Disconnected: A Documentary

In this documentary, a media studies class at a small college decides to do a documentary. Three students, Mitchell, aka "Chel," Caitlin and Andrew, are elected by their classmates to make a sacrifice--get by without a computer for the term.

Chel rushes to finish some papers on the last night before logging out, Andrew is lagging in his desire to shut off his computer, and Caitlin is the most extreme, wrapping her laptop in duct tape, shelving it in the closet, hoping to put temptation out of reach.


Each as expected starts out with bewilderment and boredom on what to do in their first computerless moments. As realization begins to settle in on how often they want a computer--to watch movies, play music, check emails and social media--it becomes harder when facing why they NEED a computer--homework. They have to explain to professors why they can't email in assignments, use an electric typewriter for the first time, get blank looks at the library when asking to use the card catalog. Instead of cutting and pasting in a word processing program, a paper is put together using index cards and handwritten pages. A page is typewritten several times without the benefit of spellcheck.

One student argues that using a proxy, by having someone check his email, is not against the rules. Another finds having to do homework by hand feels as if she absorbs more content although it takes much longer to put together. Another feels phone contact, instead of emailing or texting, is both intimate and slow when people won't return his calls. Parents used to reading their son's blog worry more about his well-being.

Equally cumbersome is registering for next semester's class or inputting hours worked at their job, and university staff are both helpful and annoyed. The three students even try to instigate the campus to join them in a computer-free day, even organizing a "facebook without computers" get-together, i.e. sitting around and talking face-to-face--what a concept!

Eventually all three break down due to the stress and end their experiment earlier than planned--society's dependence on computers, even if not for frivolous uses, is too ingrained by now and there is no way anyone in this modern world can truly get by without one.

Watching this doc, there were obstacles I knew the kids could get around and others I knew they could not. Both the uses and disadvantages of computer use are shown but societies just cannot, and in some cases, will not, give up computers. As someone from an earlier generation, perhaps cutting the cord will be less traumatic for me, but even if I elect to do so, many corporations can't do without computers to conduct business in our global world which will in turn affect me anyway. We are increasingly dependent on computers and digital-only proceses in our daily life so even the processes these students go through in this doc will become obsolete in a few years time.