Free Custom «Technology Deprivation Journal» Essay Paper

I must admit that my smartphone is the best recent technological device that happened in my life. On this particular day, it was business as usual with my smartphone. From the time I woke up, I spend at least six hours surfing the internet with my smartphone. Notably, my smartphone had made me get addicted to the internet. I browsed the internet for  information on different subjects and socialized with other people over social sites especially twitter and facebook. More so, on this day I had spent about two hours making calls to my friends and family. On this day, I made several calls, which added up to two hours and received many from different people. I kept in touch with my family members and my best friends the entire day and was able to access the help that I needed from different individuals. Additionally, I also made two money transactions using my smartphone. I was able to sent some money to my friend who was in need. I do not remember putting my smartphone down at any particular moment. It kept me busy the entire day and I felt so attached to it as usual.

My smartphone is of immeasurable significance in my life.  Firstly, it is important because it enhances and simplifies my process of communication with others. I do not have to meet people face to face in order to pass to them the information that they need. My smartphone makes it easier for me to make calls each time I need to communicate with other people. In fact, its portability ensures that I keep in touch with various people as a move from one geographical area to another. It has speeded up my communication process hence making it easier for me to link with other people whenever I need some pieces of urgent information (Ilyas and Ahson 29). Secondly, the smartphone is important because it helps me to access the internet easily. I do not have to go to the computer center in order to read my mails or interact with other people over social sites such as facebook and twitter. I use my smartphone to access these sites with so much ease. I have also been able to seek significant information over the internet conveniently without having to visit computer centers. Lastly, the smartphone has been of great importance because it has always enabled me to perform different transactions such as money transfer easily. I am able to link with my bank and make money transfers from one place to another with so much ease. In fact, sometime I do not have to visit the bank because I have my smartphone at my service.

On this particular day, I also interviewed several people concerning the frequency with which they use their smartphone. Most of them noted that they use the phone for the internet for atleast seven hours a day and make calls for about two hours. Most of their time is spent on surfing the internet for vital information. They also noted that the phone is important in their lives because it has made communication simpler. They can easily keep in touch with others through calls and short text messages. More so, it has provided them with an easier internet source. They easily use it for internet seeking other vital details. It enhances their connectivity with other people throughout the day.

7 Days of Deprivation

On the first day of deprivation of my smartphone, I was in excessively low moods because the phone was part of me. I could only perform different activities comfortably with my phone. I must admit that the first day of deprivation was extremely difficult for me. All my thoughts were still fixed on the phone and I could not do anything constructive. However, on this first day of deprivation I decided to read news papers and magazines in order to keep myself busy. I believed that newspapers and magazines were going to keep me busy the entire day hence helping me cope.

On the second day of deprivation, I had started adjusting to working without my smartphone. I remember trying to check if I could find it, only to realize that I had still been deprived of it. I had not communicated with my friend and I really felt that I had excessively missed them. On this day, I decided to engage myself in house chores all day. I decided to engage in some thorough cleaning of our house and every other item within the house. In fact, I was so enthusiastic handling different tasks within our house. I had not had this experience before. In fact, I washed dishes for all the meals that had been prepared throughout the day without any regret that I could be missing anything. The entire day was busy and I liked the entire experience that I underwent. I enjoyed every bit of what I did during the day because it had helped me forget about the stresses attached to the deprivation of my smartphone.

I had fully adjusted to performing other activities without the presence of my smartphone. I believe I had tried to live effectively without a smartphone and I was trying out other vital things. Having performed house chores on the second day of smartphone deprivation, I decided to go swimming and have some other fun on this day. I packed my swimming costume and headed to the nearest hotel that had a swimming pool. I had really missed swimming and I believed that I was going to be rejuvenated after the entire exercise. While I was at the swimming pool, I was luck to meet my long time friend, Jack. We had fun together as we swam almost the entire day. I went home and was ready to prepare supper before I watched my best movie. I had enjoyed every activity even without the presence of my phone. I believe I was now getting fully adjusted to life without a smartphone.

The fourth day was another significant day of staying without my smartphone. On this date, I realized that I had a large number of assignments that I had to attend to because they were almost due. I locked myself in my study room and was good to go about my assignments. One of the assignments needed to be typed and I felt good about it. I typed the assignment on my laptop with immense concentration. I was able to get most of the content relating to the assignment from my books and other class readings that we had been given by our lecturer. I was able to conclude all my assignments within the appropriate time. Notably, this had not been when I had my phone. I felt confident on this day, as I had handled even the assignments that I perceived difficult. I felt good handling all the assignments on my own without being assisted.

