Two Hours

By Jared Tankel

The computer screen flashes as different colors run across it. I sit there, mouth slightly ajar, eyes glazed over, as I absorb another fatuous video from my youtube homepage. I snap myself out of it briefly, only to fall back under the spell of the computer. Before I know it, an hour has gone by. “How has this happened?” I wonder silently to myself. “It feels like I only just sat down.” Deep inside I know that I already know the answer to this question, just like I always have. The youtube rabbit hole, as many call it, can catch your attention for hours, never letting you tear your eyes away. Once it has its grasp on you, there’s little you can do to escape, besides watch yet another pointless video. I sigh, realizing that another hour of my life is down the drain. Gone, never to be seen again. I wake myself up, standing up to stretch. I ask myself what I learned from the past hour and a smile begins to form on my face as I realize that I remember nothing at all.

I sit on the bench, listening to the stream and the water cheerfully gurgles down the slight decline that one may consider a miniature waterfall. I haven’t visited these woods behind my old house in a year, but now I sit in silence, letting the sounds of nature envelop me. I hear the chirping of birds, the rustling of squirrels in the brush, and the sound of footsteps behind me. I turn around and see a family walking their dog. We nod to each other and I resume sitting there in silence, deep in my thoughts, pondering whether or not the bird seated so precariously on the branch is a woodpecker or a warbler. I watch the sun begin to set over the tops of the trees, signaling that it’s almost the end of my hour here. I stand up and hear some sort of small animal that had settled near the end of my bench scurry away. I turn around and see a deer in the woods, making eye contact with me. I smile at it, thinking about all that I’ve experienced in the past hour. I vividly remember the water, the birds, the wildlife – every aspect of it, and how they all make me feel like I don’t have a care in the world. It’s not a feeling that one should take for granted and it not one that I would trade for anything.

In conclusion, this experiment was fascinating, as I rarely spend an hour with no electronic interference whatsoever. I feel like everyone who has a phone should try to spend a lot of time off of it, as you don’t realize how the stream of constant information tears you down until you have a break from it. Learning more from not having my electronics than from being on my computer didn’t necessarily surprise me, as the feeling that I had was more of a recognition that I spend too much time on my phone. I learned that I spend too much time on my phone, and sometimes we need a break from the stream of information, as too much information can be overwhelming.

By Daniel Seim

In my hour of mediated time, I experienced quite a lot. I spent the first roughly 20 minutes watching the AFC Championship football game, during which I observed quite a bit about team sports. This included that being in the lead of a game could potentially cause a player to play “safer” and thus worse.  I also saw that miscommunication can lead to frustration and anger between teammates which impacted their ability to perform.  During the game I also saw a few commercials and advertisements.  These included multiple Bet MGM commercials for sports betting featuring Jamie Foxx. There was also a Subway commercial featuring Steph Curry and Serena Williams which was obviously appealing to the sports fans watching the game.  There was an advertisement for the first ever all electric chevy Silverado is being released, marking another step in the shift towards a carbon neutral world. Cool sculpting is advertised, a method of targeted fat loss that I do not know much about but am not sure is healthy or even works. The last 40 minutes of my hour were spent scrolling various platforms, Instagram, news websites, and twitter.  In this time, I learned a good bit. Joe Biden is close to finalizing his pick for the supreme court after his campaign promise to nominate the first African American woman to the supreme court. I also learned that Great Britain as stated it will begin to supply Ukraine with anti-tank weapons to deter a Russian invasion. Also in international relations, I saw that Pakistanis can now travel to Qatar without a visa. In pop culture, I learned that How I Met Your Father is debuting on Hulu, marking the release of the spinoff series of the beloved How I Met Your Mother and Kanye West, now known as Ye, is releasing his second album on February 22^nd, 2022. I was also informed that some areas in the northeast were slammed with as much as 30 inches of snow falling in some areas. 

