So yesterday was the first day of the Media Deprivation project, or cruel and unusual torture, as I like to think of it lol. I always work on Fridays, so I didn't figure this assignment would be too big of a drag, and at first it wasn't. I slept late instead of waking early and playing video games like I normally do. The extra sleep was nice, and after a shower and a shave, I was off to work. The drive to work is about 35 minutes long, and normally has an upbeat soundtrack to get me motivated for the 10 hour work day I always dread. Today, I rolled down the windows and zipped through traffic, reveling in the throaty exhaust note my 3" dual exhausts produce echoing off the barriers lining Eastbound Loop 410. Not so bad, really. In fact, I hadn't really even missed mass media much at that point.
Once I arrived at work, I forgot all about the project and focused on the slow and dreary task of customer service that I am forced to subject myself to 40 hours a week. The only difference between this day and any other was the fact that I didn't have to respond to phone calls or text messages from friends and family (mostly my wife) throughout the day as I had left my phone at home. All day, I had no problem ignoring mass media. 'Maybe this project won't be so bad after all,' I thought. Yeah, right...
The cold reality of my media addiction hit me like a bucket of ice water as soon as my tired feet crossed the threshold of my front door after driving back home from work (slower this time, as there are plenty of cops out at 11:30 pm, itching to give a young man in a G35 a nice, fat ticket.) Normally, when I get home from work, I head to the fridge for a beer, and then plop down on the couch to spend some quality time with my XBox 360 and my DVR. I was sipping my beer with remote in hand, about to turn on the tube when I remembered the project....ARGH!! 'No TV, okay we'll just find something else to do,' I thought. My wife was at work, so I was home alone. It was past midnight, so all of my friends were either at the club or in bed. I had no homework to do for once. This was going to be tough!
After rereading the project stipulations, I decided to read a book since that was the only form of entertainment I could think of at this point and I was halfway through a Stephen King novel. So, after about an hour of reading a scary novel alone during the wee hours of the morning, I was thoroughly creeped out and desperate for something to occupy my time until my wife got home from work. I decided that since what I really craved was electronic companionship, and the only thing we could use media for was education, my best bet would be to take a look at the blogs and see how my fellow students were faring. There were only a few blogs posted as of 1 am Sunday morning, but I read them all and felt a peculiar mixture of relief and self-loathing once I had satisfied my media fix, even though it wasn't recreational. Relief because I was able to pass the 30 minutes until my wife got home in what seemed like an instant; self-loathing because I hadn't realized how truly addicted to all forms of mass media I had become recently. I fell asleep thinking about the implications of this revelation, and trying to justify the media dependency by weighing its conveniences and time savers versus the amount of time I waste on it.
I have yet to reach a conclusion on the matter although I woke up still thinking about it. On the one hand, I feel very productive when I'm able to find answers to any question in seconds using Google search or communicating via text message while watching a movie with my wife. On the other hand, I feel very regretful when I realize that in the last 10 years I went from using media rarely to constantly, and when I have free time there is nothing else I want to spend it on other than some form of media. Good or bad? Progress or devolution? I can't decide yet; I'll give it another day of thought and see if I can come up with a solid opinion. Until then, I wish you all the best of luck in this hellish endeavor. May we all make it through and live to tell the harrowing tale this Tuesday...
-Sergio Saucedo-
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