The Stuff Lent Gadget Fast – Day 1

Paddy – music

There’s nothing like waking up to a good tune, or if there is it’s not waking up to the sound of John Humphrys bickering with a politician. The good news is I’ve been granted permission to play music on an instrument during my fast. The bad news is I’m about to put 3500 miles between me and my band, and there’s a six hour flight in the offing. I’ve packed a batch of podcasts and a portable MIDI controller for the trip. I just hope I can make it through an airport full of overexcited children being yelled at by their weary parents without some calming tunes.

Stephen – smartphone

Disaster! The Nokia 5110 I was supposed to be using is broken. Instead, my mobile for the week will be a Nokia 3310, for which my pockets are eternally grateful. The smartphone fast has already started to bite – this morning I was unable to use my trusty Bus Checker app to find out when the next bus was turning up at my nearest stop. Bereft of apps, I was actually forced to look out of the window on the journey.

Lucy – iPad

And so the torment begins. This morning I was stood opposite two people smugly swiping away on their iPads on the train. I say smugly, they were just using them like normal people. I started to stare, then had to tell myself to get a grip – it’s just a week, and I can use my iPhone. So much for trying not to think about it. I thought about getting my laptop out but given the number of people crammed into my carriage I’d probably have started a fight. By lunch I’ve only gone to grab my iPad from my bag three times. It doesn’t help that I failed to leave it at home today. Ooooh, the temptation.

Luke – instant messaging

Surprisingly this is quite easy, so far. Not received a single text. Alright, this is more depressing than easy. But with emails checked every ten seconds by people, these days, I can’t see that being deprived of texts and IMs will be a huge problem. Famous last words?

Sophie – Facebook

It’s been 14 hours since I went on Facebook and it’s not going well. So much so that I’m watching Michael Fassbender in Hunger for inspirational self-discipline. I had to stop myself automatically opening up the tab in Chrome when I got to my desk and I’ve found my thumb hovering over the app icon on my iPhone (and the Blackberry Z10 I’m also using) more than once. I made a note of this week’s birthdays just before midnight though. In my phone’s notes. Which I will forget about.

Esat – Reddit

I almost failed one minute into the challenge. The Reddit app on my phone was left open from my last minute binge, and I was accidentally greeted with its seductive front page just before bed. I fought temptation, closed my eyes and swiftly closed it though, so my quest remains pure. I even managed to get some work done on the train this morning, although this was severely detrimental to my regular breakfast of random facts and cat photos. I’m also not sure what to use web browsers for any more. I know there’s an entire internet out there, waiting for me to explore its deep, dark depths, but I can’t for the life of me decide where to start… *twitch*

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