A New Perspective

            The first three days of my week actually didn’t differ too much from my normal routines other than the fact that I had my ear buds in for most of the day as well. Sitting in class was about the only time that I didn’t have a screen in front of me and, at times, it was exhausting. Whether it’d be my phone or the show on Netflix going on in the background, My interest seemed to dissipate.  The social media platforms that I check and spend the majority of my regular time on became saturated and full of uninteresting things due to the overwhelming amount of other crap going on at the same time. However, there were some slight positives to the binge. As I had my phone out at almost all times, I became more attentive to the alerts and notifications that I would receive. An example includes the quick response to my friend who needed me in the opposite direction that I was walking on campus. It was also nice to sit back and binge without the overhanging feeling of guilt. I could lazily watch, surf, and scroll and still get the gratification of finishing an assignment!

            Unfortunately, a very large change in lifestyle had me at wits end.  Now, I wasn’t entirely able to neglect all media. I had to occasionally get on the computer and of course check my texts. The most surprising part about the first day was the amount of times I caught myself unconsciously pulling out my phone and checking twitter or blindly opening a new tab to see the front page of reddit. Being honest it actually scared me that I depended on these platforms so much in the necessity for entertainment when I was bored. I quickly made it more difficult for me to check my apps on my phone by putting them away in a different page as well as taking links to YouTube and reddit off of my homes screen on my computer. On the other side, I was consciously trying to keep my attention on real world things. I found a way to do this by simply striking up a conversation with the people around me (sometimes about a controversial topic just to get the ball rolling more easily). But after so many minutes of speaking, my peers quickly went back to their phones to check the groupme or other media. It actually got on my nerves at some points. I finally got to feel what my parents feel anytime I sit on my phone for minutes at a time. I have definitely gained a new perspective coming out of this experiment, and I hope to become more independent of the shallow platforms that surround me.