A Qualified #ScreenlessSummer

This summer, I will be experimenting with my relationship to digital communication. While my job requires my constant use of computers, I have fallen into patterns of behavior regarding digital media that are, if not unhealthy, at least ubiquitous, in a way I want to understand better. Unlike the students I teach, I am a "digital immigrant"; that is, I can recall what life was like before our new means of communication and connection suddenly became commonplace. While not resorting to ludditeism, this summer I am excited to disengage from a number of digital platforms. This short explanation is not complete, as this experiment is fluid, and may change depending which way both literal and metaphorical winds blow.

One of my most prolific times as a writer came in the early 2000s, while I pursued a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing degree at Goddard College. I had only dial-up Internet, and my academic work was sent via US Mail-- heaps of poetry, and revisions-- across the country to California, where poet and educator Juliana Spahr made corrections, wrote out questions longhand, and sent the packet back to me. The process was quaint and truly analog, and I wrote furiously to meet the packet deadlines. I filled journals with shards of poems and refined them on the computer. Connecting to the Internet-- and to the slog of email, job applications, and news-- was a premeditated event: something I did before I got back to the actual act of writing. My graduation from the program in the summer of 2004 marked the end of an era, not only personally and professionally, but in terms of how I was a part of a larger digital infrastructure. In the years that followed, I embraced new means of connectivity (cell phone, Facebook) as best I could afford, and, like many, without question. 

During the summer of 2016, I am interested in creating an artificial version of that state of creativity, while acknowledging that fully eluding our digital networks is, for practical (personal and professional) purposes, impossible. My intention this summer is to make more conscious choices about my state of connectedness. I look forward to literally losing what seems to be (is soon becoming?) an instinct to share what's going on in front of one's face with a larger audience, or perhaps the entire connected world.

One's ability to instantly share images and video with a wide circle of others, or to the entire world, has vast rhetorical and psychological implications. Viewing a beautiful sunset may drive one to take and share a photograph of it, just as reading news stories might compel one to share his or her political views with a larger audience. Scholarly contextualization for our digital landscape will continue to emerge for decades to come; for the purposes of understanding my intention this summer, recognizing the unique psychology inherent in ever-present participatory platforms may suffice. This project-- which is especially not a project at all, but rather a relief from virtual, participatory duties-- invites a different view on the world than is suggested to those carrying devices full of applications. In short, I want to write poems about sunsets, and not only take pictures of them.

I am not interested in swearing off technology completely-- far from it. Indeed, living on the New England coast for just over three months, will, to me, require very specialized and unique inventions (these include a Wadley Loop shortwave radio, a Royal typewriter, a 35mm camera with 70-300mm lens, and a geodesic dome shelter). I am not interested in wholly abandoning connection to the digital platforms with which we communicate, but rather selectively choosing how and why I can be in touch with someone else. To be in touch with friends and family, I will carry my cell phone on a regular basis during the evenings, but my use will be limited to voice calls and text messages with friends and family. While I will be able to send and receive text messages, my mobile device will be used primarily as a phone. I will take photographs, but immediate sharing is not an option.

My Facebook page will be dormant beginning on Memorial Day weekend and through at least Labor Day weekend. The temporary relief from Facebook cannot be underestimated: the platform has become a central depository for personal, professional, political, and romantic interests to such an extent that, for me, life without its regular interaction seems awkward. The Facebook and Messenger app will be uninstalled from my phone, as will all other apps that promote the immediate sharing of text, images, or video to a larger audience.

(Footnote: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others qualify as what Matt Drudge defines as "cyber-ghettos," and his characterization has in part spurred this experiment. In a surprise interview with Alex Jones on October 8, 2015, Drudge explained how these apps allow users to generate free content, in support of for-profit corporations: "“This is ghetto, this is corporate, they’re taking your energy and you’re getting nothing in return – nothing!” (as cited by Watson, 2015)).

I am not bringing any television or other digital media players for entertainment. Rather, I have a trove of live recordings on cassette tapes, the aforementioned shortwave radio, and a Sony Walkman. I intend on watching television only in passing; I don't have any plans for accessing streaming media on a regular basis. I will have access to a Chromebook, but this device is meant for the production of second drafts alone; that is, the retyping and editing of longhand script or typewritten pages.

At any point, due to personal, professional, or other crises, these guidelines may be discontinued. The notion of a "#ScreenlessSummer" may or may not prove useful in the coming months. I hope that this experiment promotes a sense of creativity and accomplishment worth nurturing.

UPDATE: 
On July 1, 2016, I noticed a nasty bug bite on my thigh; on July 3, 2016, I was diagnosed with progressive cellulitis, for which I received extended IV antibiotics. On July 4th, for my own health, I returned home. I made the right decision, as I was diagnosed a week later with Lyme Disease. To quickly keep friends and family posted, I ended my Facebook silence at that time. 

Watson, P. (6 Oct. 2015). "Matt Drudge: Copyright Laws Could Outlaw Linking to Websites." InfoWars. Retrieved from http://www.infowars.com/matt-drudge-copyright-laws-could-outlaw-linking-to-websites/