A Week On The Phone
Through the Moment app, I was able to track my insane addiction to my phone and the apps that I used on a daily basis. Over this past week alone, I have picked up to check my phone over 200 times and spent over 10 hours staring at my screen. On average, over 2 hours a day and nearly 50 pickups, it is clear to say that I have a new addiction.
I firmly believe that these high averages are due to the current roles I have on CMU’s campus. As this is my last semester on campus, I have entered into the first steps of my future career in public relations through campaigning. This, in turn, requires a strong social media presence on as many platforms as possible. Instagram, being the prominent platform in my most recent campaign, was not surprisingly the app I spent the most time on overall in the past week. This is because leading up to an event, that last week is the final push for any campaign. Which just so happened to be this past week.
A consistent pattern that I noticed over the past week and a half of tracking my usage lied in the specific days of the week my phone was on more frequently than others. Due to my class schedule, all of my classes land on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. This leaves much smaller gaps of free time to look at my phone or use it at all.
The data tracked on the days outside of class, however, tell a different story. In addition to my campaign for class, I am also the head of communications and social media for a student organization on campus. This spare time is used to update social media platforms, send out reminder emails and communicate with fellow leadership members to prep for upcoming meetings and events. All of these activities of course, typically require the use of a cell phone.
What this app stresses more than anything is the total amount of your waking life that is ultimately spent on any device, rather than with the people surrounding you. Personally, this forced me to take a step back to clearly understand just what kind of impact this type of addiction can have on your life.
