I previously mentioned that I have many close friends that I keep in touch with through online and during the week of no communication with each other, that all exploded today. I logged in this morning and we started playing through online video games nonstop. We started with a game called Dota 2( A game where it is 5 players vs 5 players with each player controlling a hero that attempts to change the course of battle as each team has passive armies marching towards each other in 3 lanes, to change the flow to favor their own team) where we yelled and laughed at each other for making mistakes or dumb moves. We jumped into World of Warcraft next, grabbing a whole bunch of our friends to come back into the game and start raiding (a term where players group in a team of 10 or 25 to kill monsters) and we spent hours just screaming and laughing at each other.

This whole experience today has made me appreciate that we have so much digital entertainment at our disposal. A lot of my friends live far apart from each other and because video games exist, we are able to hang out online and partake in online video games to enjoy each other's company. To be honest I don't particularly many video games I play with my friends ie: World of Warcraft, League of Legends, but they become so much fun when a group of us play that any game becomes instant fun. Our laughter and screams through voice programs and a group play in online video games fulfill the void to socialize and interact with other people. As much as I love to hang out with my middle school friends in real life, that is a near impossible in real life, and it's amazing how our technology has advance to the point where a bunch of guys living across the U.S. can hang out everyday by simply going on to their computers.

So this post will be a list of everything I used before and after the project.

Before the project I used the following media

-Computer for:
 -Watching shows  (Netflix, Anime, Online shows, etc)
 -Reading random articles
 -Reading random twitter messages
 -Reading online books
 -Video Games
 -Talk to friends online (Close friends who live all over the US, kept in touch for years through chat programs like skype, ventrillo, and now mumble).

Smart Phone for:
-Internet use (Reading random articles/webpages)
-Twitter Viewing
-App games

After this project I have begun doing many things outside of digital and tech media a lot more. I have:

-Begun reading again much more
-Have a greater appreciation for Table top games ie: DnD.
-Bought some board games, but did not play them with brother during project week due to not meeting with each other, but next time he comes over, I do plan to play board games instead of video games.

And I plan to DM an online DnD sessions with friends I've known since middle school starting the latter part of this month, combining digital and table top. This project has allowed me to explore new ways to interact with people without digital components and I've enjoyed the face to face interactions and I wish to extend this to my other friends across the US, but obviously limited to online meets, so I hope playing DnD with our webcams aimed at each other would invoke the same feelings.

Today I went back to assembling fully into using back media again. Spent a good portion of the day catching up to all the old shows I missed be it anime, The Voice, online DnD show called Rollplay, and many others. Watching them made me appreciate the different kinds of story our current media can form that is a different experience from reading, playing board games, etc. It's a much simpler form of media that instead of imagining the world, the world is pre-imagined and it fed to you. It's nice once and a while to not think and be fed information to you while enjoying yourself at the same time. With board games, books, and table top playing, they require attention and it is fun to think and plan out things, but sometimes, it's nice to sit back and be lazy and just have entertainment fed to you.

Technically Wednesday but got home very late due to some family issues (writing this in 3 am).

Over the course of the day I noticed my spark for reading has invigorated again. I'm finding joy in challenging my mind with complicated and detailed scenarios in my head. I've realized how little brain power our use of media requires. When we watch TV, our brain out shutdown and just absorb what we are seeing, When we are typing on twitter, we write what ever comes to our mind and not thought out like a letter. App games that are essentially skinner boxes that play with simple touches on the screen. Everything is very simple and not thought provoking, While reading, my brain is racing to imagine the world I'm digesting and creating the universe in my mind. I personally feel more fulfilled as a person just reading, something I won't get from watching TV, playing with twitter, playing app games, as a way to spend my free time.

I started using my phone again today (it's internet feature), and I've missed the ease of access to news, status updates, and general information gathering. During the period where I was unable to use media, I felt alone an naked during the first couple days. The lack of internet and news gathering of current events left me feeling barren and I filled the time by moving my focus on to other things. Instead of browsing the internet on my phone, I would read a book (Wheel of Time) in between classes while I waited. First I was happy about reading again, but then asked why I hadn't been reading for a while. It was easier in my mind to use my phone to just browse through the internet / play app games rather than opening a book and reading it. I subconsciously felt that reading (despite me reading a lot) took more effort than opening up my phone so therefore I didn't want to read because I wanted to take a break from work. This might sound weird, but I did not have a smart phone until this year and it also correlated to my lessening of reading. I think I'll just carry a book where ever I go from now on, I try to read instead of using my phone to browse through time.

While playing video games, I've noticed how similar it is to DnD (In the RPG sense). How a table top game can do so much and a yet video cannot do. In DnD, your imagination was your limit. The look on people's faces as you made your actions. The excitement that you feel in the air as one of your friends rolls a 20 on a d20. The round table bickering over the dumbest thing. Not being able to use media left a void in myself that I tried to fill with books and DnD. Now I'm left with a void for not being able to sit around a table and play a game with my friends all right there to talk and have fun.

I play online video games to interact with others by playing with them and socializing with others. However, online interactions cannot compared to face to face interactions. Online interactions feel very impersonal, and the Internet being a wild place with the cover of anonymous, it is a very volatile area with people not caring what they type. Face to face interaction forces you to to engage with the people around you in a meaningful way. I'm actually bored of video games now, I've only really played when a group of my friends are asking me to play competitive online games like (Dota 2, League of Legends, etc). I've noticed the online interaction of playing a video online helps fills the void left by playing DnD face to face, but it isn't enough to fill it all. I'm already trying to plan another DnD session.

