks for my nephew, and she needed to find me so I could refill his little dish for him. So as I'm sure you can tell that was somewhat of an emergency...lol. Ok, and now I'm home and I plan on leaving in a bit to go car shopping...wahooiiii. I need a car, please!!!! Car shopping is such a long and tiring process, and I think that's why I've been slacking a bit in that department. So I just pray that I find something that I like and is of course affordable as well. Ok so I'm already exhausted from my day so far, and like I had mentioned before, I'm heading out the door to go car shopping, which will pretty much take me away from most of the forms of media, so I'm sure that I'll be fine for the next few hours. And not to mention I'm sure that I'll just pass out as soon as I get home from car shopping because I'm exhuasted as it is. So I'm sure that this is the end of my blog for this media deprivation project...phew!

Fridaty December 5 Blog

ok, so when I began this media deprivation shenanagin...it was a bit overwhelming for me. So I woke up on Friday morning, and the first thing I always do is grab my phone from my dresser and look at it to see what time it is. So on top of just looking at my phone for the time, I tend to always check my email and my myspace on my internet on my phone as well. So as I woke up and my day began, I usually turn on my television, which I did. I was like, "oh s*it!" So then I turned off my tv and just proceeded with my morning as I was getting ready for work, which it was quite lame with no television...boo it was no fun! Ok, so then I leave my home to head to work in the morning and once again I do what comes natural to me on an ordinary morning, which also includes listening to the radio as I'm driving to work or when I'm in a car as usual. And, of course once again I mess up and turn on the radio in the car, and I'm so used to doing so, that I ended up driving the whole way to work without even thinking about it, and then just a few minutes prior to arriving to work, I remebered and told myself, "darn it, I did it again." So then I arrive to work and I'm needing to be on the internet for work, so that is something that I can't really prohibit. Although I didn't check my myspace or facebook throughout both days. So I think I came out pretty strong in that field. :-) Also, with my cell phone I just turned off my phone all day so I wouldn't get tempted. If anyone needed to get a hold of me they could've called me at. As far as texting I veered from that form of communication pretty well also...suprisingly!

day 2....

well i never thought i would say this but, luckily, i woke up horribly sick on saturday.. Im sure i woke up top eat and "tinkle" and thats about it...theres not much that happened on this day, except for a huge fight with mr about why i wasnt answering any of his texts... I KNOW we discussed about how theres a loophole for this...but im sure hes borderline stalker..he says its cause he cares...that totally code for "i dont trust you and must know what your doing all hours of the day". Anyway...back to my day...so i woke up around 530 am again to discover im freegin sick as a dog!! (must have been from the lack o lipstick jungle!) anyway..so here i go calling into work thinking to myself..."oh yes..im going to sick shop my way to health and couch potatoe the day away!!" and then reality came and slapped me in the face... no tv or internet on a sick day! ugh...THE MISERY!!!THE HORROR! ha..anyway...well i took one of mr's sleeping pills along with some motrin...im sure that was some kind of horrible recipe for disaster lol..but here i am! anyway...so that knocked back in to a delirious stooper till about 3pm when i woke up to feed myself a veggie patty. and back to sleep i go.. well 7 oclock rolls around and my phone starts to go of like the 4 of july!!! GUESSS WHOOO...oh yes...none other than my deliriously obsessed mr.. i was still half asleep but im sure there were about ten text msgs about a paragraph long each asking me why im ignoring him and what i have been doing all day and who im with....lol..GOD BLESS THE POWER BUTTON on cell phones =)....back to sleep i go...7 oclock rolls around i woke up again all excited to watch cops and americas most wanted...( IM VERY AWARE..this probably makes me a huge dork...but it reminds me of home when i used to watch it and look at the sunday newspaper with my mom....tragic....) anyway...i had over to the tv...and DVR it...what a sad sad day...i think the highlight of my day was talking on the phone with the movers....which reminds me ...it was kind of lucky the assignment was this weekened cause i didnt have interenet anyway..since im moving i made the mistake of getting disconnected before i move out..so i didnt have interent anyway...any no one in my complex has wireless..or at least not unlocked...NOT THAT I TRIED TO USE IT OR ANYTHING...im just guessing...=)... well i decided to end my night early again...treated my self to a long bath and another motrin...and welcomed in my sunday...i must say..i think i got pretty lucky...once i got on track of remembering i must say everything just kind of fell into place. All of these things do show to kind of take over our lifes. I must say...it was a little bit of a vacation though...i had alot of time to thing which was really nice..and alot of time to just enjoy to myself....

Got Fat

well its day two of no TV(sports, music videos, celebrity news movies on cable, reality TV, talk shows, ), music, Internet, video games, ipod etc. Well I guess that i could read a book or something. It guess that my life is rather dependant on media. Well at least that I can sleep well knowing that i Keep alot of people in a job this way. I was thinking maybe I can give my grandparents a call and see if they want to hang out. Oh yeah, I cant use the phone to call them so I guess that is out of the question. So i just went for a walk at river road park with my girlfriend Megan Weed. I had to drive over to her house and ask her if she wanted to go however when i got there I found out that she wasn't there. I I proceeded to go to her friends house were she sometimes hangs out and she wasn't there. So I cheated and called her on my cell phone. I know.. I know,. I know.. it was for a good cause. I finally talked to her and she had decided to meet me at the park. We decided to take the dog however we could not find the her collar so that was out of the question. We went for a walk at river side park. That took about 15 minutes. We decided to go to a movie however that was out of the question. Shux this is really hard. We decided to go out to eat over at a chinese buffet. I started with the crab legs in which took me 100 hours to crack open. Next i ate pinapple chicken, fried rice, sushi, spring rolls, wings, steak, jello, cheese cake, mussels, and ice cream. I also told a girl that she was starting to break out(not recomented.) Well after the dinner I decided to go home and go to sleep. Thank god its over!!

