Technology has consumed our daily lives. Every day we count on our phones to communicate, our laptops to complete school work and both for our entertainment. Even these few devices would create a hole in lives if people did not have access to them. Many people have lived without these devices, so I have decided to live without them also.

I have taken the challenge to go 24 hours without some modern technology. My phone, laptop, game systems and newer forms of watching TV, like Netflix, were all shut off for an entire day. Beforehand, I thought that this would be nearly impossible to last a full 24 hours without any of these certain electronics. However, it wasn’t impossible, but a little difficult.

I started the 24-hour period at 12:00 a.m. Dec. 8, I ended the period at 12:00 a.m. Dec 9. My electronic-free day began at 9:30 a.m. when I woke up.

At the beginning of my normal day, I would unplug my phone, then eat breakfast. On this day, unplugging my phone was unnecessary. Breakfast was a little odd because I had no social media to scroll through. This dull start to the day made me think that the rest of my day would turn out like this.

However, having a two year-old brother at home, my day would never be uneventful. I was grateful for him on this day because he kept me occupied when I couldn’t be on my phone or laptop. We played with his toys and colored in his coloring books.

During the 24-hour period I went with my family to go shopping and to get lunch. Shopping was normal because I don’t usually use my phone while shopping. Lunch, on the other hand, was much more problematic. For example, my parents would ask when an event was, and I couldn’t answer, unless I knew it off the top of my head. Another problem was that I couldn’t use my phone when waiting for every one to finish their meals.

Once we arrived at home, I attempted to complete my homework. Some of my work could be completed without my laptop. However, some required my laptop. When completing the homework that did not need my laptop, I ran into a few problems. I couldn’t look for any help on the internet to guide me in the correct direction, I had to go to the textbooks that I have. I also couldn’t ask anybody for their help because I couldn’t communicate with them over the phone.

For dinner, my family went to my grandparents’ house. I thought that this would be really difficult because my cousins and I always have competitions on the game system that my grandparents have. However, they joined in on the no electronics for the entirety that we were at my grandparents’. For the rest of the night that we were there, we played board games and games that we came up with on the spot. After I got home, I spent the rest of the night reading a book until I finally went to bed, to complete the 24 hours.

“It was very strange to not be able to talk and keep up with you when it’s something that I do about every day of my life. I felt kind of lost,” junior Morgan Swab said.

Overall, I don’t think that the day I had without technology was horrible. The days before this I made sure that I had something to do during this time. However, I feel that if I didn’t have something to do all day, not having electronics would be really problematic. After having this experience,  I wouldn’t mind going without my phone again, possibly soon because I wasn’t constantly checking social media or who was texting me. On the other hand, I don’t believe I could go without my laptop again because I have school work that I would need to complete using my laptop.

These types of electronics were once nonexistent, people have lived without it before. Now, people have become attached to this technology. Could you go 24 hours with these few types of technology?