At 11 a.m. Monday, about 20 seniors at Chittenango High School surrendered their cell phones, iPads and other electronic devices to teacher Lisa Lowenberg.
Their assignment: Survive the week without the use of technology, including cell phones, computers, video game systems and cable television.
The social experiment was designed by Lowenberg to illustrate the impact of modern technology to students taking her global environment class, a three-credit course offered in conjunction with the State University College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The students kept journals outlining the obstacles they faced during the experiment.
The students were reunited with their phones at 11:15 a.m. Friday. One student raced up to Lowenberg to reclaim her phone and gleefully skipped back to her lab station to plug it in and turn it on. As the phones powered up, students chattered about how many emails, text messages and voicemails they had missed.
“I’m like blowing up right now,” said one student as her phone loaded the missed messages on Facebook and other apps.
Kyle Prenoveau, 17, said he didn’t know what to do when he got home from soccer practice early on the first night of the experiment.
“Normally, I go on the computer to check Facebook or my fantasy football team,” he said. “I couldn’t do any of that.”
He first tackled the homework assignments that were due the following day.
“When I was done, it was only 7 p.m.,” he said.
He moved on to long-term assignments due in October, which only took until 8 p.m. Cleaning his room occupied another hour.
“I read a book until I went to sleep at 10 p.m.,” he said
Most students said they grew accustomed to technology-free life after a couple days. Instead of texting, the teenagers called their friends on their home phones. Those without landlines said they stopped by their friends’ houses to see them in person or made sure they connected during the school day.
Students said one of the most difficult parts of the assignment was avoiding modern conveniences like television remote controls and automatic windows and wireless entry systems for their cars.
There were also academic implications, as the ban included calculators.
“The math teachers were behind me, because they said the students rely on them too much,” Lowenberg said.
Kelley Weimer, 17, said she wrote a four-page essay by hand.
“It was so weird,” she said.
Weimer also found herself going to bed earlier, turning in around 10:30 p.m.
“Usually, I’m a night owl, I’m up until 2 a.m.,” she said.
Lowenberg said several parents remarked that the experiment caused their students to spend more time with their families. Collins Van Gorder, 17, said he played kickball and dodgeball with his younger brothers.
“Usually, I’m up in my room on the computer,” he said. “I had a lot more time.”
The assignment was equally difficult for Lowenberg, who racked up 301 unread emails during the hiatus.
Senior Jon Simmons, 17, said he might limit his cell phone use in the wake of the experiment.
“It really helped me realize how much I use it – and how difficult it can be to go without it,” Simmons said.