In my hour unplugged, or unmediated time, there were just as many experiences, but very different types of them.  To begin my hour in nature, I immediately noticed the number of birds that were in the riverbed I had found by my house.  There were more birds in this one area than I had perhaps seen in the last year easily.  There was a blue jay living up to its aggressive species stereotype. The biodiversity of birds in this one riverbed was pleasantly surprising. In my hour, I noticed a blue jay, a cardinal, a woodpecker, a hawk, and 3 different types of songbirds.  The male cardinals were seemingly competing for a single female’s attention, which left me chuckling about how similar their actions are to humans. The stream that is the remnants of a river was frozen solid straight through, and if left me wondering how thick ice needs to be to safely walk on it. I began to think about halfway through about how all of this had been roughly 700 feet from my bed for the last 8 months and I had never known it because I hadn’t taken the time to look. I got up at this point to move to a different location in the riverbed when I spotted a deer walking about a quarter mile away. I followed it at a distance as to not spook it and to my surprise I spotted a whole family of 7 or 8 deer hiding away. I tried my best to keep a distance out of respect and not wanting to scare them or make them run away.  This led me to start thinking about how my very presence to them could spell life or death which is why they were so cautious of my movements.  This was a super cool experience as I had no clue that such large animals were living so close to where I do. Deer are not necessarily the most interesting creatures on the planet but there is some beauty to seeing wild ones roaming around living their lives.  I tried to continue to follow their movements out of curiosity but they disappeared seemingly out of nowhere. I then remembered that deer coats are designed to disappear into this type of forest and it left me impressed with the efficiency of the camouflage.

This experience was genuinely one of the best assignments I’ve been given as a student. It combined critical thinking, environmental science, and a bit of psychology. It really made me realize simply how reliant I am on my phone and other mediated sources.  As McKibben said in his book, neither of these lifestyles are the perfect model for a happy lifestyle. These two hours showed widely different ways of experiencing the world and gaining knowledge. The best path for anyone in my opinion to move forward is to really think about each experience and what you gained from it. Evaluate what you gained from both and strike a balance with both elements in it. The hour I spent in the riverbed just watching and observing was one of the more peaceful times I have had in a very long time. It reminded me that “unplugging” and taking time to truly just yourself is extremely important.  You cannot just go off the grid in today’s society. There was important information gleaned from my time online that I would have simply missed had I been offline in the woods.  While most of what I learned in my hour that was recorded was quite frankly useless, some of it was quite useful in my future and can be applied in various contexts.  The best way to learn from this assignment for me is to strike a balance between time plugged in versus time unplugged.  Both have their benefits and as addicted as society is to their phones and mediated environments, we need to learn to unplug from each other and simply exist as ourselves and see the world for what it is. You might learn more by reading less.

By Anonymous

The last twenty minutes of a thriller show on Netflix: exciting, thrilling, and stimulating. Yet, several days later, although I remember at the time having some sort of interesting commentary or criticism of the show, I have no recollection of anything worthwhile (or even what happened in it) that I gained from watching it. Then, (what was supposed to be) fifteen minutes on Twitter, which—thanks to me stopping scrolling twitter to check my phone and respond to a few texts, and then opening twitter again (instinctively) on my phone turned to scroll some more—became something more like half an hour. I cannot remember what I was texting about, nor what I really got out of twitter aside from a few articles bookmarked for later (of which I have now read only one, which was, admittedly, quite good and important), a vague impression that I saw something funny, and a feeling of being upset about the political state of things (following news sources/journalists who write about the environment about the environment and politics does little for my mood). Although I felt exhausted, I continued: a popular online world puzzle game, “Wordle.” The word of the day? “Mount.” I texted my friends my score—one of them replied with theirs. Neat. Feeling somewhat worn out and scattered—my hour of “information” complete—without any feeling of accomplishment or productivity, I got up from my desk and wandered around my house in an aimless haze for a few minutes.

A few days later, I bundled up, prepared some coffee and snacks, packed a bag with some thoughtful reading materials (and a small notebook for notes), and grabbed a comfy lawn chair and headed out the door to the edge of my (decent-sized) backyard which borders on a forest-like area. Shivering, and cursing myself for not planning ahead so that I could do this on a warmer day (perhaps one where there was not snow on the ground), I poured myself some coffee from my thermos. I began reflecting on the McKibben piece (as I had planned to use this time for): what is so “fundamental” about this information, anyway?

