Analyzing the Digital Pursuit: A Research Study on My Screen Time Hobby

Hello and Welcome! My name is Dayanara. I’m a student at Florida International University (FIU) and have been learning a lot about data encoding and how to use data visualizations to express two of my personal data that I have tracked over the past week. I made some notes and art that helped me and wanted to share them with you.

Do you have a hobby?

Have you ever been asked to speak on a hobby you have and can’t seem to think of any? Until recently, I would always answer the question “Do you have a hobby?” with “No” or “Does sleeping count as one?”

But one day that all changed.

I was starting to feel a lack of motivation, directionless, apathetic, or lazy by not having a hobby.

So, I decided to no longer let that question get to me.

I was asked by one of my professors to track myself for at least one week and produce two visualizations about a personal tracking data. As well, as making sure that the data I decided to track will also interest my classmates or others to read up on.

Who knew — hobbies didn’t only consist of doing sports.

Dorothy Draper states that “the finest thing about a hobby is that you can’t do any pretending about it. You either like it or you don’t.” So, to make sure to choose a hobby that consists of what you love, whether that’s with family, pets, electronics, music, or plants.

I thought it was interesting that the wheel was organized by color, area, and angle. Although I didn’t quite like the colors on the wheel after once being placed together on the wheel.

Colors can have very strong emotional associations — but they’re different for everyone.

I started to do this every day. I’d write down the number of hours I would spend on an electronic device and what that device was. In this case I was either using my phone, laptop, or TV at home.

I found a lot of my associations lined up with the colors and characteristics from the case or frame that surrounded each device. For example, my phone has a pink case on it, my laptop has an orange case, and my TV has a green frame around it.

It turns out, most scientists agree, that screen time can even help individuals develop problem-solving, social, creative and communication skills.

Isn’t that Interesting?

So, I added a new element to my practice — tracking which device I preferred to use for a certain time of day. I would draw a chart and depending on the time it was, I would then color and make notes about which device I happened to have felt more drawn towards using for that time of day.

I started to notice some patterns in how the colors I was using lined up with why and where the devices I chose correlated with the task I was doing for that specific time of day.

From there I could track that to some patterns of what device my body feels more drawn towards using.

Everybody is different, and they are the source of SO much information. It can be overwhelming to know what to do with it all.

Therefore, I decided to start discovering more information regarding my needs towards wanting to consume such a large number of screen time. In results, I discovered that there are four types of screentime: passive consumption, interactive consumption, communication, and content creation.

I ended up turning all of this into my own screen time chart.

I use the notes, the colors, the wheel and the screen time chart to better understand and express which type of screen time I tend to indulge in more throughout my day and what type of screen time I may be needing in my future life.

I no longer answer the question “do you have a hobby?” the same way.

I hope you enjoyed this journey and these tools– and that they inspire you to build your own practice of collecting personal data in whatever way works best for you.