UH OH

SO HERE IT IS...this was a bit easier than i thought..... well maybe because the first day i kept kind of forgetting and then with my three jobs its kind of hard to not use things like my phone and the internet. During the day im a receptionist and most of my friends are at my work so communication wasnt really that hard. Well anyway...once i caught on things became a tad harder.

DAY 1

wELL my days start out pretty early at about 530 so my days are incredibly long. Well it took be until getting to work on Friday to remember the project so i guess i unintentionally cheated. =( Sorry . Anyway on my drive to the gym at 530 am it still had not occured to me that i couldnt listen to the radio...even thought i wish it has kind of.. I made the mistake of blarring Britney Spears' new Cd. Can i just give me opinion of the CD> BLAH WHAT A BORE. sO MAYBE THAts not cheating because im sure i starting drowning out every song that wasnt womanizer on the CD. Anyway once i got to the gym im still not remembering this project to i stick my headphones into the treadmill and tune into the news.. =( sorry again. Its when i get to work that one of the girls reminds me. This is where it starts to hurt... Well i opted not to bring my laptop into work.. which in terms of the laser center where i work during the day it was probably the best thing that ever happened. Let me just explain that im sure i have the best day job in the world ...about 85% of my 8 hrs is dedicated to doing whatever i want aside from the usual receptionist duties... therefore , it took about an hour of not bieng able to use the internet on my down time before i started TO CRACK!.. i eventually became a client file organizing machine!! about half way through the day , just when i thought i was going to sneak to the back room and strap in an IV TO sedate MYSELF...my promotional boss calls me and asks me to work a last minute promotion . WHEW. this saved my day! that kept me busy for about 6 ,more hours until got home..ALL YOU KNOW WHAT BROKE LOSE...as i run in with my dinner in hand ready to sit down and convert to couch potatoe....i remember...NO TV...wt*!!!! NO LIPTSTICK JUNGLE ..TEAR... so i this point theres not defeating the beast...i decide to bow out early...9 oclock early...what am i 8!?

(eliana v)

i did better than i thought....

SAT.
Well sat was a little different form Friday because i did not work. So i thought i would use sat to catch on some well needed rest!!!! So i TRIED that and that did not go so well.. i was laying there tossing and turning and finally just got up at 10 a.m., i know that i had a long day ahead of me so started planning my day.

I got out of bed, ate some breakfast then hopped in the shower, i noticed that i took a longer shower than normal... but i seem to enjoy it.I was in no "rush" to be anywhere i guess you can say.

So i got ready and me and mom had planed another wonderful of SHOPPING. I knew this would blow a lot of my time because i can shop for hours and hours :)
so off to shopping we went....
we left the house at 12, and we shopped until about 5.
when i got home i was so excited because some of my Christmas shopping was done, i had new clothes and i did not have to suffer at home with nothing to do!

Then i ate some dinner with the family and then i started to study for my finals.
I did make a phone call but it was only to see when my group was coming over so we could study and organize things.

I will admit though that i was driving me crazy that i could not watch the DE la hoya vs pacquiao fight!!!!
I WAS GOING CRAZY. I had all my friends texting me and calling me to go somewhere and watch the fight with them, and my aunt was having a HUGE "RING SIDE" DE la hoya party, which i had to decline an invitation to due to this project! I will admit that i did get one ESPN.com and read the round by round update(BUT ONLY ONCE) and come to find out a disappointing result which made me feel even worst for cheating and wanting to know so bad it drove me up the wall!!

After i cheated, i felt pretty bad but i did some more studying and tried not to cheat anymore...
I studied the rest of the night, and went to sleep!

Funny thing is, Sunday i noticed when i woke up in the morning to get ready, i did not turn on the radio.When i was on my way to church and i was driving in my car ( since the radio had been off for two days) i did not bother to turn on the radio, which i thought was really weird.
Sunday i keep so busy with going to visit my family after church that the only time i glanced at a T.V. was to watch the COWBOYS at 3.

Then i went to studying for my finals and so i kind of went Sunday with our using media without even knowing it.. that is why I'm blogging on Monday instead of Sunday because it totally slipped my mind and i did not use the computer at all yesterday( i was really proud of myself)!
so i guess in all reality i feel this project was MIND OVER MATTER, if you don't mind then it does not MATTER.
We can live with out technology running our lives. We can make it if we really had to live this way, it would take lot of adjusting but we can survive.
hope everyone day went OK like mine...

Amanda

Sunday was "no bueno" as well...

Day Two.
Sunday started out almost the same. I woke up to my dogs face right next to mine. I didn’t even bother checking the phone. I figured I should tempt myself into looking at it. I ate some of that oh so delicious Cap’n Crunch again. Has anyone ever seen Forgetting Sarah Marshall ? I ate a giant bowl like Peter does in the beginning of the movie.

Afterwards I picked up the wireless Guitar Hero guitar and started playing… acoustically. HAHAHA! South Park anyone? But really I did do that for about 15 minutes or so then it dawned on me how stupid I looked just strumming a fake guitar.