As of writing this my DnD game is still going on. Today is the day my media use is lifted, but the excrement of playing DnD has offset any urge I had to use media (despite abling to use it). I've noticed how liberating it is to just talk to people face to face, have fun, rather than through an online means.

As for my lost of urge to use media. It probably has something to do with my need to be engaged, socialize, and active. Our media gives us all of these things in small tidbit in constant flows that our need to be engaged, socialize, and active become dependent on our current form of media. It just does it job so well. But my lost of urge to use (today) was due to having a even more engaging, socializing, and active experience than my current form of media can give me.

Got really sick yesterday from the weather. I have perked up today and confirming everyone's schedule for our DnD game tomorrow. It will seem to be a very late into morning game as in 5pm to whenever we pass out. Just to note all of us are Asian and Thanksgiving isn't really celebrated within our families which is why Thursday is free to us.

I grew very anxious today of wanting to play video games, check online forums, and reading online articles. I'm actually a bit surprised at how I feel as if I have some sort of addiction to media. It feels as if I'm in that phase of withdrawal and I need my dose of media really bad. I grabbed my laptop, drove to the nearest outdoor area with a bench, and wrote my English Research Paper so I'm not tempted to go on the Internet. I even left my phone home so I won't get tempted to use it's Internet features.

After around 5:30 and reaching home, I'm planning to spend the next couple hours of just immersing myself in reading so I'm not tempted to use any form of media.

As of 6:30 and writing this, I noticed the instant I stopped reading my book, the urge to use media came back and I'm quickly typing this to not fall into the urge.

I've gotten together my friends to plan a DnD game on Thursday. Always wanted to try it out and it seems like a good time to try it. Today was spent making our DnD characters. We had one of my friend (Henry), get his co-worker to DM (Dungeon Master) for us. Surprisingly enough, it takes a while to create a character for DnD. First you pick the race, the class, then the backstory. The backstory being the most time consuming, as each on of us ( I have 4 friends who are playing, Henry, Jan, Alain, Alton) wanted to make our character wacky or unique. The DM (Roger, Henry's co-worker) gave us a lot of leeway of what we could make are characters to be like. For example I made a human paladin that was blessed by the gods 2 millenniums ago but was stripped of his power for his questioning of the gods actions and imprisoned for 2,000 years. But now is free with all of his powers stripped and wanders a new land with a world vastly different. 

My other friends made a human wizard, dwarf fighter, and a human thief/rogue. I'm not too sure what their backstory is as the DM told us to not reveal anything to each other, but only in game. 

At this point with no forms of media at my hands, I'm just looking for any way to kill time in this period with activities. I realize how bored I would be if I didn't have a group of friends who shared interests as I do. Our media today seems to encourage behavior of staying at home with little real interaction with other people. Watching movies, playing video games, twitter, etc. They seem so impersonal. Having none of that and forced to find other ways to have "fun" has made me realize how attached we all are to our current media.

Filler

Nov 23, 2013

Could not use any media for leisure even if I desired it. Went to weekend calculus class and proceeded to spend the entire day working on English Research Paper. Although I was tempted to do something on my computer while conducting my Research Paper, ie: check twitter or play a game, but remained resolved by reading the Wheel of Time for the rest of the night before going to sleep.

Nov 22, 2013

I spent most of my day studying using my computer only for Physics, Math, and of course this class. My little brother came over today. We talked about what has been going on in his high school. Our talk lead to card games with things like Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, Yu-gi-oh, and my invigoration for card games ignited once again. We decided to play a couple games in Magic.

I found it interesting while playing with my brother that I found it quite refreshing to spend time with brother just talking face to face and spending our time together just talking while playing. Usually when he comes over we play video games, but since I'm unable to do that, we took out some old TCGs and played for hours. This got me to think how much fun I used to have as a kid playing board games. I'm quite interested in obtaining a couple board games like Munchkins, Takenoko, or Dark Sisters. I'm actually get quite excited to play some of them with the family.

In terms of book reading, I've resumed reading The Wheel of Time series that I've put on backlogged for a while. Getting to book 3 and I actually feel glad I can't play video games, watch TV, use netflix, etc. Usually I get so engrossed in my other activities that I forget that I can't find time to read. Now that most of my free time is freed up, I actually am excited every time it's time for me to open my book and see how the story of The Wheel of Time progresses. On book 3, 9 more books to go.

I also haven't caught up with any news since the lack of use of media entertainment. None of my friends keep up with the news, so talking to them won't grant me any new information. I've been wanting to pick up the local newspaper, but it slips my mind every morning, which is ironic since I used to read the newspaper nearly everyday while in San Francisco. Thinking back on newspapers, I really missed reading them. They were a fun read, a nice way to look up news, and everything was there for you to decide what to read. I'll try to remember to pick up a newspaper tomorrow morning.

Nov 21, 2013

Interesting enough, use of barely any media hasn't really change anything. I've not watched TV since last year, and spending less time on my computer has given me ample time to catch up with my reading. Though my one gripe is that I don't really know what's going on around the world any more. It's weird being ignorant of world news as I can't pick up anything to read. Perhaps I will check if I can pick up a local newspaper and get my news there. I have been tempted many times to go on my computer, but I luckily have good books I bought last months to read upon. 

It's weird how much of an addict I feel towards my phone and computer. They have been integrated into my daily life since I was a kid, and taking them away felt like a part of myself is gone. Though funny enough, I don't seem to miss them much. My time has been pretty busy, studying for physics, calculus, and doing my research paper in the library for English, leaves me actually almost no free time but 8pm at night. I just spend my remaining hours reading before falling asleep.