If I’m going to be honest, I have to admit that I’ve spent a good chunk of the past few years fighting off the notion that this high-stress, split-second age of the internet and ever-present connectivity has somehow acted in a detrimental manner with regards to my sanity. Countless times I’ve said to people that they were wrong about this information age being too damned complex for our minds to make it out unscathed.

Yesterday, I woke up to my alarms blaring. Yes, alarms: I set two to three each morning, and most of the time manage to sleep through them all, or hit the snooze button until I have just enough time to squeeze in all of my ever-so-important “priorities”.  As I walk to my first class, I’m incessantly checking my email, cycling through four accounts; often, forgetting the content of some of those messages, which ends up coming back to bite me sometime later. I check how the markets are doing at some point during lunch, and make it a point to read the first few top stories on the New York Times. After that, it’s either back to class or time to head over to the gym, both of which I view as crucial to my daily succes. Perhaps I’ll have a meeting or two to attend at some point in the evening or afternoon, after which I’ll then return to my room to try to finish the homework due the next day. Chances are pretty decent that I’ll do so in the company of the bountiful laughter and discussion that’s usually taking place, or, the sounds of gun shots and/or Star Trek, depending on the day—company which I’m entirely a fan of.

To be sure, I enjoy blaring my music at insanely high decibels—decibels I myself can only hear, thanks to my lovely in-ear headphones—as I make my way through the Tufts campus. I easily get lost in the sounds, even if the people around me aren’t. Similarly, I enjoy the calm and out-of-cycle nature I get from an hour or two at the gym. Most weekends, and even sometimes during the day, I find myself able to take a nap or two or just sit down and take some time to assess where my life is going (which, if my timing is right, allows me to author posts like these.)

But, at the same time, when I was sitting in on this week’s Snyder Lecture here at Tufts, delivered by Sherley Turkle of MIT, I began to take stock of all that I’ve listed above, and I came to realize that while I can certainly benefit from a lot in my present lifestyle, a part of me wants to experience a simpler, less involved lifestyle, if only for a week or two. One of the things that I really want to make sure I continue to do is try new things, and while I’ve had a good run with my tech-infused lifestyle these past few years, I’m eager for a break.

To that end, with a relatively empty summer in the way of plans, I’ve resolved to conduct a road trip sometime in late July. Depending on the final route, it’s set to involve at least 4,000 miles covered by car, and close to two days of just driving. It’ll take me through a number of states in the southwest, and give me the chance to make a number of interesting stops, in addition to visiting some cool people I happen to know in the area.

The key for me is making this trip alone. It’ll give me plenty of time to drive through vast, open expanses, pondering some of the more random things about life, but also learning to marvel at the simple things, as I make sure to stop whenever makes sense. Not to say that I’m out-and-out refusing company, mind you. But at the same time, there’s some part of me that feels like I need to do something a little out of the ordinary, and to that end, find a little solitude where I’m relatively disconnected from my modern life, and at the times when I am connected with people I know, I want to make sure they’re more than just through texts and liking their posts on Facebook. Oh, and I’m a cowboy, so it’s only natural that I’d want to go it my own way for a little while before I come back down to reality. Hah!

For now, the trip is in its relatively early planning stages, as I haven’t a clue as to how long I’ll end up being on the road, and where exactly I’ll stop, but rest assured I’ll be bringing my camera along with me to document the entire trip.