I read some of my book (the 19th century German natural philosophy of Schopenhauer, for inspiration) for a while before putting it down and looking at the trees and forest while I chewed on the material in relation to McKibben’s. I looked at the English ivy which has been spreading in this patch of forest since before I moved here and (surprisingly) a squirrel as it skittered about, feeling aware of my body and how cold it was. I observed the way that each plant and organism strives and yearns to grow, to move towards light (in the case of plants), or to find food (in the case of the squirrel). I got up and walked around a bit, thinking. Schopenhauer, it seems, considers the information provided by nature (i.e., what it tells us about the world and existence) “fundamental” in a different (i.e., more metaphysical) sense then McKibben does. On the other hand, there is some compatibility—actually observing firsthand the way life goes on and interacts does tell us something fundamental. Drifting, it then occurred to me that the snow on the ground in conjunction with the invasive species and the winter squirrel actually says quite a lot about the environment and the anthropogenic effects on it. It occurred to me more people had paid more attention to their immediate natural environment, perhaps some of the choices humans made to cause climate change would not have happened. In any case, one other point McKibben made did occur to me, which was that I was demonstrating a point he made: my last couple years I’ve spent learning humanities disciplines in college has taught me the important skill of patient, thoughtful observation, and that since I have done this, the technological world has become increasingly less attractive to me in favor of one connected with people, with real life discussion, and with the environment. It’s a process, like the seasons changing and the water cycle which led to the snow on this very ground. I returned to my chair to scribble down some notes on this (mental) discussion, finished my coffee, my chapter, the last of my coffee, and my (second) hour of information.

Looking back on these experiences, I think the biggest thing I learned is that, as good as it makes me feel in the moment, I do not think that social media and most of my media consumption makes me feel very good. That vague exhausted feeling I got after spending too much time scrolling on twitter has been a familiar one lately, and I think I ought to be more intentional about why, when, where, and for how long I spend time on the internet. On the other hand, I did find an article which interested me, and which I plan on writing about in one of my other classes. This is to say that mediated information is not all bad or irredeemable, but rather that going about accessing this information mindlessly is perhaps not the most conducive to structuring my day very well.

My time outside (which, since it has gotten colder, I have not done in a while) was nice (although I do not exactly think it has convinced me to spend more time sitting outside reading in the cold…). In retrospect it provided me an important opportunity for reflection, and the realization that I spend much more time in the library reading philosophers talk about the natural world than I actually spend in said world. That is to say that what I think this experience has taught me is that an important part of chewing on ideas about the world is to not just think about them in abstract, but to go out and look for myself, and see what information the world itself has to offer.

Hello, my name is Shishir Sharma, a writer of this blog

It was around 6’O clock in the evening, and it was time for my walk. Usually, I tend to run in the evening, but I had to walk and experience it. I realized it, and I hadn’t been on a walk for a long time. My busy life and schedule constantly made me run from one place to another. First, run to college, then back home, then to work. I walked around my neighborhood area. It was pretty interesting. Before I went on a walk, I purposefully left my phone and headphones inside the house to experience what it’s like to walk “normally.” Without a phone and gadgets, I can see the real world. The cold wind breeze was touching my cheeks, and my brain was constantly looking here and there to find birds. When I was walking, I spotted a deer. It was amazing to see baby deer, and they were just too cute. That day I started thinking about life as usual and wondered the life before the internet. We didn’t have internet access until 2010; it took me to the good old days. After a walk, I felt fresh, all the doubts were clear, and more importantly, I felt productive. Walks are good for mental and physical health.

The same night, as usual, I use my cellphone before bed. It was around 10’O clock at night. I was on my phone watching Facebook, Instagram, and youtube. I started on youtube, watching soccer for thirty minutes. Then onto Instagram, watching someone tick-tock for another half an hour. Then by the time I watched Facebook, I had spent another 1-hour scrolling through my news feed and some random videos. I was supposed to be sleeping by 11, and now it’s midnight. Two hours of my sleep was wasted. It is just amazing what social media can do to us. It was nothing productive, then I felt tired and slept for a long time. 

