Life without Headphones 2-1

On/Off Project  Technology: Headphones and iTunes, Pandora, Spotify

Knowing myself, I knew that I would not have a incredibly hard time turning off technology. I do it on occasion for fun. Something that I have never given up is music and in extension headphones. I felt that this course of action would illicit the type of response that would help me see how dependent I was on technology. I started on Saturday afternoon. It was pretty easy at first. I overheard some very interesting conversations while I was waiting for work. One especially memorable one was at Chipotle. I felt good that I would succeed. After work though, I caved. I decided to start again in the morning. As a New Yorker with a dog, I do A LOT of walking. I found that without my headphones, I had some conversations with people I would not ordinarily have. The down side to this was all the noise. Even in my apartment, it is noisy. Not just from the outside, but within too. Between the pets and the roommates, to the sounds of old plumbing and heating, I was at the end of my rope. By 8pm, I could not take it anymore. I also had to work on a school project which, included music.

As I turned on the sound, I was unable to move. My face went red and I was shaking. My roommate was concerned and found it hilarious also. She is a RN so I was physically safe. I couldn't move or talk for 3 minutes. I have never experienced this before. But to be fair, I have never gone without music in my entire life. Music has been in every nook and cranny of my life. From birth, music has been how I view and understand the world. It also holds my memories. I do not want to give this technology up again.

This art piece, was created in during and in response to all the noise and conversations that were around me throughout the day. I worked on it bit by bit, adding more sounds and colors to highlight the invading noise at the time.