So I took a shower and I took my sweeeeeeet time doing it too. It’s not like I was in a hurry to do anything important right? In fact I took my time doing everything after that. I put on my make up and I looked super legit. Too bad I couldn’t take a picture…

After the beautification process was over and done with I found myself sitting at my desk, bored. This wasn’t a good sign because one time, a very long time ago, I got so bored that I started to gauge my ears. Yep that’s basically why my ears are gauged now. They aren’t scary huge but they are somewhat big. Meh…I figured what the heck I have nothing else to do. I don’t have any 2g tapers so I decided to use one of those Papermate pens. The pen got cleaned with soap, water, and alcohol as well as my ears. I decided to start with right ear because that’s at a size 4g and also because for some reason I can take more “pain” on that ear too. I got the pen as far as the grip and let me tell you, it hurt. When I took it out my ear was throbbing and somewhat bleeding so I put some Neosporin on it and tried to put in the 2g plugs but it didn’t work. The 4g’s went back in it. I did the same to the other ear. I guess one would say I was unsuccessful but I don’t really think so because it’ll just be easier to put in the 2g’s in later.
the gauges in the pic are much bigger than what i'm aiming for...but I LOVE chicks that sport gauges!
My ears were hurtin’ bad so I decided to lie down a bit. The mother unit came in a little later and said we were all going to Olive Garden. Hooray at least I wouldn’t be confined to silence in the restaurant. I have to say that had to be one of the highlights of the weekends other than hanging out with the boyfriend. I was actually surprised at how long we stayed there. A few of my other family members met up with us there and we all just ended up staying there and talking. By the time we got home it was around 8pm and I just couldn’t take it anymore so I got my phone and headed to my boyfriend’s house. I was reunited with my baby [the 360 of course…] and I played Gears of War till I had to leave.
This weekend was way too intense. I don’t think I’d be able to do it again. I’m way too hooked on the internet, music, my phone and ESPECIALLY my Xbox.

As Soon as this is over I can finally rest......

Just a heads up this is infact Carlos from the Tuesday and Thursday class. I am very tired as I type this and will most likely drift away into a far away land deep inside my conciousness as soon as my head touches a pillow.

Ok so Sunday i was a little more aware of the media depravation and i wish i could've taken it a step further and set the bar for everyone but there was no such chance. Although Sunday consisted of no cell phones and no T.V. i did slip up a little at work when i heard some rumor about Lil Wayne being gay with Birdman. I won't lie, while I was at work and I did a search for Lil Wayne and Birdman. I found a picture of the two of them kissing as well as the story of how they met. It was great.

I will also admit that I missed my ipod. Not so much the gadget itself but the music within that keeps me sane through the mundane activities of working in a cubicle staring at a box filled with light all day long. I thought it would be a little challenging working with the internet without being tempted to look for "Texas Unclaimed Property" or watching cartoons about Lil Wayne being gay with Birdman. I also passed up opportunities to play Zombie Killer and watch documentaries about conspiracies and read about enlightenment and such. Yes this is normally what i do at work but today was different. It was a lot slower and more boring than usual, but it gave me a chance to get better acquainted with my sexy friend Mayra and learn about the inner workings of my brain, which was half baked might I add.

To end an almost ideal media free day in the wrong way i watched about 8 minutes of the simpsons while chowing down a bag of delicious sour skittles, and immediately after a bag of Cheez itz. This is nutrition for the 21st century, food that is devoid of all nutrients and wouldn't even be considered fit for consumption in certain cultures. You have to love the American way of life for all of the freedom which is availabe to us like the freedom terrible food, and the freedom offered to big business to feed us these terrible things. I'm talking to you McDonald's.

Lastly I want to add that I do think Birdman is gay with Lil Wayne. Not only that but I find it comical just hearing that Lil Wayne is gay with Birdman. Lil Wayne is gay with Birdman is like music to my ears, not because I think it is cool to be gay but gay gangster rappers is about the funniest thing i've heard of ever since i saw that poster warning mexican girls to stay away from sharpies. I just wish i could post the story of how Lil Wayne met his "daddy".

blegh...Saturday was "no bueno"

Well here I am again. This time I didn’t forget about the project. Ok so it started out like so:

It was a little before noon when I woke up again. [ Remember how I wrote about how I forgot the project had started at like 7AM?] I had turned off my phone so I could have no distractions. When I rolled over the Xbox controller was there casually thrown on the pillow next to me. Oh you have no idea how much I wanted to pick that controller up and push that magical little button to turn the box on. No! I couldn’t! I pushed the pillow away violently and the controller went flying off the bed. Luckily it was one of the older ones. I got up and got the biggest bowl of Cap’n Crunch [however that’s spelled] and sat on the kitchen counter with nothing but the CRUNCHing sound the cereal made to accompany me. As the cereal got more soggy, the crunching died down and now all you could hear is my “black beast of a hound” Lola snoring in her cage. I’m not lying when I say that she snores. She’s legit… a little too legit. When I was done I washed my dish and went back to my room. Since I had nothing else to do I figured I’d clean it. One hour later I seriously couldn’t find anything else to put away. I had never seen my room so clean, it was creepy. Then I paced. I seriously did about a good ten laps around the small free space in my room while I thought about what else there was to do. I decided to draw. It had been a while since I had actually drawn anything so I figured eh what the heck. I took out some blank paper, a good eraser, some freshly sharpened pencils and headed to the dining room to draw a masterpiece. Ten minutes into it I was asleep drooling on the paper. Heh heh the funny thing was that I wasn’t even sleepy. I woke up to the mother unit’s yelling at the dog for being on the couch. I looked at the clock and it was around 5:30 or so. I couldn’t take it! I had to check my phone. When I turned it on it said I had missed calls from both of the parental units, my sister and my boyfriend. I couldn’t believe how many texts I had too. My boyfriend was tripping out because he thought I had disappeared off the face of the planet and the sister thought I was ignoring her. I had to reply to the boyfriend and tell him I was alive and still on earth and I had to explain to the mother why I never answered. She laughed at me and said “good luck staying of you Xbox…” I wanted to show her that I could do it so I unplugged the Xbox and took it to my boyfriend’s house. He promised me he would take good care of my baby.

