No more Technology?

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan- like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms…” Henry Thoreau.
When my class was asked the questions, if we were able to live without technology and would we give it up completely for a whole year (and go live in the woods), I had to think about this. I would gladly give up technology, but no one else would be. My parents would try to call me to find my phone turned off. I wouldn’t be able to get the majority of my school work done. Half of my free time is spent of the computer which I sometimes tend to regret. Yet I have lived without technology and without want of it. Not for a whole year like Henry Thoreau did, but for a week at a time. I’ve done this on many occasions. My youth group had a rule that on our retreats we would not have any cell phones, mp3 players, or any sort of technology like that. I’ve also been on camping trips with my family where we had no cell phone service and we brought along no other technologies of that sort. I have to say that those were some of the best weeks of my life. When camping we did so much. We were in the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon and it is the most beautiful place ever. During storms we would listen to the thunder almost literally roll down the valley. It was the most amazing sound ever. While tubing down the creek we saw two otter once and every year we see two bald eagles flying up and down the creek. We’ve had a bear walk through our campsite and down across the creek. Deer have bounded out in front of us while biking and if we hadn’t stopped we would have hit them they were that close to us. My brother found and took the rest of us up a deer trail that lead up the side of the mountains. It took so long to get there and at times we weren’t really following a path at all, but at the clearing at the top, the sight was beautiful. On the way down we found a patch of wild blueberry’s that were amazing. As Thoreau says “I did not wish to live what was not life…” Outside those woods I feel like I’m just going through the motions, following the trends, and sort of living life. Yet when I’m there with my family (I couldn’t do it by myself) I can feel nothing but wonder and awe. If I could spend my life like that, I would. Yet I would only do it with my family. I would miss them and my friends too much.