Day one...

This is Adam Coe with his first blog on the Media Deprivation Project. So far so Good. My cell phone is turned off most of the day. At Quiznoes, where I work, music is playing all day, the only music I can listen to. I worked on Friday night and on Saturday morning, so my music deprivation is not as strong as some of yours I bet. It was very difficult falling asleep without my usual 101.1 Kono oldies going, but I got to sleep with the help of a couple loud fans. The experiance is pretty enlightening. It is a lot like my camping trips, but with temptation everywhere. I realized today that media is a constant thing in my life and without it I feel very, very bored. I am going through videogame and television withdrawls, no Law and Order, or Final Fantasy is killing me slowly. Chris Schieber, on of my friends at Quiznoes, is also in one of Professor Lopez's classes and is doing the project as well, so I am not alone in my struggle. Adrian made it a point to turn my car radio off as soon as we got in my car Friday afternoon for work. I hid the remotes for my television in my parent's room, and have left my cell phone in one position when I am not home. I find myself being very productive around my house, cleaning and doing yard work for lack of something to do. I love the way this project is affecting me. I am very conscious of the Media all around my environment, and how it affects me so much in my day to day life. I am still wondering how the next few days will be, since I did indeed missed the first day of Wolverine! That was tough, I want to see that so bad I would grow claws and fight Professor Lopez to the death to win an opportunity to see it now! Yes, right now! I guess, all I have to say about the first day is that "it sucked", but I am looking forward to tomorrow and seeing how this whole thing will end. I hope the rest of the class is holding on as much as Adrian, Professor Lopez and I are. For the second day, I hope everyone is going strong. Tune in tomorrow to read about my struggle, as I am looking forward to reading about everyone elses. Good night and good luck.

Day One - Christina Gomez

I had strict guidelines to follow for the next three days. Down some Tylenol PM and sleep all weekend. Instead I find this project might actually be worth a shot at doing.

Everyday for almost 4 years of my life have been spent in front of a television, cell phone, or iPod. Normally, my daily routine consisted of sleeping, texting and surfing the web in school, and of course eating. Especially this past semester, I have been in media overload mode. When I wake up, in between classes, during lunch, and then throughout the time I spend at home.

For the first day, I thought everything was going great until the onset shock of exactly how much I was missing out on hit me. It feels like I’m an addict going through withdrawals. Even being on my laptop to post this is tempting enough to look on Facebook or to get my daily fill of celebrity gossip.

During the day I was constantly reminded that I was missing out on seeing Wolverine, listening to music, and watching Real Time with Bill Maher. For the rest of the day I was left to listen to the sound of my own thoughts. Which I realized I either have a busy mind or A.D.D., but I prefer the former.

So instead of contemplating what to do all day, I made up my own to do list. Among my “to do’s” was baking something that was time consuming, attempting to groom my dogs, and doing something productive in the yard. There was the occasional thought about exercising for a while, which I only am fond of when it’s over. For the most part, my day was quite enjoyable.

Jaz Hernandez Day 1

Okay so yesterday was pretty hard if you ask me.   I was at home for a long time yesterday so I could do my homework for finals and stay on track but there were so many opportunities to watch television or surf the web.   This media deprivation helps me to stay focused though because we aren’t allowed to do the things that usually distract me.   Yet on the other hand it sucked because I wanted to take breaks from my writing and when I did I just basically have to sit there.   It doesn’t help when your entire family is at home with you watching TV and I can hear the noise so I just had to get even further away.   Then I finally finished my paper so I had time on my hands and didn’t know what to do.   Luckily I got a sweet set of friends that were down to help me pass time away.   We met up at the mall to get away from all the easy access media in the house but the car ride was horrible.   It would have been okay if I had someone to talk to but I drove by myself and it was know fun.   It was the longest fifteen-minute drive ever.   It was just nothing but the noise of my tires on the road.   Without the tunes on I was bored out of my mind so I just started trying to talk to the girls next to me at a stop light but they were to far behind to see what they were saying.   I finally got to the mall and the boredom was over.   My friends and I hung out and did a little shopping before we went to Sultans.   Chilling at sultans was pretty fun luckily there was music playing so I got to hear something even though it was some kind of music I didn’t understand.   After sultans we went to my friends house and chilled.   Everyone started to play video games, which was not cool at all, so I just went into the other room and fell asleep.   Overall this helped me out because I did a lot of work that I would have procrastinated on it I could have. So even though it was hard I thin it was worth getting one of my papers done.

Deanna Briones-Hassuni Day #1 cont.

Well... now I am a little upset with media. Particularly laptops and the internet. I am currently at my best friends apartment trying to turn in this blog before 5pm. The computer had some sort of error, and I thought I lost my whole blog. Thank God this website automatically saves the drafts. Anyways... as far as day one goes, my boyfriend did not want to help me out by turning off all media. He turned everything back on and said to just pretend that I went without media. I told him that it was a requirement and I wanted to see if I could really do it. I left because he couldn't deal with it. I had an induction ceremony at school at 6pm. The only music I had to listen to was the National Anthem. After the ceremony my friend Sara and I got into the car, and immediately she wanted to turn up the radio. I yelled at her and told her I could not listen to the radio. We ended up talking as if we had never talked before. We went over to I Hop to study for finals. I got lucky there. They played a lot of great songs over the intercom. After studying, we got back into the car again. Sara kept forgetting to not turn on the radio. To end the night, we played the question game. We asked each other several questions trying to guess particular people and celebrities that we were thinking of. That was the only option since we didn't have anything else to blab about and the car was silent. I feel as though going without media for the first day was not very challenging for me, but it certainly was with my friends. I kept myself busy with many activities to do leaving no time for media. Day two is becoming difficult. I miss music!

Eric Garza - Day 1

Well considering i just flew in from out of town on friday morning, it would have been hard not to use my phone to call for a ride home from the airport and an additional call to let my mom know i arrived home safely. She worries a lot. Once i do turn my phone on Im sure half of the voice messages are going to be from here asking why i have'nt called because i forgot to tell her about this project. Maybe i'll swing by her house to let her know, but Im gonna be so pissed if i get there and shes not home. She live so far from where i do. Anyhow, besides those two phone calls early friday morning i swear i havent used my phone since and its been kinda boring, but quiet i can add. I have no idea what my friends are doing tonight or what they are doing right now. Like i said before, i guess i could drive to their houses and see whats poppin but i would be so upset man if i get to someones house and they're not home. Thats wasting gas and the time it takes to drive over there. My sister and I were talking about this project the other day and she asked me, "What did you do before you had a cell phone?" I said, I couldn't remember. Isn't that wierd. I dont smoke marijuana, so i feel like i have a great memory for the most part, but i can't remember what I use to do to stay in touch with my friends. I know when i was in high school those big brick phones were around but i didnt know anybody who had one. I think i use to just use the house phone mostly to talk to my friends, but my mom wouldnt let me talk for too long cause it would run up the phone bill. Anyway, i really think the hardest part of this project for me is not being in contact with friends and being able to make plans. I hardly watch tv, and use the internet but when it comes to my phone, well i think Im averaging about 1,000 text messages a month, just from texting friends. I do have a couple of papers that are due on monday for my humanities class and due to the fact that i cant watch tv or surf the internet or use my cell, Ill probably be able to finish those up in no time. Geez, this is gonna be rough!

