Phone Diary: Amy B

When first presented with the cell phone log assignment, I did not know how to feel about it. I thought it would be physically impossible to write down every single time I picked up my phone. When I think about how often I use my phone in one day it is actually a little concerning. I think at first I was almost scared to start this assignment because I did not want to face the reality of how overly obsessed I am with my phone. But after a veerrrrry long 48 hours of bringing a little pad and pen with me everywhere I went, I realized that I was completely correct and I was way to attached to and dependent on my cell phone. Here is a look at my loggings…

 

 

·      I used my phone a total of 53 times

·      This came out to a total of 303 minutes

·      24 of these 53 interactions were textual

·      10 of these 53 interactions were social

·      11 of these 53 interactions were both textual and social

·      7 out of the 53 interactions I was not quite sure whether they were textual or social so I labeled them “not sure” or “neither”

·      24 of the textual activities I was obviously texting

·      6 out of the 10 social activities were all snapchats

·      4 out of the 10 social activities were social media

·      The 11 “both” were combinations of snapchat, instagram, twitter, texting, music and so on

·      The 7 “not sure” interactions were mainly music such as Pandora and iTunes

·      The activities I interrupted by using my phone were

o   Dinner

o   Conversations

o   Homework

o   Shower

o   Sitting on the couch

o   Watching Netflix

o   Laying in my bed

 

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The fact that I was forced to use a certain pen and notebook for this assignment was pretty strange. I’m used to taking notes in class and I barely even ever have to write anything with a pen and paper for homework anymore. So having to use a pen and a paper to do my phone diary was odd and felt weird. As pathetic as it sounds, it would have been easier if I could have used my phone to log the amount of times.

 

The good thing about this assignment was definitely that I realized I used my phone way too much. But, aside from learning what I already knew, I also realized that I am a lot better with technology than I give myself credit for. I rely on my phone for almost every aspect of my life. Ask me anything about an IPhone and I can help you out. Are world is changing, digital technology will take over and you can either roll with the punches and try to get by with the bare minimum or you can take the opportunity of this incredible happening and use it to your advantage by letting yourself get more familiar with it.

 

My relationship with my phone is a very strong one. I was a late bloomer when it came to cell phones. While most of my friends got them in like 4th or 5th grade, I did not get mine until 7th. Hard life I lived; I know. So while everyone was getting used to having a cell phone and all of the cool things they could do, I was still using the good old house phone to get in touch with my friends. When I finally got my own phone, I was nowhere near slow on retaining all there is to know about cell phones. I became so obsessed with my phone to a point where I was becoming evil. My parents used to collect my sister and my phones at 10 o’clock on school nights. We would have to bring them into their room and plug them in on the floor. I was so obsessed with my phone that I would bring in my brothers old phone that looked exactly like mine and pretend it was mine and keep my phone all night. Pretty rebellious, I’m aware; don’t have to tell me twice. Since then I have only grown more obsessed with my phone which is a little bit frightening but with this day and age and the rate technology is moving like I stated above, you need to be good with cell phones to succeed.

 

This project was beneficial towards me in the sense that I have learned how obsessed I really am with my phone. Although a lot of my interactions were selfies on snapchat and instagram and tweeting to my friends; a lot of it was also homework and other things such as that. So in closing, I am proud to say I am not ashamed of my cell phone obsession.