Phone Diary: Libby M

by  on  in ctpf15

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My initial feelings for this assignment were excitement for an interesting activity, but also a bit nervous to see how much I actually use my phone over 48 hours. I usually notice when I am using my phone excessively but this would make it real with actual hours and minutes of my time written down as phone use. It was a little intimidating but a very good eye opener. My experience was very informative not only about how much time I spend on my phone, but also specifically which interactions I spend the most of my time on.

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  1. Total Interactions: 48

 

  1. Total Time on Phone: 2 hours 57 minutes

 

  1. Types and Number of Activity:

-Social Interactions: 46

-Instagram: 14 minutes: 7% of time

-Texting: 1 hour 53 minutes: 63% of time

-Blogs/websites: 30 minutes: 17% of time

-Snap chat: 23 minutes: 8% of time

 

-Textual Interactions: 2

            -News: 10 minutes: 5% of time

 

  1. Activities Interrupted by Phone use:

-Homework/Studying: 27

-Class: 3

-Conversation/With Friends: 2

-Meals: 2

-Nothing: 14

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Personal Experience:
I had a very different reaction to the activity than I originally imagined. I found myself using my phone much less because I had to record it every action, which discouraged my phone use. These conditions also lead to longer periods of use rather than many short uses.  This activity seemed to have to effect of using my phone once in a longer period so it was not necessary to make several smaller recordings. I also think I used my phone less than usual because I was aware of my use by recording each action with pen and paper, which was another medium besides the technology I was already using. This kept me conscious of how much time was being spent on my phone instead of how usually I wouldn’t even bother or notice keeping track of how much time I was spending on my phone. I think the restriction of using pen and paper discouraged my phone use even further. Since I had to carry them with me and remember to record each time I used my phone in a separate notebook I feel that maybe my records are not as accurate as they could have been. For example, if i had just recorded my phone use in the notes section on my phone I would have remembered to do it more precisely and every time I was on my phone since it was an action I was already preforming.

As a user of communicative technologies I learned I use my phone much more for social interaction than I do for textual. For this reason I would probably consider how I use my phone as more for fun and entertainment than I would a necessity. However, this project did make me realize how I am almost constantly in communication with others. Wether it is a text conversation, Snapchatting back and forth in conversation, or tagging friends in comments on Instagram, I am always in contact with people in one form or another.

From tracking my phone use I found out much more about my relationship to my phone. I found I used my phone mostly for social interactions. A lot of the time I recorded was consumed by texting, Instagram, and snap chat. I wasn’t exactly shocked by this but it was a little surprising to see how much I really to spend on these interactions. I think I was most fascinated by snap chat. The whole idea of snap chat is its just a few seconds long I’d say 5 on average, so to see that add up to 23 minutes is kind of funny. I wouldn’t come to the conclusion that I am dependent on my phone but that its a tool I use to stay in contact with people in many different forms.

Overall I really enjoyed this activity on interactivity. It opened my eyes to how I was using my phone and I found that portion of the activity the most interesting. After this I am definitely more conscious of how much time and in what setting I use my phone.