Winn 1
Julia Winn
Professor Williams
MDST 2000
27 September 2011
Day Without Screens: Positive Influence of the Digital Age
Media affect almost every aspect of our daily lives. One cannot fully understand this effect until spending a whole day without digital media. On August 27 th , 2011, I undertook this very task. At midnight, I shut off my phone and began a full 24 hour period without any screens—no TV, computer, cell phone, or digital camera. I spent a long, productive day realizing just how much I appreciate and rely upon digital media. Judging from my day without screens,
Postman’s electronic age has certainly been replaced by a new digital age, which affects modern society in mostly positive ways.
I encountered several problems stemming from a lack of digital media during my day. I first noticed a reduced feeling of safety and security shortly after my day without screens began at midnight. Since it was a Friday night, I was out socializing at a party; however, I knew I had to go home eventually. I always have accompaniment on my walk home to reduce my vulnerability to potential attackers. Thus, after turning my phone off at midnight, I became nervous about losing my friends. Despite my best efforts to stay with them, I was separated from my group, and finally resorted to walking home with someone I had just met. The next day I learned through word of mouth that my friends had been concerned about me and had tried unsuccessfully tried contacting me. Though I remained unscathed, I definitely involuntarily lowered my standards of safety and conscientiousness that night. My day without screens also happened to coincide with the day Hurricane Irene struck Virginia. Without the use of digital

media, I had no way of tracking the storm. I was unaware and uninformed of the weather
Winn 2 patterns because I had no way to access up-to-date news. Also I couldn’t call my parents in
Richmond to check on their safety and assure them of mine. Fortunately, both Charlottesville and Richmond received negligible damage. However, these two incidences caused me to notice a decreased sense of security that stemmed from lack of access to the media.
My personal experience reflects a broader pattern of societal dependence on media.
Digital media allow greater, quicker communication, which in turn enables safety. Several examples demonstrate this claim. Consider the text warnings sent out by UVA to alert students and faculty of emergencies. These messages spread quickly because one bulk message is sent instantly to all registered cell phone numbers. This system emphasizes the modern assumption
“that once vital information is known to authorities, it will be rapidly disseminated via widely available media channels” (Press & Williams 4). Cell phones are crucial to safety. They ensure that a person can receive information about a situation or emergency anytime, anywhere. They also allow the person options to remedy the situation. With cell phones, calling the police, the fire department, or a friend in the case of an emergency has never been easier or more convenient. Even more unlikely forms of digital communication aid safety. For example, email increases awareness and can efficiently increase the knowledge of a large group for little to no cost. I receive monthly emails from an organization called “Hoos Ready?” that sends tips on selfdefense and personal safety. On a broader level, the Internet has a wealth of resources on safety, and can transmit information on current emergencies through postings on blogs, social networks, and news websites. Comparing the “Forgotten Hurricane” of 1928 and Hurricane Katrina demonstrates how digital media enhances safety. “Directions on preparing for the storm and, ultimately, evacuation orders, could be communicated from authorities to the anxious citizens of

Winn 3
Katrina’s path” through the Internet, TV, and phones (Press & Williams 3). In contrast, “the inability to accurately track the storm greatly increased the number of dead and injured in
Florida” in 1928 (Press & Williams 3). Without quick and effective means of communicating, humans suffered. Thus, digital media positively contributes to society’s safety and awareness.
My organization and efficiency decreased without access to digital media. Most academic work involves the computer in some way. Many of my readings are posted online, so I had to print them out the day before in order to read them on August 27 th . This was not only a hassle, but also a waste of paper. Even though I read a great deal from textbooks and printed-off articles that day, I still couldn’t finish all of my homework because my French homework is online.
Online language homework is an effective tool which allows the student to listen to the pronunciation of foreign vocabulary outside of the classroom as well as receive instantaneous feedback on assignments. Without the use of my computer, I had no way to access these assignments. I also felt more unorganized on my day without screens. I could not check my calendars or even check the time without my computer and phone. After my day without digital media, I finally bought a watch (although I’m not sure if there was any correlation between the two events). For my day to run smoothly, I was forced to plan ahead much more than I would on an average day, yet I still felt disorganized and off schedule.
My experience of feeling disorganized without digital media demonstrates the extent to which we use the media to manage our affairs. Digital media help keep our lives more organized and hassle-free. For example, keeping a calendar on the computer is much neater than keeping a paper one, as typing allows for easy editing. Requiring students to turn homework in online conserves paper and helps the professor manage and record submissions. Online homework programs also grade automatically, saving the professor time and giving the student instant

