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This is my last blog about my experience this last Tuesday. I really enjoyed going to class and not having my cell phone with me or having the radio on as I sit in the parking lot and waited for a parking spot. It was actually really nice I turned the car off and just sit there and read a book while I waited for a parking spot. Believe it or not I am actually getting used to being different one day of week I think it helps to be more aware of what is going on around you.
I watched a segment the other day on the today show and they were talking about how many teenagers are driving and talking on their cell phones or messing with their iPod. There as actually been teens killed from talking on the cell phones. They had the teenagers get into a stimulator and have them drive while they are talking on their cell phones and also messing with iPod it was amazing to see that they actually hit people and hit vehicles. I think it was a very smart thing to do. It might be a scare tactic to get kids to get driving and talking, or messing with the music they are listening too. I just thought it was very good experiment to maybe help other people realize what teenagers are doing in the vehicle and might help teach adults not to do this as well. I am going to look for some statics about this and see how many deaths there are between adults and teenagers with this all coming up.
Other then the experience I had with the quiet time in the car I decided I was going to go on a road trip this last Saturday to drive back to Jewell to check on my grandma. So I got in the car and decided I was going to do this trip with no radio and see how well it went. I was really surprised of how much I learned about my self. It was a very nice drive just me in my thoughts. It was a very relaxing trip. I was surprised to see how I felt when I got to Jewell I felt really relaxed and felt really energized. So I would like for you the next time you get in the car turn off your cell phone and turn off your radio and see what you learn from my little experiment.
I believe if every one took a step back and looked at how far we have come from the simply things in life. If we didn’t have the cell phones, internet, radio, or music to listen to in the vehicle people would be more aware of things that is happening around them. I think they would feel a lot closer to nature if they didn’t have all of these extra items going on around them. I think from what we have talked about in class if you remove all of these items I think i have felt more clean and pure thru the whole experment of going with out the things I think I must have.
Week number 5
Good morning everyone. I hope every one is doing great on their spring break. I hope the Easter bunny finds you Sunday. Well let’s start off that my adventure has gone thru a lot of transitions in the past month but this week was the hardest.
Let’s just say the day started out by the normal alarm clock and getting the kid up to go to gymnastics. This is when the adventure started. I got in the car and shut the radio off. I get this mommy why did you do that? I was like because we are going to talk on your way to gymnastics. So we actually talked about the plans for the day we talked about gymnastics and we also talked about a lot of things. Instead of listening to music we actually talked. It’s amazing what happens when you take some thing away.
On my way to go run some errands I realized wow my car makes noises and darn it my turn signals are loud. But while I was driving I realized something. That if no one listened to the radio people would do a lot more talking in a vehicle and also a lot of people listen to the radio to get information to find out what is going on in the community. But on the flip side of that people use the radio to find out deals that are going on. A lot of advertisements is done on the radio if people didn’t have radios then they would learn how to survive with just the basic of life necessities If people didn’t have radios then they would just do their every day life stuff but usually the radio is trying to get you to go here and go there and gives you all sorts of ideas of place to go and hang out with or with out the family. But I will say I did miss listening to my music and getting the updates of sports and stuff that is happening around town.
Some one asked if I could go to the local library and get on the computer there. Well I didn’t think of that but I think that would kind of ruin the whole no internet idea. But believe it or not I usually read the paper on line and now I know why I read the paper on line instead of buying a paper because then that is just wasted paper. The paper I did buy is still sitting here so I think I will stick with reading the paper on line.
But I kept my self busy the rest of the day by reading a book and playing with the kid. The TV was never on at all Tuesday and it actually didn’t bother any of us. I was surprised I just made sure we had things to do. I have decided to shut my phone off completely on Tuesdays so then I don’t know who has called or if someone is calling I don’t have to worry about who it is and get nosey and look so if they are calling I don’t know about it until Wednesday .
But I have learned a lot about this adventure and if we went without TV, radio, internet, and phones people would be more in touch with them selves and the people around them. You become a little more observant and start feeling different towards things when you start removing the items you think you must have to survive.
