It really is remarkable how much time is spent on communication through our cell phones. I phrase that carefully because personally I don’t feel as if my interaction on the phone is a waste of time. Constantly, I’m learning about all sorts of different things from fashion trends all the way to geography! It’s amazing how much information one can consume through one single app, whether it’d be instagram, which I spent most of my time on, or twitter, snapchat, etc. The “Next Big Thing” is always on my mind. I thrive when I am knowledgeable. I believe that new media offers the promise of more opportunity for connection with more people, leading to stronger and more diverse relationships. The endless possibilities media offers outweighs the negatives that might come with an accumulation of time spent on digital media.
I divided my notebook into 7 different columns.
- Number of Interactions: 57
- Date of Interaction: 10/6 – 10/7
- Time of Interaction: Varied Immensely/ all day
- Time of Activity: Anywhere from 30 Seconds to 60 Minutes
- SI,TI, Both: Mostly SI
- Activity: Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Safari, Blackboard, Alarm, IMessage, Email, Uber, etc.
- Act Interrupted: Sleeping, Studying, Hanging with friends, etc.
What application took up most of my Interactions and Time?
Total Time Spent: 7 Hours and 8 Minutes
Texting: 10/57 – 42 mins.
Alarm: 10/57- 6 mins.
Instagram: 9/57- 82 mins.
Snapchat: 6/57- 39 mins.
Email: 6/57-16 mins.
Facetime: 5/57-108 mins.
Blackboard: 4/57-41 mins.
VSCO: 3/57- 50 mins.
Twitter: 2/57- 17 mins.
Spotify: 2/57- 67 mins.
Reflection:
First off, the amount of time I spent on VSCO shocked me because it is just a picture blog site that I thought I barely looked at but I was proven to be wrong. I expected to have spent a lot of time on Facetime because that is how I communicate with my sister and best friends from home. Instagram, I was surprised how much time I spent on it. I used to go on instagram multiple times a day but now that I am constantly on the go with the busy life of a college student, I have specific times when I check Instagram posts. Usually when I’m eating I will check it, so right off the bat that is at least three times a day. Spotify took a big chunk of the time I spent on my phone which makes sense because it’s my main source of music. Overall I enjoyed this assignment. It was extremely eye opening. Adding up all the hours I spent on my cell phone frightened me. Seven hours is substantial and I like being productive with my time and I can think of many ways I could have spent that time a bit wiser.
“I fear the day that technology with surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” – Albert Einstein