Day Uno

Wow!  This is an experience that I never thought would be as hard as it sounds.  I would never imagine the emptiness that I felt on this media deprived day.  It first started with me coming home from work at 6:30am because I work overnight.  I had a brief thought before I turned on my radio in my car that reminded me of this project.  So I went along with it and rode home for 30 minutes without the radio.  This was the worst experience of deprivation.  Every 5 minutes I wanted to turn the music on, but I kept trying to hold myself back from giving in.  I started to realize that the music that I listened to filled up a certain silence that can make the world feel as if it were moving slower.  This is how I felt throughout the whole day.  It was like an extreme lent participation that took away many aspects of my life.

As I sat around my house with nothing to do, I felt more lazy and bored than ever.  It’s funny that with such a hectic schedule and with the forms of media in my life that time goes by fast; however, when there’s no media to fill in the gaps of entertainment, time ceased to never go forward.  I longed for something to do or someone to talk to.  But there was no one home and all my friends were in school.  So when I was faced with such adversity as this, I found it best to go to sleep and try to kill some hours like that.  This was a constant throughout the day, which was pretty boring.  I found myself catching up on all my sleep that I have been missing out on from the whole semester.

With all this non media, however, I was able to accomplish things that I had more time for.  I had urges to clean my room, wash my car, and do some erands that I have been postponing for years.  This media deprivation allowed me to have more time to do more things in my life.  But, there's a downfall to that, which is running out of things to do.  I hope that I can occupy myself for day two without any media.  

Josh Aldama [Day 1]

So Friday with out any type of media was kinda... weird. I never realized how much I use any type of media in my life. I didn't have work on Friday, nor did I have anything else to do. It was just one of those days to relax and do nothing but watch a movie, get on the internet, etc. But oh how could I forget about this experiment. I wanted to go watch TV so bad, get online, surf the internet, but I couldn't do any of those. As the day went by, I managed to do a lot of house cleaning, car cleaning, and sit down with my guitar and write some music. The thing I noticed the most, was the fact that turning on the TV, getting on my computer when I wake up, listening to music in the car, using my phone, were simply a bunch of habits in my every day life. Even though I knew I wasn't supposed to do all of these things, I would automatically do them, and minutes later I would stop, think, and realize that I did it based on pure impulse. Of course I would then stop it and go do something else. 

On Friday nights, my friend and I usually play some video games before we hit up the night life. All I can say, is that my friend was pretty bummed out when I told him that I couldn't play any video games this weekend due to a school project. He looked at me like if were some kinda joke. I explained to him about the whole ordeal, and he absolutely understood. So the little prick figured out that you can play video games on your own, and not necessarily with another person. You have no idea how fun it is to watch someone play video games. 

Now it's Saturday, and it's been much easier compared to Friday. All I had to do is not listen to music in the car. But I do have to admit that I listened to music at work, oh yea, I listened to the same songs over and over again. That's what happens when you work at Sea World.  

Orlando Day 1

May 1 day one of media deprivation project. The media deprivation project is what it sounds like no intentional media use. There is no cell phone use, no computer use, no radio, no TV DVD or Movie Theater use, and finally no magazine use. So this projects starts on Friday when you wake up. That is one loop pole that I took advantage of so instead of turning off the TV at twelve am on Friday I just happened to stay awake a little longer on that Friday. In actually a typical night of the week is this. I wake up on a Monday morning around nine am leave for school at ten am to arrive at my first class at ten thirty am. I recently moved further away from the school so there is a thirty min drive that I cannot avoid. Now that I think about it on a typical day I’m driving about two hours and forty five min every day that’s a lot of driving that’s an earful of radio. So on Friday I woke up around two and what I would usually do is watch TV and just wake up a bit before making breakfast or before getting ready and on Friday that was not an option for me. So instead I just started getting ready for work which was at five. Work is a restaurant on the north side an upscale place where a lot of rich people go and try to feel better about themselevs whether consciously or not. So I had to drive downtown and the first thing that I remembered was no radio and downtown is a twenty min drive. The first thing that happened when I started my car was a radio blasting country music. So I jumped to turn it off man that was a close one. It was quite funny driving down the road cause every once in a while my arm would jump to turn up the radio which was not even on. The more I drove the less my arm moved but the mental idea was there every twenty min I felt it an arm movement towards the radio.

Taylor Lieber - Day 1

I was not looking forward to this project at all! I'm in between jobs at the moment, so I am at home pretty often, surrounded by temptation. I stayed up late on Thursday night watching a lot of tv and texting friends. I had to try and get my fill in, to hold me over! I woke up a little later than usual on Friday, at about 10:30, but I stayed in bed until about 11:00. My first thought after waking up was, "I have no reason to get up!". Haha, I'm kidding. That's a little extreme. Usually the first thing I do in the morning is turn on either my tv or radio. Since that is off limits, I checked my email real quick and found a reminder for this wonderful project. Grrr! It took me about twenty minutes longer than usual to get ready for the day, because I felt so thrown off without my music playing in the background. I felt sluggish; music really helps wake me up and gets me going in the morning. After that, I read for about an hour and a half. Luckily, I do love to read. Unfortunately, I have read all of my books already, at least once. I guess now would probably be a good time to head to Barnes and Noble to pick up a new book. I went to pick up lunch because I wanted to get out of the house for a little while. The only problem with this, is the whole driving without music thing. My roommate suggested I drive with the windows down, so that maybe I could hear bits and pieces of songs from other cars! I haven't resorted to that yet, but we'll see how I feel come Sunday. With no music playing in the car, of course that left me alone with my thoughts. I found myself thinking about friends I haven't talked to in a while and reminding myself about upcoming things that I need to take care of. Every once in a while, a song I like would pop into my head, and I would sing it as best as I could. It was sort of nice, but not nearly as enjoyable as the real thing! I went to have dinner at a friend's house, and her husband had the radio on. It was the first time all day I heard any music, and I loved it! I listened to a few songs while we had dinner. I left when we were done, and I was very sad on the long ride home. When I started getting ready to go to bed, I was a little upset because I fall asleep to my tv every night. It took me longer than usual to get to sleep, because once again I was left alone with my thoughts in the complete silence. Today wasn't horrible, but it certainly wasn't how I wanted to spend it....maybe tomorrow will be better.

Dominic Fridays media deprivation

Well....
It has been an interesting day. I fell like I am in grade school again, playing dodge ball but instead of balls I'm dodging forms of mass media! It seems like no matter what I do or where I go I find myself faced with some form of media,this is making my day very complicated. When I woke up I was woken up by my cell phone, which has a music alarm on it, so i had to remove the song and put the plain alarm sound. *sigh* There is not fun in the plain alarm sound. I would rather hear a song that I love rather then some annoying sound.
Another hurtle that I faced was the alerts on my cell phone. I am sent several text messages telling me weather updates and breaking news, so I had put my phone on silent because I kept getting alerts.
I finally had relief when I went shopping today because i got to hear music! Music is a big part of my life because I always have it on.Today was interesting because I had to take a shower in silence! To be honest it was so weird.While at the store i got to hear music even if it was not the type i wanted to hear it was nice to have something playing in the background. Embarrasingly enough, while shopping i swear that I could hear my cell ringing and vibrating in my pocket! But it was at my house.
I'm finding that I really depend on my phone for because it has everything I need. A great example was when me and my mom where looking for a restaurant we could not find it because we didnt have directions. So we were lost for 45 min so we gave up. If i had my phone i would have been able to get turn-by-turn directions. Me and my mom had to much pride to pull over and ask for directions.
I'm very interested in seeing how the rest of my day goes. Suprisingly I cant wait for work tomorrow!