I stayed there and hung out with him while he made some legit mac and cheese and I sang random song that popped into my head. I want to say that I disliked about 98.34% of the day…

Second Day

Well day two wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. I won't lie to you I kind of enjoyed the peace and quite I had. Today was a more chill and relaxing day. It started with me waking up this morning at about eleven thirty, kinda had a late night with the guys running around town yet again. But today I spent a lot of time getting ready for finals tomorrow. I'm Not going to lie I actually got a lot done with my projects. After my projects were finished I decided to just kick back and relax and do nothing. It was so nice to just be done with everything. So I sat in my bed and just slept for a bit, then I sat outside and actually read a full book it was kind of amazing. Sunday rolled around and my forty eight hours of no media was over!!! Even thought forty eight hours of no media or technology was great and all but having it now that iI have it back it is wonderful! Nothing is better than sitting around and just having a chill day playing video games and watching T.V. Now that it's over I can get back to my normal life.

Not sooo hard

well, i have to admit, i kinda liked the peace and quiet lastnight and this morning. i was sick, and with out my phone going off early with calls and text from my boyfriend, mother or other friends, i got to actually sleep, something i have been deprived of all semester =] Normally i get calls from my friends late wanting to hang out, then my boyfriend early telling me good mornign then constant reminder phone calls from my mother trough out the rest of the morning and early afternoon, until i go to work at least. But i might add that after the much enjoyed sleeping, my day seemed to drag on. Everything seems to take longer without the constant stimulation of the radio, my phone going off, or quick trip to myspace. Straightening my hair was a nightmare without my ipod, no movies to watch while i layed in bed. No phone to call my friends, I EVEN MISSED MY MOMS NAGGING!!!! I read earlier that someone noticed getting lost in thoughts while driving in the silence... wow is this so true or what!? It felt like i zoned out, woke up and was at HEB... i dont remeber getting there or even what i had been thinking about! Kinda scary! I never noticed how much interaction i really have with people all day! And i thought i was a loner! I am so happy to finally get to turn on my cell phone and check myspace tomorrow morning! And listen to MUSIC on the way to work! Whooo. Have to say Mr Lopez... thiss wasnt a breeze like i thought, it was much worse than i imagened, but... i might do it next time i need a little shut eye ;]

Day two and my conclusion

After surviving day one and knowing how hard it was I decided that I was going to sleep in as much as I could, yet this didn’t work out as planed as my mother woke me up very early to help her out with some Christmas decorations, this kept me busy for a while but I finished it very quick so there I was in this gap of 4 hours before I would have to go into work doing nothing, I started playing guitar but I had already played enough the day before to keep myself entertained. I started looking through all my books to see which one seemed interesting to read and I realized I had read 99% of them and that the other 1% was stuff that totally didn’t interested me, this helped me realize that I need to updated my reading materials lol. I ended up at work half an hour early in desperation they said that it was fine if I went in the whole half hour before so I did. My plans for after work was to head downtown with my girlfriend and just see the Christmas lights but after another full day of hearing T.I. and Lil Wayne I didn’t really feel like doing that so I told her we should go rent a movie, when I was parking at Hollywood video I realized that if I watched the movie before midnight it would end everything I had accomplished, I didn’t tell her so I kind of stalled at the movie store just burning time, after what felt like forever we finally decided on a movie, “The Number 23”, it was still around 11:20 and I only live around 10 minutes from Hollywood video so as we’re heading back to my house I tell her we should check out the Christmas lights so we did but most of them are already off by 11 so that didn’t help me out as much as I thought it would. We get to my house around 11:45 and I knew I was only 15 minutes away from reaching this goal. To my surprise my sister is home and so are some of her friends so I started saying hi to them and making small talk, it was pretty funny because I didn’t want anyone to know why I was doing this and most of them gave me this weird look as if they knew I was hiding something. 11:50 I was about to put the movie inside my Xbox but didn’t instead I went to get us something to drink, its 11:59 and I’m standing looking at the T.V. blankly, my girlfriend looks at me with a confused face I see my phone turn to 12:00 and jump and shout that I did it, two whole days without technology I hadn’t felt this proud of myself in a while but I did yesterday night, the movie was good but it wasn’t as cool as being capable to survive this two days and my favorite part of all is that now when I get to go back to work there won’t be any T.I.

A little late to the mix but none the less

So this media depravation thing seems to be somewhat of a big deal for everyone, seeing as how people these days can't seem to live without visiting their myspace account or sending 300 text messages a day, I find comfort amidst the chaos.

Ok, so I'm not normal. Although I do have a myspace account, a cell phone, and seldom watch T.V. I tend to think of myself as a little less media dependent as the next person. Now this may not always be entirely 100% true, but I often day dream of reverting back to primitive times to be closer to nature and become one with the universe.

Enough with the mumbo jumbo, let's get down to business. As far as media depravation goes how did I fare? The best way to measure my productivity is a step by step account of the days starting with Friday.

Now keep in mind I missed class on Thursday and didn't recieve the link invite until 11 o'clock late Sunday night, so you can rest assure that the whole of this assignment kind of slipped my mind. I worked hard to pick up my slack.

So Friday started out just like any other morning. I woke up with a head full of meaningless thoughts which serve to keep me from doing anything productive until I got my lazy behind out of bed. Since I normally don't watch T.V. that is never a problem. I went to work and basically listened to my ipod all day. I just kind of loafed around at KGB_ for about 8 hours looking at random information on the internet, mostly about enlightenment and salvation.

(I want to let people know about the status of my job. I currently work at this place called KGB_ and we basically answer random questions to people in the UK. They give us 10 min. per question and the response must be less than 110 characters long with a close included. The answer must be found online and if no answer is found i can just make it up. Basically I get paid to look at the internet and answer a few questions.)

As my shift comes to a close, I walk outside and reality sets in. I don't have a ride. I bust out my trusty and ever so handy dandy cell phone and just go down the list and start calling everyone to find out what theyr'e doing that night and ask for a ride incognito. All the while I'm freezing my butt off and wandering around aimlessly through the night because i'd rather be moving towards anything than to stand idly by.

