Could you go 48-hours completely digital free? Even if you were challenged for cash?

Imagine breaking free of everything: including your cell phone, iPad, iPod, television, and any other electronics you use everyday.

As a college student, I have become completely oblivious to the amount of time that I spend completely wrapped in technology. It was not until after I completed a “digital detox” for a consumer behavior class that I came to this realization.

Overall, we have grown to be a very technologically dependent society. We often turn to Yelp! for reviews or Pinterest for creative ideas. We turn to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to share news with our friends.

So what is wrong with that?

Is it the fact that we occasionally forget to turn to our friends and family sitting right beside us? Or that sometimes we are together, yet alone? Julie recently wrote about her pet peeve about how people are attached to their phones.

Technology, although constantly allowing us to make new advances, is tearing us apart.

My Two Day Detox Challenge 

While my college experiment only lasted two days, I realized that technology is the reason we have become socially awkward. Together, as a society, we have become less able to communicate with others in person and have turned to tweeting or messaging friends and family.

What has made us all so dependent on social media?

What has made us forget the value of togetherness?

I understand that we often work over the phone or computer. However, there is a time to delve into the computer. and that barrier has unfortunately been lost amongst the wireless signals and computer waves that are being bounced around daily.

It has become nearly impossible to enjoy the company of our friends without being interrupted by a phone call, or to be ignored because someone is in an intense conversation through text messaging.

I witnessed it first hand when I turned off my phone and realized that I had absolutely no one to talk to.

It’s not because my friends were not near by, because they were sadly all around me.

Lessons from Digital Detox

At the end of my digital detox, I realized my friends were in constant connection with people in other rooms, or towns, or states. Rather than focusing on the moment, they were too busy to focus on someone absent from the gathering rather what I actually had to say at that time.

The challenge is real.

The challenge to put down the phone and enjoy the company of those around you. Be in the moment.

Readers, do you agree that we’re in need of a digital detox? Tell us in the comments.

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is a Senior and Communications Major at Saint Joseph’s University. She found her love of helping others through an internship with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and began to realize the impact she has as an individual within society. Through the little changes that we make in our lives, we are able to impact others in an even bigger way. Her life motto is from Ghandi: “Be the change you want to see in the world”, because I have realized that it all stars with you.” View all posts by Christine Boylan