Day two of the project has proven to be a challenge already. I went to work this morning as always, and decided to stay true to the experiment by turning off the radio i normally listen to while im working in the back of the store. It made work go by alot slower, but gave me plenty of time to map out the rest of my day and also clear ALL of my thoughts.
Mr. Lopez couldnt have selected a worse weekend to conduct this experiment, because there are plenty of good games going on this weekend; game 7 of the Boston/Chicago basketball game is coming on tonight, game 7 of the Miami/Atlanta series is tomorrow night, and the fight between "Pac-man" Pacquiao and Hatton that ive been anticipating for the past 3 months is being showed on Pay Per View tonight. I originally planned on watching it with my frat brothers at buffalo wild wings, but i guess ill indulge my mind with a nice healthy book. My excitement is clearly overwhelming.

Adrian Coe- Friday Deprivation

Friday, the beginning of the weekend and a gosh awful day to go without Media of any sort. No movies and no music, but the really hard part was getting home from work late in the evening and fighting the urge to flick on the television and start watching Law and Order before hitting the sack. Driving in the car wasn’t too horrendous, it was actually nice in the silence to be able to think and have a conversation with Adam without having the white noise of some song playing in the background. I read a lot from a novel I have been reading from time to time, but I hit it hard on Friday. My mom offered to leave the television on and walk away, but I told her that that would only be temptation to break a rule and I personally do have a sense of honor and am trying hard to complete this project in its entirety. At work music is playing, and because it is a restaurant and a public place I didn’t have a hard time ignoring my phone and other would-be distractions from focusing solely on my job. There were a few times when I did have to send a text message, but no conversations, just making plans for later on and informing them of the project I am working through. Another tough trial I had to see myself put through was video games. I play video games on Fridays before I go into work and it was tough pushing through and working on something else instead. I had a hard time when I really wanted to look up some information and couldn’t use my computer and instead ask my parents if they knew, they didn’t… More or less it wasn’t too bad, would I choose to do this for a week? Hell no. But for the weekend and for a grade I can stand it. I will have to work on my History final, A 4 page essay that I have started but will need to finish before Tuesday; all in all I think it will be relatively easy focusing on the project and not turning on windows media player or jumping onto Google or Myspace.

Deanna Briones-Hassuni Day #1

Wow!
Let me start by waking up! I usually wake up to the radio, and as soon as I heard it on Friday morning I instantly remembered that I was not supposed to listen to any media. I turned it off as if I was scared that my professor would know I heard some music the first minute of the media deprivation project. I did pretty good at not turning on the television. I usually don't have time to watch t.v. anyways. I went over to my boyfriends house to see if he was up for class. I couldn't have called him even if I wanted to. My phone was dead. This was a great thing for the project. The drive to his house was the most tempting considering I just purchased one of my favorite country artists album. I wanted to instantly sing to Sugarland's songs. I asked myself, "Why cant I sing without the cd? I song all the time anyways." Before you know it I was making up my own songs. I started to drive slow as I enjoyed hearing myself. I then became my favorite artist. Who would have known. There came the moment... Walking into my boyfriends house. I heard nothing but media blaring from every corner of the appartment. The money market was on the television. He had country music coming from his alarm clock that he did not even hear. His laptop was on the dining table with internet tabs on music, news, stock markets, and videos. Just when I thought I could get away

LaQuinta - Day 1

Day 1 was not as hard for me as it was for my family, because I am not a media junkie. Since they had medial withdraws and breakdowns, I just ask of them to keep the main family room free of any and all forms of media. I had a busy busy day. My ex mother-in-law came in town on Thursday. So i had company to keep me occupied. On Friday(day 1) i got up in the morning to gather my paper work that had to be fax to my employers in New Orleans by yesterday which was the deadline. I was cutting it close, because the other papers i need were not ready until Thursday. My kids missed the school bus so i had to drop them off at school, one at middle school and two at the high school. I drop the middle one at school first, then off two the high school. Before i made it to the high school, I was feeling like some Micky D's breakfast. Since the kids were already late, they agreed to go get breakfast too. Then i remember i needed one of the kids to stay home to let at&t technician repair the Internet problem, while i go to office max and send off a fax. On the way to the school my youngest volunteered to go back home. When i got back home my youngest son, ex mother-in-law and i ate breakfast. Then my ex mother-in-law ask me to do her hair and nails. After that I showered and left to drop of class work for a final project at Blue Star for First Friday and then went to drop my ex-in-law at the airport. After leaving the airport, was running about 20 minutes late picking my daughter up from school. I dropped her off home and headed back to participate with my class in First Friday. On my way back i stopped off for chips and dip to add to the event. I parked on the side street, because the Blue star lot was full. After hanging my picture up for display, I chilled out after a non stop day. around 8 o'clock i went to check on my truck to make sure it was okay. Fortunately, i was just in time to keep it from being towed. Apparently after a certain time that side of the street that i parked on becomes a no parking zone only on First Friday. I did not know and there were no signs. I also received a parking ticket. This was my first First Friday and last. Over all i use my cell phone about 4 times to communicate with family for those tight spots. no computer, the radio in the truck is out so no radio while driving in the truck all day. They did have music at First Friday. I did have to use a fax, but it was imperative.That is it other than writing this blog . i have not use the computer.

May 2

I never realized how much the media affects every aspect of my daily life. From the moment that I wake up to the moment I fall asleep I'm never to far from my cell phone, t.v, radio, or a computer. I felt like I had gone back to the dark times, before there was any technology! Well that's a bit of an exaggeration but it is very hard to do.
The hardest things for me to give up were my cell phone, and the radio. I wake up with my cell phone alarm, so thankfully I didn't have to be up at a certain time today. Driving was like a foreign experience without the radio. Not just that but I admitt that I talk and text while driving, so it was a little refreshing to ignore the urge to be on my phone constantly. I also listen to my myspace playlist while showering and getting ready, but that too was a silent experience today. It was kind of errie at first but I honestly got ready a lot faster than usual because I wasn't constantly stopping to change the song. I also just talked to my friend instead while I was getting ready, which was a refreshing change. The hardest part is going to be getting to sleep! I have to have a radio or the television on when I go to sleep, so falling asleep should be interesting.
What I have learned so far is that without the media I am far less distracted. I'm much more focused and observant when I'm driving because I'm not checking my cell every two seconds, or switching radio stations every other song. Getting ready for the day went by faster without texting and checking my facebook. Usually I would sit on facebook for about thirty minutes, and be on the phone for another twenty. Even writing this blog is going by faster without searching for what song I want to listen to next. Thankfully I will get to listen to some music at the Eli Young band concert that I'm going to tonight! Life can't be silent all the time!
Deandra Parks

Edgar R. Day 1

So the first day driving around without music was hell. I am a delivery driver so i usually use my music to get me focused and prevent from going crazy from driving so much. At first it did not really bother me but then i started noticing that the their were moments were i would just get lost in my head. Almost like a 2 second day dream....I guess i was just getting lost in my head due to the silence maybe? The t.v aspect of this project was barable, usually all i watch is ESPN and Heroes but that was replaced with the newspaper quickly and the other comes on Mondays. Internet wasn't bad at all. E-mails and ebay seems easy to put off right now. So really the only part that is really getting to me is the radio/music. I listen to music pretty much all the time. I have never been used to this much silence. What makes it worse is that i forgot i wanted to go this concert on sat....it irritates but its whatever, they'll be others later on.

