Lisa Soeter

Imagine a world without mobiles, computers, tablets and televisions. Are you able to do that? Experiment 2.0 is being offline for 24 hours. You have to not only be offline but also turn off all your devices. Sounds quite easy, doesn’t it?

 

Well I can tell you it isn’t. I was born in 1994 and grew up with computers and mobile phones. Back then they weren’t as smart as they are now, but they have become a part of my life. I thought it wasn’t a challenge at all. It turned out to be pretty difficult.

 

I started at 10 o’clock in the evening. Thinking I was smart and could use my phone at least the following evening. The evening went well. I went to sleep and woke up the following morning without my phone next to me. I had put it away so I didn’t have the temptation. The first thing I do in the morning when I wake up is check my phone. I could not do that this time. Believe it or not, I had the feeling I was missing something.

 

After an hour of being awake disaster struck. I had to go to the physiotherapist. I was running late so I grabbed my keys and ran out the door. When I was in front of the house I realized I only had my car keys. I went back in to the house to realize someone took my house keys. Then I found out someone took my car as well. I had to call my therapist to let her know I couldn’t be there in time. I also had to call the person that had my keys to get them back.

 

Even though I cheated I was not going to let this one go. I decided to go shopping. That way I had a pleasant distraction. Little did I now, there are screens everywhere! It shocked me. At the bus station there was a screen that showed the time op arrival and departure. When I arrived at the railway station I experienced an overload of screens. There were screens that showed the same as at the bus station. There were screens to reload your traveling card, to check yourselves in. There were even screens with advertisements and prices of the stores. I was amazed by this. I had never realized that there were so much screens. Let alone the overload of information they send.

 

Even when I was in the train itself I couldn’t escape the screens. There were screens in the train and everyone was holding a phone, tablet or laptop. I felt like an outsider. An outsider that observed this strange thing that has become completely normal.

 

Even when I was shopping it felt like an attack of information. Everywhere I looked there was something digital sending information to me.  I just couldn’t get away from it. Late in the evening I went home. Even there I wasn’t save. The TV was on and someone was playing cards on a laptop.

 

I didn’t accomplish a day without devices. This turned out to be harder than I could ever imagine.

 

Even though I did not succeed it opened my eyes. We do not live in the era I was born in anymore. We have past that stadium by far. If I look at from a business perspective I see the possibilities. New is the new normal. But if I look at it in a much more personal way, I don’t know if I think this development is a good thing or not.