End of the Observation Period & Reflections
I planned on making a comprehensive “reflection” post with my current thoughts on the project and some data analysis. It was going to be a quasi-Show&Tell presentation. That was probably a mistake. I made it too big in my mind and I kept putting it off. Instead, I’m going to add my thoughts and analysis piecemeal as I work through it.
So, how do I think this self-study went?
When I conceived of this idea, I was really interested in how I would use my newfound time from not having access to the internet. I did a similar self-study last year where I chose not to consume any digital media for a month and found that my activities changed significantly. I spent more time reading paper books and practicing guitar. In a way, it felt like my field of view widened and I noticed objects (like the guitar) that I kind of forgot were there.
However, with this project, I struggled much more with keeping to the rules. In addition to the frustration was the embarrassment in revealing the lack of self-control in the posts of this log. I know that I’m not alone in having compulsions to check the internet, but I still felt some shame about it. Most people who I told about this made a joke about me fighting myself. A thing I liked about this project is that it laid bare how true that was. It gave me a chance to think more on what it meant to fight myself, which hopefully, I’ll be able to get into tomorrow.