Wow I really don’t have much to say about my Tuesdays experience this week. In a way I am glad of that cause I don’t think I could have handled another week like last week. But I will say this week was probably one of the hardest weeks for me and this is the reason why. When I go to class and do my other stuff like taking the kid to appoitments and things like that I stay busy. Well Tuesday morning I woke up to a kid not feeling so well. So I got to stay home with the kid. Well it wouldn’t have been so bad but of all days I get to stay home with the little one it was that day. Thankfully I didn’t give up my tv until this coming week. But it was hard not getting on line to do home work or to email people. My entertainment went to the tv and reading books. But that was my Tuesday in a nut shell.
Next week will be the big test. I am giving up the tv, the radio, and the internet and the phones. So the next 4 weeks are going to be the toughtest yet. But I am learning a lot about myself and also about the people around me.
Week 3 and the hard day it was.
Wow what a day and I was so glad it went fast and it was done and over with. I didn’t realize of how much I missed until Wednesday. I learned a lot this week and it is probably the most I have learned so far thru this learning experience that I am experiencing.
Let’s recap how my Tuesday went I got up my nice handy alarm clock and got the kid up for school and got her off to the bus. Then I was all set to go do jury duty. I got to the court house with the time I was supposed to be there. There were a lot of people going in and out of the court area and I asked what every one was doing and the lady was like we are waiting to get our names called for jury duty. SO I sit there for a little bit and I went in and asked when they were going to pick for the jury duty that I was assigned too. The lady looked at me and gave me a look of discuss. She took my name and looked like she was getting mad at me. She was like is your number *** **** I said yes and she got really snotty with me and stated don’t you ever check your messages? I said well yes I do when did you call and cancel it? She stated it was canceled at 9:00 this morning and we called and left you a message. But I was like oh I am sorry I don’t have my cell phone with me today. I apologized and walked out to my car and just sit there and thought about the whole situation.
Well that is how my day started on Tuesday and I am starting to become invisible. I got up Wednesday and checked my messages and email. Wouldn’t you know it I got her message and I also had an email from my daughter’s school to have a meeting at 2:00 and said they would see me then. Then I had about 3 messages advising me they were having the meeting with out me. They didn’t give me any notice other then that morning thru email and thru the cell phone.
By this point I was really irritated and what I learned this week is this. If people didn’t have cell phones or email people would slow down in this world today and enjoy their time they have and not be so rushed for time. It seems every one wants something now. No one really has any concept of time because when they want something they want it now. The standards of what people expect has changed dramatically every one depends on email and cell phones what ever happened to schedule meeting and getting a reminder in the snail mail and having advanced notices of such meetings. People in today’s society they are not into planning in advance and they expect people to be there on a short notice.
I have one more week to go with out the internet and the phones. Then after that will be the real challenge of giving up the radio, cable, telephones, and internet. That will be the real test. Stay tuned till next week.
Week number 2
What I have come to realize that on Tuesdays are my days to think about life and contemplate my ideas and what my goals are for the rest of the week. Giving up my items is getting easier but I have two more weeks then I will be adding the TV and the radio. I think that will be the ultimate test. That is when I think I will really learn about myself.
Today wasn’t that bad of day the handy alarm clock that I went and purchased from Wal-Mart came in very handy. Today while I was driving to class I was thinking about how some people went thru this with the ice storm a few months back. They didn’t have electricity so that meant no way to charge your phone and no internet. So why is it so hard on me to give up these items? The answer that I have come to is that the people didn’t really have any choice of the matter to go without they learn to deal and except the things they could not change. I think peoples issues were bigger then dealing with no internet or phone. I think the issues came into place of how do I keep warm and how do I cook food with no electric stove. I am thankful that I didn’t have to go more then a day with out electricity but I did get the privilege to go with out water. But we survived.
I am getting used to not having my phone with me on Tuesdays it does actually make me more aware of the people around me that do have there phones on campus and just around town that it really surprises me that how many people are walking and or driving all over the place using phones. When you don’t have something that you are used to having it makes you more aware what is going on around you.
