In a technology dominated day in age, my day is consumed by my phone, computer and TV. After keeping a “tech diary” for a day, my grand total of technology usage came to 6.82 hours. Being awake for about 14 hours that day, tech usage accounted for nearly half my day. While most of that time was spent toward productive activity, a large portion was not. I spent 3.70 hours being productive during this time, which means 3.12 hours of my day went to waste thanks to technology. What I consider productive use of technology was the amount of time I spent on Microsoft Word while working on homework, listening to my iPod at the gym, and also the time I spent on my phone keeping in touch with family and friends. The wasteful time involved watching ESPN, playing Super Smash Bros. on the N64 and, of course, using the ultimate time waster that we call Facebook. Throughout the course of the day I sent and received 114 texts, spent 53 minutes on Facebook, watched 1 hour 18 minutes worth of TV, played 56 minutes worth of Super Smash Bros., spent 1 hour 53 minutes on Microsoft Word, and listened to my iPod for 1 hour and 14 minutes. The 1 hour 53 minutes that I spent working on Microsoft Word may be slightly skewed because of the random Facebook checks that would occur from time to time. 

Overall, even though the majority of my time using technology was productive, my time was hardly well spent. Checking Facebook and keeping updated with people’s lives is not as important as other things I could have been doing, like getting homework done in advance instead of procrastinating. As a huge procrastinator, I usually wait until the night before something is due to actually complete the assignment (as I’m writing this blog entry on the due date). If I simply cut down on my wasteful technology usage, I could instead put my time toward school work and maybe catch up on some sleep for once. I attribute my wasted time on technology to my laziness. I am typically very lazy, and technology brings that out in me. It gives me an excuse to waste my time doing things other than what needs to be done. It makes it easier for me to be lazy by allowing me to have fun and relax while watching TV or playing video games. Americans typically become dependent on technology because of how easy and efficient tasks become while using technology. I am no different from the majority, especially considering the fact of how sluggish I can be when doing work. If my “tech diary” shows one thing, it shows that I am no different from the majority of Americans.