Justin: The Modern Nightmare

Writing a personal creative essay forces you to engage with topics about life, culture, politics, religion, technology, morality, family, friends, etc. that are both universal and personal. This means that you write about your experiences in order to make a comment on themes that your readers can relate to. How will you engage your audience of your unique perspective?

One of the hardest questions to answer in this generation is, “What would you do if you had a whole day without any technology?” If you love playing video games and watching TV, would you consider it a break, or can you not live without it? Even as a child myself, I know how hard it is to take a break from technology; it feels like a living nightmare. When a device is taken away, kids might feel like they are being banished to the seventh layer of the underworld, punished and tortured by Satan himself because they do not realize that the act of taking a device away is actually helping them… in a sense. I think that there are many reasons why people in today’s society would be “bored” thanks to the amount of technology there is in the world.  Once someone’s phone/device is taken away, they have the idea that nothing else other than their device will entertain them.

Sometimes, however, being bored can help you connect with the real world and make you use your imagination, just as Pamela Paul, the author of the article “Let Children Get Bored Again” claims: “boredom is something to experience rather than hastily swipe away.” People should embrace boredom and see what they can make out of it. Some kids use writing as a way to step away from the world of technology to see what their imagination can make out of it. Another thing that we all could do is spend some time outdoors; taking a walk, playing sports, or just immersing ourselves in nature. One last thing, instead of grabbing your phone or turning on the TV, is to just spend time with others, like friends, family, or your next-door neighbor. 

In the article, Pamela also argues that, “Life isn’t meant to be an endless parade of amusements.”  She thinks that boredom is a good thing rather than a bad thing, and maybe we all should too.  If everyone changed their perspective of boredom like Pamela Paul, we would have a better community and we would have some way to connect with one another and have fun without the curse of technology. 

One time, I forced myself to not use technology for a week because I realized that I had probably been using technology for 6 hours on average daily. And to be completely honest, the first 2-3 days were the hardest. I had never been in such a state of depression before. The thought of never having technology made me feel as if someone had chopped my arms and legs off.

Slowly, however, I started to force myself to do other things that I would not have done before all of my technology had been ripped from my hands. I began to see that my connection became stronger with my family and friends because I did not have anything other than talking and interacting with them to do. We organized lemonade stands and as we talked, I learned some things about my family that I hadn’t known the past 11 years of my life. For example, the rest of my family made it seem like they had enjoyed a food that I have enjoyed since the first time that I had tried it just to make me happy, when in reality they didn’t like it. That was funny… and cruel. I also occupied myself with my bike and started doing sports in my backyard with my neighbor for hours.

After the first 3 days, I felt more relaxed and okay with the fact that I did not have technology for the next few days. I, myself, realized that it wasn’t that big of a deal to live without technology. From personal experiences to experiences of others, we can see that boredom can open up a new way of seeing things and doing things that will connect yourself with others and spark your imagination.