It's all about senses!

So I decided to take the one sense away that would truly be the most difficult to handle. I took away my ability to see. I blind folded myself for 2 hours. I must say it was quite interesting. I started blindfolded in my room and decided to go eat. On a usual day this would not have been difficult, but now without my sight, it truly became a chore. I found my way out of my room and found the staircase (without falling all the way down) and made my way down to the kitchen. I really wanted to see how this would be so when I FINALLY made it to the kitchen, I went to the fridge and grabbed a soda. As easy as it sounds it took me a long time to find a soda in a fridge. The average time to grab a soda out of the fridge is like what? 1 second tops? I knew where things where in my house, but without the ability to see, it just made things take alot longer. I finally did get a snack and made it back upstairs (barely). When I was back upstairs, I decided to stay on the second floor, as going up and down the stairs would have been a bit of a risk and I was not wanting to try my luck at the stairs again.

After my snack, it took me a minute to decide what to spend the rest of my time on. There was still time left and I really was not sure what to do. After a few minutes it came down to asking myself, "If I was blind, what would I do?". The answer was very simple. I would listen to music! So I made my way back to my room and looked for my ipod. The trouble is, I could not remember where I put my ipod so I had to look for my ipod with no sight. Yay! Believe it or not, I was able to find it, as usually there are only two places I put it. In general, I keep my living space quite clean and orderly. I always put things back where I get them. Today I was so thankful that I had everything so neat. It made searching blind a bit easier. So after I found my ipod, I put my headphones on and listened to some music. It was great because I just had to fumble around the menu and just click buttons until I heard music since I could not pick what I wanted to listen to. I spent the remainder of the time listening to music. It was nice, but in a sense a bit strange. I could not see anything and I was listening to music. I really felt detached from the world for those two hours. It felt like I missed something. For the time period I had to rely on sound and touch to know where I was. So when I was listening to music It was like being in a different world. It's one thing when you listen to music when you are going to sleep, but when you are wide awake listening to music and you cannot see or do anything, it was an "eye opener". I honestly thought during this time, "What if I was blind? What would I be doing? Would I even be in college? If I was in college, would I be a New Media student?"

These question made me ponder about what life would be like blind. I figured if I was blind, I would still love music and would probably have taken to music track if I was in college and a new media student. The problem with that is, I got into New Media because I loved Photoshop. If I was blind then I never would have learned Photoshop and then never would have found my love for graphics which meant I never would have pursued New Media because I wouldn't have known that was what I wanted to do. That, I must admit, blew me away. Without my sight, I would truly be a different person and lead a completely different life than what I do now. I would being doing different things and I wouldn't be as connected to the world as I am now. Those two hours truly made me think about what things would be like.

Due to the fact I couldn't see, I had no way of telling how long it had been. When I thought two hours had been up I took of my blind fold. It was truly refreshing to have my sight back. When I looked at the clock I realized it had been closer to 4 hours. I guess while I was listening to music I had truly lost track of time. But then without the ability to see, I couldn't tell what time it was so I had no idea how long it had been. When I thought it had to have been 2 hours, it became a reality of 4 hours. Quite an interesting experiment. That's the longest I have ever gone with out being able to see.

After taking off the blindfold, I decided what I wanted my new sense to be. It was quite a relief to be able to see again. There are so many things we take for granted that is truly just "eye candy" it could be just a sunny day. But people who can't see can't enjoy something we somewhat take for granted as just a part of the every day to day aspects of life. Then I thought, "What if I could see what was in my mind as I would watch a movie?" So if I had a new sense it would be a mental visualization. In New Media, sometimes the hardest thing is taking an idea and designing it to be exactly how we see it in our minds. What if we could project our thoughts from out minds and literally project them onto a screen and watch them with our eyes like a movie? What if everyone could do that? Would the world be different? I think it would. In my opinion if everyone in the world had a sense to where they could actually project there mind onto a screen and with their mind control their thoughts onto a screen for people to see, it would change the world. I have seen some amazing things that people have designed that have come from their mind. But what if there were no limitations? What if what was in your mind could show up on a video screen exactly how you saw it in your mind? Life would totally take on a new meaning of "living".

Until next time! See you all in class Wednesday!