Final Blog Post

If I were to compare my relationship to technology as a real life relationship I would compare it to a toxic relationship. It is actually very interesting timing for this assignment to be given to me based on what is currently happening to me in real life. Just this week I have realized that I need to stop my addiction with my phone. Now what do I mean by addiction? Most people would hear that and think I was crazy to be addicted to my phone but I believe it is true. The amount of time that I had spent on my phone every week was well above 8 hours and this is spread out throughout the week. If you take away the time you are sleeping then you really start to see how much eight hours a week is. I found myself on my phone avoiding tasks, using it to distract myself from thinking about things that stressed me out, and overall using it and not being in the moment during my life. When I look back at my life I realize how much of it is filled with me having my face in a screen and how much of that time could have been used doing things that would better myself as a person. 

There have been many studies done by the National News and AARP that show that with the introduction of mobile phones into our everyday lives, humans attention span has gone from 12 seconds in the year 2000, to 8.25 seconds in the year 2015. This number continues to decrease due to the instant gratification we can get b just picking up our phone, and using it to conveniently fill whatever desire we have. There are studies that also have shown how children who grow up with phones aren't developing their social skills as well, along with a growing percentage of children who need glasses in elementary school due to the increased exposure to blue light. 

https://www.aarp.org/health/brain-health/info-2017/mental-focus-smartphone-use.html

https://www.thenationalnews.com/opinion/comment/mobile-phones-are-killing-our-attention-spans-and-ruining-public-discourse-1.872749

 

In the future I want to be able to leave my house without my phone and for it to not be the end of the world. If I were to go to class without it today I know for a fact I would return to my room to get it, even if it meant I was late to class, this is how I know I seriously have an issue. To begin my detox I am going to be starting slowly by deleting certain social medias. I have deleted an app called SnapChat, which is an application that you use to send pictures to and from your friends. I used to constantly be checking my phone to see if I had any new "snaps", which were pictures from my friends, even though they were meaningless. I tried once to fix the problem by turning off notifications for SnapChat but I found I would just check the app more often so it wasn't a good fix. I am going to start consciously trying to use my phone less and less so one day I can leave my house without my phone, and be able to enjoy my day without stressing over not having it on me. Not only will this be a good practice for me, but if I have children in the future I will be very mindful of how I let them be exposed to technology, now that I know the harmful effects technology truly can have.