I Thought I Never Needed More Than a Blackberry...

I got this phone on Monday of last week. Surprisingly resistant to the whole iPhone thing, I was very content with my Blackberry and thought that the iPhone was a bit too much. "I don't need my phone for more than Facebook, email and chatting." Tracking my media I realized quickly that what I thought to be just a phone has become so much more than just that in even less than a week.

Because I work close to thirty hours a week on top of five upper division level classes, media usage for pleasure can only be justified when I am multitasking. Mornings are good times for checking my phone and updates because as I'm getting ready in the morning I don't feel like I'm wasting time as long as I'm in the process of completing something else, like say, cooking eggs for breakfast.

On Thursday morning, when I first began tracking my media usage, it was almost a reward when I got to sit and wait to get my oil changed at Jiffy Lube (which I would not have been able to find or locate without the gps in my iPhone). This was just an opportunity to play a little Words with Friends, check email and maybe even do a little studying. That hour and a half is a chance to feel free to use my phone all I want without feeling guilty.

The guilt comes from working a lot on my computer at work and being caught in just that one minute where I happen to "check" my Facebook. It always seems to happen the second I slip and try to check and see if my boyfriend has messaged me from Afghanistan has. Facebook has become our main interface for communicating, and I'll be checking to see if he wrote me and my boss's boss will walk in to say hello.

During the week I use media a lot. My work station is a computer and almost all of my homework assignments require some use of technology so I am constantly trying to get as much done possible in the shortest amount of time. Frequently at work I will find myself with multiple tabs in Safari open, while I am also playing multiple games on my phone, while also checking my Facebook, to try to circumvent that chance that someone will walk in and assume that I haven't been doing "much" of anything. 

Up by at least 8 am every morning, by noon I have focused almost all of my time on some kind of media. One thing that I never even really thought about before our Media Diary was my use of even the radio. I really enjoy going to bed with music on and prefer the radio and its unpredictability compared to that of a set playlist.

I should probably rephrase that a little bit and note both the early hours of the days and the evenings. Any moment that I feel like I can actually relax I am on my media. Relaxation equals media. It calms me in some way knowing that I have checked all of my updates and am current with what is going on. If there is an update on my phone and I can't check it for one reason or another it will drive me crazy. I just want to know. Why would you conciously want to miss something?

On the weekends the usage is most definitely down. I think it is mostly because I wake up later and have less usable hours in the day. The TV will usually get turned on during the weekend, but there is no guarantee that I could even vaguely tell you what any of the programs that I "watched." As I sit on the couch I plan my grocery list and check some new recipes on my favorite foodie website.

Although I am well aware that I most certainly waste time during the day, it always seems like this rush and pressure to not waste a second. Media and technology help increase my productivity output. I like feeling connected and love knowing that someone can get in touch with me at a moment's notice. As a person who constantly overloads herself with much too much to do, I feel like my phone, computer and email are my backup. Google calendars is a godsend.