Digital Detox Experiment

At the beginning of the school year when it was mentioned that we would be doing the “Digital Detox” I was excited. The idea of putting a number to my phone usage really intrigued me, was I spending an unhealthy amount of time staring at a screen? And would giving up my phone every class period affect me in any way? These questions rattled in my mind. To give some background, I’d say I'm on my phone for a good portion of the day. I wouldn’t say I’m addicted but I am aware that the time I do spend on my phone isnt the most healthiest. I understand why we shouldn't spend so much time on our phones, I know the harmful consequences. But still after being educated one would assume we’d be more than willing to put our physical and mental health first. However, if you were to give a quick glance around wherever you are, you'd see that is not the case for many people. Technology has its negatives but it also has quite a few positives that tend to make people overlook the bad. To me, my phone has everything I could possibly want. It provides me with entertainment, knowledge, and convenience. In today’s society if you didn't have a phone you were an anomaly, an outlier that couldn't possibly fit in with the rest of the world. And so the experiment began. I tried my best to forget about the experiment and just do what I always do on my phone because I wanted my results as accurate as possible. My activity during the week I would not say changed. I began and ended my day like I always do consisting of getting my homework out of the way first (this wouldn't normally take me very long) and then spending the rest of the day on my phone. During school I would only use my phone to answer a quick message or when I was done with my work so when on Monday I had to put my phone up I did so easily. In psychology class specifically, I always found it hard to even use my phone for a minute because in doing so I’d miss out on crucial information necessary for my notes or class in general. So, spending the whole class period without my phone didn't affect me in any way. Another reason why I wasn't having any ‘withdrawal’ or feeling anxious would probably because I’m not a very social person and therefore have no reason to want to constantly check my phone every minute. In fact, having my phone out of sight and not have the urge use it for an entire class period really helped give my head a much needed break. Between staring at a computer screen for majority of my classes and being on my phone, I often get raging headaches that make it hard for me to concentrate or even feel motivated to do anything. During this experiment I have come to realize how much of an effect being on my phone has on me. Before I wouldn’t have really gave any of this a second thought but now I’m beginning to make the connections. The top five apps that have held my attention the most throughout this experiment are (in no particular order): Instagram, Twitter, Messages, Snapchat, and Wattpad. This comes as no surprise to me. Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat are all social media apps and Wattpad is an app for reading books written by other users or writing your own. Instagram and Twitter I enjoy because not only can you connect with friends and people everywhere but these apps allow you the freedom to be the person you don’t show to people in real life. These apps also show you how ignorant people can be and how educated others are. From these apps I also get all kinds of current events which I enjoy learning about. That is why those two are the apps I spend most of my time on. Second (or third if you want to be technical) to that is Wattpad which I’ve had for 6 years. Over those 6 years It’s safe to say i’ve read hundreds of books and I even have a few drafts of my own. I love reading more than anything and that app allows me to read books of all kinds for free. However, I haven’t been able to read as much as I liked to because of school which is why most of my time wasn't directed towards other apps. Throughout the study I’d say that I benefited the most by becoming more self-aware and along with being more conscious of the ways in which my phone affects me in school life and regular life. As I recorded the amount of time I spent on my phone and on which apps held the most of my attention I came to realize that perhaps the root of some of my problems are in some shape or form caused by the amount of time I spend on one particular app. Over the course of two weeks my daily usage ranged from 2 hours to 5 hours. The number one app that I spent the most time on was Instagram. That didn’t surprise me but spending 5 hours on my phone in one day? Now that was really eye-opening. At the time I was typing this paper, I went ahead and googled the maximum amount of hours a person should spend on their phone daily ws and the answer was 2 hours. 2 hours! I only had 1 or 2 days at most out of the entire two weeks where I only spent 2 hours on my phone. I can't imagine spending only two hours on my phone for an entire day, I'm not sure I could do it if i'm being honest. That would actually be a really cool experiment coach kessler.