On the fifth day, I had been given some contractual job to attend to while at home. I was delighted at the job because it significantly matched my skills. The contractual job required me to research the significance of having a philosopher as the country’s president and present it in softcopy.  I liked the entire question despite the fact that it required a lot of pages for satisfaction of the research. I was to write at least ten pages for the entire job in order to satisfy the research. This was one of my best areas and I tackled it with passion. I did not have any disruptions on my side and I concentrated on it the entire day. I was motivated to come up with a quality piece of work that would help me earn excellently and retain the belief that had led me to being given the job. I took the entire day working on the job in order to ensure I gave out my best. I had the best experience as I did what I liked most. I had no regrets as I got to earn something out of my job.

The sixth day was another eventful day. Fortunately, this was a world environmental day and the federal government had reiterated that all individuals must take collective responsibility and plant trees in order to preserve the environment. I woke up with a high level of confidence and set out to a tree-planting mission. I joined other members in their tree-planting mission. I was overjoyed because I believed that I was making an impact by boosting the environment. It was a beautiful day with the tree planting exercise. I went home feeling tired after the entire exercise, but was still happy because I had promoted environmental wellness. I had never taken part in this exercise before and I felt like I was excellent, as I had done a significant thing to contribute to the environment. I was still doing well without my smartphone because I had gotten used to life without it.

On the seventh day, the members of our welfare organization and I were on a mission to visit a children’s home. I had reached my fellow members through my friend whom I had met at the swimming pool on the third day of my smartphone deprivation. I had requested him to alert other members that we ought to make some contribution to the welfare of society. The visit was fantastic as we made our contribution towards the support of the children present at the children’s home. We spent time with children and shared with them different experiences to encourage them on. At the end of the day, I was glad because of the experience that I had with the children at the home. I was overjoyed at the end of the day, in fact, all the thoughts about my phone had disappeared and I believed I was even leading a better life.

1 Day of Return

It is worth noting that my use of the smartphone was not the same on this date as it was before.  Its use had immensely declined because I had fully adjusted to even staying without it. My use had abated because I learnt that there are other significant things around to attend to. Concentration on the smartphone alone had denied me the opportunity to experience different things that happen in society. The use of the smartphone had also declined significantly because I did not want to be an addict to it again. Initially, it had made me an addict to the internet that I was and calls that I was not able to attend to other vital duties within the surrounding.  At this point, I was happy to have my smartphone back because I still needed it for communication with people especially those in other geographical areas (Ilyas and Ahson 44). I was overjoyed at the return of my smartphone because I could still keep in touch with people instead of depending on luck to meet people. I  felt rejuvenated because I was able to return to my normal routine of faster communication with other people hence ensuring that different activities were performed effectively.  I felt good having my smartphone back because it could also help me alleviate the levels of boredom after I was done with my duties. The experiences had taught me that I should not devote my entire time to the smartphone, but I should also perform other activities, as they are instrumental.

The key experience that I can generalize about my smartphone and apply it to other forms of technology is that they are all addictive. Technological advancements have become so addictive in the current world and have made it difficult for individuals to perform their duties smoothly. Most individuals have made most technological devices part of them and feel that they cannot do without them. This is so addictive and makes it difficult for individuals to participate in constructive activities within their environment. My conclusion about this experience is that technology is extremely addictive and must be used in a careful manner by individuals. In cases where it is relied on at every instance, it is likely to make it difficult for an individual to engage in constructive activities. More so, I could come to a conclusion that technology would be effective only in cases where it is utilized effectively. It could be of great assistance in cases where it is utilized with the required moderation. I still regard my smartphone important in my life as I did before. This is because it still helps me to communicate faster and surf the internet with a lot of convenience. The only thing that is vital is to use it with moderation and ensure that I also pay attention to other activities, as this would be instrumental in ensuring that the smartphone is still important as before (Zheng and Ni 56). I believe that the smartphone is still as important as before because it has still simplified my communication process. I am able to read my mails and messages without having to seek information from other places. More so, my financial transactions are simpler using the smartphone hence making it as important as it was before.