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Before this, I did not realize the extent to which I rely on technology for entertainment. I am either always texting and calling hometown friends, family, or on some type of social media platform like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. For the assignment of spending four hours offline, I decided to integrate it with my golf practice since that is what I spend most of my time outside of actual school doing. I honestly figured that this would be a breeze, and I would face little to no struggle, but I did end up facing struggles when I realized I couldn’t listen to my music or go on my phone during breaks. The most interesting thing I realized was that even though I was focused on my practice, I still heavily relied on my phone for another form of entertainment and almost a sort of breather from how intense practice can get. 

I started off with putting because it is my least favorite part of my game to practice because, after a while, my back starts to get cranky. I worked on my putting by doing different completion drills because they take the most time and it makes it more fun because it is a competition with yourself, which I always find to be the most rewarding drills. I read a super interesting article at the beginning of the year called “2 Simple Drills That Will Dramatically Improve Your Putting” , and those two drills really did improve my putting, so I recommend giving them a try if you are looking to improve your putting skills. When I was done with putting, I decided to go full swing and one thing I noticed was that I was taking in the nature around me. Usually at practice, I have Air Pods and am listening to music, so I never get to appreciate the sound of the birds, the wind in the trees, or hearing the ducks play in the water by the chipping green. 

This assignment gave me the opportunity to focus even more on practice since I wasn’t allowed to go on my phone for breaks. My breaks without my phone consisted of me just being silent and thinking about my intention with every golf swing. It made me realize that sometimes the silence makes me uncomfortable, and that’s okay. During my breaks, my brain went back to The Social Dilemma documentary and how social media companies fight for our attention and who can keep it the longest. It made me realize that every time I go on my phone to look at Instagram or Snapchat, I am just another statistic for these platforms. The Social Dilemma truly shows how easily humans fall for these platforms of entertainment and how easily they become a part of our everyday routine. For example, as I said, listening to music with my Air Pods when I have golf practice is a part of my routine. While, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it does make me wonder about media multitasking. I have been wired to do two things at once; it has become so normalized for me to have two things happening at once.

At the end of the four hours, I was at the chipping area finishing up my practice for the day. Chipping is what I usually end on because it is the part of my game that I need the most improvement on. The drill I spend most of my time doing for chipping is a drill by Justin Rose , a professional golfer, the drill is a fun and time consuming one, and you can read more about it from the link embedded in his name. Once I finished that drill, I finally got my phone out and immediately found myself checking texts and social media notifications I missed. It showed me that technology doesn’t need to be completely taken away to get things done but, it doesn’t need to be present with everything I do. Technology is amazing and is used for amazing things such as staying connected with others. We can still have fun and enjoy technology, but we need to remember to stay present in the moment when we are doing things. Overall, this assignment taught me that I need to be and want to be more intentional about when I really need to use my phone.