My technology-free happy place

Alex vs. Phone 

I know that I sound like an old person when I say this, but I have to stop living on my phone. I find myself going on it not because I want to, but as a coping mechanism for avoiding awkward situations and unwanted social interaction. 

Now, this could be a product of our generation and the fact that we grew up in front of a screen, but my case may be a bit different. All my life, even before I got my first iPod touch at the age of 11 I was painfully shy. I would never talk to people or be able to look anyone in the eyes as I would stutter to get a simple sentence out of my mouth. Therefore, I had no friends and lived a majority of my childhood on the outskirts of true friendships and cliques. Having handheld technology definitely did not help with this situation. 

Over this past week, I was tasked with the act of keeping track of my screen time. I didn’t really think that I was on my phone a lot throughout each day, but alas, the results were shocking. My findings aligned with my preconceived notions but at the same time I was surprised. Throughout the past week my screen-time averaged 5 hours and 40 minutes a day. Seeing this was disappointing but hear me out: most of the time spent on my phone is to go on You Tube or Spotify for background noise when I eat or run. Additionally, whenever I drive I have to keep the map on because I have no clue where I am going in Maryland. Since we are in the middle of nowhere, every decent place is a hike that requires at least 20 minutes of driving. That is a factor that increases screen time at extremely high rates. Emails and school work also take up much of my screen time. However, the biggest culprit is bedtime. 

I spend so much time on my phone at night looking at memes and finding the answers to the most pressing questions that my brain comes up with at night. Since I am very busy during the day with school, work study, and track, bedtime is really the only downtime I have to look at my phone. 

In conclusion of this experiment, I want to try to limit my screen time and not use my phone as a crutch for avoiding social interaction. As a communication major it is kind of my job to have good communication skills so this is something that I have to improve upon. I personally hate being on my phone but my social anxiety loves it and so does my brain. Memes are my technological kryptonite.