The first and last thing I see with my eyes every day is my phone. Humans are so attached to their phones and I wish I could say that I go against this societal norm, but that would just be lying. For my one day of web interactions, I chose to track my Sunday, the 6th. To give background, I knew that Sunday would be a big homework day for me, so I did not expect my phone usage to be too crazy. Also, I got up pretty late into the day so that naturally lessened the amount of time I was on the phone. Below is a schedule of my Sunday beginning to end, with a focus on tech use.
9:45 – 11:00 Wake up
- I get up, check my phone, and then go back to sleep, and do this for an hour or more until I finally muster the courage to get up.
- Check phone for emails, news, social media, and check what I have to do
12:30 Lunch
- Check the phone off and on but nothing too crazy
1:00 to 3:00 Study Time
- In the library, I purposely turn off my phone to eliminate distractions.
- A lot of time spent on computer as most the stuff I have to do for school is on there
3:00 to 4:00 Snack / Chill
- Spent a lot of time on phone making up for what I missed while studying
4:00 to 6:30 Nap
- While on my phone, I fall asleep.
6:30 to 8:00 Hall Dinner
- Someone in our hall made dinner for all of us. Only checked phone once and a while for notifications.
8:00 to 12:00 Finish Homework
- Making sure I have all my work done and planning out my week. Phone use off and on.
- A lot of time spent on computer, and then a little bit of reading from a physical book for writing class.
This assignment helped me realize how heavily technology really impacts my everyday life. Basically, any time besides eating or sleeping, I can be found either using my phone or computer. The use of these devices obviosuly change but it doesn’t deter from the fact that I am staring at a screen for a large part of my day. For school, everything I do runs through my computer. Canvas is open on multiple tabs on my computer 24/7. I also use the apple calendar app to keep track of classes and other activities or meetings I might have. I know that a lot of people still use physcial daily planners to keep track of their days, but I just find having everything important in one location more convenient. Almost all my textbooks are online as well and the only time I do reading physically is for my writing class. Here is what my computer may look like at any given time studying.
Outside of studying, I use my phone to talk with friends, keep up with current events, and for general entertainment. Apple has a function that lets you see your battery usage and here was mine for the last 24 hours.
Some of screen on time is from the night before so my time for Sunday was probably more around 3 hours. Even with that, I felt that Sunday should have been a relatively light day in terms of screen time, so this kind of concerned me. Also, keep in mind, this is only on my phone and doesn’t include time spent on the computer. As one can see, my big timewasters are Snapchat for sure, and then other forms of social media. I really wish I spent less time on social media but acting upon that wish is pretty tough. In general, technology has definitely had a net positive on my life. In no way am I on the internet for a healthy amount of time, but I do find myself being able to balance what I have to do with leisure. My computer and educational websites like canvas have definitely made life easier. Even many of my textbooks, I find online for free. The concept of easily accessible free textbooks would absolutely never exist without the sharing of information on the internet. We talked about digital redlining and how it further perpetuates the overall gap between the rich and poor. The rich seem to receive all benefits of the internet while the poor only can benefit from whatever they can get there hands on. I believe that there is hope that as techonology advances and the internet becomes more modernized, access can be given to all and even out the disparities. There are also many negatives associated with technology. It definitely can be overly distracting at times. Many apps try to lure you in and then keep you engaged. For instance, the app Tik Tok purposely does not show the clock at the top of your phone when you are on the app so that the user loses track of time. Other social media have similar practices. I think all you can do is acknowledge these distractions and focus on not falling down into the hole. In conclusion, technology has its negative and positives and all we can do is utilize its positives to the best of our ability and limit the negative impacts.
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