Currently, I am sitting in my hotel room in Las Vegas. This weekend is our season opener, starting with a tournament. Unfortunately, Las Vegas is currently in a state of “winter storm advisory.” We had two games last night, and won both after coming back from being behind. After a great start to the weekend, we woke up this morning to a down pour of rain.
Our team came up with an idea a few weeks before our first tournament. We wanted to do a digital detox. The idea derived from a social media blackout. A few players wanted to see if they could go a weekend without using social media….and from here, the ideas kept flowing.
Our final guidelines for the weekend include: no social media, no text/phone calls from cell phones, and minimal screen time. By doing so, we are encouraging our players to get to know one another in the hotel rooms and on the flight.
Let me tell you….day 1 was rough. We left WOU at 3:30 am Thursday. This resulted in a group of tired, irritable, and frustrated people…who had know phones use! After being awake for 18 hours, we all made it through day 1.
Now, here we are on day 3….and with a day of games cancelled, there is a lot of downtime! I mean, you can only do so much homework!
Participating in the detox myself I have realized how much time I spend scrolling through social media, or on the internet, mindlessly. The disconnecting has been a really good refresh for me!
For the team….I think they have slowly realized the benefit of unplugging. Social media has a great impact on student-athletes both negatively and positively. However, I personally feel the negative outweighs the positive. The Campus Ledger Online has a great blog called, “The impact of social media on student athletes.” I highly encourage you to read this blog to see the insight.
That’s all I have for now! We’re heading down to a movie to kill some time.
Aly's Blog 