A Week Without Technology

It was only after my week without screentime, overlooking the dark star-studded canvas that is America at night that I remembered

“Oh yeah, aren’t we at war with Iran?”

I literally forgot that we had been pounding Iran with missiles for a week. The thought just didn’t occur to me. Even better, when I did remember, I just didn’t care. I looked out at the horizon and waited for the mushroom clouds to form. When they didn’t, I realized it wasn’t really my problem.

I just got back from a mission trip to rural Honduras. We raised money for a clean water project, led worship services, gave out bibles, and did house visits. As part of the project, we had to give up all screen time during the trip. No phones, no computers, no reels, nothing.

I’m ashamed to admit it, but it was the longest I’ve been without looking at a screen in maybe 8 years. Just writing that out loud hurts to think about, but it’s true. I am always using a screen of some kind. If I’m not on my phone, then I’m doing schoolwork on my computer. Heck, I just got a job creating content. Friends come over and we play Mario Kart or Cod. Screen usage is just so ingrained in life today that if you aren’t actively avoiding it, its usage becomes impossible.

I was worried about not being able to go without my phone. I’m so used to screens and music and noise that just the thought of a week without them had me nervous, not specifically because of the lack of screens, but because I didn’t know how I was going to react. I guess I was expecting withdrawal or something.

I just need to scroll for a minute sir, please, just one reel, just 30 seconds on Tiktok to keep me going.

And then the craziest thing happened.

I had the best week of my life.

I was sleeping on a concrete floor, we had 3 hours of electricity, we couldn’t eat half of the food and any of the water for fear of food poisoning, our showers were frigid, we were travelling through a country that the State Department generally regards as a hellhole, and I was having the best time of my life.

For once, I wasn’t obsessed with the news. War in Ukraine? Who cares. Trump tweeted something? Not my problem. I literally did not care about anything not happening in the village I was in. You might call that ignorance; I call it bliss.

It made me realize that knowing about the problems of the world is not a blessing. It causes us to overestimate our worth. We focus on fixing things a million miles away that we can’t change, while ignoring the problems around us that we can do something about. I didn’t waste time on Instagram reels or YouTube. I read 1,500 pages of four different books, including one in Spanish. I practiced my Korean. I read my bible every day. I prayed every day. I translated hours upon hours, facilitated communication between my friends and Honduran farmers, fishermen, miners, teenagers, kids, and old women. My brain was working 10 times harder than it had in literal years (mind you I’m a college student) and I still felt more refreshed and fulfilled than normal. The biggest problem with technology for me is that it’s forced. I feel like a heroin addict that is told to get clean, while at the same time is told he needs to shoot up a little bit every day for work. How do you think that’ll go for him?

Then I got back home. I walked into my dorm, sat down at my desk, and hopped online. Slowly I felt the dopamine receptors in my brain flick back on, one by one. The information overload became an overdose, and immediately I was hooked again. It was literally too much information for my brain to handle. I felt like I had been plugged into the matrix, ones and zeroes zipping around my head like fat flies in the summer heat.

The internet is like the One Ring. You can learn anything you ever wanted to know. Bulgarian? There’s a course for it. 6^th century Sumerian whaling practices? Of course, here’s a pdf on the subject. Goat yoga? There are 20 influencers who will teach you everything you want to know. But every time you use it, it takes a little bit from you. You become weaker, more distracted, less powerful. It tears a tiny bit of your soul from you when you use it.

If I learned anything, it’s that the internet can be an extraordinarily edifying tool, but it can also be extremely destructive. Forcing yourself to take a break can help you discern whether you own the computer or if it owns you.

Until next time my friends.

P.S. If you enjoy my writing, you can buy me a coffee at this link below. Yes, I am shamelessly begging for internet money. Don’t feel any pressure to give it to me. I’m just happy you made it this far.

buymeacoffee.com/Hemlockhobo