(February 25, 2010) — A recent Kaiser Family Foundation study shows that the average young American—ages eight to 18—spend more than nine hours daily using a computer, television or other electronic devices. Such heavy media use reportedly results in bad grades and behavior. To try the validity of this study, the Chronicle conducted an experiment with three students who volunteered to live without the use of technology for several days. Junior Edwin Ohm, who managed to go without technology for five to six days, noticed both a smaller electricity bill and a change in behavior. “After I stopped using technology—like listening to music—I started to talk to people more and get to know them and connect,” Ohm said. However, the experiment was not all positive. Ohm says the first day was the most difficult—he spent the whole day looking for something to do. “I felt disconnected because I usually chat on Facebook and Yahoo.” Junior John Azizian lasted for three days, before the boredom overwhelmed him. Instead of watching movies on the Internet, going on sports message boards and playing on his Playstation 3, Azizian caught up on his sleep. Azizian believes that using technology for fun may benefit students. “If you use technology the right way and don’t let it dominate your life, I think it could actually help your grade because you need to have some fun out of school, and if that means going on the Internet or chatting online when your work, then I think it works,” Azizian said. Azizian believes that multitasking with several different media may lead to problems. “I think it makes people become less appreciative and aloof to their surroundings because they are so into their technology,” said Azizian. According to the Kaiser study, the average young American is exposed to about 11 hours of media by multitasking. “I think the problems with technology use are that sometimes people get carried away with it and just let it dominate their lives, and they get too dependent on it, so they don’t appreciate old-fashioned stuff,” Azizian said. Here is a log kept by junior Sayonika Mohanta as she reflected on her journey through her daily life sans technology. Friday, February 5 , 2010: 3:45 pm: I have just come back from school, and I am dying to play tennis on my Wii . It has been a tough week with the second semester starting and all, but it’s a Friday after all. As I move towards the wii console, I realize that I have pledged to stay off technology for some time, so dejectedly I walk back to my room and lie down. 4:30 pm: I look around my room and feel as if I’m in the middle of some technological factory. Everywhere I look there’s something to remind me of the digital age: television, laptop, stereo system, iPod , etc. Feeling depressed, I decide to go out for a walk. 4:45 pm: As I walk past John Marshall Elementary I realize how much time has passed since I’ve walked somewhere. Most of the time, I’m either at home studying, going to the gym, dance, piano lessons, etc. or at home with my family watching movies. 6:30 pm: My dad is back from work and my parents are getting ready to watch a movie. My family is obsessed with movies, especially Indian, but we watch Hollywood, French, German, etc. We are avid subscribers of Netflix and watch at least two movies every Friday night. But, I walk back to my room because of the pledge. 7:45 pm: I can hear the 7.1 channel sound system in the living room blasting with an Indian song from the movie my parents are watching. With nothing else to do, I decide to read a novel. I gaze at my enormous library of books and pick out the seventh book of Harry Potter to reread. 9:30 pm: At this time, I usually go on Facebook or chat on Yahoo! messenger with my friends in India . Technology off limits at the moment, I keep reading the novel. Having read the book a gazillion times, I can practically recite the novel by heart. 10:30 pm: I am so bored and sleepy right now that I decide sleep is the best option. I feel like banging my head on the wall for going to sleep so early on a Friday night, but I am too technologically deprived at the moment to care. Saturday February 6, 2010: 12:00 pm: I didn’t have any problem in the morning because I have dance for four hours, but right now I’m struggling to find something to do. 1:00 pm: I have eaten my lunch, and with nothing else to do, I decide to get started on homework. Calculus takes a good amount of time, so I decide to start with that. But even the complex derivatives and integrals don’t last as long as I want them to. I am having troubles with two of the problems, but unfortunately I can’t pull up Cramster on my laptop to clear my doubts. 4:00 pm: I am done with my homework and do feel proud because I usually procrastinate until Sunday. I wonder if I should sleep, but I don’t want to because then I would be restless at night. So, I settle for practicing my piano. In my free time, I usually take tunes and try to play them by ear. I take on the tunes from Pirates of the Caribbean. 6:00 pm: My parents have decided to go out for dinner, so I feel glad that I can escape my technology withdrawal for a few hours. 9:00 pm: Now used to the idea of not having technology around, I decide to practice my speech for Lion’s club. I have been putting off editing it, so I make use of my free time. I really want to listen to music as I usually do when I am studying. 10:30 pm: Since I can’t go on the computer, I settle for writing in my diary about my feelings because I felt like a kindergartner going to sleep so early again. Sunday, February 7 , 2010 8:00 am: As I woke up this morning, I felt glad that this was last day of the pledge and I can go tech crazy again. 11:30 am: I decided to practice tennis for an extra hour today because I didn’t want to come home with nothing to do. I played a couple of matches with my friends after doing a lesson with my coach. When I told him about my pledge, he just laughed and checked his messages on his phone. 2:00 pm: I am really tired from tennis, so I just decide to take a nap against my better judgment. 5:00 pm: I have jus woken up, and my mom is yelling at me to clean my room. Normally, I would just grunt and say I would do it later, but right now I wanted to kiss her for giving me something to do.