Hello everyone! I'm doing a psychology work. I have to do a field study. Here is my question (In the actual work, I may change the wording in the question, but it will keep the same sense.):

Can today's people live without access to electronic devices for one complete day or longer?

Basically, what you have to do is try to not use any electronic device for at least one day. At the end, you will have to write a paragraph (Doesn't have to be long) or more if you feel like it telling me how you felt, if it was hard, if you ended up cheating.

I know that for some people it's easier, but for other people, it can be very hard. (Read this for more info)

What am I going to do with the results? It will help me make graphs, and you may be quoted anonymously (I'll give you a fake name and such.). It's nothing complicated.

What do I qualify as electronic device? Computers, television, cell phones, iPod, etc.



Thanks in advance. (Of course, I'm not doing this only on this site.)

Note: This is not about computers being a bad thing, it's about how it affects our lives.

Also, I'm open for suggestions so if you think I may have missed something... (I wrote this during a break.)

Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Jul 8 2011, 6:10 pm by Apos.

Technically cars and even houses are technology, so you may want to call it electronic devices, as opposed to electric devices like electric light or machinery at work. Also make sure you clarify in your paper how you want to regard composite devices like traffic lights or elevators that are (partially) computer controlled.

I imagine I would have no problem given I make a plan. Easiest would be going on a camping trip or go swimming at a lake, playing Frisbee there and stuff.

Yes. People won't die if they are deprived of technology for one day (with the exception of people with mechanical organs/currently on life support).

Please tell me which of these are not allowed: Refrigerator, stove, microwave, vacuum cleaner, clock/watch, land-line phone, light bulb, air conditioning, electric razor, leftover pizza from an online order that took place prior to starting the technology deprivation.

My laptop is really the only thing I habitually use daily, and it's only a necessity for schoolwork (I am a CS major).

Sometimes, these devices can become an addiction. You can hardly think of anything outside your computer. You are affected by boredom very early. When you stop using these devices, do you feel like you are wasting your time?
I understand my mistake... How much time do you usually take in front of your refrigerator, stove, microwave, vacuum cleaner, clock/watch, light bulb, etc? I understand that there is some sort of limit, the point of this research is to see if you can disconnect yourself from the electronic devices. Can you get your mind to stop for a day? Let your head do a fresh reboot. I guess the question goes around the lines of how far can you stay away from your monitors?

If taking off your watch helps you stop worrying about time, take it off if you want. Try to do a whole day without it (It's harder than it seems.). I usually look at my watch each few minutes. When I forget it, I usually feel weird. (But the survey is not really about living a whole day without your watch.)

Don't worry about the rest though, leave your fridge, your stole, microwave and all where they are, the survey is already enough complicated like that. Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Honestly I couldn't do it. I work at a cashier terminal during the day and I do work at night on the computer. :\ If I took a vacation I would totally do it though.

I mean, I don't really need to do work on the computer but I should. I'm very far behind.

Oh gosh, go without using a computer for a whole day? The horrors!

Now a month might be harder. I'm excluding job-related computer use here as well, of course, as there's no choice in that.

I cheated.

That would also mean no light as well unless you're gonna use candles, that's gonna be hard unless you exercise hard during the day to get real tired and sleep early

Ultimately, yes. People can live without access to these devices. In reality, about 10% of your study sample will manage this, or they will lie.

Personally, my phone alarm wakes me up in the morning. I watch the news on the TV or at weekends I listen to the Radio to get the news, while I eat breakfast. Then I check my emails and facebook before starting to work either at home on my laptop / computer, or go to an office where I also work on a laptop / computer. If friends are doing something in town, I will phone them to see where they are / what their plans are. If I'm down with that I'll probably draw money from a cash machine or pay with stuff on my card (which I interpret both as 'electronic devices').

Sure, there are things I can live without. But they are so embedded into my day to day life that I can't simply wake up one day and avoid all electronic devices, and if I did succeed - it would be due to myself exerting extra effort and actively avoiding all 'electronic devices'. [edit:] And if I were to actively do this, you would get a biased/skewed data set since all it would determine is peoples willingness or acceptance of the task given to them. [/edit]

Can I be H. S. Thomson? Or, N. Mandela?

--srs---
A better study would look at the time spent per day of applicants using electronic devices (TV, computers, phones etc).
And then ask them to reduce their use to absolutely minimal / emergency only cases.
Then compare their successfulness in abstaining from technology.

Yeah, friday afternoon/yesterday I went biking to a local mountain and then hiked the rest of the way to the top. Spent a day and a half doing it. Phones don't work out there, so no use bringing anything of the sort.

I do this kind of thing fairly often though.

It felt fun, but now my legs are in a bit of pain.

I'm connected to my ipod almost all the time. Sometimes even to the point where I forget that I'm listening to music...
It's kinda silly considering the fact that I sometimes will plan out my day to make sure I have a long enough battery life to do whatever I'm doing. Sometimes If I don't have enough battery charge to last until I can charge it again I will change my plans, or bring the cable with me.

Think of the payne, guys. THE PAYNE.

Although in all seriousness, most of what we do each day is some form of technology that relies on electronic circuits. Even the non-electronic goods are manufactured via electronic means. Very few people in modern society even have the skills necessary to make basic tools - something our caveman ancestors managed with ease.

While getting away from the computer and other electronics might seem healthy, it deprives me of sensory input. When you take a hike, your brain isn't thinking about anything significant, and the brain cycles are essentially "wasted". When I exercise, I always listen to some sort of informational podcast so that I get some good info out of the session afterward, in addition to getting a workout.

Why would I want to? The internet acts as rudimentary transactive memory, meaning not using it would be similar to not using certain memories you possess. That's great, you can work without the internet. Imma focus on making the internet ever so mobile and eventually encase all of the knowledge of humanity into my noggin'.

Some psychologists argue that this is good forward development, since it shifts the focus of our learning from brute memorization to conceptualized understanding.

This is, imo, the next step in human evolution.

As the internet becomes more essential, however, ISPs are going to end up behaving like monopolies (and they already do, to an extent, for many regions with only one provider; this is slightly better in Europe due to competition amongst a larger number of companies). Data rates will eventually hike up to the point where you are essentially paying cellphone data rates for home internet access.

Not in Finland. Apparently their plan is to give everyone 100 Mb/s internet as a basic right by 2015.

I probably should have responded earlier a long time ago... (I had started writing posts, but I would never be satisfied and would always end up closing the tab.)

I have been working on the project during the weeks that have passed. I really appreciate a lot what everyone wrote. So far, I have quoted almost everyone. I like how a lot of different opinions were brought to the table, different points of views (Some of them helped me bring my research even further in ways that I had not even thought about.).

One thing that Cardinal made me realize though is that my results would not have been really useful if it only lasted 24 hours. That gave me the idea to look at other groups of people such as the Amish (Pictures) and the Quakers (Though it seems like they have computers.).

The everything is going pretty well, so far.

(I would have written more but...)

Does electric guitar count as media? What if I'm using non-digital circuits? What if I am?

For this study, I will exclude musical instruments. You can play music as long as you want.

(Adding a link for the Quakers)

By tomorrow, I'll be done the whole thing.

Edit: I'm done (Though I guess it's not perfect.)

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jul 27 2011, 8:50 am by Apos.

Apos, your avatar looks like a glowing penis.

Without electronics, I would lying on my bed for the entire day.

When I had to entertain myself with only a book and a laptop at my disposal, all I did was lie on my bed pressing F5 on a few websites every few minutes. So I cheated, I guess.