Operation: Deprivation

At approximately 12 p.m. on Sunday, March 15, Operation: Deprivation took place. For 24-hours it was a fest of everything non-technological. It was one of the most enlightening experiences of my college career—when it ended.
I guess going into this I was a little to cocky. I thought this would be a cakewalk and that I don’t depend on media as my other class mates. Danna L. Walker in "The Longest Day," called my generation “millenials.” There was a part of me that wanted to prove her wrong because she sounded so elitist. There are people who are older than me that spend so much time on the computer, it isn’t even funny. I did all the usual preparation and sent out a MySpace bulletin to alert everybody that I will not be answering phones, e-mails, and the like. Needles to say, I had a bunch of people ask me ‘why?’ and ‘what?’ so I filled them in and stayed up real late to O.D. on media. I MySpaced while listening to my iPod and every few moments I turned around to watch T.V. while text messaging.
At 12 p.m. I woke up to no T.V. (because I sleep with it on) and silence. After the usual morning rituals I grabbed my laundry basket full of reading material and word search puzzles and headed down stairs where I figured I would spend the rest of the day. I sat down and looked at my T.V. (which was off). So I turned the light on and started reading Entertainment Weekly. This was good. No cell phone, staring at the computer screen till my eyes get crossed. Yes, this was certainly good. In those four hours; I managed to learn more than my fare share about Tyra Banks and why I should be reading Y: The Last Man. But after four hours, the novelty started to wear off. I went into my reading bin and pulled out some comics. Currently, I’m reading Secret Six by DC Comics so I figured I would start from the beginning and work my way through the two mini series and the first half of their monthly comic. I got a couple laughs out of midgets running around naked and an addict of plastic surgery. I started to think about Howard Gardner’s article; "The End of Literacy? Don’t Stop Reading." In four hours, I’ve read the most I had ever read in a single sitting. I was really getting bored. But if Gardner is worried that reading is declining then he shouldn’t have to worry because I got my monthly fill—right? I thought about reading some pages out of my text book but at that time I was starting think of other things to do and left the book pile.
I went up stairs to get something to eat. Then I was going to start up a courier service, no—I wasn’t trying to be smart in regards to the prompt, I needed to communicate. So I found my Mom and told her that every hour or so I will make a request on the dry erase board. She agreed but set her own standards. I was not to request anything outlandish or something where she would have to travel a long distance (because I have asked that type of thing in the past). So at 6:30 p.m. a note was given to her to get into contact with my friend to see if she wanted to get together for drinks at her house. Later she brought down a note that agreed to a 7:30 p.m. date. I got ready and left.
On the way there, it did cross my mind that I hadn’t checked my cell and that it was at home (turned off) and how many people have been trying to get in touch with me? I bet there were some that thought that I was ignoring them. I hadn’t been without a cell phone since I was in high school and it was weird reverting back to that time. But I kind of dug it. It was a little freeing to know that I didn’t have to answer anybody and if they really wanted to get to me they would visit me or at least send me a message via courier.
One thing I didn’t realize is how much I needed the radio. On the way over I wanted to turn it on and jam to get pumped up and then I thought about later that night listening to the radio and dancing (because I like to do it—a lot). I cursed that music has been absent from my life for almost the whole day. Which is very odd that it didn’t occur to me sooner, because I’m a music journalist? When I got to my friend’s house the T.V. was off. I thanked her. It was quiet. I didn’t have MySpace to log onto or dance. It really sucked, especially when one is drinking. I wondered if this deprivation were to happen globally (not voluntarily) then how would clubs function? So we sat and played cards and a drinking game called ‘three-man’ which was cool because it was only us which meant more liquor.
The next day I woke up at 9 a.m. (much to my dismay) and ate some breakfast and cleaned up from the night before. I usually don’t do that, so I figured I should do something productive. I had to do something because 12 p.m. was drawing closer and I was wanting so bad to turn on the T.V. My friend couldn’t believe I went that long without any form of media. I couldn’t believe I did either. After talking and looking through some magazine’s 12 p.m. came and Operation: Deprivation ended my first dose of the media drug just so happened to be Sponge Bob when I turned on the T.V.
I got home and checked my phone expecting everyone and their dog to have messaged me. I had one text and that was from T-Mobile about a service update. So there it is. 24-hours, no new media and the best part of all is I know that I can do without it—when I have to.