My Experiment

Hi everyone! My name is Brandon and I am currently taking a college writing class based on “living deliberately.” For a class assignment, I will be making changes in my own life to affect six different aspects: technology, transportation, food, consumerism, positive impact within the community, and happiness.

The idea for my project’s focus came to me just by hanging out with my friends. We normally hang out every evening, sitting and talking while watching TV. However, one day I realized what we all were actually doing while being with each other; we were on our laptops looking at Facebook, playing games, watching YouTube videos, and surfing the web without any interaction with each other.  I realized that, even though we do spend a lot of time with each other, most of that time is spent within our own independent worlds. I believe that this needs to start changing. This event inspired me to discover my theme: relationships with other people. In order for this project to be successful, I need a purpose besides my grade. I found my purpose through my friends.

I find that technology can prevent us from engaging in social interaction because we are too involved in our electronic world and ignoring the real world. For this week, I plan on eliminating the use of my laptop except for anything class related. Therefore, all social networks will be eliminated from my life this week (which will be difficult because of my Facebook addiction). I will allow the use of the computer for Skype. I feel that video calling is more personal than texting or phone calls so I will try to optimize my use of Skype.

Since I live on campus in Washington D.C., I normally walk everywhere and take the metro and buses. I also have many lazy days when I chose the elevator over the stairs. In order to lower my carbon footprint, I plan on only walking and abandoning shuttles, elevators, and metros.

Currently, I don’t live on a specific diet but I always try to have a variety of food groups. However, this week I will become vegetarian and abandon all meat. Since I am Catholic, I normally do this every Friday during Lent anyway. I hope that I can make this normal once-a-week tradition into a week-long habit without missing chicken, hamburgers, and pork.

While I am writing this with my friend in the university library, we have two bottles of soda (or pop if you’re from areas like mine), a bag of popcorn, and some candy wrappers. All of our consumer items came in one-time-use containers that will be thrown away. If you think about a day shopping for groceries, everything you buy is in a container that will be used just for storage and easily thrown away after use. This week, I will find replacements for these throw-away items including re-usable mugs and plates and washcloths instead of paper towels. I plan on eliminating all waste from my life.

I do often go to events on campus, especially when I know someone involved. However, this does not happen very often. I am planning on increasing my on-campus participation by attending more events. I believe that since many people care about their organizations, I should support them so these programs and groups don’t disappear.

Every time someone asks me to describe myself, I always include “musical.” I’ve always enjoyed playing piano, singing, and participating in musicals. However, my passion has been blocked by school work and a busy schedule. I plan to return to my music this week. I will ensure that I will play piano and/or sing at least a half an hour each day. Music must return to my life.

I hope that this week will allow me to discover myself in new ways while gaining a stronger relationship with my friends and family. Wish me luck as I make these changes in my life and hopefully keep my promises.