Abby Sowalla - Blog #3

Last Saturday, I decided to spend a day without accessing the internet. I picked a day during spring break because on any other day I’d be worrying about homework or club responsibilities and would want to check my email at least ten times.

I spent most of the morning and afternoon visiting family. I wasn’t expecting I’d need the internet at all during the visit, since I knew I’d be focused on spending time with people IRL. However, there did end up being a few times when I wanted to pull out my phone. Most of these times were when a family member wanted to know or fact-check some piece of information, for example:

“What’s the name of that school across the street?”

“Is there still a carousel on the National Mall?”

“Is the carousel open at this time of year?”

Nobody actually wanted to see the carousel, but we all wanted to know.

It was interesting to notice how many times throughout the day I felt the impulse to look up small facts like these. The facts are usually so inconsequential that I forget about them soon after I look them up. I have little reason to care about these facts. Nevertheless, the desire to look them up is surprisingly strong – maybe my mind is so used to the instant gratification of looking things up that it’s become a staple in my daily habits.

This phenomenon made me wonder how people used to respond to not knowing something in the days when an answer couldn’t simply be pulled out of your pocket. Did it bother that generation as much as it bothered me to not have answers? Did they not care at all because they were accustomed to life without instant answers?

I imagine that if they cared, they could ask someone nearby if they knew the answer, as my family did when questions came up in our conversation. In that respect, I guess the humans we talk to are sort of like search engines full of incomplete information. Someone who’s really desperate to know something might pull out an almanac, but from my memory of the class in middle school where we tried to use those things, they aren’t worth the trouble.

Later that day, I had to find ways to entertain myself which didn’t involve the internet. I spent a lot of time drawing. It was nice to do something that I liked to do but didn’t always feel like I had time to do – drawing always feels like a greater commitment of time and effort then scrolling through Tiktoks or watching YouTube videos. Most of my drawings were of cats – they’re probably my favorite artistic subject.

In the evening, I watched some television with my mother. I realized that I feel compelled to multi-task when I’m watching TV, especially when commercials come on or the show that’s on isn’t very exciting. If I had allowed myself to use the internet, I probably would have scrolled through Facebook, checked my email, or looked up a pointless piece of information that I would forget a few minutes later. I got to bed earlier than I usually do that night because I didn’t stay up watching YouTube videos and Tiktoks.

This experience helped me realize which of the uses and gratifications of social media, as described by Whiting & Williams (2013), matter the most to me on a daily basis. My desire to verify different facts throughout the day falls into the category of “information seeking,” and my impulse to turn to technology for answers rather than asking other people could be considered a “convenience utility.” The urge to check Facebook during TV commercials fits in the “pass time” category. My desire to watch YouTube videos and Tiktoks throughout the day qualifies as both “entertainment” and “relaxation.” For each of these uses of social media, I had to either find another way to obtain the gratification or come to terms with not having the gratification I desired. It goes to show how large of a role social media plays in our lives, and how much we rely on it during daily tasks.

If I had cut myself off from media entirely that day, I probably would have become very frustrated in the evening, since I have a habit of using media to relax before I go to bed. In fact, most of my family has this habit, which is why when I watched TV in the evening, I also got to enjoy my family’s company. I suppose my family could have just turned off the TV and talked with each other all evening, but after spending the earlier part of the day having conversations and being social, this probably would have just left me feeling more socially exhausted. If I had to find some way to relax without technology, I would probably go with reading a book. However, I would feel limited in this activity since many of the books I read are books I find online.

The day after my internet-free day, the activities I most looked forward to were checking my email and watching a bit of YouTube.