My Day Online
For me, technology can be a double edged sword; I need access to the internet to complete 99% of my coursework, yet the same thing that is so essential to my academic success is also a huge source of distraction. During the last 24 hours, the most used app on my phone was Instagram. Granted I only had 41 minutes of on-screen time, but I definitely could have used that 41 minutes to read that book that was due in my English class or simply just get ahead on work that will definitely pile up later. My other most used apps were Snapchat, Safari, Facebook, Twitter, Outlook, and GroupMe. I wouldn’t say this is the most accurate description of my internet usage since I don’t do any coursework on my phone.
Though probably not the most healthy form of personal fulfillment, I like to go on Instagram to catch up on the my friends’ lives especially now that we are all at different colleges. If I need to brighten up my day, I usually go in Twitter where I’m guaranteed to see something funny that a friend retweeted or an interesting thing that is trending. I only check Facebook occasionally, but I usually see adult’s posts of their kids or a few political rants which aren’t exactly pleasant to read.
For communication, I use a fairly even mixture of Snapchat, GroupMe, and Messages. I don’t use Snapchat excessively like some people who have 100 day streaks with their friends, but I do like to occasionally keep in touch with my closest friends. If I need to say something with a little more substance, I will text my friends or even escape my Gen-Z shell and call them. I usually use GroupMe for school-related events since the platform makes it easy to add a lot of people without having to get their numbers.
My computer history, on the other hand, is much more school-centered. My internet history is made up of Sakai, one brief interlude onto Urban Outfitters, and more Sakai. I try to keep my computer a purely academic tool during the school year because I can get distracted very easily, so I usually try to keep my phone out of sight.
Communication is much faster and easier with all of the apps that I use. However, I feel that technology has damaged my face-to-face communication skills because I find it much more comfortable to communicate online than in person–a feeling that many young people have nowadays. I also find myself subconsciously judging people based on their social media presence even though I know from personal experience that one’s social media does not give an accurate representation of what they are like in person. Because my coursework is mostly online, I also do research online. While there are numerous online sources that I can use for papers, I don’t have a lot of experience searching for paper sources in a library. Like with communication and my coursework, technology has both positive and negative effects on almost all aspects of my life.