One thing is sure in this life, and we will spend a lot of time on social media. This becomes a massive problem for the future generation. When I was younger, none of this would have been a problem. I’m one of those people my age who I saw on the internet very late. I first knew about the internet in 2012, after I came to America. My whole childhood, I had no access to the internet. Life was much easier back then, and people would finish their job and go to sleep. Even the children were so active. Every day I would end up with wounds from playing too much. I don’t remember what I watched on my phone, but I remember how hard it is to hike. Our phone is a silent world, and our life becomes a dystopian world. 

By Anonymous

In bed with my laptop, my phone, and a heated blanket. I like having background noise when I am doing other activities, so I put on the Simpsons. Something funny and does not require me to pay much attention. I use this time to scroll through Instagram and see what people are up to, occasionally stopping to watch a funny dog video. I use this time to relax after an especially long day of classes when I don’t want to think of any of my responsibilities. For one hour I endlessly scroll and intermittently look up to watch funny scenes in the show. It is nice to completely turn off your brain even for an hour. 

I dislike the cold. I tend to avoid the outdoors in the winter because overall it makes me grumpy. For one hour I went outside with no devices to see how it goes. I sit in a backyard that is backed up to woods. I watch small birds hop from tree to tree and squirrels run around. It was nice for about 15 minutes and then I began to get cold and grumpy. I started thinking about all the other assignments I must complete and honestly it just made my anxiety spike. I kept trying to look for something interesting to focus on, but nothing came up. I began to walk around the backyard looking under rocks or pieces of wood but found nothing. After the hour was over, I was so excited to go inside. 

After completing one hour inside and one hour outside I found that I was much more relaxed being inside. If it were warmer and I could go somewhere exciting I think my opinions would be different. In the spring when I go hiking or to the beach or pond, I am completely happy being with a friend and no devices. In the winter I am cold all the time and it puts me in a bad mood, so I don’t want to be outside for 10 minutes much less 60 minutes. I tend to need to be doing multiple things at one time, so not having a device is very unusual for me. I think most people now require multiple sources of entertainment feel fulfilled. So as we move into a world where everyone will need to be using their devices at any time we also must learn how to combine that with nature.

By Anonymous

As I begin my one hour of media consumption, I started by hopping onto Facebook as there’s something always being talked about on some social media platform. While I scroll on the platform, I come across several mindless yet interesting videos. The first I watched was a 3 minute long DIY craft video. The creator did a range of things such as, making slime in his car, which he then used to clean up the crumbs in his car. Similarly, I came across another DIY video, but this time there was a man making the most ridiculous faces and reactions as he was attempting to disprove any of the DIY life hacks made by a different channel. Another video I came across was about a photographer on TikTok, who utilizes his camera to take videos of food and other objects at a microscopic level. In the video I was able to see the microscopic level of a cup of coffee, a kiwi, a leaf, and a piece of wood. After the video, I continued to scroll on Facebook, I came across an ad about a local fundraiser at a chipotle for a high school swimming team, another about a new roller coaster opening this summer at Busch Gardens, and several movie trailers popped up as well. I ended up getting bored of Facebook, so I moved along to google. I found and read an article about the revitalization of the plaza near Lake Anne at Reston, sadly it seems like the $37 million dollar plan is having trouble actually coming to life. Another article I read was about the owners of Buschs Gardens attempting to buy and take Kings Dominion, which I find interesting because I love going to both of these amusement parks. I then came across an article from the Loudoun County Animal Services about one of their newest cats now open for adoption. According to a blog, there’s this amazing stairway on a hiking trail in Virginia where you can see a waterfall, Crabtree falls, from all sorts of different angles. As I got bored again, I moved over to TikTok. I finished my one hour watching the most ridiculous video, which I feel is not even worth mentioning. 