Jonathan Swayne blog for Friday May 1, 2009

Jonathan Swayne blog for Friday May 1, 2009

The first day of this project was not as bad as I thought that it was going to be since I already had allot of things to do that did not involve me using any mass media. I will admit that I did have to use my cell phone twice because I had to call my choir director to see where he had dropped off his keys for me as he was going to be late for rehearsal but other than that I stayed clear of all media on Friday. The hardest part of the deprivation I would have to say was right after I first got up got up around 10:30am I don’t get a news paper or any other print publications so I really had nothing to do until 2:00 in the afternoon when we had scheduled a quartet practice, so I decided to practice my piano playing which I guess was a good thing because I could defiantly use the practice. After thinking about this it kind of made me realize how TV and the internet can get in the way of doing more productive things and I never thought of it as such a time waster before. Another part of the day that was defiantly hard was the two hour drive in rush hour traffic to San Marcos with no radio on I never realized how stressful driving in 5:00 traffic was until yesterday. Lucky me and my quartet all carpool to rehearsal so we could at least sing some songs for part of the way but we only know about 7 songs so after the first 30 minutes it got really boring really fast. Going to sleep was another things I almost never go to sleep before 3:00 in the morning so after all of my friends had gone home and I could not watch the TV it was just so quiet I never realized how much TV that I watch every night but I noticed that I usually watch it for about 2-3 hours before I go to bed and I watch allot less TV than anyone else I know. Not looking forward to Saturday I have nothing to do all day so it’s defiantly going to be a boring one.

Day 1, Julio Ladron "Apesta"

Es uno de los peores projectos que e tenido... I use all kind of media every single day to work, study, work out, while driving almost every where. Yesterday i began my day waking up to go to work, while i was on my car i remember about the project so i turned off my radio. everything was going so well so far the only sounds the i was hearing where the noise the my tires make while driving. I began working but i was you stud to listen a talking show on the radio the will make my day go faster. But not the day i work on a ranch so the only noise the i was hearing was the wind, the birds and the machinery, making my day to feel so slow. It was like 9:45 am and i was just one hour with out the radio and i was so despaired to turn the radio on. i thought i will able to handle it so easily but it wasn't like that. Every hour was going so slow but i try to focus it on what i was doing. But the same day i forget my cell too, it was a terrible day at work with out radio and forgetting about my cell. The day i realized the i need to have my cell phone whit me in attached to it. I began to hate the media project, i need music to work to make my day go faster and to keep my rid mend on work. I put a lot of me to finish my day with out radio and cell phone. When i got out from work and driving back home still with out radio, i began to think and realize how my life ha change with media. I remember when i was a child in mexico the i was prefer to be out side playing soccer and no even car about tv, radio and plus i never imagine to have a cell phone. An now i look my self today tenttation im surrounded by media everywhere. So i got home I look at my cell for missing call and txt then i just put it away. It is a big tenttation to grave my cell and began texting but i ned to be strong and try to learn something from this project the i hate. But still i have two more days to go.

Neysa Day1

Yesterday was the longest, most boring day of my life! I woke up thinking, today is…May 1st.….May 1st? hmmm….oh no May 1st! It had hit me. My final project of deprivation was starting! NOOOO! Ok so I started by day as usual brushing my teeth and showering. That was fine, till I had nothing to do for a few hours. In this time I usually watch music videos or shows that are on till I leave for school. So I thought to myself, it’s ok read a book, play with the dogs, do some laundry. And so I did. I washed two loads, thank God, fed and gave water to my dogs, and brushed them. Then I remembered its Friday and I have no school today. I found that I’m addicted to my I Pod, the television, and the radio. I immediately drove to my friends, of course without the radio and my I Pod. My friend Hector and I are best friends and could talk our mouths off all day if we were able to. So I figured he’s my best bet for getting me through this thing. I live to drive to work or school because I’m able to listen to my own mix of music, and blast it as I speed. So I wasn’t able to flip through the radio or put on my I Pod. While I will admit at the beginning it was difficult, it got a tad bit easier. This just gave me time to think about all kinds of things. This was about a 25 minute ride, so it was a little depressing. After about 15 minutes it got boring, and seemed as though I had nothing else to think about. I get there and convince him to go out and eat with me. I explained my situation and he said we wouldn’t listen to music, I thought to myself, great. He was convinced we could entertain ourselves, and I believed him. We ate at IHOP where it took ridiculously long for our food to come out. Then we get back home to wake up 2 hours later. So most of my morning and mid afternoon had gone by without my usage of any media. I felt so proud of myself. I took my friend to work, and spent the rest of the day with my boyfriend until I went to a party in the evening where music was playing. I think I was able to enjoy the ability of music a bit more than everyone else last night.

day 1 antoine

So I just wanna start off by saying if it wasnt the teacher's original idea then whoever came up with this project is evil. I caught a serious case of road rage being stuck in rush hour traffic with horrible san antonio drivers and no music to calm me down. i didnt notice how much tv, radio, music, internet and video games occupies my down time at home. I got a bit of a break on friday because i had work then two b ball games so most of the day i was gone, but at night i always fall asleep with the tv on and just trying to fall asleep in the dark with complete silence is much harder than it sounds. On the bright side i guess i had only got two hours of sleep the previous night and i was a bit intoxicated friday night so i fell asleep pretty quick. One good thing for me to avoid is my ipod. At work and school any free time i get i give to my ipod, and even at home i occasionally use my ipod deck in my room. But i mainly dont listen to it at home so got off easy on that one. Phone, internet and tv were the hardest things to stay away from because they have become so routine in my life i never noticed how much i use them, especially on my phone since it has internet. I think saturday will be the hardest day for me because i normally just sit at home all day and dont go anywhere till night time. Day 1 wasnt so bad but day 2 will be a real challenge for me.

Lisa Lozano-Day 1

Honest to god I did forget about my final. Lol! I totally forgot that it was already May 1st but I did catch myself early in the morning that day. I was on my way to the gym and was jamming out in my car to some Lil'Wayne, then a commercial came on for Macy's and said that they were having a sale and I got so excited and they said, " Only today May 1st". After I heard that I immediately turned off my radio. When I did it was the most boring trip to the gym ever. All I heard was my tires hitting every and any little bump, I hated it. Luckily Gold’s Gym has music all over so I could still work out, and like you said I couldn't just go up to them and ask to turn of their TV’s and radio's. :P During my workout I realized I had left my phone at home. As soon as I got there I went to go turn my phone off and noticed that I had already 5 text messages and 4 missed phone calls from my mom, dad, boyfriend, and best friend. Unfortunately I could not reply due to the fact of actually going through with this project. Grrr!!!! So throughout the day I just saw my phone go off and it bothered me so bad that I couldn’t answer it. :( But then my boyfriend got a little bit worried and ended up calling my sisters phone during the afternoon. So I talked to him and told him why I wasn’t answering my phone and he had completely forgotten about the project. He did mention he would come over later on that night so I wasn't to mad :) luckily I am sick, so I was not in the mood to watch any TV or go anywhere. So I pretty much slept throughout the whole day and then when my parents came home I had to explain to them the final and they even told me that there would be no way for me to go through this whole weekend especially without my cell phone.