Eventually my cousin Julio picks me up at Ingram and we go to the store to buy some beer. Now the rest of the night consists of a lot of alcohol consumption and illicit activities I feel would not be appropriate for a school assignment so I will just go ahead and fast forward a couple hours to what would then be Saturday.

I think it is important to mention that at this point my phone was turned off because I didn't pay it, and is also when I realized this was the weekend of the media depravation experiment. I decided to leave it off. It is really inconvenient to now have a cell phone and i realized i take for granted the power that is so readily availabe to your fingerprints with the press of a button. Seeing as how i didn't have a choice there was no temptation.

Saturday was about as dull as a day could get. I woke up hungover and just stayed in bed and watched the seconds turn to hours. I don't have any clocks in my room, because i feel we are also a race that is socially dependent on time, and by the time i actually got up to go look at one it was already 4 in the afternoon.

I listened to my ipod pretty much all day and spent about 3 hours on the computer trying to fix it becuase it became corrupt for one reason or another. This was very frustrating. Eventually I went to asleep around 1 30 am with the T.V. on because I didn't want to deprive my 2 and 4 year old nieces of their precious Dora the Explorer. Little girls dependent on Dora suddenly become very hostile when they don't get it. I woke up around 5 with a monstrous appetite and got up to cook myself some pre-dawn breakfast. After I got my fill I went upstairs and went back to sleep only to be woken up a few hours later by my older sister's friend who I will call Yv. This girl shows up at my house drunk after going to the club and wakes me up at the worst possible time by jumping in my bed. This wasn't the first time and I am beginning to think it gives her pleasure.

Ok so I know what you're thinking. No, the experiment wasn't a complete failure. I felt this was an excellent representation of much media is in my life even though i make a concsious effort not to.

Eventually it became Sunday and somewhere along the line i ended up here where I am now writing this. Sunday was a little more successful.

Day One and my explanation

First off I know that I am super late on writing about my first day but I did this on purpose because I didn’t want to feel weak and go check my myspace or facebook, I really really tried my hardest with this assignment.
Here is how my Friday went down, I wake up around eight in the morning and as I reach for my remote to turn CNN and the weather channel I remember about this assignment, immediately I drop the remote and start to think of what my next move should be and how not to mess it up. I decided taking a shower would be the best next thing to do, I usually put my ipod on while I take a shower and this one was particularly quiet; I can’t remember the last time I took a shower in complete quietness it just didn’t feel right. As I get ready I also have my music playing from my restroom, same thing it felt awkward and different. I poured myself a cup of coffee to go and left the house, I figured the farthest I was the better. I get to school and sit down on my assigned computer for Design class, I knew I had to use the computer but I decided I was only going to use it for what I needed to do. As hard and challenging as this was it all worked out even though I left the class totally insane. With school over I headed to my girlfriend’s house, she knew about my project and she co-operated with it perfectly as she didn’t text me or made me do anything media related when I was at her house. We ended up playing cards and she was reading a book while I played guitar, it felt really good and totally different from everyday so it was pretty cool, plus if it was any other day we would probably just watch re runs of “One Three Hill” so I’m fine with this lol.
After I left her house I went to work, I do stock for American Eagle but I’m not the only one who does so the whole time I was working I was listening to Lil Wayne and T.I. because my fellow employee got to pick the music since I didn’t have my ipod with me. I left work around nine and was giving my friend a ride when he told me that we should go eat, I called my girlfriend and picked her up, (this was the only time I used my phone the whole day woo hoo) the car we were riding in had music because there was more people than me and they said they didn’t care if I had a project lol I know awesome friends, after we ate I took my girlfriend home and that was it the end of day one, I’m glad I didn’t miss the media very much but the whole day without music was killing me little by little.

Day 2 and a little confusion

Since i did not attend class when the instructions for the blogging were given (due to an unfornunate car accident), i misunderstood the instructions. I thought we were supposed to go all day Saturday with out media and then blog about not having media on Saturday night. Then i thought we were to deprive ourselves of media on Sunday as well and then blog about our Sunday experience. Well as a friend clarified it for me, I now understand that Friday was supposed to be the first day of media deprivation and that we were supposed to blog about Friday's experience on Saturday morning and then do the same thing for Saturday and blog about Saturday's experience on Sunday morning. So i messed up but i just changed the two days I was without the use of the media I am nearly dependent on. So today's (Sunday) experience went rather well, or at least better than yesterday. I woke up early today to do some homework and then just prior to noon I went back to sleep until around 200pm. Upon awaking up i did use the phone once to call a friend because I had forgotten my commitment. After that i did not mess up again. Today went fairly well because i had much homework to do and that kept me busy. I did do a lot of driving however, and not jamming out in my car was kind of hard not to do. But i was to busy to watch televion, except i was very curious to see Fox Sunday's lineup. I love watching family guy, American Dad, and Simpsons. That hurt a little bit. I did use the internet today but it was only for the purposes of my dreadful accounting homework. My cell phone was used as well today, but only to organize meetings with my accounting group so we could do our project (or rather i do it and they suck off my grade but hey sometimes that happens.) The day did go by fast though and im glad its over and that i can resume my normal life with my normal accessories tom. Hope everybody else has found success in their challenging task!

