With the new iPhone function that monitors your use of screen time on your phone, I get weekly updates on this use. At first, it was kind of badge of honor as I saw that my average use was only 1 hour a day. However, I have noticed in the last 3 weeks, my screen time has increased significantly and has been steadily increasing each week. It started of with a 20% increase, 5% increase and most recently a 6% increase.
This increase has helped me to start reflecting why I have been increasing my use of my phone and screens in general. It made me think about the Uses and Gratification theory we have discussed in class. I think use my phone most often to speak with family members and to track my workouts. However, recently, I have been using my phone to access social media and participating in a lot of passive social media use by scrolling and scrolling through Facebook.
After recognizing this change, I thought about why I am using social media more and realized I am a lot more stressed than I usually am with final projects coming up and final exams. Looking back, I ALWAYS use media more when I am stressed which ends up hurting me rather than helping. Recognizing this vulnerability of mine has led me to go on another social media fast in order to force me to focus on these stresses of the semester ending and hopefully decrease my stress as I am able to complete more work in a day. I am thankful for this class because I am not sure I would have spent the time to reflect upon this increase in my phone use without it.
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