Danielle-Day 1

So to start off, I tried to get in as much tv, music, and internet as I could on Thursday night. I watched Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, the news, and sportscenter. I blasted the radio in my car on my way to and from work, and I checked my myspace, facebook, etc. I thought I was doing myself a favor by soaking in all the media I could the night before. I hate to admit this, but I was wrong!
Friday mornings, I usually work at American Eagle, and on my way to work, I usually listen to the 96.1 morning show. Well it just so happened that I was off on Friday morning, so I got to sleep in. I was really bored at my house, without watching any tv or surfing the web, so I had my brother order a pizza for me. After I ate, I took a shower, and got ready to go to my other job, at an elementary school. I have to be honest, not listening to the radio on my drive to and from work was hard, but I had recently had my stereo in my car stolen, and was without radio for about 2 weeks, so I was sort of used to not having a radio. Without the radio on, I was singing songs to myself, but mostly, I was thinking and analyzing everything going on in my life right now.
At work, not listening to the radio was easy, because I take care of a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds, however, we do have a music and movement time, where we sing songs and dance to a cd, so I guess I broke the rules in that sense.
When I got home, I heard the tv on, and my family was there, just watching tv like a bunch of normal people. Well I immediately went to my room, and as my sister was watching the recording of Ugly Betty, I was in my room, doing laundry. How fun.
I play volleyball in a league at Fatso's on Friday nights, and I knew there was going to be music and TV. When I walked in, I tried to give myself blinders so I wouldn't be tempted to just watch a little bit of the Atlanta and Miami game. While we play, there's music in the background, so I couldn't really help that. But on the drive home, it just so happened that 410 was closed, so I had to sit in traffic for about 35 minutes with nothing to listen to, but the crazy thoughts in my head!
Overall, it wasn't too bad, but then again, I had alot of distractions.
Bring on Saturday.

What a start to an odd weekend Burak Day 1

I have already been exposed to this sort of media deprivation that is incase in is project however that was on a vacation in a small town and not my normal weekend. To start off I had a really quite breakfast which I was not use to at all normaly I have Cnn on while eating but today i took the newspaper approach. That wasnt too bad at all I don't mind reading the normal paper sometimes for sports or just world news in general I think the stories seem to be more intersting then how the news report on it. The next part of the day was going to drive me insane, it was a car drive that took 3 hours to get to my destitnation. I cannot belive how crazy I felt for driving in dead silence. I was so temepted to plug-in my ipod and just say forget this but alas I managed. Me and a friend where heading to a indoor soccer staidum for alittle tournament. At the expense of my suffering my friend thought it was a good idea to try it tommorow but i doubt he will last. After all the games where done with i had another long drive back however i notced how dependent we have become to forms of media. To me it seems like they run our lives more often then not waiting for the next text message, listening to music, and even just using the laptop at school. It seems as if we have become detached from our normal lives and our bound by a chain which is different forms of media. I am sure all the 1st days are going to be tough for everyone but once we wake on and smell the freash air I think some of us will enjoy some tranquality in our chaotic lives. I do admit tho this is one of the craziest projects i've done. I have to admit that i did break the rules (just read the email about the T.V and the swine flu in the email) the only reason i broke was i happened to be in Turkey during the Bird flu epidemic so i am alittle paranoid. Other then that I don't think i'll compromise the project that much after this. To all of yea best of luck it only gets easier from here.

Day 1 - Alina Martinez

So it's day one of this media deprivation stuff. I'm finding that this is isn't taking a complete major toll on my lifestyle in some areas, but in some it is. Because of the fact that i've never really been a big phone fanatic, it's not to hard surviving without it. For me, it's more about having my phone there right next to me and with me at all times. It's not about actually using it. But i guess that's more of an OCD issue than anything else. I hate using the phone to talk and have conversations over nothing. It truly bores me. So put my phone in my drawer when i got home and didn't look at it til the next morning. For someone who doesn't use their phone too often, i had 28 missed calls..amusing. Thank goodness i had an 8 hour shift at work today so i didn't worry much about my media deprivation at that point. I was out of work by 4 pm however and usually i'd go home and crash out with the tv on..but i couldn't. That was probably the hardest thing for me. I don't enjoy watching television much, but i do very much NEED it to fall asleep. It's this other little OCD thing i have going. So it took me about an extra 3 hours to fall asleep at night. It made me realize that i needed my tv and cell phone there more for security reasons rather than their actual purpose. For a second there i was like..umm am i mental? I was telling brittany in class the other day how i had really been wanting to online shop for some bathing suits i saw. Yea..that was a no go. So i got out of work and went shopping at the mall..big mistake. I ended up buying some bathing suits i liked..along with two pairs of shoes and a necklace. This would not have occured with online shopping! I then proceeded to go have dinner to keep myself entertained and at the retaurant, it was the first time i had heard music all day. I almost felt like i went to that restaurant on purpose just so i'd be able to have some melody to my ears. My ipod is broken and i have no music in my iphone so the radio kinda always gets me through my days with my busy schedule. Well dinner turned out to be a big no-no as well because i ended up spending $25 at stonewerks (drinks not included). I found the media deprivation in my life to cause a big dent in my wallet. :\

Day 1 MichaelPetit

When I woke up I knew right away I would go crazy if i stayed in my house. I had to find these loop holes that we talked about in class and use them to my full advantage. Already I had two text on my phone. I new this was going to be hard. Mass media is everywhere in my life and this deprivation no easy task. I went to Auto Zone to pick up some spray paint for my car. On the way there, I wanted to turn on the radio so bad but I couldn't. I didn't realize how loud my subconscious was, especially in complete silence. I consider this a advantage cause I am able to think things out. Music is just one of the many distractions of mass media in my life. This the main reason why drivers get into accidents because they are distracted by cell phones and loud radios. I met up with a friend at work and we ate at Hooters. I was able to watch TV there. I enjoyed being out and able to watch my favorite sports on the tube. I stayed there more then usual because I knew this was going to be the only time I could watch TV for awhile. Next I went to a tire shop and bought me some rims. I went home and wash my car. Then, I went to my friends Jose house. Jose bought a used truck that day and we went to pick up his cousin Nick. Jose had no radio in his truck. I was going crazy at this point, I love music!!!! After that we went to a birthday party. Everyone was having a good time drinking and talking. I played Guitar Hero World Tour off the PS3. I was able to listen and play music finally. I was getting late already and we went to Nicks house. We were hanging outside for the rest of the night just drinking and listening to music. I played some basketball with my best friend DJ. After that I drop my friend off and went home. I was able to leave my cocoon through this media deprivation project. The advantages of this day where I was more social. I was being more active and more outgoing to do more things in life, just in this one day. The stranglehold was my cell phone this was the only thing I consider my weakness. I didn't realize how attached my cell phone is to me. I think the next two days are going to be easy cause I work all day. I wish I was off so I could do more things in life like yesterday. Theres more to life then just working............

Will this discontent breed progression or insanity - Abigail, Day 1

The anticipation for this project got to me Thursday night as I stayed awake two hours longer than I should have allowed just getting my fill of music and Internet before the long days ahead. Stupid I know, like if it were food and I’m stuffing myself so I could be full for as long as possible before my arrival at a desert island. Its funny how we depend so heavily on mundane objects and practices to fill the void in our lives.

