It may sound hard to believe in this digital age but Yang Hao, a 32-year-old doctoral student studying in the United Kingdom, embarked on a solo trip the old-fashioned way last year, using a printed map, paying for everything using cash or a bank card, reading train timetables, and talking to strangers.
Over the course of 134 days, he visited 68 counties and cities in 24 provinces and regions across China, read 40 books, documented his experiences, and used two cameras to record what he saw.
“I realized that those 134 days were the most fulfilling, focused and productive period of my life. It was an experience of absolute concentration,” says Yang, who was born in Taiyuan in Shanxi province.
Since his story was posted online, it has gone viral, triggering widespread discussion and reflection on the modern dependence on technology. One netizen from Hubei province named Yangbu’er, commented that “while technology makes the world smaller, and we seem to have more resources to hand, we also lose some things”.Another from Fujian province, who goes by the online name of Silence, wrote that not having a phone equates to anxiety in modern society, because phones combine many functions in one; navigation aids, digital wallets, and social connectivity.
Ironically, even as it poses questions about how technology is woven into daily life, the internet has provided a medium for making Yang’s trip known to more people.
Although he foresaw that it would trigger some discussion, the public attention his journey has drawn has exceeded his imagination.
He says that he has gained a great deal from his “experiment”. Now, he keeps a degree of distance from the internet, and does not have Wi-Fi connected to his phone, or installed at home, and also limits his phone usage to 90 minutes per day. He tries to finish all his work at his art studio in the UK, which has internet access.
Yang’s life was quite different before. His journey was inspired by a screen time notification from his iPhone informing him that he was spending almost seven hours a day on his phone on average each week. Startled, he asked himself whether this kind of dependency was really what he wanted. The idea of leaving his phone and computer at home to face the uncertainties of a digital-free life and interact face-to-face began to fascinate him.