I’m Guien. 16. Always on the go when it comes to getting to know the news. Avid news-talk radio listener. Grew up watching Noli de Castro greeting “Magandang gabi, bayan” every weeknight at the 6 o’clock news. Reads the Inquirer or Manila Bulletin at least twice a week. Online almost all the time. Social media enthusiast. Perhaps a news and information addict. Opinionated tweep.
Suffice it to say that I am plugged to information and social media almost all the time. As I type this, I have five Facebook tabs on my Firefox, the Twitter app Tweetdeck is on and running, and I am listening to a letter-sending segment on a transistor radio that was bought in preparation of typhoon Juan a few years ago.
But one day, a challenge came, a challenge that involves my information and social media habits, a challenge that forces me to go away from my Facebook, my Twitter, my copy of the Inquirer, and even to my ever-reliable transistor radio.
This is my story. This is me, unplugged.
Frustrations
I have to admit, I had frustrations on the challenge, which is actually a part of a study being conducted by our college. Unplugged: the 24-Hour Challenge is a part of a research being conducted by the UPLB College of Development Communication where participants must not in any way listen to the radio, watch TV and other forms of video, read magazines and newspapers, text and call, use the computer, play in various consoles, play music in an iPod or any player for that matter, and open social media and internet.
While I can live without social media and Internet (especially during typhoons and academic hardwork nights), I had this one specific frustration. “Okay na sana, e. Bawal ang Internet, bawal ang cellphone, bawal ang TV, okay na okay na yun, e. Pero pati ba naman radyo at dyaryo?” said my raging mind. Yes, it’s fine with me to have no Internet and TV all day long but to deprive me of print media and radio access would perhaps make me insane, for these two things are so special to me; I started reading the papers when I was still a first grader, while it is through radio that I learned Ilocano and where my ambition to become a broadcast journalist came into my mind. Also, newspapers and radio are still considered primary sources of news and entertainment in rural provinces like Ilocos Norte.
Before media holiday, or blackout
The day before the media holiday was great. That day, I just arrived in my hometown, the City of Batac, from Los Baños. My family went to the mall located at the next town, and after the malling experience, I went immediately to the computer to have my final dose of social media and Internet. I argue that my Internet dosage that day was insufficient.
I vividly remember the last video that I watched before shutting down the computer at 11.59pm. It was a teaser for Mister and Miss Devcom 2012. Since the media holiday is devcom-related, I thought that the last thing that I see before 12.01am must be devcom-related as well.
The blackout
It was 12.24pm when I decided to make a memo to myself. I was supposed to write that self-memo in a whiteboard. However, there were still scribbles in the board, which date back almost a year ago. What caught my attention was my English project plan. The board shouts,
Elizabethan Sonnet ending: You should have been my haven; Unfortunately, you are taken.
Cinquains.
Mini-saga theme: No matter what happens, we’ll just be friends. Kasi torpe ako.
I reflected and became bothered. Was I really that emotional? Or was this my first miserable attempt on love-related literary works disguised as an English project? I remember that I have classmates back in high school who were not as good as excellent students when it comes to English and Filipino but were actually able to make good poems about love and heartbreaks. [I had a random-thought post about it before.]
After erasing those scribbles and writing my self-memo, I reflected yet again. I vividly remembered how I was falling for that girl who happened to be a debate teammate back then. I still don’t know why I liked her. Is that love in abstract form? I also suddenly remembered that I attempted to write a novel about my interest to her. I was able to write two chapters. Unfortunately, after a few months, the Microsoft Word file containing the two chapters was corrupted.
I was then tempted to get my cellphone and play After the Love has Gone by Earth, Wind and Fire. But I remembered it was a media blackout day. Sigh. I just sang it by myself. It’s good it did not rain. I then went to dreamland.
I woke up at 12.19nn. I thought it was going to be a lazy day when I suddenly remembered that I have to go to the City Health Office in order for me to have my interview schedule fixed. My mother was also forcing me to have my hair cut. These mean that I have to go to sentro [this is how Ilocanos call what Batangeños and Los Bañoseños call bayan], where I would be surely exposed to media. My mind was asking, How the heck would I avoid media today when I’m going an area where media is abundant?
