Technology and My Daily Tech Habits
Not a day goes by where we don’t use our technology
For me, as well as probably most others, I use it for an alarm to wake up in the morning, all through the day for schooling and just to keep me busy until the moment I go to sleep. If you really sit down and think about the time we are spending on all of our technology it’s actually pretty crazy. We may not even realise it, I recently started to track my screen time on my phone and I have an average of 5-7 hours everyday, that’s just on my phone not counting the time I spend watching tv or on my laptop. Majority of our day is spent on screens. It has become so normalised to rely on technology for literally everything in our lives which is so sad, sure it’s very convenient but it’s also creating generations of people who are slowly becoming more and more dependent on technology.
In my life the apps I typically use day to day are Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok and Spotify. Which for the most part I use for social interaction. There is a small amount of time that I actually use TikTok or another app for school related things. The apps I use for University and keeping things scheduled are my Notes app on my phone, UR courses and I also use a Calendar app that I note down when assignments, quizzes, midterms and any readings are due for school.
I use the notes app for literally anything, anytime I schedule appointments, when someone’s bday is coming up, things I need to do, need to buy, when I have to make an assignment submission and so much more. I have over 100 notes on my notes app. I try to delete old ones but I simply track absolutely everything in my notes I find it’s easiest for me to make checklists and I know that I am always opening it so I am less likely to forget something that needs to be done.
The app that uses the majority of my attention is TikTok. I spend a lot of time scrolling which is a daily struggle. I know it’s extremely addictive and is simply a waste of time.
It consumes a lot of my screen time each day which is something I need to work on. I have been wanting to get rid of the app entirely but knowing me I would find some other social media app that would take up just as much of my time. Tiktok I use to scroll randomly but sometimes I use it for research on how to do something or how to make something which is often helpful but realistically that’s not very often.
When it comes to a balance of my screen time I don’t really have a strategy. If I know something is due I’ll get it done whether on my laptop or phone. The bigger problem I have is I work a lot so I’ll usually try to get most of my school work done on breaks at work so that in my free time once I’m home I can use social media or watch tv without feeling stressed. Being that everyone is addicted to their phones and technology it’s very important to have time management, lots of the time we get caught up in scrolling or bingeing a show and its self discipline that will let you break that cycle to be productive. When I moved to the city for university I realised I have to be in control of how I spend my time so I learned pretty quickly what I need to prioritise. Yes I still sometimes leave things to the last minute but as long as I’m getting them done and fitting it into my busy schedule I can feel accomplished.