Technology plays a big part in my day-to-day life. As soon as I wake up, the first thing I do is check my phone, and it’s the last thing I do before bed. Technology is definitely one of, if not the biggest, distractions for me. Apps that regularly disturb me are TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and a couple of iPhone games as well. Unfortunately, I don’t take many measures to reduce this problem, mostly because I know I would give in. I’ve never used a time limit for any apps because I know I would just turn it off. Sometimes I’ll set my phone in another room if I’m working on school or something that requires a lot of focus, but not very often. I mostly use technology for social media, communication, and entertainment. Since most of these purposes aren’t very beneficial to my time, besides social interaction, I spend a lot of unnecessary time using technology. For as much as I myself use technology, I think it’s becoming too prevalent in our world. I myself grew up with a lot of technology around me, but it wasn’t as common in school growing up. I think technology can be beneficial when used right but also damaging when taking away certain practices. With that in mind, one area I don’t use technology for is organization. Using a digital calendar or planner hasn’t worked for me; sometimes I put tabs in the Notes app, but they always get forgotten about. I prefer using a whiteboard calendar where I can easily add or erase important information, as well as simply use different coloured markers to differentiate between classes, leisure, etc.

The apps and websites I use most frequently in my daily life are Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Apple Music, Google Chrome, UR Courses, and Happy Color. The majority of these tools are related to leisure and social interaction, with only a couple relating to academic purposes. I try my best to keep a balance between the two, but I wouldn’t say they’re nearly equal. Boundaries I try to keep to maintain a healthy relationship with technology are acknowledging when I feel burnt out or bored from being on my phone. I try to set it down and go find something else to do that doesn’t require a screen. I hope to become better at creating that school/social balance as well as hopefully lowering my screen time.  🫣