This week is the first time I have taken a deep dive into my screen time to analyze my daily tech habits. I opened my phone settings to get a snapshot of my average week. To be honest, I wasn’t terribly shocked by the numbers that showed up on my dashboard. I run a home bakery that is almost completely Instagram-based, so my Instagram numbers are averaging about 2-3 hours per day. While I have other social media accounts, I am not overly active on any other social media platforms daily. We won't tell my husband how much time I spend on Amazon building my various wish lists, I treat Amazon wish lists similarly to window shopping at the mall.
When I wake up, I start my day by dragging myself out of bed and launching the Peloton App on my television to get a quick workout in before my kids all rise from their slumber. After my workout I turn on the CKOM radio app on my phone and listening to the morning show while I prep my kid's lunches (my radio listening usually lasts 1-2 hours in the morning, depending on the day). In the morning, I quickly find myself lost in the Pinterest world on a search that began with meal plan ideas and quickly spiraled into searching for minivan reviews (no idea how I transitioned to that search). As the day progresses, my tech habits shift to a more academic focus. I spend 5-6 hours during the day navigating UR courses, my e-portfolio, YouTube, Google Docs, and a few other online sites to complete my coursework. Lately, I have struggled with focus, so I turn to Spotify to launch a playlist that creates a coffee shop ambience or maybe even some acoustic background music.
I am typically very old school regarding my organization; I have always used a large physical agenda to keep track of events and due dates. My husband has been encouraging me to slip a bit further into the digital world, and this week, I began exploring the Microsoft To-Do applications that work both on my laptop and on my mobile device. I must admit, I do really love having the running to-do list of my assignments and course work displayed on my device for quick reference. While I am not rushing to throw my reliable agenda in the garbage just yet. I may explore some online calendar apps in the coming weeks; if busy moms use an online calendar platform to manage their families, I would love to hear your feedback and recommendations.
When I started at the University of Regina, I created a folder on Google Drive entitled ‘College of Education’ This was kind of a dumping ground for every important file or resource I received over the course of my semesters. The folder is getting a bit chaotic, and I think I will set a plan to organize this a bit further into subfolders to make finding things a bit less of a challenge. I think I would eventually love to incorporate all of the lesson plans and unit plans I have created into folders through my Google Drive; perhaps this can be a task for the week between the Spring and Summer semesters.
There is no denying that technology can be extremely distracting in our lives. I can't believe how often I sit down, and the first thing I do is pull out my phone; why? How did society get to the point where we need to immediately have a device in our hands? We always need to be 6 inches away from digital connection. Lately, I have tried to be more purposeful about putting my phone out of sight whenever possible so I can be more present with my family. I often wonder how often I miss moments with my kids because I stare at a screen. While I acknowledge the necessity of technology in my life for both academic and personal use, I also feel the need to set boundaries and limits and prioritize living in the moment away from my phone. I worry what implications this tech obsessed generation will have on my children in the future.
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