Life Without Technology-Ruchika Vyas

What does it take to live a life without using technology? Can you try living for a week without cell phones, computers, home appliances, TV and so on? We all should try internet Sanyas once a while. Here’s a guest post by Ruchika Vyas, The article was part of a column Ruchika and team started in iDiva (a lifestyle supplement that is published every fortnight and is distributed with The Times of India) called The Comic Strip Joint - A humorous take on the comedy called life.

Life without technology- By Ruchika Vyas 

Giving up technology and living life as in medieval times sounds exciting in theory, but would it be that much fun? Maybe the elaborate vintage costumes would amuse you for a while, but then what? Go to war as the Mughals did? Let’s face it. Most people in those times went to war out of sheer boredom. I mean, they didn’t exactly have fun activities to indulge in, except maybe the ones that include reproduction. Let’s be honest: if they had the Xbox 360, they’d probably cosy up indoors and play Mortal Kombat or Dead or Alive. There’d be no bloodshed, no one would have to die, they’d save a lot of money on the heavy artillery needed for war and the women would get more leisure time for their milk and rose-petal–soaked bath.  

Giving in to curiosity, I took it upon myself to discover what life would be like without technology. What would happen if I didn’t check my emails for a week? Would my plants in Farmville survive if I didn’t water them? Will readers stop following my blog if I didn’t update it for a few days? Would I be haunted by the hundreds of text messages that would pour in while I’m off the grid? Most of you are probably already shuddering at the mere thought! But play along, because I did give it all up—well, for a week anyway. 

On Day 1 of my tech-less life, I woke up at 1pm—so much for switching off the alarm. I now wondered why I was awake at all, considering I could no longer use my cell phone, computer, TV, radio, MP3 player, refrigerator, microwave or geyser. Well, I decided I might as well make the best out of this kind gift. So I went back to sleep. 

After my second awakening, the wondrous vision of meditation came to mind. So I began to focus on attaining peace and nirvana. No less than five minutes went by and my evil twin, restlessness, took over breaking my already weak connection with the almighty. My twitching fingers—obviously withdrawal symptoms from a lack of texting and typing—needed something to do. So I took up knitting; the good thing is I now have a back-up career. 

Day 2 saw me head to work, which was pointless, really. With no computer, I had to write my articles on paper, all the while praying that my shoddy handwriting would be understood. I was flooded by disgustedly shocked looks from every passerby; my purpose of being at work was becoming a frequently asked question. Someone sarcastically even suggested I make a placard stating my reasons. My stylist friend even offered to get a pendant made stating the same. Not being able to text, tweet or blog, I knitted my grievances. 

Days 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 were almost the same: Sleep, read, eat, drink, and sleep. The nights proved more interesting. I was either being eaten by giant evil cellphones, or being sucked into vast computers in a whirlpool. Some even took dramatic twists like this one: Fed up of living a replica of Fred Flintstone’s life, one fine day I return to the real world only to find my Second Life avatar to have replaced me. In fact, she was a better, new and improved me, with 800 new friend invites on Facebook, 999 new followers on Twitter and an inbox flooded with praises and compliments. Pop! Back to reality. 

Turns out, life today is incomplete without the incessant SMSing, obsessive tweeting and frequent attempts at beautifying our Facebook farms.

Writer profile:  Ruchika works for iDiva as a Features Editor. She is also an amateur photographer and blogs at Travel stories of India She’s an avid traveller and has visited several places across India—such as Ladakh, McLeodganj, Fort Kochi, Ooty, Coorg, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Pushkar, Shimla, Binsar, Kanatal, Mussurie, a tribal circuit of Sarahan-Sangla-Recong Peo-Kalpa-Chitkul in Himachal Pradesh—and abroad—such as Maldives, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Dubai—to name a few. She has previously freelanced for publications like Mumbai Mirror, Jetwings (Jet Airways' in-flight magazine) and Flylite (Jetlite's in-flight magazine) and also one of the co-authors of Outlook Traveller Getaways’ book ‘Driving Holidays in India’.