How does it feel for someone to go without texting and social media for 48 hours?
Over the past few years I have been using my phone for hours on hours for text messaging and other social media. I know there are teenagers who use their phone a lot more than I do, but I know I use it a lot more than I would like. When I am busy with my family, hanging out with my friends or doing something productive I don’t find myself using my phone even half as much as I do when I’m bored. When I’m bored or just sitting in my house watching television I usually just find myself scrolling through Instagram over and over and texting more frequently. I think half of the reason why I use my phone so much is because I have a hard time sitting still and I always need to be doing something. I never just sit on my phone for hours but I find myself checking it a lot. In the middle of class I used to always text because I was bored, but I found out that it wasn’t helping my grades at all. This past year I haven’t been using my phone in the middle of lessons and my grades have significantly improved. Overall, I would like to decrease my time spent using my phone for texting and social media.
To achieve my goal of cutting back on my phone, I am going to try and go two days without texting and social media, with the exception of my parents for safety reasons. I am only going to contact my friends through phone calls and face to face interaction. Doing this will hopefully decrease my time spent using social media for long term uses. Since I have been so dependent on communicating with my friends through mostly texting, it might be hard to only use phone calls. I usually never talk on the phone because I think it is uncomfortable and in my opinion, it is easier to text. Therefore, I never really had to depend on only face to face interaction and phone calls. As of right now, I am not sure how successful my attempt is going to be, but I think it will be interesting to find out.
Journal
January 14, 2014:
During school I noticed that I have paid attention a lot more whether I was tempted to look at my phone or not. Though at times I feel like I need to communicate with my friends because I’m missing out on things, I can go without it because I don’t depend on it as much as I thought I would. I have been busy lately so I haven’t really felt the need to use my phone nor have I really wanted to. At times I do get bored and that’s usually when I find myself using my phone more, but I have been able to control it and not use it as much. I feel as if though today, the first day, will be the hardest because I’m not all that used to it. I am hoping that it will be easier tomorrow because I have already started to get used to not using it as much. So far, I have felt antsy and tempted to use it just because I know I can’t. At night while going to bed is definitely the worst. While lying in bed watching television I get so bored and I feel as if I fall asleep easier if I’m using my phone. I think using my phone at night makes me more tired, I noticed that I was actually up later without my phone. So far, not using my phone is not as hard as I thought it would be.
During school I noticed that I have paid attention a lot more whether I was tempted to look at my phone or not. Though at times I feel like I need to communicate with my friends because I’m missing out on things, I can go without it because I don’t depend on it as much as I thought I would. I have been busy lately so I haven’t really felt the need to use my phone nor have I really wanted to. At times I do get bored and that’s usually when I find myself using my phone more, but I have been able to control it and not use it as much. I feel as if though today, the first day, will be the hardest because I’m not all that used to it. I am hoping that it will be easier tomorrow because I have already started to get used to not using it as much. So far, I have felt antsy and tempted to use it just because I know I can’t. At night while going to bed is definitely the worst. While lying in bed watching television I get so bored and I feel as if I fall asleep easier if I’m using my phone. I think using my phone at night makes me more tired, I noticed that I was actually up later without my phone. So far, not using my phone is not as hard as I thought it would be.
January 15, 2014:
Today, I have felt overall pretty good. I think I am starting to realize that I don’t need my phone as much as I thought I did in order to communicate with people. I feel as though without my phone I am not stressed out as much because I am more focused on what is going on around me. Every day I have been used to waking up and automatically looking at my phone and using it to get up in the morning. Today, it was my second day without doing that and I was perfectly fine with it. It didn’t bother me as much as it did the first day because I already knew how it was going to feel. In school, in comparison to day one, it is much easier. I think the fact that I want to do this experiment and that I am not just doing it to do it helps a lot because I am more motivated. Today I have been more motivated than the first day because I think it would be really good to not rely on my phone as much as I have been the past couple years. I also noticed that throughout the day I didn’t think about my phone half as much as I usually do. It gets kind of awkward when I’m with my friends and all they do is sit on their phones while I choose not to. Going to bed on my second night was still kind of difficult, but I wouldn’t say it was as hard as the first night. It still took about an hour longer for me to fall asleep, but I think that could be easy to adjust to. So far I have been pretty successful.