Winn 4 feedback. Most importantly, digital media streamline and consolidate other technologies. For instance, a computer not only enables access to the Internet, but also provides a dictionary, clock, calendar, word processor, calculator and music player
, all in one device. The use of new media alters the human consciousness. Plato was described as the “first uneasy man of letters,” because he was nervous of the effects of writing on his students’ intelligence (Illich & Sanders 1988:24).
Thousands of years later, Neil Postman echoed this sentiment with his concerns that TV “has made entertainment itself the natural format for the representation of all experience” and thus diminished the general population’s intelligence (Postman 1986:87). However, the new digital age seems to have only enhanced society’s ability to multi-task and consolidate information.
Neil Postman’s son writes that“[Postman’s] book urges us to claim a way to be more alert and engaged” and the digital age allows us to do just this (Andrew Postman 2006). The Internet, like
TV, is a “cool medium,” one that is high in participation (McLuhan 1966). The heightened participation also means a degree of control over what we view and how we view it. This wpersonal interests and priorities. Our schedules are more focused and tracked, and thoughts are more heavily recorded which means we must maintain their coherency. Since our thoughts and ramblings may be viewed by multitudes rather than just a few people, cogency of thought becomes more important. Rather than decrease the population’s intelligence, the digital age increases it.
A sense of isolation from my friends became a recurring problem on my day without screens. Though I still managed to be quite social, I felt disconnected. However, I acknowledge that I benefited socially in some ways by disconnecting from digital media for the day. For example, I bonded with my roommates more than usual due to increased face-to-face contact, though I was disconnected from my other friends. Living without screens required too much

Winn 5 guesswork. I wanted to call my best friends but I couldn’t, so instead I blindly ventured to their apartment, hoping that they were home. I also wasn’t exactly sure when a party started, but just walked to my destination at around the right time. I couldn’t text or call my friends to see what they were wearing that night, so my choice of outfit required a bit of guesswork too. I also missed the shared experience which social media usually enables me to have. I couldn’t tweet the funny things my friends said, or upload mobile pictures of the night to Facebook. I missed taking pictures of the night and uploading them the next morning as a way to relive the fond memories.
In fact, I almost felt as though my night didn’t really happen because it went completely undocumented.
The lack of a feeling of social connection experienced on my day without screens demonstrates how digital media enhances social interactions. New media allow people to connect with family and friends like never before. For example, Skype allows one to chat face to face with someone who lives across the globe. Digital media enables one to check in with friends for opinions and comments without actually seeing them in person. This increased ‘screen time’ can mean “hours spent in front of the computer, video monitor, cell phone and handheld”
(Andrew Postman 2006). While an overreliance on digital media and an excess amount of screen time may detract from in-person contact, a reasonable amount of usage only serves a positive social value. In fact, cell phones are prime examples of “‘interpersonal media,’ [or] media that are mostly used for point-to-point, person-to-person, communication” (Grossberg et al 2006). An increased use of interpersonal media translates to increased social connectivity. Also, new media generally limit miscommunication. For instance, it is hard to misread a text message that blatantly says to arrive at a particular destination at 9 PM, but it is easy to forget the same message conveyed face to face hours or even days before.

Winn 6
From my 24-hour period without screens, the ways that media enhance our safety, academic and organizational success and social connectivity were highlighted. Although people can become over-dependent on the media, the media truly are resources that enhance and shape the human experience. As of now, the “ultimate shape of the ‘Age of the Internet’ is unclear”
(Press & Williams 2010:21). However, judging from my day, this age has certainly had more positive than negative effects. In order to best manage media’s control on our lives, we should remain analytical of our usage while still appreciating the benefits we derive from technology.