Traditional Phone Usage

I have a love/hate relationship with my phone and this assignment helped me realize why. My findings were different than I thought they would be. However, I believe that knowing this assignment was happening I was more cautious of not picking up my phone. With that being said, I would say this study isn’t 100% accurate with the hours I spend on my phone. Being a student-athlete, I don’t get a lot of free time especially when I’m overloaded with homework. Keeping that in mind, whenever I have the slightest chance to check my phone I do, but my findings were surprising. I only spend an average of 3 hours and 18 minutes on my phone per day. Wednesday, September 25 I spent my highest which 7 hours and 9 minutes. Wednesday’s are my less busy days, so that wasn’t as surprising. For the entire week, I spent 23 hours on my phone, that means I spend almost an entire day on my phone a week. I pick up my phone 160 times a day, and 801 times a week. I receive 115 notifications a day, and 808 notifications a week. The majority of my time is spent having conversations with others. I spent over 4 hours a week in my message app texting people back. I spent over 3 hours a week on the phone with people and over 2 hours on Snapchat. Surprisingly, the next app I use the most is safari with 1 hour of usage this week.

With this data, I have come to a conclusion on why my time is being spent the way it is. First, I was surprised that I only spent an average of 3 hours and 18 minutes on my phones every day because it feels like more than that. Looking at my results I realize that I use my phone for the traditional use of connecting and socializing with people. 400 of my 800 notifications come from my messages. I live 12 hours away from home, I’m in a long-distance relationship, and I am on a very chatty team. I believe that being so far away from my friends, family, and being a part of a team is what drives me to use my phone for interpersonal relationships. I have some days during the week when I am exhausted and I don’t feel like being bothered, but my family, boyfriend, teammates, friends, and coaches call or text me and I have to answer. With my family, friends, and boyfriend I don’t get to see them, so I always answer when they call. With my teammates and coaches, I might get in trouble if I don’t answer them. Having to always communicate with others even when I want some alone time is why I have a love/hate relationship with my phone. This assignment allowed me to realize sometimes it’s okay to text or call someone back later.