Technology Mindfulness Project

Background:

This project is designed for us to be mindful of how we use our smartphones. I got my first phone when I was 13, but it was not an iPhone, it was a flip phone. The only thing I could do on it was call and text people. I mainly called because it was really hard to text. Then, when I was 15 I got my first iPhone. That's when I started downloading games and increasing my social media activity. I’m doing this project not just for class, but to see how I spend my time and possibly increase my productivity. I would say my phone usage is not really a problem, I would say it is normal just like everyone else. The only “problem” I have is I tend to look/pick up my phone to see if I have any notifications even though I already checked a couple of minutes ago. Hopefully, by doing this project, I can decrease the amount of time that I spend on my phone that is unproductive.

Entry #1

My Smartphone Compulsion Test score was 10/15. I have to be honest, I took this test multiple times. the first time I took it, I got a 10 and noticed that it recommended I see a psychologist. I thought there was no way I’m that attached to my phone, so I took the test again and got a lower score on purpose. Sadly, this does describe my smartphone usage habits because I do use my phone more than I should. I use my phone to waste time if I’m bored, I pick it up way too much when it beeps because I want to see who or what caused my phone to beep. I wouldn’t say I’m dependent on my phone because there are times that I’m not worried that I don’t have my phone, but sometimes I realize that I’ve spent way too much time, and need a break from it. I’m hoping that by doing this blog, I can decrease my smartphone usage and lower my Smartphone Compulsion score.

Entry #2

I primarily use my phone for social media, text and call, and sports-related things, such as checking football scores in this particular order. I use Snapchat and Instagram as my main sources of social media. I use text and calling to mainly keep in touch with family, and finally, I use theScore as my main score checking for sports. On average, I spend about 4 hours and 45 minutes on my phone each day with an average number of 87 pickups a day.

Entry #3

I have multiple apps on my phone that I enjoy using. My 1st favorite app to use is Snapchat. It is one of my favorite apps because it allows me to send and receive pictures of my friends and I can see what they are doing when they add something to their story. Another favorite app of mine is Spotify because I can listen to millions of songs wherever I’m located. Another favorite app of mine is YouTube because I can watch any video at any time of the day. Last but not least, TikTok is one of my favorite apps because it is very entertaining to watch other people's funny videos.

Entry #4

I’m not sure if I should be satisfied with my results so far. The reason I say that is because not much has changed. I will have a “good” week with my average screen time being below 5 hours and the next week might be a “bad” week averaging almost 6 hours. When I started tracking my data, I expected my screen time to be around 5, so I approximated that correctly. One thing I have noticed since the beginning of tracking my data is that the amount of pickups has gradually increased by week.

Entry #5

I chose to turn my phone off and turn off notifications. The reason why I chose to turn my phone off is that sometimes I can’t get work done. I find myself spending too much time on Instagram or TikTok when I should be being productive and getting my assignments done. I found that this strategy has been very helpful. In the past week, I have been more productive. I have been able to finish assignments start to finish without getting on my phone. I also chose to turn off notifications because every time my phone dings, most of the time I always stop what I’m doing to see what caused my phone to ding. Sometimes, I end up texting the person back or watching the video that notified me. Similar to turning my phone off, I end up not doing what I was doing before the notification. I also found that this strategy has been very helpful. In the past week, I have not been distracted by notifications as much. I’m able to get more work done.

Entry #6

I chose to leave my phone home to go to a restaurant with my dad. It was very hard in the beginning because I kept going for my phone in my pocket even though it wasn’t there. What made it even harder was there was football happening at the time. I really wanted to check my phone to see if any of the scores had changed. Anxiety slowly crept in because I didn’t know what was going on in the world of college football. Finally, I had to accept the fact that I didn't have my phone and we continued with dinner. As time went on, I forgot that I didn’t have my phone. My dad and I had a good conversation and oddly enough it was about football. On our way home I was thinking to myself, “I’m kind of glad I didn’t have my phone.” Not having my phone allowed my dad and I to discuss something we both enjoy, which is football. Ironically, the first thing I did when we got home was check my phone.