Friday morning came to quickly. Luckily I had made plans with my best friend to go out in the morning before either of us went into work. Which helped to an easy start. We drove around and headed to a bookstore to explore some divert reading. Options are limited when you’re not allowed to embrace the world of media and you only have one working leg. On our way out, at the check out counter, flashing at me was a copy of Time magazine, on the cover, Obama’s first 100 days. If I couldn't watch CNN this was the next best thing. After eating we headed back home. I’m a sucker for sleep deprivation, so I took advantage of the silence and slept. I woke soon to leave for work. As I get ready I usually have my television or mp3 player on in the background so as fill the silence. Turns out I can get ready a lot faster without stopping to look at a screen or skip to a fast song on my play list. I avoided the living room were the television blared as my father watched Spanish talk shows. I became anxious and ended up at work a half hour early. The drive there was no help as I’m usually the one to turn on the radio, instead I rolled down the windows and listened to the wind and traffic. I work at a retail store behind a desk, answering customer phone calls and being the store secretary. When its slow and I have little to no extra work, I usually have Pandora open as I work on paperwork. I’m not in a closed room and my desk is completely open to traffic and sounds from around the store, but it was a slow day. The music we play for our customers comes from one area that is far from my concentration and the television screens are blocked from my view (and even if they weren't they display only demos approved by company policy and played in reiteration). So the seven hours past and on the drive home I was imprisoned by the sounds of my father’s favorite radio station 92.9 Esterio Latino. Don’t get me wrong, I love Spanish music, but there’s a clear difference between that station and 95.1.

And so the day passed, not to my liking but not as bad as I fear Sunday, my day off, will be. Anticipation once again takes over.

Arseny Day 1

So thursday night, knowing the black out was to begin the following morning, i set my alarm clock to go off a half hour later than usual. my days always start with the news on tv and a radio on in the shower so that's why i decided to wake up later just to keep my mind off of being media deprived. when i'm driving to work i always have my radio on with some talk show or music, and friday drive was nice and quiet. not too bad yet because i had a killer headache from going out the night before. as i drove toward downtown, the traffic on I10 was really backed up and i realized there was no way of knowing the reason for it because i didn't get the update on TV or radio. twenty minutes later i saw that a little yellow car upside down on its roof was the reason i was almost a half hour late to work. that's when i realized that the radio traffic news are so helpful because if knew there was a possibility i'd be late, i would've left earlier. or at least called my boss.
easy day at work, i'm off by 11:30. i get home, have a ridiculously quiet lunch and start trying to find things to do instead of watching iron man like i was planning on. the grass needed to be cut so i fired up the mower. i always do stuff outside with my iPod on but this time all i had to entertain me was the engine sound. when i got finished, i realized it's only been an hour so i went and mowed the neighbor's yard as well just to kill more time. let me just say that while i was waiting on my friends to get off work and girlfriend to get out of class to kick off the wonderful friday night, everything around the house was done. finally. but in complete silence. the TV and radio are a big part of my life so i never thought that doing what i'm doing without them in the background would be so dull. the dishes got washed, laundry got done, floors vacumed, and it wasn't even 5 o'clock yet. that's when i almost decided to pick up quilting but thank god my friend called about a tubing trip down guadalupe (voicemail was for some reason marked urgent).
finally, about 8pm i got my break when i went to Eli Young Band concert at floores. let me tell you, after just one day of not being able to listen to music, it had to have been the sweetest sound my ears have ever heard. it's always the little things we take for granted.
earlier this week i was planning on finding a tool box for my truck, but how in the world can you find a good used one without the internet?? now, going to brace myself for day 2.

Day One and 1800 rounds.

Day one. I was no where near a computer on friday. Yesterday was a very fun day minus the lack of music. I was off of work and no school. So it was time for some fun but, without music how much fun can you have? So I thought to myself how do deaf-people have fun? Okay that was a horrible joke and I am going to hell for that one.

Moreover, I have not had a cell phone since the beginning of the semester, so living without one has not phased me at all. Although trying to occupy myself in silence without music was a trivial event. On my days off I like to play xbox-live because I barely ever get play on it anymore even though I still pay for the membership. Since I couldn't shoot any digital-guns; I figured shooting my real guns always puts a smile on my face and also leaves a ringing in my ear. So I went to my uncle's private shoot-range in Kerrville, and let me tell you the car ride on the way there was silent and not peaceful since, I get road rage easily. Sure enough, on the way there some douche-bag decides he needs to examine the hell out my license plate and wanted to tailgate me. Which is not a very good idea since, I was already irritable from no music and I was armed.

Once I got to Kerrville I greeted my Tio and Tia. Went out on the range and had some fun killing empty bottles, three watermelons I bought on the side of the road, and a old-junk car thats out on the range. After shooting off a few hundreds rounds with my cousin Albert, and recieving a cartrigde burn on my hand; I called it a day and headed back to San Antonio for first-friday!

The car ride back is always shorter with the lack of anticipation, so the second silent car ride of the day was not that bad. Since I could enjoy any of the exspensive electronics I have, the next best thing was to go out and ROCK!ROCK!ROCK!. So my buddy Frank and I hit up Kona and met up with some more people for reverse happy-hour. (I rode in his car because I wanted to listen to some music,which felt good to hear some tunes.)
Well the rest of the was night exacltly PG-13 so this is where I stop.

Nick Ibarra Day 1 =/

You know, after day 1, you REALLY see how much mass media and even entertainment is part of your everyday life, especially in today’s society, its like you almost need it, but thats just me. When I first work up, I always turn on the music, well; I had to turn it off right away. Getting in my truck was hard to, right when I get in, I turn on the radio and use my iTouch, nope, had to turn that one off as well. The hardest part of day 1 was not listening to music, it’s a big part of my life for so many reasons, and not being able to that was very difficult for me. As for the internet, I never really got on it that much to being with, except for e-mail and school work, so that wasn’t bad at all. It was different not using my cell phone for social purposes as most of us do. Ignoring text messages and calls from friends seemed as if I didn’t want to talk t them. So after fighting temptations for the most part of the day, I came back from school, it was a silent drive back home, nothing but the sound of the wind and other cars. To me, I noticed a little more driving home; such as a restaurant or two that I didn’t see before or just looking at trees and telephone poles and of course the road.

So basically my Friday day part was over and done with and it wasn’t really the hardest part. When I get home, I get on Xbox live. I play halo, but I don’t do it for fun really, I play competitively, I have a team, we practice, we get flown out to different cities and participate in a gaming community called MLG, Major League Gaming and get paid, its crazy. We go to Columbus, Ohio next month for a tournament and they weren’t too happy when I said I couldn’t practice, for about 3 nights. Especially as the event gets closer, you have to practice more but due to this project (and I’m not trashing this project, I think it’s interesting) I wont be allowed to do so. But we finally agreed that 3 days off might do us some good.

