I think that like most people today that I am addicted to my phone. Whenever I am not doing something I am usually looking at it just to pass the time. It always has something new and something to look at on it and it can be dangerous as you can find yourself going down a rabbit hole on any social media cite. Although I use it all the time and am probably addicted there is no better feeling than not using your phone for a long time. Whenever camping in the summer our phones do not work so it is such a nice break from it and you can notice a big difference in the way most people act if a phone is not an option. The biggest benefit to using my phone is probably access to information all the time. If you never know something for sure you always have your phone to help. The second largest benefit is a quick easy connection to friends and family. We are all a couple clicks away from them no matter how far geographically we are. Lastly the other benefit is never being bored. There is always something to read or watch right in your hands.
I very rarely post anything on social media. I only have six instagram posts since 2014 because I am usually not concerned with showing people my life. When I do post there is a weird feeling the hour after. I would be constantly checking to see how many people and who liked it. I can see why it is so important for many people to get likes and attention on their social media. It is such an instant gratification that many people feel important from their posts getting likes. On twitter the last time I retweeted something was June of last year and the things I retweet are just what I think are cool videos and do not really care if people like them or not.
Overall my phone usage was about what I expected. The moment app is scary because it is constantly sending notifications about how long and how many times you have been on your phone throughout the day. I would definitely like to cut back on my phone usage because I feel it is not really fixing the problem that it is trying to solve which is boredom. When I check my phone I am still bored and should be doing something more productive. The three days I tracked I think did not tell the whole picture of my phone usage. Whenever I am in a car I usually listen to podcasts and not music and I do not think moment tracked this. In my screen shots you can also see the home and lock screen time usage being around 25 mins which is interesting because it shows how much I am bored and just leave my phone on to check for notifications.
I think the scariest stat to break down here is phone pick ups. If we assume that I am awake for 16 hours of the day 400 pick ups is 25 per hour. This is almost one pick up every 2 and a half minutes. The best way for me to cut back on my phone usage would be to eliminate instagram. I use twitter for articles and news sometimes but instagram is just pretty dull. It is very rare that I am reading something on instagram of value. If you spent the time reading instead of looking at instagram most of us would be smarter people.
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