At 1.02pm, I have realized that I was not able to print the final set of questions for the expert interview for DEVC11. That means I have to use the computer. That means that I have to violate the media blackout. I’m dead, said my blacked out mind. But it’s for an emergency and thus I suppose the reason is valid.
It was almost 1.35pm when my mother and I arrived at the sentro. The hair salon where we were supposed to have my haircut had its telly on. I’m dead, again, my mind shouted. My hair cutter was not around, and so we have to wait for him to arrive. However, since I have to get to my scheduling immediately, we decided to transfer to another salon instead. “Okay lang ma kahit saan, pare-pareho namang naka-on ang TV sa mga yan. Pare-parehong mawawasak ang (no-media day) ko” I told mom.
After having my haircut, at 2.52pm, I went to the City Health Office to have my interview with the city’s head health officer set. After that scheduling, my mom and I decided to have a snack at an eatery.
I arrived home at 3.51pm. I immediately grabbed my no media day diary (which actually consists of scratch long bond papers) and wrote the events that transpired while I was away from home. I also took time to read what I have already written. What took my interest was a self-reflection note about my first love and my attempt to write a novel about it. Right there I decided to write again that novel that I loved to write back then.
Right away, I took pieces of paper and a sign pen and started to write my story. My writing involves lots of reminiscing and nostalgia, for the story happened three years ago. I remembered everything that I had to do just to impress that girl, or should I say, I remembered everything that my classmates dictated in order for me to impress that girl. In fact, I have already written a blog post about it years ago, and that post would have helped me in my writing. Unfortunately, though, I am not supposed to surf the net until the next day. Now the reminiscing went a bit hard.
The whole night then consisted of novel writing. The product was a 10-page, five-chapter draft. Quite a good start, perhaps.
However, writing all night long was quite boring. I had my own deliver-me-from-the-computer moments that night, for I was tempted to turn on the computer and login to Facebook. I would just resist. But later on, the silly me decided to turn on the computer. I just fell and died, my mind screamed. Later on, I decided to shut it off.
Then the clock struck 12 midnight. My mind and heart were shouting joy as the 24-hour challenge had ended. When the challenge was already over, I immediately watched Family Guy episodes online. Of course, there are still the typical standby Facebook and Twitter tabs. Yes, I do think that facing the computer, getting a glimpse of social media, and watching Family Guy would be a good way of getting back from today’s technology- and information-centered civilization.
Reflections
The whole media blackout day was just like living in the Amish County in one Family Guy episode. No technologies, no media; just plain life.
The 24-day media challenge was indeed a challenge, especially now that we live in a society where news just breaks anytime and is told immediately on radio and even on Twitter, where knowing one’s life can be done simply through Facebook, and where one has freedom to write, post and tweet what’s happening or what’s on his mind.
The turn of the century has been an era of technology; Internet emerged, news coverage became more aggressive than ever, social media became a channel for connection between people, and radio was (and is still) struggling to get its listeners back as they now subscribe to new media such as computers and even smartphones and tablets. No doubt this generation is now immersed in technology, and it seems that every single person in this generation cannot live without a cellphone at one hand and a mouse in the other.
Information can arrive anytime. I remember the news that Osama Bin Laden died; I knew about it through a news channel’s breaking news bulletin. I was aware of the Japan earthquake last March through Twitter. I knew through Facebook that two of my classmates broke up when the guy changed his relationship status to single. The fast pace of information causes us to be attached to various channels that give us information, such as radio, television, cellphones, and the Internet. This attachment will always be the salt that will make the cut with technology hurtful. Thus, the challenge being so hard for me.
I say that in today’s era, a media blackout would be impossible, unless the president declares martial law or all broadcasting facilities, publication offices, and servers are attacked by nuclear bombs and missiles. Now, it really seems that we cannot avoid being exposed in media, for there are radios and televisions anywhere, and almost everything can be seen, read and watched by clicking a few buttons and links. It is not questionable, however, that if you don’t have a transistor radio, you are really immersed in a media blackout during electricity-cutting typhoons.
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