Imagine if you did not have use of a home computer for the last 10 years... or for the last 10 days.  Imagine if you were a student and did not have a computer at home...

 

 Kramden Awards computers to students in North Carolina that are hardworking, and academically motivated but do not have a computer at home. Our recipients  are kids that are working hard in school academically. They're staying after school late, and going to school early. They spend countless hours in computer labs and public libraries. They have to go above and beyond in order to be on the same playing field with their classmates that have computers at home.  Can you imagine being a student without access to a home computer? Josh Shumann, Kramden's Technical Support Specialist, undertook a social experiment in which he went 24 hours without using his home computer. Take a look at his thoughts below. 

Living in the past, disliking the present, while having hope for the future. 

24 Hours without a personal computer... easy? 

“The library will be closing in five minutes, so if you would, finish what you are working on, and prepare to leave.”  A Liberian at my campus announced for all to hear. “oh, no.” I said as I put my hands to my face.

 This was the situation last week Thursday, as the library was closing. I had much more work to do that night; Emails that needed to be sent for Kramden Institute, Inc. and student government, friends that “needed” return emails, and to top it all off I still needed to access blackboard (Blackboard is the online version of classes that we have at my school, and students are expected to access this.) to do my homework, and study for upcoming tests.

 It was 8:30pm and as I was walking to my car, I remember thinking to myself, is the public library still open? I wonder if my neighbor is still up and would let me run my computer programs that I have to test for class?

 In the end, I decided not to go to the library. Which was good decision,  because I would’ve only had about 15 minutes there, before they too would close.As for my neighbor, I decided not to bother him-he getts home really late from his daily commute to Greensboro and is probable in a similar exhausted state of mind…well, except for the fact that he has a computer that he can use in his home…

 Finally, at 9:30pm I pulled into my driveway -I still needed to eat dinner and make lunch for tomorrow and by 10:45pm I was tired and feeling just a little overwhelmed ,while counting the seconds to midnight, as I sat reading my math book.

 At last, as my watch beeped to let me know that midnight had at last come. I wasted no time turning on my computer and working on a little of my homework. “That wasn’t so bad” I thought- completely forgetting the day that I had just lived

 What I took from this experience:

•  We as a society have become VERY dependent upon computers and the internet to accomplish daily tasks-more so then I thought
• In this present day, one needs to be “connected” to accomplish all of their daily work on time
• We as a society need to find a way to make it so that no one ever needs to go home at the end of the day with their work incomplete, or worry if they are going to fail a class.