Now moving forward, I began my one hour of “nature consumption.” I started by walking over to my local park, Briar Patch. Since I was completely unplugged from technology, the 10 minute walk was almost in complete silence. For the most part all I could hear was the nearby construction, cars driving by, and birds chirping all over the place. As I made my way to the park, I walked over to a nearby bridge built over a stream inside the park. The small pond formed at the beginning of the stream was completely frozen over. In the ice, I could visibly garbage all over the place, ranging from gatorade bottles to amazon packaging. I sat down by a nearby bench, sat in silence and simply observed the small pond. I tried my best to see any form of life in the pond but the only thing living were the cattails growing and sprouting out of the frozen water. I then walked further down and made my way to a part of the stream that sounded alive and healthy. I could hear and see the water flowing, which I found completely relaxing. Right next to the stream, I saw several birds flying around and foraging on the ground, camouflaging with the trees and leaves on the ground. Although I would’ve loved to stay longer, that’s how I concluded my one hour of nature consumption. 

My experience with this assignment emphasized the insignificance of what is shared online. After scrolling online for an hour, I found it almost difficult trying to remember what I watched and read. I only really processed what felt like about twenty percent of the information I found on Facebook, Google, and TikTok. The only information I truly processed was the information I related to, enjoyed, or felt passionate about. Everything else was forgotten. I usually do not go on social media that often because of work and school. But on top of that I find social media to be tiring and boring most of the time. I find nature to be relaxing and calming. When I went on my stroll, that’s exactly what I felt. The experience and the information I found throughout my stroll felt more real and permanent. I was there experiencing it first hand rather than reading and watching someone else talk about it. I feel that society needs to take a step back from technology and learn to balance learning from nature and media. Through this balance, I believe that it would improve the mental and physical health of all individuals.

By Anonymous

Mediated Environment:

A twenty-year-old man on Reddit pleads for help- his girlfriend is pregnant, and she wants to put the baby up for adoption. He is vehemently against this and wants to know what legal action he can take to keep the baby. Reddit suggests registering with his state’s punitive father registry and to get a family lawyer, but also cautions against becoming a single father at such a young age. The man gives an update- he is not the father. His girlfriend cheated on him with a married man, the same man who was going to adopt the baby from her. He tells the married man’s wife, and she quickly files for divorce. The baby was born, and the formerly married man and the ex-girlfriend now share an apartment together.

A forty-seven-year-old mother asks Reddit if she was wrong to forbid her daughter, Sara, from using the money allocated for Sara’s college tuition on her boyfriend. Sara is a bright young woman who received a full ride to the university of her choice. She told her boyfriend excitedly, only for her boyfriend to ask her to stay in town and live off his parent’s support instead. He told Sara he didn’t approve of her going to college so far away, and the fact she had a clear path for her future and he didn’t was emasculating. Instead, the college fund should be used to support Brian’s dreams. The mother, after hearing this, tells Sara she cannot use the money on Brian, and gently asks if she can truly see a future with Brian. Sara cries and says no, before breaking up with Brian. The mother feels guilty for the breakup and asks if she did the right thing. Reddit overwhelmingly says she did. The boyfriend was later arrested for assaulting a police officer, after he was caught blocking Sara’s car with some friends.

At this point, four minutes have passed

I continue onward, scrolling through reddit and Instagram and reading the various stories from people all over the world. The Canada truck protestors are demanding food from homeless shelters, as businesses will not serve them without a mask. A Tumblr user whose post has found its way to Instagram, explains the concept of super modernity and junk spaces- area with no identity or emotional connection existing to fulfill a single purpose and nothing more. They discuss Marc Auge and Rem Koolhaas, both of whom have addressed this concept in their own way. An Instagram post brings attention to fast fashion and advocates for treating clothing purchases like tattoo purchases, in the sense that you keep them forever. I scroll for longer, reading post upon post, story upon story. I encounter so much knowledge- however, at the end of the hour I’ve hardly retained any of it.

