Technology in the Modern World
Technology has shaped every aspect of our modern lives. We have all felt the sense of panic when we can’t find our cell phone when we are out in public and it is pretty hard to imagine going back to a life without modern technology. A few years back I tried going back to a ‘dumb phone’, a bare bones phone that was only capable of making calls, texting via T9 and playing the classic game Snake. I think I lasted about a week. It was so hard to function without a smart phone, trying to do banking, use maps, and quickly look things up was no longer possible. It was a really strange feeling; I thought it would be liberating being able to disconnect but it ended up being more so just really inconvenient.
Online from Dawn to Dusk
My daily tech habits are pretty out of control. Every day I am checking the news frequently, I am checking the financial markets, I am online doing classwork, and I am checking in on how much energy our solar panels are producing. I wear a smartwatch so even things like my heartrate and physical activity are interacting with technology in a way. Some of the websites I frequent the most are The Guardian, CBC News, Hacker News, Clean Technica and Electrek. Apps that I use frequently are Snapchat, TNNS Live (the best app for tracking Pro Tennis), FordPass (checking how charged my vehicle is), Apple Music (not getting lost), PlugShare (app for reviewing EV charging stations), Garmin Connect (tracking cardio, etc.) and lately Chess.com for my Learning Project. I must admit that almost all of these are for leisure and not related to schoolwork but hey the semester is just getting started.
A Tool for (Counter)Productivity
As far as using technology to stay productive and more organized all I really use is the iOS calendar app. I input all of the important dates from all of my calendars and put reminders in for a week before and a day before all of the due dates. I also have a Word file where I have all of these dates listed together and it helps with anxiety about due dates. Rather than using technology to stay productive I find I have the opposite problem where I have to get away from technology a bit to be able to focus on the task at hand. Setting my phone to Do Not Disturb usually helps with this quite a bit. The biggest tech related distraction for me used to be Reddit but I am proud to admit that I have not visited the site at all in almost two years and don’t really do any endless scrolling anymore. Now that I don’t spent time on Reddit most of my time online that could be better spent is just browsing the news way too much, I admit I am kind of addicted to the news cycle which isn’t exactly the healthiest thing.
(A Lack of) Strategies
It’s a fine line trying to strike a balance between using technology mindlessly and using it for more productive purposes. The only (somewhat) effective strategies I have found for establishing healthy boundaries with technology are don’t be afraid to just leave your phone in another room on silent when you are working on schoolwork. It’s hard at first but it will get easier with time. I also set a limit on my phone for 1 hour a day max of internet browsing. If anyone else has any strategies that are effective for them, I would love to hear about them!