On Friday, November 7, at exactly 5:30 p.m., I am turning off my phone, my laptop and my iPad and putting them all in a drawer that will not be opened until Sunday evening. The students in my MC300 class are doing the same thing. For 48 hours, we are all going on a “Digital Fast,” the first of its kind at Bentley.
We will all be spending a weekend without Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, texting, email, YouTube, Spotify, and Netflix, as well as “old-fashioned” technology like TVs and video games.
Why in the world are we doing this? And why in the world do we think it’s a good idea for members of the Bentley community — and even others outside it — to join us?
Confronting the Digital Impact
The full name of the class I developed and am teaching is Alone Together: The Impact of Social Media and Technology on our Lives. Our main text in the class is Present Shock, by media theorist and digital guru Douglas Rushkoff.
In Present Shock, Rushkoff diagnoses many of the side effects of a society that is “always on.” In the book, he creates his own lexicon to describe the unique set of conditions that many of us experience. One example: “Digiphrenia” describes the scattered, unfocused state of mind we find ourselves in when we are trying to exist in our physical reality and our virtual realities simultaneously. Drone pilots experience an extreme form of digiphrenia as they sit in a comfortable chair in Las Vegas and drop bombs in Afghanistan at the same time, but anyone with a Facebook account has had a taste of digiphrenia.
The central project of my class is the Digital Fast. In designing the course, I decided that the best way to examine our complex relationship with the many devices and technologies in our lives would be to see what it feels like to be without them for a meaningful period of time.
Student Reactions
My students have had a range of reactions to the prospect of the Digital Fast. There was a palpable panic in the room when I first introduced the concept to them. Now that they’ve had some time to think about the pros and cons, most of my students seem to be gearing up for the Digital Fast with a mix of excitement and fear of the unknown.
Tricia Reinken, a junior Media and Culture major, expects “to feel anxious about missing texts or emails but also relieved of the constant influx of information my devices produce. It will be a wonderful feeling to complete tasks and eat meals without constant distractions and notifications nagging for my attention." She also points out that this “may be my last chance to go ‘off the grid’ in our increasingly technological world."
Senior Economics-Finance major Karina Susilo is “excited to get back to the past and to immerse myself in my surroundings.” Tejas Shroff, a junior Management major, is a bit more measured in his expectations. “I am expecting to experience true boredom,” he says. Then adds that he is interested in finding “true alternatives to gluing our eyes to technology.”
Why We're Using Social Media to Promote the Fast
In addition to being asked to experience the Digital Fast firsthand, my students have also been tasked with challenging the Bentley community (and beyond) to join us. My MC300 students have created multiple marketing campaigns designed to maximum engagement with our project.
These campaigns include the use of social media. Some have pointed out that it might be hypocritical to use social media to promote a Digital Fast. I disagree. One of Douglas Rushkoff’s central points in Present Shock is that we must be vigilant about the digital tools we use. Rushkoff says that finding peace of mind in the 21st century is not about being a Luddite as much as it is about taking charge of our devices and technology, instead of the other way around. He cites numerous examples of people allowing intimate and important moments to be interrupted by trivial or meaningless alerts or pings from their phones. He says that many of us now live in a state of constant emergency, where we must always be “on call,” and that this is results in an unsustainable state he calls “present shock”, when everything happens now. Not only does present shock make us unfocused and distracted, it can also have very real negative health consequences as our body’s biological clocks are reprogrammed in desperate efforts to keep up with digital media’s “endless now.”
The way forward, Rushkoff suggests, is to take control of when we do and don’t allow devices and technology into our lives. He says we must use the tools and not let the tools use us.
So, Who’s with Us?
Starting on Friday, October 24, my students will begin the rollout of our campaign to engage the Bentley community in the Digital Fast. Additionally, my students and I will be extending the invitation to everyone in our personal and social networks, beyond the Bentley campus. My firm belief is that the more people who participate in something like this, the easier it will be. When all of your friends have left their phones at home, no one needs to worry about missing a text.
Personally, I expect to experience many of the same withdrawal symptoms as my students. Although I am not a digital native, I have a hard time remembering what I did before I carried the Internet around with me everywhere. But I’m up for the challenge. My wife and kids are going to join me in abstaining from all screens. I am letting my family, friends, colleagues and students know that I will be unreachable for 48 hours. I’m pretty sure the digital world will still be there on Sunday night when I check back in.
Many of my students are afraid of boredom and I have to remind them that, when I was a kid, boredom was the state of mind that came right before creativity. So, who knows? Maybe that weekend is going to produce an unusually high percentage of new business ideas, songwriting, and screenplays.
To find out more about the First Annual Bentley Digital Fast, check out our Facebook page (just don’t look at it between 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 7 and 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 9!). Or if you really want to get into the spirit of things, come on by my office for an actual face-to-face conversation.
Jeff Stern teaches in the English and Media Studies department at Bentley and is the Media Production Manager.