iExamen

Andrew Piccione
Blog Post #3

            This weekend my brother and I travelled back home to New York to see my family and visit my grandfather. Seeing my grandfather had been on my mind all week because he recently underwent a heart surgery on Thursday which did not go as well as planned. Visiting those that I love in the hospital has always been hard for me to experience so I was not looking forward to it. When we arrived home Friday night, I was shocked to see my grandfather in my living room looking happy and healthy. The next morning, I woke up in my old bed and like every other college student the first thing I did was reach for my phone. As I unlocked my phone and went to open my notifications, I remembered that my grandfather was downstairs and seeing him will always be more important than any text, tweet, or snap. This examen was easier to accomplish than expected because I was surrounded by my family and my phone was not being very cooperative either. For the past 3 months, my phone has struggled to charge, type, and load everyday things so you can assume how frustrated I have become to tolerate this annoyance. Even though it would glitch I would try to tolerate it because I have been waiting for the new iPhone to come out. Conveniently, on Saturday my phone had another one of its famous episodes. I became so impatient that I decided to forget about my phone all together, which was not a big deal for me anymore because over time I’ve learned to not become so dependent on technology. It was convenient for me because if there was any weekend to forget about technology it was this one. Spending time with my family was the reason I came home so ditching my common habits of scrolling through social media and apps seemed like a simple decision.

            In the beginning of the day everything seemed normal to me, waking up in the same bed, driving down the same block, seeing the same trees, houses etc... As the day progressed I analyzed my interactions with my family, one member in particular, my grandfather. The first thing I did when I rolled out of bed was find him sitting on the couch watching TV. We sat down together talking, watching sports, and reminiscing on the happy times we have shared in the past. Talking to him about the past made me realize how precious everything in the world is so I cherished every moment I spent with him. That evening we had dinner reservations at a restaurant that overlooked the New York City skyline. I figured there was no better time to isolate myself from all technology than this family dinner. When we arrived, my phone had already been dead for hours but that did not matter anymore because the view was the only thing I was focused on the whole night. My first instinct was to take a picture of this incredible view but that was no longer an option, thanks a lot Apple. Overlooking the skyline made me realize how beautiful the city actually was. Even though the city is filled with havoc and chaos, seeing the monstrous skyscrapers gave me a chance to truly understand that the worlds beauty comes in a variety of unique ways. The dinner progressed like every other, filled with smiles and happiness because the whole family was together again. Between staring at the skyline and eating delicious food, communicating with the outside world never entered my mind. 

            I was very happy that I went home this weekend because I feel that this examen would have been a lot more difficult to accomplish at school because there are so many distractions that could have lead me astray from the technology free path. This weekend I realized that when I did not use technology I was a lot more open to the world and the people that surround me. Once I returned home from dinner that night life carried on as usual. I headed straight for my room, threw my phone on the charger praying it would work, opened my laptop and got lost in the screen until I dozed off to sleep.