Day 1 is over with, it was hard for me, I wont lie, but Saturday shouldn’t be so hard for I work most of the day and when I get home, I’ll try some different stuff to help pass the time.

media depravation (1)

friday i woke up to my alarm to wake up for work.but my alarm is on my phone.so when i turned that off, i realized i was deprived this weekend.and so it began.i couldnt listen to the radio while i got ready for work.or on my way to work.so it was really quiet... but its times like this when i think of how i lived last year with no cable or radio.i had my laptop,but it was only useful when i could steal the internet.and then my tv got stolen along with my laptop...but by then i only had a week left until i went back home for the summer.no being able to use my phone or check my mail on line is knida sucky though,yet again.its funny how this seems like the worst weekend to start this.all oof my friends got a mass text about legalizing marijuana and the number to call to get more information.looks like i cant call! but yesterday i also forgot my sunglasses(the sun light gives me headaches and migrains) so i felt fully deprived.with the acception i had my car.ive gone with out my car so many times its crazy.so not having a phone reminds me of not having my car,and the ability to go anywhere. so yesterday,when i got to work,and i couldnt call my friend to make plans that night,i just folloowed her home after our shift. thankfully though she had final to work on so i ate lunch and then walked to walmart from her apt. because i could get there faster then if i had drove.the traffic was terrible. i realized i needed to call my best friend in wichita falls to check up on his road to soberity.and i couldnt. i wanted to talk to my mom for some reason and i couldnt.that part reminded me when i was in europe last summer and didnt buy a phone card.i was on vacation and didnt think i would really want to talk to family.but then we crossed the ocean and i got homesick.so ive gone with no media before,but we were in europe going to musuems constantly.but being in san antonio and no other contact with my folks is a blow.but ill be working all day today so my mom wont get pissed i didnt call her.and so i wont be bored and depressed.yesterday was hard.my friends boyfriend even helped by not playing music in the car to anywhere we went.we really just entertain each other when we all hang out.we dont really do much anyways.last week we went to see a play for laurens class,but that ended up being really fun.so i do realize how the media entertains my life more then what i thought.i have to go work a double now,so ill be working until 11 tonight.

Brian Starr (Day One)

As I woke up in the morning the first thing that i always do is turn on the t.v. and watch ESPN to keep up with my sports. Not being able to do this morning routine threw my day off a little. Instead of me getting my news from the television, I had to rely on my peers to inform me of what was going on. This was not very fun to me because not everyone I know is as much a sports fan as I am so the news wasn't as clear or very helpful to me.

I knew this project wouldn't effect me this much for Friday and Saturday since i work all day. At my job they play music but the crap that they play I wish that they would just turn it off and leave it silent for this project period. Oh well I tried telling them but it was a no go with them. As the long day went on and on, all i was thinking about was going home taking a shower and watching tv. After my day at work I got in my truck and turned on the radio by routine, then after like ten seconds it finally hit me that I needed to turn it off for this project. The drive home with no radio was hard for me cause not only was it boring but it also started making me fall asleep. Not Good.

On a typical Friday my roommates and I go out to a bar for a couple of drinks. Know about this project I knew that there was going to be lots of t.v's and music playing at the bar. This was a hard task of me to tell my friends that I was going to stay home and not go out so that I could at least say I tried to fullfill the requirements for this project. After being harrased by them for about ten minutes, I just took a shower and went to bed.

Day one was not as bad as I thought it would be but I realize how just not watching the tv at nite changes things for me. Here I am awake early in the morning writing this blog when normaly Im still sleeping. I realized that when I watch tv at nite it makes me stay awake longer and in the long run I sleep less and is more tired when i have to wake up in the morning. So maybe this no tv deal can help me regain more hours of sleep this weekend. Lets see whats in store for day two.

Brian Starr

Schiber (Day 1)

I have mixed feelings for this assignment because overall mediawise I'm behind the power curve. If this was a year ago I would've skipped a few shows and accomplished this no sweat. I however have finally started using my ipod and cell phone more and more frequently over the last year so this could be differcult. My family also wanted to see X-men orgins as a sort of family occasion which is becoming less and less frequent due to my sister getting a job and my own job. Add in that my father works and my mother is a volenteer at the local elementry school and its hard to get us all together for a few days. These listed obstacles could make this slightly more differcult than I initially expected.

Day 1- Morning

I woke up at 9am already feeling beat, not by media depervation though so much as the sleep depervation I normally find myself with. Being an avid insomiac I spent most of the night talking to friends in a local game store of which one of them works. (Gamelot on Huebner/Bandera) The reason for this bright and early excersion is so I can go to the local clinic for my weekly allergy shots. These are the improve my condition with alergies which was earlier to in the year rather akin to the flu only 24/7 until the mountain cedar decided to stop leaving so much pollen everywhere. The waiting room had on its usual show (rachael ray and the view) which I ignored enthusiastically. (Well less enthusiastic, I pretty much fell asleep waiting for the doctor) Everything was routine and I picked up a smoothie for breakfast at the smoothie King on the way home. Drinking this I decided the five hours of sleep wasn't quite enough and fell asleep at 11 am.

For the second time in the day I woke up (2pm) and decided to go jogging/running/hiking (you need all three) down at the local park. (Define park, I basically find the limestone river bed in leon valley and wander around in the area.) This is usually where my ipod becomes involved but not today and I wandered through the park without any form of music. This meant that I wasn't as deep in thought and I went a bit slower than normal listening to the birds and the local wildlife. There are alot of deer in the park and I heard three while spotting one but an odd sight was to await me. I found a literal writhing mass of snakes each a good lenth of 3+ feet ahead of me in the river bed. I don't know if it was just mating season or a King vs another snake (do king snakes even live in this part of the world) as I kept my distance as I really didn't want to bother them. I'm fine with snakes for the most part but being fine with them includes knowing that if they're moving quickly and erratically the last thing you want to be in next to them. I pulled out my phone to take a picture but found it was dead. Helped for the class I guess but a nice picture would've been worth the 2 second or so infringement on the assignment. The rest of the hike was uneventful and without music I grew board and left. Plus I was running late for my schedule.

The next task on my agenda was picking up the paycheck at work and cashing it at the bank. Both of these were uneventful as I had a twenty minute conversation with some coworkers. (Adam and Adrian, they should be in another media class also taught by Mr. Lopez) and from there I went to the bank to get cash (I don't use any form of ATM or credit). After the bank I went to a hobby card shop called cards and crafts. I play Magic the Gathering and they had some cards for me to pick up for the game. This takes me until about five o' clock and I go to meet an old friend at his apartment. From there I go to Gamelot to meet up with the rest of my friends and we play cards for the better part of the evening. At midnight we each go our seperate ways and I go with my friend to eat and return to his apartment. Its now 4:15am and I'm five minitues from getting in my car and meeting with yet another group of friends to head up to dallas for the day. More on that for the Day 2 report, I'm sure a four and a half hour drive without music will be mind numbing.

Prof. Albert Lopez (DAY 1): The Silence was Soothing... And Deafening

This is my second time doing this Media Deprivation experiment and, man, it still feels like the first time. Like my students, I was NOT looking forward to this weekend at all. It's one of those rare occasions when I hope the weekend flies by and I'm actually praying Monday comes... And I got a long day of yard-work around the house waiting for me on Monday, too! Sheesh...

Anyway, I slept a little later than usual on Friday since I had gone to sleep real late the previous night (saw a midnight screening of X-Men Origins: Wolverine; it was semi-worth it), but it didn't take long for this Media Deprivation experiment to affect me. 

See, I usually start my day by working out at home while listening to my iTunes library blast in the background. Since no music is allowed (if I can help it, which in this case I could), I couldn't play my music so my workout was something of a doozy. Luckily, I live in a somewhat desolate area of San Antonio (in a relatively new subdivision) and my backyard is basically the woods, so the only sounds I could really hear were birds chirping and the occasional wind gust outside my bedroom window--all sounds that can be quite soothing, especially if you're trying to focus on a task like working out. 

But what should've been a 30 to 40-minute workout became an hour-long session as I soon discovered the lack of charging, frenetic music playing in the background caused me to take my time, to go slower during my workout. Good thing I wasn't pressed for time, but still, I felt like I slacked a little bit; I mean, I didn't do any less reps or anything, I just didn't go as hard or fast as I usually do. It seems that I need more than just the sounds of nature to get me pumped up, which wasn't much of a surprise since I constantly listen to music. 

