Saturday, January 16, 2016

Let's play a game

While partaking in inappropriate amounts of Netflix, by even 2016 standards, it occurred to me that I might like to take part in a social experiment and subject my family to the same. I am certain that I am not the first, nor will I be near the last, man to impose on his family a passing whim with the best of intentions only to bring what will be seen an overly heavy yoke to our necks for no reason other than personal boredom. The cliche subject of my attention is the modern luxury of immediate access to the information and entertainment provided by our electronic companions and the internet.

I will skip all the parts about taking time to unplug and get more fresh air and so on. Suffice to say I am not interested with what we can do without, there is no doubt that any of us could make do and survive a outage of prescribed length. Instead I would like to know what we can benefit with less of, for a more prolonged amount of time. I world compare this to being less interested in trying a fad diet plan, instead focusing on sustainable healthy choices.

Our experiment shall commence on February first of 2016. The idea of being able to review what we learn will pertain to a logbook that each participant will keep. The contents and dissemination of records, at the time of writing, will as listed;

The log should be a collection of facts on a daily basis.
  • Authors name
  • Date of entry
  • Time of each entry to precede each note
Every time one of the below devices is used an entry should be made.
  • Computer
  • Tablet
  • Television
  • Game Console
  • Phone (with voice calls being the only exception)
The entry should describe the following points;
  • Time of the activity
  • Purpose
  • Duration
Each participant will maintain a separate logbook.

Now, as this unfolds, each participant will be free to have a customized experience. On the one hand this could be treated as a control period. As such the participant might go about their days as they usually would. This would undoubtedly involve a large amount of time recording data. A polar opposite pursuit may be to refrain from all but a few activities involving the above items, creating much shorter logs. Of course it is perfectly acceptable to be anywhere in between, as the idea is to only look back and make observations based on the data collected along the way.

The records will be uploaded to this page for reference at which point the participants should develop a personal statement for the future surrounding these activities.