Today, people are constantly glued to their phones. We use our phones for countless reasons like texting, scrolling through social media, and even watching TV show. We have such an unhealthy addiction to our phones that most people would not be able to last a couple of hours, let alone an entire day without their phones. So, do you think you could last 24-hours without yours?
I put this to test on Monday and found it is almost as hard as it sounds. Before doing this challenge, I did not realize just how much time I am on my phone. Right away in the morning, out of habit, the first thing I did was reach for my phone after my alarm went off. The day had just started, and I had already failed the challenge. As soon as I remembered, I put my phone down and got out of bed. Typically, I sit on my phone for too long and end up having to rush through the morning, but this was different. I was able to get ready and even eat breakfast before I went to school. I was able to last a couple of hours once I got to school by staying busy with schoolwork and even getting ahead in my math class. After I was done, though, I went on Snapchat and scrolled through social media out of boredom. Besides using it for school, I was able to stay off my phone the rest of the school day.
After practice is when this challenge really got hard. I like to connect my phone to play music on the car ride home but could not. Not going to lie, listening to the radio was hard, but that was nothing compared to later that night. Since I stayed productive all day at school, I had close to no homework to do at home, which resulted in me going on TikTok for a while. This is the easiest app to lose track of time on. I stayed on for a little over 30 minutes before finally forcing myself off of it. I figured I should do something more useful with my time, so I decided to watch film of previous and scouting games to prepare for this week’s matches. Usually, I only spend about an hour watching film, but I watched almost three games. This was a great way to keep me off my phone and I was able to fall asleep earlier. I did end up snapchatting all of my streaks but then went right to sleep.
Doing this technology detox made me realize a couple of things; I spend way too much time on my phone, I had a better mood throughout the day, and I was much more productive. I typically spend around 5 ½ hours per day on my phone, but that day I was only on for an hour. I had never seen a number so low on my screen time. I also noticed I had a better mood throughout the day. It has been proven that technology and social media can have negative effects on your overall mood and health. Finally, it made me more productive. I finished almost 4 days' worth of math homework and completed all of my assignments in study halls during school. I should do this type of challenge more often and see if I can go an entire day without going on my phone at all. So, do you think you would be able to complete the challenge?
Food for Thought:
Why do you think social media/technology is so addictive?
What would the world be like if we got rid of all forms of technology for a day?
Do you think the benefits of technology outweigh the downfalls?
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