Naturalistic Setting:

I walk around George Mason University, taking care to stay near more naturalistic settings such as Mason Pond. I typically walk with my headphones in, listening to YouTube videos or music. However, today I walk with nothing- just my mind to keep me company. I circle around the pond, admiring its beauty. I’ve walked by here plenty of times in the past, usually on my way to the local Giant. I’ve always loved the path next to it- surrounded by trees, to the point where you can almost ignore the surrounding buildings. I look at the snow covering the ground and think of how pretty it looks. But then I find my thoughts drifting to my responsibilities. There are still dishes in the sink- I should really take care of them. What projects do I have this week? Am I still ahead? Should I have dropped that class? No, it’s important for your major. I should do laundry when I get back. Or should I just clean the whole apartment? Can’t be a slob, after all. Am I doing things right? What if, ten years down the line, I discover that none of this is what I wanted. Am I a failure?

Like so many times before, thoughts come rushing in. I usually surround myself with a moat of music to keep them at bay, but this time there is nothing. I force myself to think of a distraction, to not succumb to anxiety. I succeed, finding a daydream and thrusting myself in it. The thoughts fade away, waiting until they can return in a moment where nothing else is present. I walk around longer, listening to the music in my head before I turn and walk back towards the dorms.

Summary:

This experiment emphasized what I already knew about myself- namely, the fact that I need some sort of stimulation to truly enjoy what’s around me. Silence and loud noises make me anxious when I’m not in control of them- it either feels like my skin is crawling from the lack of stimulation, or my head is going to explode from too much. It’s why I always keep my headphones near me- I need to feel like I can control how much noise there is around me, otherwise I panic. Not to say it’s like this all the time- there are moments where I can live comfortably with the world around me. But they’re a safety net, should the need arise.

Even before this assignment, I knew I relied heavily on my headphones. I struggle with shutting off my thoughts by myself, most likely because I’ve used escapes such as music and video games for so long. Instant gratification is easy and plentiful, but it doesn’t make you better in the long run. However, like McKibben says- neither lifestyle is inducive to a happy life, and there will always be some sort of balance. For me, I think that balance will come in the form of limiting my time listening to music or podcasts. When I go for walks, I’ll take half of it walking with music, and half of it walking in silence. Maybe at some point I’ll be at a place where I am comfortable with my thoughts and don’t need the distractions. Maybe it’ll come by letting myself think, rather than pushing everything away. However, that point will come in time- for now, I will continue taking baby steps to end the deafening silence.

By Katheryne Grundy

Today I will be doing the same experiment Bill McKibben did of one hour of consuming media and one hour of being in a natural environment with little to no use of technology. McKibben explained his experience in his book, The Age of Missing Information. For my hour of consuming media, I decided to be on TikTok because I go there when I want a laugh. I saw a video of dogs being dogs and another of a Dunkin Donuts worker explaining his experience with a rude customer. I was able to relate with the Dunkin Donuts worker because I work at a restaurant, and I have similar experiences with rude customers. I also learned a new word, dolonia. Dolonia is the fear felt when people genuinely like you. But the last 10 minutes I went to my mailbox to check out ‘theSkimm’. It’s an email subscription and it explains the main news in the simplest way, and they explain it neutrally by just giving facts not opinions. It’s about how the US death row is being dismantled. The California governor is planning to put an end to California’s death row. At the end of my hour of media consumption, I wasn’t surprised that time went by fast.  

I was heading to Lake Accotink Park in Springfield, VA. When I got there, I put a timer for one hour on my phone. I placed my phone in my pocket and started walking on the trail. There was a large body of water in the middle as I walked around it. I noticed on the edge of the lake there was a bit of trash. It was disappointing to see litter in the water. As I continued walking on the trail, I stopped at one of the information boards. It explained that Lake Accotink Park is in a watershed and that it receives anything from higher grounds; this explains why it has litter. As I continued to walk by, I noticed other people walking with someone, a person running, and another riding their bike. It’s nice to see people go to parks to unwind and get away from the busy, noisy cities. I heard some birds chirping and a few squirrels running around. When the timer went off, I turned around to head back to the parking lot. As I was leaving, a few more people came to the park.    