I wanted to see if I was the only one around the county that was going thru this at some level. . So I did a search to see what people were giving up for lent. I was surprised to come across an article on cnn.com that talked about how college kids are giving up face book and my space for lent. The part I am thankful for is I am only giving this up for one day away. These people are giving up for a lot longer then I am.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/03/29/no.facebook.lent/index.html
Last Tuesdays was really hard on me and excepting change today it was a little bit easier. I will say I did answer one phone call today on my phone because the phone was sitting right beside me and it came up my daughters’ school so I felt like I had to answer it but after I did answer it I felt really guilty doing it.
Wow what a long Tuesday the day started off with not having my cell phone to wake me up. The little one missed the bus. So that is how my Tuesday started off. Needless to say I went and bought an alarm clock so next Tuesday we don’t have this problem. I went to class and was glad that I had my radio because not being able to talk on the phone while driving was a little hard. I called and told my friends Monday night that they wouldn’t be able to talk to me at all yesterday and they were ok with it. My grandma on the other wasn’t so happy about it. I told her that if something happened she could call my roommates phone.
I went to class and I was there on time for both of my classes but it was really hard sitting in both classes and not having a clue what time it was. Being able to pull on the cell phone to look at what time it was I asked a girl sitting beside me what time it was because it was driving me nuts not knowing.
Then after class I had a few hours to come home before I went and retrieved Zoe from school the roommate came home and we had to talk and make sure he knew where he had to be and what time he had to be there to pick up Zoe any other time it would be we would just pick up the phone and call each other to talk about what time and where he needed to be. So it was really odd we had plans set out to what was going to happen way before they were supposed too.
I never really realized how much I depend on my cell phone and the computer for my every day life. I had an email from my instructor to print some items off to bring to class but I didn’t know this until I was in class. She asked why I didn’t have them with me and I told her I wasn’t able to get on a computer at all that day. So it was hard to explain to her why I didn’t have the assignment that I needed to have done. But after I explained what I was doing she thought maybe she would give it a try some time.
Then I cam home from class and a lot of my evening are spent on the computer before going to bed. Well last night I sit down and watched the news before going to bed. I was watching the news and realized wow in a couple weeks I won’t be able to watch tv either. When that happens it will be time to find a new book to read before going to sleep.
I think this will be a learning experience and to realize what women had to go thru when they didn’t have cell phones or any phones or internet to be able to communicate. It really surprises me of how my grandma and great grandma was able to do all of these things and not be dependent on a phone. Also how they made sure the family was taking care of. I feel like it is going to be a cleansing process to make sure I don’t ever again come dependent on something that I have taken for granted the past years.
For my lived experience I am going to do something that I have been giving my self a prep talk to be able to do. I am going start one day a week I am going to give up having my home phone and my cell phone also with this I am also going to give up this nice little thing that I am using to post this. Every Tuesday I will start with giving up my phone and the internet. Then half way thru I will be giving up my radio and also my television. I am excited and scared at the same time. I think this will be a learning experience for me. One reason why I decided to do this all on a Tuesday because I will not be working on those days and at my job all I do is answer phones. So Tuesdays is the day that I will be doing all of this.
The reason why I decided to do this was to learn about myself and how much i do depend on these items to survive. I have given my family and friends the pep talk that I will not be able to be reached on Tuesdays so we will see I have a feeling this will be hard on me but it will also be hard on the people that I talk to on a every day bases.
I believe one that is going to bother me the most is not knowing what is going on in the news and plus that means I won’t be able to watch my favorite TV shows on TV on Tuesday night. I hope to learn how people back in the day survived with out the internet, the phone, cable and the radio. One thing that I am worried about with doing this project what happens if we have a big huge problem like 9-11 that will be a part of history that I won’t be able to watch it unfold.
If every one would go a while and give up these items they might learn to be ok by themselves and also they might learn to be more open to new ideas of what to do with there time. I also believe that if people weren’t so involved in the news and world happenings and every one lived with out these extra items then maybe there wouldn’t be so much hate in the world. Because not everyone would have a clue what is going on. The word of mouth wouldn’t be as extravagant as it is today and there also wouldn’t be so many rumors and people would be living better lives. So I hope you are ready to take this journey with me for the next month.
