Educational Media Reviews Online

Disconnected: A Documentary films three Carlton College (Minnesota) students who have chosen to go without computer use for one month, showing and explaining not only their emotions, thoughts, and (self-)discoveries as they undertake the task, but also the effect it has on their work and social lives. Told in a documentary style, the film follows the students—Andrew, Caitlin, and Chel—through the weeks of computer dis-use and records the varied reactions of others.

There have been many recent experiments along these lines, and they are readily found in the academic literature. Several of the studies have sought to prove anxiety or even incipient mental illness(!) on the part of students made to undergo this deprivation, but Disconnected provides an actual visual example of “typical” students in easily identifiable and familiar experiences that are surely more immediate to most viewers.

That is (and it is a strength of the film), the students are partaking in the experiment for a documentary film class—not, as other studies might, for psychological or other social scientific analysis. In this way, the students’ reaction is somewhat more obvious to viewers; and while there is little interpretation given to the results of the experiment, there is also less of a scientific filter which would necessarily make the students seem that less “real.”

As a documentary, then, Disconnected is quite useful, employing these “real” experiences by “real” students (and, indeed, the three main “characters” are extremely likable and exemplify “college kids today”); and in this way the film is a solid work for students of film.

But where the film is successful in showing and describing the students’ reactions, it does falter somewhat on the “scientific” premise of an experiment. Through the narrative, students, faculty, and administrators ask the students, in effect, “Why are you doing this? What’s the point?” The only real response—“We’re doing it for a documentary film class”—offers no significant basis to gauge the success of their experiment. If the outcome sought is to create a film, they certainly succeeded; but if the goal was to explore the more concrete and objective effects and ramifications of not using a computer for several weeks, then it is almost -- but not nearly entirely – accomplished.

The film makes some fascinating observations. For example, Andrew insists (though with some subjectivity, one supposes?) that his parents need him to use the computer in order to update his blog. They have been missing the opportunity to follow his personal life, he says. Similarly, he wanted to emote and express a recent romantic break-up through this social venue. Viewers (especially, alas, older ones) might become fascinated by the thought that parents are checking up on children through their blogs (and that children react in a not-negative way to this!), but also that this collegiate generation seems so willing to share personal information—even as they express fear that people might overhear their cell phone conversations. This, of course, is not necessarily the thrust of the film, but as a respectable documentary, the film offers ancillary questions that build on its thesis and flesh out the characters’ experiences, adding to the entertainment and educational value.

Similarly of note are some professional-level responses to the project. For instance, while some professors deal well with the students’ experiment, delaying “computer-only” assignments to a later time, a College dean expresses some dismay with the project, explaining that at the end of the semester papers are due, computers are necessary…; and he seems to betray at least a bit of confusion and annoyance.

Indeed, the reactions from peers, professors, and administrators of different ages will provide audiences with a fresh perspective on evaluating the filmmakers not using computers. This is not merely a generational problem, but one that balances different individuals’ reactions to the uses and importance of computers and technology.

Ultimately, even the filmmakers—similarly aged and presumably from similar backgrounds—express distinct personal views on the ultimate feasibility and overall worth of their project. While some do not succeed in going computer-free for a whole month, others speak about how much time (both positively and negatively) is consumed by computer use. The fact that the students cheat (or are accused by others of cheating, using, for example, “proxies” to read their email; having no compunction against cell phone use) speaks well to the purity of the documentary itself. It never tries to make the students out to be modern-day Luddite martyrs. In the same vein, they develop a “No Computer Day” on their campus to mixed, but evocative, results. In attempting to “imitate Facebook,” they create a social space where individuals actually, humanly interact. (It would be interesting if more were made of the ironic divide between Web 2.0, which is universally touted as the “social aspect of the Web” and its necessarily concomitant turning people away from actual, personal interaction, though as it is, the film seems somewhat unaware of this absurd aspect of computers’ “social” use and enforcement.)

The oft-repeated, but never sufficiently answered question, again, is: “What’s the point?” And while this query is never at all sufficiently answered, the documentary does present numerous edifying points for viewers along the way of not answering this seemingly essential question.

Disconnected is a fine documentary that will surely present audiences of different generations and of differing attitudes toward the usefulness and wastefulness of computer use many points of divergence and similarity. As it is created largely by college-aged artists, the film might be most immediately understandable to college (or chronologically nearby) students. And as a college-type creation, the narrative includes some moderate swearing. Overall, Disconnected is recommended for libraries that specialize in film studies and aspects of technology and its use.

Awards

• Winner, Flyaway Film Festival