What happens when you put four millennials in the wild with no technology? They go crazy. I know because that’s exactly what happened to us. Four Woodbury students: Zaven, Kaeli, Darwin and Christina took the “No Technology Challenge” and we decided to go into technology-free nature for four hours. And yes, that included no cell phones! As a group we decided to go to a place where nature allows one to forget about the city and the technology connected into one. We choose Malibu State Creek Park because it was the prettiest hike that we knew about. The first impression of walking around Malibu Creek Park was shock and awe. It was one of the most extraordinary places that we had ever seen. With a clear blue sky and a path filled with fresh green grass, it was an extraordinary sight to see.
"Look at the cute ducks, I wish I could snapchat them!”
10:00 AM. The first few minutes were a piece of cake. Although our surrounding was beautiful, there was nothing begging us to take pictures. The cell phones were turned off and stored in Christina’s backpack. No one felt the urge to check them.
10:20 AM. We saw cute ducks in the creek and a need to snapchat overwhelmed us. We refused to crack and continued on our technological free journey. Zaven exclaimed, “Look at the cute ducks, I wish I could snapchat them!” We all agreed that it had only been twenty minutes and we should not check our phones.
11:00 AM, after multiple backtracking and some rock climbing we made it to the waterfall, or at least as close to the waterfall as you can possible get. We stood on this one rock, probably thirty-five feet high, and just sat in awe at how beautiful California is. Darwin added how beautiful the scenery was and how connected he felt to nature with the absences of technology. After we caught our breath, we, four semi-strangers, had a therapy session. We screamed about our problems and threw rocks at the thought of how much we wanted technology. As much anger as we had, this little therapy session made us bond over our craving of technology.
"We screamed about our problems and threw rocks at the thought of how much we wanted technology."
11:45 A.M. Our journey didn’t end there. We decided to climb another big rock, except Christina dropped her favorite sunglasses off the rock and we thought that was the end of them. Christina panicked in fear and yelled in anger because not only did she lose her glasses, she didn’t have a phone to post about her clumsiness. Low and behold a fellow hiker yelled up to us and shouted in cheer, saying he found her glasses perfectly fine hanging from a tree branch. It was one of the best moments of the hike to see something so comical yet typical when it comes to Christina’s luck. What was even comical was that Zaven on his way down the rock ate sh*t and almost broke a butt cheek. All was good at the end with no broken bones just a bruise or two.
1:30 P.M. Afew hours went by and we couldn’t stand it any longer. Technology was meant to be used and we weren’t going to miss the photo-op. Excitedly we all pulled out our phones and life was good again. This is what happens when millennials take over nature- panic, anxiety, and lack of communication with a fabulous thing called social media.
"I guess what they say in science class is true, when one becomes winded, they forget all their troubles."
2:45 P.M. It seemed like all hope was lost, the team seemed winded. After climbing up jagged rocks, Christina, Kaeli, Darwin and Zaven wanted to go for a run up hill through the fresh green grass with the hot wind blowing in our faces. A challenge that seemed to be a piece of cake in the beginning turned out to be a disaster in the end. With a nice run, the team felt exhausted and completely forgot about using technology. I guess what they say in science class is true, when one becomes winded, they forget all their troubles.