For English Class, we read Henry David Thoreau' Walden, and had to give up a piece of modern convenience to show how inconsequential they are to our existence.
I stare at the velvet black pouch, mouth almost watering. I loosen the string holding it together and pull out the handheld device. It is almost all black, with a spacious 4.3 inch screen. I run my fingers over the slick cool metal. I have all of the specifications memorized from when I received it for my seventeenth birthday. This baby is not even a year old, but it has stood by me like a brother. I flick the top switch and turn on my Creative Zen Vision W mp3 player for the first time in seven days.
When I first pondered something to give up for my transcendental challenge, I regrettably thought of my mp3 player. For my English class, we are reading Walden, by Thorough, and had to choose some modern technology to give up as a “transcendental challenge.” This 5.27" by 2.95" by 0 86" wonder can do it all when it comes to multimedia. I currently have 3718 songs, five feature length films, 600 pictures, and seven TV episodes on it, and there is still room. It is the only small player I know with an external speaker and I often play songs in Physics and homeroom with it. I have also connected it to a projector to watch “Ferris Bueller's Day Off” in calculus or a Simpsons episode in AP US History.
At home I have even more fun. I load it up with downloaded or borrowed movies and watch them in my bed before I go to sleep. It is fantastic to have such a small screen with such a beautiful picture. If it is a late night I do not watch a movie or view a TV episode, but listen to some calming music. It is not that I have ever needed music to fall asleep, but I usually have urges to listen to songs that are stuck in my head.
It was a very expensive purchase for my parents and I was very happy to receive such a gift for my birthday. I try to utilize all of its value and enjoy every aspect of it. However, Henry David Thoreau says, "A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone."(Walden, 53) I consider this quote to mean that a rich man has control of his riches and he does not let his possessions own him. He is in control because he lets himself leave alone that which he does not need. I wanted to show that my device did not own me. This past week has given me an opportunity to “go cold turkey” and simplify my life by dropping the use of my player all together, starting December 2, 2007.
I cannot think of one thing other than survival basics that I think I need to survive. Therefore, I was not overdramatic about losing this. I learned to adapt easily, but the pain of losing a loved one was still there. There were moments during the week that did not require the player, but it would have been swell if I could have enjoyed the moment with my trusty little Zen.
My first “Oh Darn!” moment was in Physics on Monday. Aaron Rumburg, Marty Fuhry, and I have a tradition to play “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Taylor while we work on our physics problems. We find the song both soothing and comical. Unfortunately for my challenge, I could not serenade my cronies with tunes. It took them the whole block to finish two problems, though Mrs. Bellini would attribute this to talking and shenanigans.
My second moment of yearning was felt Tuesday in eighth block. I was sitting next to Cathryn Cirino in AP Government and I watched her pull from her book bag nothing other than her iPod. She nonchalantly plugged in her headphones as I gazed at her. If she would have turned her head to the right I am sure the situation would have been awkward. I held a pang of loneliness but quickly told myself to shut up and stop whining.
The third and last true pang of want was Wednesday night. I walked upstairs to my bedroom and reached for my player to watch “Seinfeld.” My little woobie was gone and I did not realize at first that I was on this challenge. I franticly looked around, hoping to find it, but then realized I had set it downstairs to avoid temptation. I laughed to myself and realized that it was probably a good idea I was giving this up. For the rest of the week I didn't mind that I could not use the player and got along just fine.
Although I am sure I could go longer with this challenge, I will use my mp3 player so as to not let my wonderful possession go to waste. Giving up this small piece of technology reminded me of another Walden quote, “Men think that it is essential that the Nation have commerce, and export ice, and talk through a telegraph, and ride thirty miles an hour, without a doubt, whether they do or not; but whether we should live like baboons or men, is a little uncertain.”(60) Why do we bother with technology if we are all going to die anyway? Does technology draw us together or simply seclude us? Are we improving the human condition, not the physical one, but the mental mindset of the world by these new gadgets? Is this quest for better things nothing but a rat race? As I type this report on a computer, technology's poster child, I ponder these questions.
