the results
As our national obsession with technology continues to grow, Apple added a feature to their iOS 12 update to track your "Screen Time," or how many hours a day you spend on your iPhone. The feature tracks where you spend your time, and how many times you even pick up your phone. My family makes constant fun of me for my "excessive" phone usage, so I documented my Screen Time for two weeks. Here are my findings.
Media Addict
To the left shows where I spend the most of time my when I pick up my phone: almost 90% of the time, it's to go on some social media platform. I was shocked to realize how little I spent on everything else. The remaining 10% of "Other" apps only account for roughly an hour a day for my Screen Time, which averaged out to be around 7-8 hours. Essentially, I spend almost 6-7 hours a day on just Social Media! That's twice the amount of time I spend in class, and roughly the same amount of time I sleep at night.
Is my phone my security blanket?
The Apple feature tracks how many times a day you as much as pick up your phone, even if you don't sign into any apps while doing so. Fitting in to my excessive iPhone habits, I on average pick up my phone about 1700 times a week, or roughly 240 times a day. I swipe to unlock my phone at this point out of habit, or something in me takes comfort when my eyes are glued to the shining iPhone screen.
The point is: It is an undeniable fact that I use my phone a lot.
HOWEVER
Am I at fault if there's nothing to prove for it?
As a second year college student, I put my oddly high Screen Time numbers in perspective to perhaps one of the most important aspects of my collegiate education, my GPA. It wasn't until then that I realized that while I am under tough scrutiny for using my phone, my excessive Screen Time hasn't negatively effected my grades. Yes, I use my phone a lot, but my GPA also ranks significantly higher than the average American college student.