This small test was fun, but it didn’t really teach me anything because I’ve experienced both things. But it mostly just reminded me to step outside when I need a break instead of being on my phone. I guess that might have been the point of this test is to remind people to go outside when you need to unwind. Humanity is too busy catching up in the fast-paced world that we forget to take a meaningful breather. When I take a break, I go on my phone which I’ve noticed doesn’t feel like I took a break. When I spent an hour in a natural setting, I felt energized when I got home. I felt better like I wanted to keep moving. So, I actually started doing things on my to-do list that I kept postponing like cleaning my room.  

By Anonymous

An hour online can go by in a blink, the endless stream of information can numb a mind. Youtube is the first site to open in the browser, a homepage full of so called “content” that spans from hours long videos compiling car crashes, to 10 second educational shorts. The first thing to grab my attention is a documentary about sulfur mining in Indonesia, miners work within an active volcano killing their bodies to make a few dollars a day. The video sparks a wide array of emotions, pity for the workers stuck in the situation, guilt from viewing this story as entertainment, and a sense of doom stemming from the unnecessary work being done as there are many other ways to produce sulfur without the exploitation of impoverished workers. After barely enough time to process these emotions, the next video kicks on, a direct recommendation from the website, another documentary doubling down on the failures of human development. This one is focused on the opioid epidemic, a peak of western capitalist exploitation in which millions of people have had their lives ruined in the drug companies pursuit of profit. An hour has already gone by.

My boots crunch on the icy remains of previous snowfalls that remains on the forested trail. There isn’t an abundance of nature within Fairfax county, but the cross county trail serves as a minor escape from the hustle and bustle of suburbia. The trail starts as asphalt, cold and unyielding under my feet, but eventually turns to gravel, a somewhat more forgiving path. A creek follows the trail for awhile, a thin layer of ice on it’s surface. I lean down to look into the water hoping to spot some life, but only trash greets my view. It is far too cold for fish to be out and about anyways. A lone goose flies overhead, honking into the sky with reckless abandon, perhaps it’s lost the flock. Maybe it decided to go it’s own way. Nature struggles in Fairfax, it fights to live in narrow strips of woods behind rows of houses being filled with discarded good and being forced to adapt to them. A firetruck siren begins on a distant road, nature has no room to truly flourish here, the level of development is far too great and it will always make itself known.

It is a high task to stay positive about nature in current times, there is a constant flow of information from those online sources and from active observations of nature that tell you there are issues. Every creek I’ve been to in the last few years has been inundated with garbage, and every article online feeds you more global tragedies. It is almost too much for a person, and I know many who have quit most forms of media, disconnecting from the global brain that is the Internet. Perhaps this is a good thing, helping them be cognizant of the issues surrounding them, issues that they can actually do something about.

By Anonymous

In the nature environment I spent my time at the Mason Pond. It was definitely chilly and cold, but it was really pretty seeing the pond in the winter time. I ended up sitting at a bench that faced the pond and looked at how the sunlight made the pond shimmer, especially on some of the cracks that it made. There were some birds squawking in the distance, which made me think they were in the nearby trees over where the little cottage was at that also faces the pond. I managed to capture a picture of the pond with the shimmering ice that is shown below.

In my normal type of environment, I would watch Youtube on my phone while sitting on the fluffy rug in my dorm room. Mainly I watched makeup tutorials and “panning” projects. The concept of panning is using up makeup or skincare and the pan portion is hitting the bottom of an makeup product that is in a compact or eyeshadow palette. It always keeps me motivated to finish what I have already in my collection instead of buying more, which also helps with my carbon imprint. On instagram, I would also scroll through makeup related content, as well as pages that foster kittens and dogs that come from local shelters.

From these two experiences, I learned that there are a lot of things in the media that can end up overwhelming and anxiety-inducing, but also it can sometimes cheer you up on a sad day. Being in the natural environment without being on my phone, except to take a picture of the pond, was very calming and chilly of course. Unplugging from the media was very nice to do since it was a stressful day and I would do it again once the weather warms up again.