A social experiment...

The experiment

During the COVID-19 lockdown, Mrs. Xenia assigned a social experiment to the class. The objective was to stay away from technology and screens for 4 hours. After she explained how the brain becomes more productive when it is bored, she said that this experiment would be very important and said that we should try to get bored


My temptations

 I believe that I can stay away from screens as long as I am occupied. So one Sunday, I decided to try it. I woke up in the morning and disabled my social media accounts. For me, the most tempting thing about technology, is scrolling through the feed of a social media app, and communicating with friends. So I found it best to disable my accounts, in order to not receive notifications. Then, I let my phone on my desk and went to the living room.


Family time

 I was determined to spend quality time with my family. Since we are usually very busy, we never have some time to speak all together and communicate. So this was the ideal time to do that. Me and my family prepared and cooked a barbecue together and had a lot of fun. I didn't even pay attention to the time. I felt liberated and free. I didn't feel the burden of having to log on my phone on my chest.


Catching up

 After this, I decided to do some homework. During the lockdown, I had lost all motivation that I had left, and sat there doing nothing. I had fallen behind on my homework and I had gone weeks without practising my musical instruments. There was still time left in the day, so I sat down and did everything I had missed. I finished assignments, I wrote essays and practised piano and violin for hours.


Self care

 By the time I finished, the day was almost over. And since the four hours had passed, I thought that maybe it would be okay to use my phone to listen to some music. When I listen to music, I am teleported to a place where I can control my thoughts and understand myself more. And since this lockdown had done nothing but bad to my mental health, I thought it fitting to have some time for myself and care for my feelings.


Conclusion

On the bottom line, this experiment helped me remember what life should be like. And I don't mean that I shouldn't use screens at all. I should have control over my screen time, and I should find time to enjoy life with my loved ones and care for myself. I am definitely trying this again. Maybe when I am allowed to meet with friends, I will try it with them as well. I also would love to try repeating this experiment in nature, so I can appreciate the world around me more.