WJ’s Diary of Phone “Interactivity”

by  on  in ctpf15

 

Our Communications class was tasked with recording our phone activities over the course of forty-eight hours.  Anytime we went on our phones, we were supposed to write down in our journal (mine is pictured below): the date, the time, the length of time spent on the phone, whether it was a textual or social interaction, what we were doing (roughly), and the activity that we interrupted, if any.  This blog post will discuss my experience with recording phone activity.

My Diary of Phone "Interactivity" recorded over a 48-hour period

My Diary of Phone “Interactivity” recorded over a 48-hour period

Information on My Phone Usage

The first page of my Diary of Phone "Interactivity"

The first page of my Diary of Phone “Interactivity”

  1. Total Interactions: 41
  2. Total Time: 8.3 hours
  3. Number of each activity:
  • Social Interactions: 8
    • Phone calls: 4
    • Checking Instagram: 4
  • Textual Interactions: 0
  • Both (Social and Textual Interactions): 25
    • Texting: 20
    • Facebook Messaging: 3
    • Checking email: 2
  • Neither: 8
    • Watching a TV Show or Movie: 5

      The second page of my Diary of Phone "Interactivity".

      The second page of my Diary of Phone “Interactivity”.

    • Listening to Music: 3

4. Activities that were happening when I used my phone:

  • Class: 8
  • Conversation with Someone (or group of people): 6
  • Driving: 4
  • Homework: 1
  • Cooking/Eating: 3
  • Watching TV or a Movie: 4
  • Nothing: 15

 

 

Experience While Recording My Diary of Phone “Interactivity”

At first, I was not very excited to be recording our phone activity.  I am one of those people that prefers face-to-face interactions, but I did think that I was going to use my phone much more than actually did.  I even made 8 more extra pages using the format pictured above because I thought that I was going to use my phone much more.  I believe that recording every time that I went on my phone changed how I interacted with the technology around me.  I was very lazy and did not want to write down that I used my phone.  More often than not, I tried to use other technology to accomplish my goals (unless I was to lazy to get up to get the other form of technology).  The truth is that I don’t know whether or not this number of “interactivities” is accurate.  The process of writing down information requires effort and recollection; sometimes I accomplished neither.  I occasionally found that I was too lazy to write down when I got on my phone, and then in a lapse of judgement, I would forget to record that I had gone on my phone.  The fact that I was not an objective observer skewed the results of this experiment.

What I Learned

I learned many life lessons from recording my phone activity (mostly regarding being distracted by my phone).  I learned that I usually go on my phone to avoid the real world.  Whenever I am “bored” with what is happening in the real world, I usually go on my phone to talk to other people or check social media. It is kind of funny to think about.  At times when I was supposed to be highly engaged, I was distracted and on my phone.  For example, one of the most interrupted activities of mine is driving (I of course do not recommend this).  No one should be driving and doing anything else.  However, I was so “bored” by a red light or a guy going to slow in front of me that I used my phone and felt justified in doing so.  I learned that I need to devote more energy to being present in the moment.