By the way, it's completely quiet as I type out this blog, and it's getting to the point where I need some kind of "noise" in the background to ensure that I don't go stir crazy. The slight "whirring" sound coming from the nearby fridge (followed intermittently by the ice-maker) that I would normally block out is now a noise I welcome, which is something I didn't expect. 

It's only the first day and I found myself singing out loud (by myself, mind you) numerous times throughout the day. I won't bore you with a description of my singing capabilities, but let's just say that I don't do karaoke. Ever. 

Yet there I was singing in my car while running errands, refusing to let the deafening silence consume the entire car ride. That's the thing about total silence: it can be just as "loud" as any My Bloody Valentine CD blasting in your CD player, especially if you're not used to silence while driving, working out, writing, or grading papers, which I am absolutely not (or ever will be for that matter).  So, yeah--this whole "no music" business has quickly become a huge thorn in my you-know-what. 

As for not using the Internet or my iPhone for fun, that's barely trailing the "no music" rule as far as being the crappiest rule of this experiment. I do the social networking thing probably more than is usually appropriate for someone my age. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter--I do them all, and with the help of my iPhone (it's not called the JesusPhone for nothing, folks), I check them out WAY more than I should. What can I say? I've become something of a tech-geek when it comes to using my cell phone for stuff other than actual phone-related activities. It's sad, really...

Oh, well I'm off to bed. Got a fun day ahead of me on Saturday... That is, if you think going to the dentist is all wine and roses, which I'm sure you don't. 

But at least I'll have something other than lack of mass media to worry about tomorrow, right? Oh, wait....

I HATE GOING TO THE DENTIST! 

Day One

Day one was not so bad for me. I worked a double today, which was nice. A long twelve hour shift so that I didn't even have to concern myself with being home and bored. The hard thing was not listening to the radio as I was driving to work. I love listening to my radio. I have an awesome system installed and listening to the radio in the car is the highlight of my day when I work, especially driving to work a twelve hour shift! But I stayed strong, and left the radio turned off. Now lucky for me, we have a music playing at work, unluckily, the music is normally aweful. I hear the same songs over and over and miss listening to my music. But we do have a band playing on weekend nights. So I made a point to sneak away from my section and listen to the band when I got a chance. Listening to live music wasn't forbidden! We also have televisions in the restaurant. To tell you the truth, I didn't miss the tv too much. I normally don't watch much tv, probably because I don't have cable! But what I did miss was coming home from work, renting a movie, and watching before my second double tomorrow! So I got home, realized I couldn't do that, once again had to fight the temptation, and decided to do some studying and this blog instead. Oh, one thing I am grateful for is not using my cell phone. I get to avoid hour long pointless conversations with friends and family. They call me, I tell them, sorry doing a media deprivation project, can't talk until Monday. It's kind of nice. Not that I don't like my friends and family, but I spend way to much time on the phone normally. It's quiet in the house, and I kind of like it like this. But we'll see how I do Sunday. I have all morning off, so I know I'm going to be tempted to do something media involved!

Friday, May 1st Day One

I woke up this morning looking forward to waking up, drinking my protein shake, doing my crunches, and turning on the radio while all this happened. Then I remembered...it's Friday, May 1st. Might as well be Friday the 13th. No radio. No TV. No video games!!! It was almost an unbearable thought. What was I going to do with myself. I don't have work, I'm stranded at home without a car, and all I have is two dogs and a cat to keep me company. So I decided to do the only logical thing...dig in the closet and find a book. Once I got tired of reading, I decided I could at least get some studying done for my classes with all this free, non video game filled, time on my hands. I was able to accomplish a lot of studying, had sometime to think and relax, and got to spend a little bit of time outside with my dogs and cat. I'm not sure how two more days of it is going to be. I love my video games, and my radio, and have realized that life would be much more dull without at least the option to rely on them. I'm hoping it gets easier, but I feel this weekend is going to be very long. If anything, though, it will be beneficial for me to get my homework and studying done for finals. I'm glad this project was assigned the weekend before finals. Monday I plan on watching TV all day. While the radio is on, and while playing a game on my computer. I love technology. It definetely isn't fun to be without it. Luckily I'm in the habit of going to the gym everyday. Unfortunately for this project, my gym has about twenty TVs. I don't plug in my headphones and listen though, because that would be cheating. But it's nice to see that TVs still exist. By the end of this weeked I will either be in severe technological withdrawals, or severely overworked from studying too much! Maybe both.

Melissa Mancilla-post 1

I figured I’d get an early start on this blog since without my phone I feel as if I have no other purpose in life….only kidding. I hope.

So I must admit, I was not thrilled with the proposition of abandoning all forms of media for 3 days. I never thought media to be an essential part of my daily routine. Society needs it to get by, maybe, but I had always imagined I would not be fazed if I didn’t have a laptop in front of my face 24/7. That’s as far as my confidence in myself extended though, for I never dared to think what I’d do if asked to go three days without it.

My daily routine usually consists of me waking up, immediately checking my phone, taking a shower, and heading straight to the computer after that. The rest of the day is always up in the air, but as soon as I’m conscious I know for sure to head for the phone and my day starts from there. Take out the phone and radio and suddenly everything becomes convoluted and from there. As I somehow managed to wake up and make my way out of my room, I unenthusiastically began my day of media fasting.

The first thing to go was my phone. I set it aside and switched it to silent while I got some work done online (I’m currently taking 2 online courses). After a while I was naturally curious to check it, but for the first time I questioned myself as to why I am always so eager to check my phone. It’s not like I’m an important person waiting for an important call, and quite honestly most of the texts I get are forwards of dirty jokes. I figured that from now on, if I could spend at least an hour away from my phone each day, I would get an infinite more amount of work done. Eventually, I went to check anyway. I found that when I do not answer my phone within the first few seconds after my friends text or call me, they automatically assume I’m dead. I never realized that people assumed my cell phone is attached at the hip with me. Am I really that dependent on it?? I didn’t want to find out since the possible answer scared me. After a while, I decided to just turn it off for the day.

Without the option of just plopping down on the couch and turning on the television, my otherwise lazy self was motivated to get out and be active. I went to the gym for the first time in months and got a good amount of exercising done. Without my phone constantly ringing, I was never burdened to look at the time. There was a television in front of my treadmill though. The default channel was set to Fox News, which made me wonder if it were really a gym or a brainwashing facility. I was suddenly okay with the idea of turning off the TV.

No radio in the car was by far the hardest part of my day. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted to turn on the radio, any station for a change, just to hear some form of music to entertain me. Instead of giving in to the temptations of the radio dial, I let my windows down and immediately my car was invaded with foreign sounds of the city. Downtown San Antonio has a soundtrack all its own. Horns honking, tires screeching, car basses booming by, and I never knew my wheel made a squeaking noise whenever I turn it…not good. But the one thing I never took time to listen to before were people. When I have music on in my car I tend to zone out, becoming absorbed in my own world. Now with the windows down, I could hear families talking about their lives, kids laughing, human beings for a change. Somehow, amongst all my frustration, the sounds of the city grounded me. They were not soothing by any means, but rather a nice reminder that I’m somehow, someway still connected to this world. A long, silent car ride home was just what I needed to contemplate not only how I’m going to get by these next three days, but how I live every day of my life.

Although I highly doubt I will ever eliminate all media from my day again by choice. Overall, as of now, I would say I thought wrong when I assumed media didn’t play an important role in my everyday life.