Event Blog 3

For our third and last event, I decided to attempt to do the 24 hour challenge, however, I soon realized that I would not be able to completely unplug from all electronics for 24 hours. There are many different things that I have to manage every day to make this challenge nearly impossible.

As a college student in 2024, it is nearly impossible to not use electronics during finals week. Most teachers assign all homework online–even textbooks are more commonly online than as paper copies! Finals week is one of the busiest weeks of my academic year. From week 7 until the end of my last final, I am studying every single day and my most used method to study is through my computer because otherwise I would not be able to access nearly any of the content for any of my classes!

Additionally, I have my dad who is sick and lives a little far away from me. In order to make sure he is not experiencing a health crisis, I must have my phone with me for any calls or messages. Without the connection to my mobile phone, I would not be able to assist him in the case of an emergency. 

But, despite these circumstances that I deal with every day, on Thursday I attempted to go without any electronics for as long as possible. Spoiler alert: it was not very long. Starting from 2 p.m. I had finished the rest of the homework I had for the day and decided to attempt this challenge. I decided to go on a walk in Escondido Falls in Malibu that lasted 2.5 hours and I walked approximately 5 miles. On this walk, I took some pictures with one of my cameras and along the way back, I stopped for about 45 minutes and reflected on my journal. I felt relaxed and reconnected to my life, but I also had the anxiety of something happening that I could not attend to. It felt good, though, being able to take a break from all of the stress and anxiety that comes from everyday life. It also felt good being able to disconnect for a couple of hours, but also having the privilege to reconnect when I wanted to.