Ok so it was Saturday and I know that we were suppose to have a hard time with but it was kind of easy cause I had to work all day so I couldn’t really be on the phone and be on the computer, the two hardest ones were the music and the television. It took a lot to just stay away from the TV in the break room cause they had the TV on and I walked in and I was tempted to just sit there and kind of make up the excuse that I couldn’t help it but I knew that I had other options. I didn’t have to just sit there, so I walked outside of my store and I sat there and it felt nice cause it was cool and breezy, and I got to see how all the people react to certain things and how they behaved. It also gave me the time to think of a lot of stuff, it felt good not to have to always be doing something I could just relax and not have to worry that I have a phone call or whatever. It wasn’t easy when I got home though cause my dad had ordered the big fight and I wanted to see it so bad but I resisted and just sat in my room and just read some of my books that I hadn’t even looked at. The music I think was the hardest out of both days cause I so missed my Christmas music I listen to that everyday and I tried to stay away but I got my relief at work cause they had it playing but actually I didn’t hear much of it cause when your on a check stand all you hear is the beeps from the stuff your ringing up so I only heard it when I was walking through the store. I learned a lot doing this project I realized that nowadays life doesn’t really go without all the media that we use on a daily basis. I just learned that no matter how much we try daily media use is most important. I think that most used is TV and music those are a daily thing, including the cell phones cause you use the cell phones to look at things on the Internet and stuff. Well I guess that most of the time we will use but maybe we’d have a better time with just being each other having fun.

There is a Light at the End of Every Tunnel

Day two came to an eventful and much more uplifting ending than the rocky start; it was with the help of my friends and family that I survived two days (it sounds so terrible to put it that way). Early morning trip to the McNay museum pulled me out of a warm bed, but it was completely worth it, spending most of the day with my best friend and my class in a beautiful and large art museum. We got a little lost on the way (what kind of term is "slight left" and "slight right" anyway?) but eventually made our way to the front entrance, and spent most of the day slowly browsing and giggling with the beautiful pieces of old and new. Because she's an art major, it's my civic duty to tease her about it, so I kept mentioning Bob Ross throughout the Impressionistic wing, and for an art major, it's torture. She vowed to find me a better artist to look up to, and it's not that hard with all the talent that was surrounding us wall to wall. My personal favorite is the Georgia O'Keefe works, and the large water lily Monet piece. My favorite wing was the Middle Ages wooden statues, especially of a carved nativity scene where there is a mysterious woman in the middle of the scene. No one at the museum has figured out who she is, and my friend and I came up with a couple of theories.

After a delicious lunch and a day spent very pleasantly with my best friend, I bid her good day and set off to pull the evening off without media. My plan was simple, and worked like a charm. My grandmother and I played games. As simple as it sounds, it passed the time very quickly. We first started with a game of Yahtzee, which, in a short description, only requires paper and dice. Unfortunately, luck was on my grandma's side, and she won every single game. Next, and until almost midnight, my grandmother, mother and I played Uno. I can't remember the last time I laughed until I started crying tears. The biggest highlight of the game was after a couple of deck flips, my hand had almost every green card and about half of the reds and blues. It wasn't looking good, though I managed to get rid of most of them. It was a mess. We each won our fair share, and had some games that went on as long as 45 minutes!

It's a bit of a challenge to adapt without media, at least the silence, but it was worth it. It's better to pull away from the technology that binds us, and take a moment to appreciate other hobbies and going out with others. Nothing to distract, and nothing to keep us from focusing; it’s easier to talk to someone without the cell phone ringing or iPod buds in your ears, without the TV blasting behind you, etc. I think the project was a success on my end, and it also gave me a lesson in appreciating both a life with and without mass media. Small vacations from it are definitely a good idea, from time to time. Ironically, it was the next day that my grandfather decided to set up the old Atari 2600 to test if it still worked. Needless to say, I’m glad the project was only two days.

Conclusion of Project

At the end of the weekend, I had more time that I have ever had in a long time. I took care of everything I had to do. I had time to take a long bath, to relax, cook myself a nice meal, read a nice book, meditate, go running, clean and rearrange my home, have a talk with little girl which I haven't had in a long time, and be at ease. I learned that media is very important , but we have made it more important that it should be. TV for example could be minimize in my home. We watch TV way too much in the evenings. That time could be use for family time to play cards, have talks, go for a walk, or do an outdoors activity. Even the internet, I realize I spend way too much time just surfing the internet when I could just use it when I really do need to communicate with my family, or research something I need to look up. The radio it's something that is a must in my life. I love music so not sure I can minimize that. Today our society is so used to having everything with such easy access that we have forgotten what it means to read a newspaper, talk to our neighbors or enjoy the great outdoors that we have to enjoy. We live way addicted to today's media.

At peace...

I loved the idea of not using any type of media. It was a great time for me spend studying, but also doing activities that I love. I got to review for all exams that are on Monday. Yes it was pretty hard at first especially since I depend on the internet to connect with my family who live in South America. I did let them know so they would not worry if they did not hear from me. I was a bit sick this weekend, which had me in bed most of the day. I slept a lot. When I got up I made myself breakfast and had devotional time. I love to meditate, and when you are in silence you get this great inner peace and calmness that it's priceless. After that I head to work to couple of hours. Since I could not listen to the radio while on my way to work. I was practically talking to myself , I even sang a couple of songs. Yes it was a bit weird driving with complete silence since usually I'm the girl that you see dancing in the car while she drives. Now when I got home in the afternoon than that's where I had a a bit of trouble. I found myself so uninformed of what was happening in the world. In the afternoon I like to surf the internet, see what's happening while my child does her homework. Since I could not do that. I decided to clean my house to keep myself busy. At the end I got more work done than usual over all. I even had more time to really spend with my child. Unlike many Friday's where I'm busy in the internet while my daughter is watching TV. Yes it was hard to adapt, but at the end I think it did some good. I got to meditate on me, my life and I was able to study at peace. I don't think I would like to live that way all my life, but it sure did help me see that some days I should just be without it and learn not to be so depended on it.

