looking back

Image result for people talking to each other on the phone
Every year for the past 5 years I’ve found myself in a similar situation. Over the summer for a couple weeks, I am whisked away from reality and put into an unfamiliar situation from everyday life. These years I’ve spent at camp have definitely impacted me in various ways. But most recently, I went over winter break. I found that this experience was unlike any other I had had there. Instead of the typical summer camp environment it had a strange feeling. The eerie winter days and nights were offsetting as well. Unlike a 2 or 3 week session, it was only a few days long.
Now all of this is great, but you may wonder how it relates to media. I found that I didn’t have enough time to fully unwind from the constant move of everyday life. Even without the screens around, myself and everyone around me had a different type of vibe. We were still addicted to the never-ending impact media had in our lives. Different from the typical camp experience, we were in the haze of dealing with certain experiences from our current life. The stresses of school and social media were shown prominently. Although everyone had a wonderful time together reconnecting to summer friends from past years, we craved our phones, computers and internet which we hadn’t yet detached from and gotten out of our heads.
That being said, I want to relate this post to my previous one titled “a pre-reflection.” In this post, I discussed the impact camp has had on me and why friendships seem so much better without the involvement of screens. In the study I referenced, it was found that interactions without mobile devices had higher levels of empathetic concern, which I always have felt during the summer. However, this recent experience was somewhat different as it felt people were still attached to the heavily influenced ways of life with screens. It makes me wonder, with the involvement of social media and electronics, do we get the ‘real’ version of people, or a completely different person when we talk through screens?

Comments

  1. Izzy VerranJanuary 15, 2018 at 6:08 PM

    I can really relate to what you have written through a similar experience. Over the summer I broke my phone and was without it for a few days. Just like you I missed it and craved social media and other things about my phone for about a week. But when I got a new phone I realized how much I didn't need it and ever since then I have spent way less time on it the I used to.

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