And the suffering begins

It seems like a fairly easy task. Hey, I'll be the first to admit that it's not the most creative choice for an experiential blog. I'm probably not the first one to take part in this incredibly challenging endeavor. But I fully realize the magnitude of the situation at hand. I, Cameron MacArthur (for all of those throughout my elementary school years who annoyingly begged for my middle name day in and day out, there you go) Chang, am going to go an entire week, let me repeat that. AN ENTIRE WEEK without technology. No cellphone to call, text, play games, watch videos and check annoying social media outlets. No TV to watch during the more relaxing hours of the week, where I can escape as I watch the situations and dilemmas of some of my favorite fictional characters. No Laptop (with the exception of this blog) connecting me to the lavish convenience that is the interwebs. In retrospect, it doesn't sound too hard. I know for a fact if I had decided to rid myself of electronics when I was younger, it would've been a much, much easier thing to do. Right now, I am a 15 year old growing up in 21st century America. The entire system is connected by means of technology. And, let's be candid here, it's getting freakin ridiculous. Kids 8 years of age, kids in THE FREAKIN 2ND GRADE, many of them are already receiving the massive privilege and responsibility of having cellphones. Due to the massive impact of this young, underdeveloped electronic-based society, any and all sources of technology have taken over the entirety of our lives. Walks in the park, family outings, bike rides, etc. are growing less and less common by the minute. Frankly, that's scaring. Come on fellow 15 year olds? I can't be the only one who thinks that. I mean it's pretty freakin sad. Isn't it sad? What about in 100 years? What about in 500 years?? Will the first sight of life a beautiful newborn child gazes upon be the flashing, glowing screen of an iPhone 5000? That would be sad. And weird. And insanely unhealthy for that babies mental patterns, like whoever the parent of that baby is just go in a freakin corner and cry, because that's what you deserve. Man, some people just are not qualified to raise a child am I right?

What was I talking about again?

Oh ya, this generation. It's a common cliche for people to believe that past generations were the "good 'ol days" and the current generation is a ruined one. Well, the 50s/60s were the good 'ol days and the current generation is a ruined one. Sorry. (What can I say I'm a walking cliche. That rhymes. What if I tried to this whole blog like a, like a freaking Dr. Seuss poem?....bad idea)

There are a few reasons (other than the all too obvious fact that I heavily procrastinated, my apologies Mr. Black) that stripping myself of the ever present technological sources in my life is what I have decided to do. First off, this "ruined generation"? Ya, I'm a living, breathing, American culprit. I am the perfect man for the job because I only know a few people who are as phone/TV/computer obsessed as yours truly. Yes, I'm a hypocrite. I just spent the majority of the 1st paragraph critiquing myself, basically. I believe this will make for an informative and entertaining blog for the readers at home because this REALLY IS going to affect me. A lot. Like I'm legitimately anticipating losing hours of sleep because of the intense mental suffering that will be inflicted upon me. My stomach's churning just thinking about it. Also, as I previously stated, the amount of dependency the modern teenager has towards their phones, television, and other forms of technology, is goddamn terrifying. I want to serve as a people's guinea pig. A valid example of what would happen to the human psyche if all technology was taken away from us. Hopefully I'll come out the other side a changed man. A better man. Someone who appreciates things more and realizes how lucky we've got it. But for right now. I'm scared. And terrified. And anxious. And fearful. If you haven't noticed by now I'm just using a set of superfluous similes (alliteration!) to emphasize the intense pain that is building insane. It really hurts. Like, you don't even understand YOU MIGHT THINK YOU DO....but you don't.

All jokes aside though, I know I'm going to learn a lot by taking part in this experiment, and I think a lot of my colleagues (fellow 15 year olds) could learn a great deal as well. For any adults readers out there, yes, it seems sad that I'm being so dramatic about not being exposed to "flashy screens" for a week or whatever word you use to make your children feel bad about not being invested in family dinner or not spending time with the little sibling. A week is a pretty short amount of time and in the grand scheme of things, this isn't a big deal at all. I know that. However, the sad truth though is that, for us teenagers, it IS kind of a big deal. In fact, its the biggest deal. I've, no joke, seen kids have mental breakdowns, with tears streaming down their faces because they couldn't have their phone for, say, a day or something. True story. So, you might say, this is a pretty brave thing I'm doing, and not exactly something I'm looking forward to. But it's something I feel like I NEED to do, for the benefit of myself as well as my quietly sad generation.

The phone is off. And so the torture begins...