It was still in the morning and I was already off to a bad start. When I woke up, I planned to continue my book, form the day before, at the park but quickly realized I forgot it at work. I work only about 2-3 miles away from my house so it was not a big deal to drive over there to pick it. When I got there apparently I had won movie tickets Friday in some drawing that I was unaware of. Fine, I can just go to the movies next weekend. When I arrived back to my house I check the mail and not only did my three movies from Netflix come in but also my video game from my GameFly subscription. Already everything was playing against me with this project. Not to mention it was a little cold to go to the park. I decided not give in, well for the first couple of hours. I decided to watch a film, it would be cheating but it would only be for two hours were as playing my game could last the rest of the night. After the movie to keep away from the temptation to put the next DVD into the player I called a friend up to come over for dinner. For the rest of the night we sat around the table with a few bottles of my favorite Riesling wine. Despite the bad start it ended quite nicely. While I did find myself cheating a couple of times I did stick to the rules for the most part. As I started this project I figured it would be easy, after all I have never been one for Television and such things but I soon realized how much I actually used them in my life. I do not think I would have lasted the whole 100 hours as the original plan was. 48 were more than enough to find how much my life revolves around mass media.
-Eric Webster

Chris Garcia, Saturday, December 6

Wow…I really wasn’t sure if I was going to make through this day without cheating. I was off today and had so many opportunities to watch TV, listen to music, go to the movies, and play video games; pretty much everything we weren’t supposed to do everyone wanted to do on Saturday. Every time I explained to my friends and family that I was doing a media deprivation project they all told me to just cheat; that no one would really know if I cheated. As much as I wanted to give in I didn’t and I suffered all day. As much as I would like to say I’m not media dependent I really am. I haven’t even talked about text messaging yet. I sent out a mass text on Thursday telling everyone that I wasn’t going to receive text messages for two days; nobody listened to me. Instead on Friday I kept getting text messages all day; I decided to send out the mass text again and it helped somewhat. I honestly did not know what to do with myself on Saturday; I just wanted to have a relaxing day. What I didn’t consider was what I consider a relaxing day. Usually I would have played video games for half of the day, or sat in front of a TV and watch movies all day; that’s my idea of a relaxing day. At night I really wanted to go to the movies and couldn’t. I slept a lot on Saturday and spent a lot of time with friends, there was nothing else to do. Being media deprived makes you have to be a social person. During the project I was thinking, what would our lives be like if we didn’t have all the mass media in our lives? I bet we would have a lot closer relationships with our friends, family and we would probably have more friends. This project gave me a chance to kind of reflect on life and consider how much time I really spend using mass media. I am a big thinker and this weekend gave me the opportunity to think a lot more than usual. It really is amazing how consumed we are in mass media; I never would have thought I was so dependent on mass media before this weekend. I know I use mass media a lot but this weekend I found out that I am truly dependent on my mass media.

Friday, December 5 Chris Garcia

Friday, December 5

I am so media dependent it is not even funny. I woke up and am so used to turning on my computer just to listen to music I almost forgot I was on media deprevation. I didn't use my computer and got ready for my day. I had a class at nine o'clock on Friday morning; as I drove to school I was so tempted to turn on the radio. It is such a routine to want to hear music while you are driving; it is like second nature. When I got to my class I am used to doing lab work and listening to my headphones while I work; not possible on this day. One observation that I made was how much longer the day feels when you aren't so absorbed in using your mass media devices..whatever they are. Well..the weekend just got better and better. I happened to be off of work on Friday and Saturday; what a great time to have the day off when you can't go to the movies or play video games. After my class on Friday I went home and was not sure what to do. Typically I would have watched Espn or NBA TV and just relax on the couch; or maybe play on Xbox Live. Maybe in between get online and check facebook. I felt so bored, I was actually really tired so I took a nap which is something I rarely do. My day just kept getting more and more interesting. I figured if I was doing this media deprivation project I was going to really try my best to not cheat or fall into temptation. I was invited to go out with some friends to the movies and I denied the invitation because of the project. Usually on a weekend I am off of work I would have been at the movies; so I had to improvise. I invited some friends to play pool and hang out; which really worked out. I told them about my project and all night they kept testing me and trying to make me listen to music, play video games, and watch tv. I am proud to say that Friday was a successful day; I was totally media deprived and felt really good about myself at the end of the day. The day really did feel longer and I felt as though I had got more accomplished in that day that on a typical day. Don't get me wrong Friday was a very challenging day, but I survived and didn't cheat.

Part Deux!

So I went on to continue my project today. It was just as lame as it was yesterday. I thought I was going to go insane in the membrane. This project made me realize all of the different things I can do without a cell phone, a computer, or a TV set. I was able to spend a lot more time with my girlfriend. She was nice enough to play along when it came to not using any form of multimedia. Every time I got a call on the cell phone, I was able to ignore it. The same went for text messages. I also went up to my grandmother's house for some lunch. I don't get to see her a whole lot, so it was really cool being able to hang out with her and the rest of the family. We had a lot to talk about, which is strange because even when we DO talk on the phone, we never bring up the subjects and stories that we do when we all were hanging out in person. I guess this was one of the little gifts of giving up a lazy lifestyle of modern technology. And as of yesterday, I did not invite friends over for my little "No electricity" party because I could not use my cell phone. I figured it would take too long to write them a letter so i just called the whole thing off. Instead, I sucked it up, and went on for one more day of boring. I went to work again, and my manager looked at me and laughed. He knew what I was doing. I'm sure he could tell the project was still going by the look on my face. I looked like a zombie who needed his fix. I was losing it! After a barely survived work, I ran home as quickly as I could (right now) and came to the computer to update my blog and end this madness of a project. Sorry I did not update this any earlier, I got out of work a little late, but it's time for me to call it a night and wrap up this whole thing. I'VE GOT SOME WEB SURFIN AND TEXT MESSAGES AND PHONE CALLS TO MAKE! I don't know about the rest of you, but I think I had fun. See you guys in class. We've got a lot to talk about. -Chad!

