My Techie fast. I chose to completely abstain from my smartphone for a day. What's strange is that I use my smartphone in ways I didn't even realize. It's to the point where I don't even want to run if I can't use Strava. I've become addicted knowing how far and for how long I've been running when I do it. I often use the Waze app when I'm driving even though I know exactly where I'm going. I like to know how many minutes and exact distance I am from where I'm going. And the funny thing is I was not like this even a year ago.
    To be honest, it wasn't THAT challenging because I knew it would only be for a day and I knew it was good for me. It was kind of like going on a short juice fast but for the brain. I also had some books I've been wanting to finish that I had started and didn't want them interfering with my homework. It also helped that it was on a Sunday where I knew I wouldn't have a lot going on. I sort of planned it out. I imposed a no driving law on myself, which I broke to go to a Coffee shop and do some more reading. So my day was basically read in bed, eat a bit, go on a short run, read some more, go to A coffee shop and keep reading.
    Usually if I'm going to a coffee shop I'm going to want to bring my phone to listen to music while I read, and maybe type on my laptop. But things were more simple that day. I actually did bring noise cancelling earplugs because I get distracted easily by random noise.
   One thing I noticed is that it seemed like there was a lot more time in the day. When I checked the time at 5:30 I'd assumed it would have been much later than it actually was. And I felt an improvement in my overall sense of well being. In fact, the funny thing is, the next morning when I checked Facebook, I saw a few things that put me in a kind of sour mood.
   I find myself agreeing with Sherry Turkle's characterization of technology and it's effects on it's users. I think that if i continued this fast I would probably be better off it. I think that if I never signed into Facebook again I probably would not be missing out on much. I signed in today and I was tagged in a challenge to take a picture of a tree and post it. The person who tagged me is a friend and former roommate and I feel like if I don't do it, it will seem like I'm ignoring her. So I have another item on my to do list that has nothing to do with getting anything productive done. Not that that is her fault, and she probably wouldn't think twice if I didn't take the picture and post it, but I have a self imposed emotion that tells me it's the right thing to do!
   As Turkle says, "In every era, certain ways of relating come to feel natural. In our time, if we can be continually in touch, needing to be continually in touch does not seem a problem or a pathology but an accommodation to what technology affords. It becomes the norm."
    So in this new way of socializing, with Social Media, etc. I have become a digital hermit in some ways, in others not so much. I literally, this very second am getting a Twitter notification on my smartphone from a friend of mine who is in Dallas visiting from India. I recommended a restaurant to him and he "liked" my tweet, and returned with "Thanks, will try." This man is the owner of an App developing company that I interned with and I wanted to be helpful, as this man has been very helpful to me in the past. So when he asked for a restaurant, I tweeted one. I have a lot of friends from my trip to India in 2014 and I still keep in touch with them. It's important to keep in touch with our friends throughout the universe, and at the same time it's equally important to not neglect the friends who in a close radius.
    The ironic thing about technology that I've noticed is that now in this era, to be a Luddite is actually kind of an elite thing on a certain level. My father can do without a phone because he is already retired and doesn't have to earn a living any more. My mother books tickets if they travel, etc. He doesn't like modern technology at all. My take is that if you're a person striving to make a living in this day and age there's no way to get around it! If you even want to apply for a job you have to do it online.
    On the other hand, Jack White of the White Stripes doesn't have a cell phone but he doesn't need one. He earns millions of dollars and probably has assistants that use cell phones. Woody Harrelson is another celebrity who doesn't use a cell phone. Aubrey De Grey, the famous anti- aging researcher has rebuked cellphones as being terrible for the human need for solitude. I think the answer for someone like me, who is part of the soup of modern day humanity and cannot go forever without a smart phone, there is a balance to be had. I will continue these digital fasts as often as I can. If I can't go a whole day, maybe I'll just go part of a day. Maybe I will use Strava for running, but not go on Facebook. Maybe I will use Spotify to listen to music, but will not go on Twitter. I feel I can go online and be healthy and balanced person, I just have to do it a lot less.

    The book we're reading, "From Critical Thinking to Argument," outlines Critical Thinking in several different ways. The part that sticks with me is when the author speaks of a Critical Thinker being somebody who can draw logical conclusions to an array of different ideas, yet at the same time keep an open mind and learn to be self critical and open to other people's opposing views. Upon racking my brain trying to figure out what Critical Thinking really is, as opposed to meditation, where I am trying to clear my brain, I've come to the conclusion that a Critical Thinker must have a keen eye for the varieties of views that are not their own, and thus requires a certain amount of empathy, or as some have put it, an ability to "walk in somebody else's moccasins."