By Katherine Kopiak (ArtSci ‘ 14)
Contributing Writer

What would life be like if the world lost all forms of technological communication? Ask Scott MacKenzie’s third year Technology and Culture class, who was recently assigned to avoid all forms of communication technology for 36 hours. No cell phones, Internet, Facebook, Twitter, email, iPods, iPads – you get the picture.
Professor Scott Mackenzie explained that he wanted students to “imagine their lives without technology in order to have a more immediate experience of the way in which it affects them.” He figured that undergoing a technology blackout would be a rather effective way of doing so; he was right.
Some students lasted a mere few hours, others reaching the 24-hour bench mark before reverting back to technology. To my surprise, I was one of the few to tough it out until the end.

I felt completely disconnected from the world. I found myself repeatedly checking my pockets for my phone before remembering that I didn’t have it on me. I had to arrange meeting times and places with people face-to-face rather than texting or calling them to meet up. I couldn’t do my homework because I needed the Internet to do so. I couldn’t check Facebook and I couldn’t tweet – something that I probably do far too often. I had plenty of time to think and found myself frequently looking for things to do. I was bored and frustrated, and felt – as sad as this is to admit – a little lost.

Some students shared similar stories. Hilary Smith (ArtSci ‘ 14) for instance, burnt her breakfast sausages because she was unable to google how long it took to cook them. If Queen’s dance pack captain Samantha Dick (ArtSci ‘ 14) had completed the assignment, she wouldn’t have seen the e-mail regarding the mandatory form necessary for the pack’s weekend trip. Many students’ routines were challenged without the use of communication technology.

Though frustrating at times, partaking in the assignment allowed me to physically witness our dependence on communication technology today and I appreciate the lessons I took from it.
How much do you rely on technology to communicate? Could you survive 36 hours without it? It’s definitely something worth thinking about.
Maybe, once in a while, we should all try to leave our phones at home for the day, simply because we can.