This week I have taken the time to reflect on how I use technology throughout my day. Some of my uses were quite obvious but there were a few habits that were a bit shocking. Let’s start with the obvious one, school!

This semester I am taking all of my courses online, therefore most of my day is spent in front of a computer. My morning routine for school consists of opening my laptop and checking UR Courses along with my course email. This is normally followed by briefly looking at my personal email to ensure no urgent messages are waiting for me. I will then return to UR Courses and begin the day’s tasks. Programs that are in frequent rotation on a school day include, zoom, word, VitalSource: Bookshelf where I read several of my textbooks, and a new addition, thanks in part to this class, discord! I was familiar with the other programs from previous years in school however, discord was new to me. It is an excellent place to ask questions and build a community with peers in your classes, especially when those course take place online. Recently I was invited to join a discord in one of my other classes and this has proven to be most helpful as a number of us were confused about due dates and the expectations for various assignments. I find that the work flow while using my laptop is successful, I do not find myself flipping between tabs and getting distracted too often. However, let me make this abundantly clear, I do get distracted… just not with my computer.

Enter the dreaded love hate relationship I have with my phone!

Obviously it is a wonderful tool to help me stay connected with friends and family, as well as provide some entertainment when I get bored. I frequent apps like Snapchat, Messages, Facetime, and Instagram to keep in touch, while Spotify and Youtube have me covered on the entertainment side. It all seems relatively harmless though, right? Well the problems start arising when I “get bored” while doing something productive. Somehow the thought of “I wonder if so and so messaged me” turns into at least 10 minutes spent scrolling through Instagram reels. Or my favourite, “let me find a random Youtube video to have as background noise,” which turns into me obtaining 2 hours of useless information. Anyone want to know how an electric guitar goes from a plank of wood to a finished product? I have this “background noise” video to thank for that extensive knowledge.

All jokes aside this is normally a simple fix. I either leave my phone in a different room while I work on my tasks, or if I really need to get some stuff done I will leave my phone in the glove box of my car while I go to a coffee shop and lock in to my studies. This example does not happen that often, only if I am in a major time crunch and I know I will get distracted. I have also found that listening to binaural music has helped me to stay focused, as I enjoy the relaxing instrumentals.

In my personal life a lot of the same technology appears. I often listen to music or podcasts while doing things around the house, or watch a Youtube documentary. The only addition I would make to this rotation is the PlayStation. I will often voice chat with a friend of mine from Edmonton while we catch up with each other a play a game called Rocket League.

Overall my relationship with technology is a positive one, however, as I am on my computer a lot for school this semester I have been trying my best to limit the amount of time I am spending in front of a screen for leisure.

Thanks for checking in to this weeks blog post!