Back on the Wagon

Well today I awoke knowing the result of the fight so I didn't have any urge to watch t.v instead the family and I headed out for lunch( I woke up late )
After returning home I did not tune into the cowboys game ...Today was Ocho Uno a*k*a T.O's B day a*k*a Terrell Owens
for those of you who haven't heard of the phenom..Back to the subject I missed the game and I have to say after having my wife check the score for the last hour or so of the game I'm glad I did.

What have I learned??

1. Not being able to socialize on the Internet would be hard for some people, however it was pretty darn easy for me( I have kids to keep me busy)

2. Never take dinner suggestion from a smiling waiter suggesting you order Rocky Mountain oysters( they are actually a pretty sad bulls deep fried testicles)

Really people, I have learned that forgetting to turn on the t.v or the radio isn't so bad it does however make the day go by a heck of a lot faster ...but still it isn't that bad. And most ironically I have learned that if there were a next time I were to be assignned a project that requires me not to watch Oscar De La Hoya be demolished, and saves me from the blundering of the Cowboys AND spares my burnt orange pumping heart the dissappointment of the Sooners stealing our National Championship hopes .. then I am to do as told...lol.

Day 2. LOTS OF SLEEPING

Day 2 of Media Deprivation actually went much smoother than Day 1 for one simple reason; I slept most of the day. Friday night I ended up staying out with some friend pretty late, so I figured I might as well spend as much time as possible catching up on some sleep Saturday because otherwise I would probably going insane from not being able to watch television, or listen to music, or call someone on my phone.
When I woke up at about 1 in the afternoon, I jumped in the shower, got dressed and headed over to a friends baby shower. From 2pm – 6pm I just hung out with a bunch of my friends, and ate lots of food. The T.V. was on, but I did not pay any attention to it, and just enjoyed the company of the people around me. Depriving yourself of media, while with a large group of people conversing is not that hard. The time passes by much quicker.
After leaving the baby shower I drove over to another friend’s house, before going out to our company Christmas party. On the way to his house, it felt like Day 1 again driving my car with complete silence. Luckily he only lived a few minutes away. I ended up going to the party, and then hanging out a few bars with some friends for the rest of the night. There was plenty of music, and T.V.’s around to keep my senses occupied.
The two days of media deprivation have been somewhat stressful, but I also didn’t truly deprive myself completely. Even the little bit of time that I did spend consciously trying to occupy my time without phone, internet, television, or music made me realize exactly how much I rely them. I want to try and start reading more books, and learning how to keep myself entertained through other means. My eyes have been opened even more as to exactly how big of a role media really does play in our lives. We tend not to think about how much of our time is taken up as slaves to different forms of media. While not all of it is bad, certainly some we can, and should go without sometimes.

Day 2 Was Much Better

First of all, I would like to say that although the second day of the media deprivation was much better than the first, it still was a huge drag. After being under media restriction for two days, it was awesome to be able to use it again today, and that's the first thing I did when I woke up today. I went into the living room and played XBox like it was going out of style lol. But this blog is really about yesterday, so here goes.

I had worked late Friday night and then by some cruel twist of fate, I had to be back at work at 8:30 am on Saturday. I woke up bleary eyed and tired from my meager 4 hours of sleep, stumbled throught the morning routine, and skipped breakfast in favor of a 32 oz. coffee. Once the caffeine kicked in, the ride to work was tolerable, although the lack of music was starting to make me irritable and less optimistic about the 10 hour workday ahead of me. When I arrived at work, I was dismayed to find that it was extremely busy. I took roughly twice the amount of calls that I normally take in a workday and by the end of my shift, I was thoroughly exhausted and very glad to get away.

At this point, it doesn't sound like day two was at all better than day one, but this is where it all changes. The whole reason I had to give up my late shift for a morning shift is that my company was hosting a huge Christmas banquet for all of their underpaid and overworked employees. It was held at the Marriott NW and was a black tie affair. I had brought a change of clothes to work and proceeded to dress to the nines before making a fashionably late (because I was working) entrance to the party.

Once I had arrived at the party, all the stress built up from the media deprivation melted away. I enjoyed a gourmet meal and a few Coronas while listening to the DJ's excellent selection of music. Door prizes were awarded to a lucky few (I wasn't one of them unfortunately), and there was even a mock casino where we were allowed to enjoy games of BlackJack, Craps, and Roulette. I spent about an hour and a half at the BlackJack table and turned my $5,000 worth of fake money into $11,000. (Ah, if only it were real... *sigh*) After that, my wife and I danced a few songs and headed to a friend/coworker's house for a nightcap. There were about 10 people from work there, and we spent our time complaining about work and how the party, as cool as it was, did NOT make the job worthwhile lol.

We finally headed home at about 2:00 am, and I fell asleep content and at peace for the first time since this horrendous project began. I had to work yet again today, this time until 1:30 am (gotta love that holiday overtime), but after 48 hours of media silence, it was great to have all of my favorite pastimes back in full force. Media has played a huge part in my life for years now, and it took giving it up to make me appreciate just how fully it has permeated my existence. I continued to think about whether the role that media plays in my life is for better or worse, and I have come to the conclusion that although it is a double-edged sword, I wouldn't have it any other way. I know that media wastes hours and hours of my time, but I enjoy that time immensely. Some people cycle, some play poker, some go bar-hopping; I sit at home and play on my computer, my XBox, and my DVR. I look forward to these distractions to help me relax after a long day of work and/or school, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Going outside and being active are great, and I do engage in these activities, but I'm happiest when media is involved. In addition to all these things, the conveniences that media brings to all of our lives are extremely useful. Giving them up shows you just how much you have come to rely on these conveniences.

In conclusion, I must admit that I am undecided as to how I feel about participating in this project. Part of me is grateful to have experienced media silence for two days because it really made me appreciate media when I got it back. The other part of me is still angry about having its favorite toys taken away, no matter what the reason lol. All in all, I'm glad to have done the project, impressed that I made it through, and grateful that I will never have to do it again.

-Sergio Saucedo-