The Difficulties of Disconnecting

I really did not come close to maintaining full disconnectedness for the weekend.  However, I really did consciously think about why I was feeling the need to connect each time that I did it and hesitated a lot before either restraining myself or deciding to give in.  While I already have been feeling wholly annoyed with having to be connected at all recently, I was surprised by how much I still relied on my phone / the internet for most everything – aside from just social media and communicating with friends / family.

Right away when 5:00pm hit I was on my way home from work, dropped my car off at my brother’s, and started searching for next bus to come.  While the bus stop that I wait at has all kinds of buses coming by that would take me home and the wait is usually less than 5 min., I automatically felt the need to know exactly how long I would need to wait.  This was a common feeling that I had throughout the weekend as I avoided my phone and computer.  More than anything it was a feeling of ambiguity that made me uncomfortable.

My biggest mistake going into the weekend was not really alerting anyone that I wouldn’t be responding to them, leading to some confusion and a feeling of needing to clarify for them.  While I think I would be okay disconnecting on my own, as we talked about in class it is hard to do so when others are relying on us to be connected. 

I did refrain from all social media for the weekend, but for one time and that was to tweet a photo of my roommates’ and my costume to the Badger Herald for their costume contest.  While avoiding social media didn’t bother me too much, this opportunity was too good to pass up and actually paid off because I won a prize for it!

All in all, I’m not too proud that I did pretty poor at disconnecting, however when I broke the rules it was more often for trivial things rather than simply to be connecting for the sake of connecting.  Additionally though I know school related things were allowed, I realized that I need my computer for SO much of what I need to do for school.  I actually really dislike this at times and get sick of always having to make sure that I have it with me. 

I did nearly leave my apartment without my phone on Sunday morning because I completely just forgot about it.  I thought it was kind of funny that just after a few days I already was neglecting it without even thinking about it!