Phone Diary Activity

After hearing that I would have to write down every time I used my phone over a 48 hour period, I’m going to be honest, I was a little scared because everyone tells me I’m addicted to my phone. Then I got to thinking and thought this could be a great way to not be so addicted to my phone and stop looking at life through a screen. So on Wednesday, October 7, I started my writing.

I totaled my phone usage to about 79 times over the 48 hour period. This roughly equaled about 540 minutes or 9 hours.

As I was logging my phone activity I was putting text messages as textual information, but then I realized that was not correct on the second day of this experiment. I was listing when I would check the Shuttle app as nothing but I then started listing it as TI.

SI = 61 — Texting = 49 ; Instagram, Facebook, Twitter = 9 ; Phone Call = 3

TI = 17 — Shuttle App

If I left the part blank about what was happening around me then I was alone, but I was mostly waiting for class or the shuttle, occasionally in class, or in the library.

Life was still going on every time I checked my phone, and this experiment made me realize this way more. I always say the phrase “technology killed the teen,” and I really saw that phrase in action with this activity. I was really aware every time I would take my phone out when we were all sitting together in Campion, or when I should’ve been studying for my midterms. I love to write things down, no matter what I write it down, especially because I forget things easily so the writing down of my usage wasn’t that hard, it was just annoying. I didn’t like writing down every time I would use my phone so I would just use my computer instead or I would try to cut back on texting, or whatever it was.

The first day I used my phone way more than the other two days, for one of two reasons. The first being it was annoying to write down every little thing I would do on my phone, the second being that I realized how much I used my phone and I wanted to cut back. From cutting back on using my phone I am also not making our phone bill skyrocket (which I’m sure my parents will thank me for later), not compare myself to others on social media, and have real conversations with the people who are sitting right in front of my face. Why would I sit in Campion and watch what someone is doing on snapchat when I have a huge room full of people where I can communicate face to face.

I have realized that so many of my experiences I have watched through a screen. I also realized that I use my phone as an escape tool when walking to class or standing in line in Campion, because I want to avoid someone. I should not have to rely on technology to bail me out of a situation, I should learn how to have real meaningful conversations with my peers. So overall, the thing I learned most about myself from this activity was that I need to stop using my phone as an escape and when I’m with friends ask them how their day was instead of watching other peoples days on social media, who knows what you’ll figure out when you look up from the screen! IMG_0382