Entry #7

Meditating with my phone open in my hands was very stressful. The fact that your phone is already open and ready for you to use makes it much more difficult. What was even more difficult was that my phone dinged multiple times during meditation. I was very tempted to open my eyes and check my phone. I wanted to check my phone so bad and I was frustrated at myself for being tempted so easily. There was only one impulse and that was to open my eyes and start using my phone. The second round of meditation wasn’t as stressful. I focused more on my breathing and less on my phone in my hands. As I focused more and more on breathing a thought came to me. “Do I want to use my phone or just hold my phone?” Then as I meditated while looking at my phone I was wondering why I’m so compelled to use my phone. What is it that makes smartphones so addicting? Meditation allowed me to re-evaluate the reasons that I use my phone.

Entry #8

1. Data Presentation

This graph shows the total number of hours for each week of data collection. Eack week, the hours fluctuated, but the last 3 weeks (give or take a few hours) was the most hours spent on my phone. Week 11 was Masters week so I definitely spent a lot of time watching the Master’s on my phone. Week 12 was a big week for me in fantasy football so I spent a lot of hours checking my team. Week 13 was Thanksgiving week, so I was home watching a lot of Netflix and YouTube.

Over the 13 weeks of collecting data, I spent a total of 336 hours and 4 minutes on my phone. This pie chart breaks down my phone usage into 3 categories: Social Networking, Creativity, and Entertainment. Social Networking includes Snapchat, Instagram, Messages, etc. Creativity includes games such as Solitaire, Trivia Crack, etc. Entertainment includes YouTube, Netflix, TikTok, etc. I spend approximately 47% of my phone usage on Social Networking. I knew it would be a large percentage, but I would have thought Entertainment would be higher because I know I spend a lot of time watching videos and movies. Entertainment takes up approximately 30% of my phone usage. My most-used apps in this category are YouTube, TikTok, and Netflix. This is no surprise because I tend to lose track of time on TikTok and Netflix. Creativity takes up the least amount of percentage with approximately 23%. I don’t spend as much time playing games as I do on social media or entertainment apps, but you could put Google under this category because the things I look up can be considered creative.

This bar graph shows the average number of notifications for each week of data collection. It is obvious to see that the average number of pickups fluctuated each week. It really depended on who I was texting and what professor was emailing me the most that week. The apps that tend to give me the most notifications are Messages, Snapchat, and Outlook. Most of the time when a notification goes off, 90% of the time I will look at my phone to see who or what caused the notification. That usually leads to me picking up my phone and using it, which leads us to…

This bar graph shows the average number of pickups for each week of data collection. You can see that the average number of pickups slightly increased, was somewhat static, and then slightly decreased. I did notice that when my total screen time was high, the number of pickups was lower. The only thing about the pickups that I don’t like is that it only counts as a pickup when you unlock your phone. My average number of pickups would be double what they are now if pickups counted for pickup up your phone or just touching your phone.

This pie chart shows my top 10 most used apps for week 13, which was November 22nd through November 28th. My most-used app for the week was YouTube at 4 hours and 43 minutes followed by Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. This makes sense because I was home for Thanksgiving watching videos and checking social media frequently because I did not take my TV home. I was kind of surprised that Fantasy Football was 9th because this was a big week for me in fantasy and I know I checked my team multiple times to make sure I could get the most points out of my starting lineup.

2. Analysis

As a result of this project, I have definitely become more mindful of my smartphone usage. I do not think things will change immediately, but it will definitely be a process. I’m aware of how often I use my phone and more aware of the ways that I do not have to rely on my phone as much. I think this will have an impact on my social, personal, and academic life. I can be more social in a world outside of my phone and become less dependent on connecting with people through my phone. I will impact my academic life because I can be more productive with my work and not lose productivity because I’m on my phone. And lastly, it will impact my personal life because I will eventually realize there’s more to this world than what's on my phone. Moving forward, I can practice previous ways that I have already learned how to reduce screen time such as turning off notifications or have designated no technology, so I can better myself in the future. This project helped me realize that I can be less dependent on my phone to survive.