THE TOTAL BLACKOUT PROJECT – A MONTH WITHOUT A SCREEN: INTO THE AETHER
While you are keenly aware of the fact that much of your waking life is spent engaging with technology in some fashion, you’ve never had the inclination, or even the wherewithal, to actually track it. This is likely a function of the fact that you are otherwise too consumed by the relentless scrolling, button pushing, clicking, and swiping that comprises your life to even think about starting.
THE MOTIVATION
According to our pals at MarketWatch, American’s spend most of their life staring at screens. Research published in 2018 concluded that U.S. adults spend 77 hours each week watching television & videos, gaming, and, of course, the life-sucking activity of just aimlessly scrolling and swiping away. While I knew the figure was going to surprise me, it did far more than that. It actually sickened and revolted me.
Let’s interject some perspective here. Most employers consider a schedule in excess of 32 hours per week as full-time employment. This means that the average American has the equivalent of 2 full-time and one part-time jobs each week comprised of screen-gazing. Boom! Using Malcolm Gladwell’s questionable concept that it takes 10,000 hours to master a particular subject, then all us American’s are world-class experts at staring at a screen! Pow! To be clear, 11 hours a day represents nearly 70% of our ENTIRE WAKING LIFE. Thud….Mic drop.
This gives chilling resonance to the punk band, Crass’, “Big Brother isn’t watching you, mate, you’re fucking watching him” lyric from the tune “Nineteen Eighty Bore.” A song that, by the way, was penned thirty-seven years ago.
IDEATION
So with all that data and its subsequent raw emotion bouncing about my head, I began to really give some serious thought as to how much of my life is consumed by screen-driven activity. I’m sure it’s less than 11 hours a day, but how can I really be certain? This gave rise to the notion of actually tracking it, which wouldn’t be particularly difficult. Then I finally got around to asking better questions. Questions like, “Is it even possible to live a modern life without a screen? Without internet access, without email, without apps for every aspect of our existence?” I searched for some articles on others who may have done this, but they were very few and they all had provisos about using screens during the workday. While all noble efforts, these conditions mooted any sort of serious or legitimate investigation into the real matter at hand in my opinion.
THE TOTAL BLACKOUT PROJECT
This was precisely the time I got around to mentally concepting what I am now calling “The Total Blackout Project” – a full month without screens of any kind. As a self-styled FIRE Aethernaut, I felt more than a bit compelled to give this idea a whirl. If there is a better scenario on how to “go out into the unexplored aether and report back”, I was unable to think of it.
The overall scope of the project is essentially straightforward – no screens, at all, for a month. This includes televisions, computers, tablets, internet access, apps, gaming, movie theaters and the like for the month of April. Using the telephone is permissible as is texting as I have to communicate, particularly with aging parents out of state, but this will be minimized to all realistic extents. The fact is I don’t like either and, even now, both account for less than 30 minutes a week.
Interestingly enough, just preparing has brought to stark light of all of the sundry ways in which my life is inextricably linked to technology – bill paying, portfolio management, routinely using apps for data such as weather, financial markets, tide & wind charts, etc. So I am planning in advance to handle these the old fashioned, albeit, non-immediate way – on paper.
Of course, owning a website and being a regularly publishing blogger presents a bit of a challenge. However with the pre-scheduling functionality within WordPress and other plug-ins, there will be new posts in April as previously planned as well as some automated social media activity, so FatesOnFire will, presumably, sail along just fine.
So there it is. A bold, exciting and, hopefully magic endeavor. I’m extremely intrigued to see how things will go. My intent is to document the experience by day with weekly summaries (using the old ink & paper method) and provide a detailed account with all the insights in early May. Stay tuned and if you need me, just give a ring or drop by.
And now…Into the aether…