Work on my fast began before I even handed over my phone and shut down my computer and buried it beneath a pile of books in the back of the bottom drawer of my desk. I needed to tell those I communicate with on my devices, through media, cellular radiation waves and social networks. I called my parents, my sibling, and the friends from home I knew would notice if I didn’t respond to them immediately. I let my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins know. I told my boyfriend, who I gave my phone to for safe keeping, and then, after all the thought-out communication, was I able to begin my 24-hour media fast. My idea was to pick a day where I would wake up in the morning and begin the fast. I thought it would be interesting to do it during a …show more content…
As I walked down the dorm hallway, I noticed myself singing out loud. Singing or humming casually when others are around is something I haven’t done in years. I have not really thought of song as an important way of self-expression, and hadn’t realized how nervous I was about doing it around others. I couldn’t really understand where this urge to sing was coming from. After some reflection, I realized that music is extremely important in my life as a background noise. My father is a bit of a folkie, he played mandolin and guitar in a little fold-rock band when he was in his 20’s and as I grew up he played music in the house all the time when he was not at work. I realized that without my phone to distract me, I noticed how much I miss the sound of live music being played almost continuously around me. It pushed me to subconsciously find a different way to create my own music. Using my voice to comfort and accompany me throughout my day, I was filling a space that my phone and computer had caused me to ignore. This discovery was extremely important to me. I think this experience of realizing that I can sing to myself when anyone is around and not worry about being judged is incredibly empowering and