Thinking about my daily habits using technology I think it is hard at times to accept how much time we all spend daily online or in front of a screen not doing a whole lot of productive stuff. For me the online platforms I use the most daily would have to be Snapchat, Email, Instagram, Reddit and Facebook. During school I would have to add in google docs/slides and URcourse to that list as well. For the most part I would have to admit most of my time is spent for leisure and social reasons, If I was giving it a percent I would say about 75 to 25 split in favor of leisure.
For productivity some of my favorite apps are the reminder app on my phone to always keep track of deadlines for school. I also think google docs is a really awesome tool to be able to use because you can have access to so much of your own resources from anywhere and it is so versatile. Now when comparing my phone to my laptop, my laptop is almost only used for “productivity” like school work, answering emails and work related stuff. Productivity is something that I hope to boost and improve in my life, in regards to technology, as I grown as a person and professionally. As a future teacher I have seen teachers in the field (co-ops from internship) and how productive a teacher can really be using the technology at their disposal. So my goal is to follow that example and learn how to be productive in all aspects of my teaching career.
Some of the things that really distract me tech wise on my phone would have to be scrolling through reddit and Instagram, sometimes just losing track of time, getting into rabbit hole after rabbit hole. In the last year or two I have tried to make an effort to spend less time scrolling endlessly on my phone and not picking it up as much. However this is easier said than done, what gets me is just the easiness of picking up your phone when you are bored. By picking up my device I can watch videos, listen to music, be social, play games, or read anything. For me this does not work well because I tend to get bored quickly and feel this need to fill my attention. I would like to make a serious effort to find alternatives as I finish up my degree like actually reading physical materials or going out and socializing but like I said this is easier said then done when we are all so busy with life. My other tech related distraction would have to be video games which is usually how I spend some of my downtime.
In this day and age it feels like a constant and endless battle trying to cut down on being immersed in technology and screen time. Trying to find a balance between fun and productivity can take some serious effort some days. Some days you just want to crawl into bed after a long day and scroll your phone which is okay but it is good to have alternatives you can turn too as well. Some alternatives for me are drawing and reading books or magazines