Conclusion:
I am very proud but at the same time shocked that I have completely this experiment successfully. Overall, I have found that not using my phone for two days has lessened the stress in my life. I found that it made me less stressed because I was more focused on school and other things going on and not just on my phone. I enjoyed this experiment because I didn’t do it just to do it. I was motivated because I really was interested in seeing if I could do it, and I could. At times yes, it did get frustrating and I did get bored but I was able to find other ways to keep myself entertained. For instance, I was able to just sit down and watch television and interact with my family more. When I got bored when I wasn’t with my friends I usually found myself doing things like cooking, baking, and cleaning. Therefore, I noticed myself being a lot more productive. I think that this is something I would be able to keep up with and definitely something that I would like to keep trying at. At the end of this experiment I feel good and I feel that it helped me because so far I don’t think I have been using my phone as much. Surprisingly, I actually liked the feeling and outcome of this experiment. Overall, the feeling of going without texting and social media for 48 hours was relaxing and made my life a lot less stressful.
I am very proud but at the same time shocked that I have completely this experiment successfully. Overall, I have found that not using my phone for two days has lessened the stress in my life. I found that it made me less stressed because I was more focused on school and other things going on and not just on my phone. I enjoyed this experiment because I didn’t do it just to do it. I was motivated because I really was interested in seeing if I could do it, and I could. At times yes, it did get frustrating and I did get bored but I was able to find other ways to keep myself entertained. For instance, I was able to just sit down and watch television and interact with my family more. When I got bored when I wasn’t with my friends I usually found myself doing things like cooking, baking, and cleaning. Therefore, I noticed myself being a lot more productive. I think that this is something I would be able to keep up with and definitely something that I would like to keep trying at. At the end of this experiment I feel good and I feel that it helped me because so far I don’t think I have been using my phone as much. Surprisingly, I actually liked the feeling and outcome of this experiment. Overall, the feeling of going without texting and social media for 48 hours was relaxing and made my life a lot less stressful.
Teen Texting
“Nowadays, just 14% of teens say they talk daily with friends on a landline, down from 30% in 2009. And 31% of teens say they never talk on a landline with friends.” (An open letter to texting-crazed teens, Bartz)
“In 2010, the average teen was sending more than 3,000 texts a month,” (An open letter to texting-crazed teens, Bartz)
“
They do it late at night when their parents are asleep. They do it in restaurants and while crossing busy streets. They do it in the classroom with their hands behind their back. They do it so much their thumbs hurt. “ (Texting May Be Taking a Toll,Hafner)
“The phenomenon is beginning to worry physicians andpsychologists, who say it is leading to anxiety, distraction in school, falling grades, repetitive stress injury and sleep deprivation.” (Texting May Be Taking a Toll, Hafner)
“Then you hear that these kids are responding to texts late at night. That’s going to cause sleep issues in an age group that’s already plagued with sleep issues.” (Texting May Be Taking a Toll, Hafner)
“The phenomenon is beginning to worry physicians andpsychologists, who say it is leading to anxiety, distraction in school, falling grades, repetitive stress injury and sleep deprivation.” (Texting May Be Taking a Toll, Hafner)
“Then you hear that these kids are responding to texts late at night. That’s going to cause sleep issues in an age group that’s already plagued with sleep issues.” (Texting May Be Taking a Toll, Hafner)
Questions:
1. Did you expect yourself to be able to accomplish this task?
Yes, I did think that I would be able to do this because it is something that I wanted to do and there are many other things I can do besides using your phone.
2. What made you want to do this experiment?
I wanted to do this experiment because I think it is important that I don’t rely so much on communicating with my friends mostly through texting, but in person as well.
3. Did you learn anything from doing this?
Going 48 hours without texting and using social media made me learn that there are plenty other things that are more important. I learned that I am more productive without my phone and I get a lot more done. I tend to pay more attention in school and am I more motivated.
4. Would you ever consider doing this again?
I definitely would consider doing this again because I feel like it will help me not rely so much on my phone all the time. I didn’t mind going without my phone because I felt it was less stressful.
5. Do you think you have benefited from this in any way?
Overall, I think I did benefit from this because I am already starting to not use my phone as much as I used to. I realized that I haven’t been using it as much in school and it has helped me stay more focused.
Works Cited:
My Journal
Hafner, Katie. "Texting May Be Taking a Toll." Thumb Play. 25 May 2009. New York Times. 26 May 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/health/26teen.html?_r=0>.
Bartz, Andrea ."An open letter to texting-crazed teens." . 1 August 2012. CNN. . <http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/01/tech/netiquette-open-letter-teenagers/>.
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