the avoiding technology experiment

It's taken me a while to post my response to the avoiding technology experiment because I'm a little embarrassed to describe my relationship to technology. I can start by explaing the things I considered giving up, and why I didn't:

• Facebook, as suggested in class: I'm a grad student, so 0% of my social networking happens on that forum. I have an account, but visit it so seldomly that giving it up would be a nominal effort.
  
• My cell phone: It's my only phone. Sometimes important people call me, and I conduct important business on the phone. It seems dangerous to give it up.
  
• email: OK, so I never honestly considered this. It would be professionally reckless, since I get emails from my students and my bosses as well as my friends.
  
• TV: I own a TV, but I don't get cable. I don't own a TiVO, and never watch network TV.
  
• websites: I've been trying to be better about reading news sites, blogs, etc, so giving this up seemed counterproductive. I wouldn't feel the pain. Sortof like having a good excuse to not go to the gym, it doesn't do anyone any good.
  
• iPod: I own one, but use it only at the gym. Sometimes I forget it anyway and I deal with watching Family Feud with closed-captioning. This is not an activity that is good for me.
  
• video games: OK, so occasionally I play them. But not often during the semester, and mostly in social situations. I wasn't sure that I'd find a good time to give them up that I would feel their absence.
  

If I were really feeling masochistic, I'd give up something like my car. I ride the bus to and from campus, but if I had to ride the bus everywhere, I'd certainly feel it. I guess I don't need a technology avoidance experiment to tell me that though, and in the meantime, I'd be carsick and cranky by the time I arrived at my job on the west side of town.

Instead, I gave up watching DVDs of shows that I like to watch while eating dinner. It's a habit that my boyfriend and I have gotten into, and I enjoy relaxing while watching shows and eating. Giving it up wasn't too painful, however, because we often don't watch them anyway and talk instead. To force a lesson here, I'd say that sometimes technology allows me to avoid deeper conversation, and that avoidance may make my life easier, but not happier.