Using Technology Mindfully

I have always known that technology has had a way of taking over my life, I have just never wanted to accept it. The readings and videos that I have researched this week have really opened my eyes to the fact that technology has really taken over everyone’s lives.

In Paul Miller’s TED talk, he talks about how he shut technology completely out of his life for an entire year. The word that he used the most in his discussion was intense. He had intense feelings when he talked to people face to face and actually connected with them more. He had more time to do the things that he actually wanted to do and had a sense of freedom. Sure, he missed out on some things such as online invites but he also created so many close relationships in his life and was more attentive to the things that were going on around him. When he finally let technology back into his life he said it was so overwhelming, but at this point he had learned how he needs to balance his mindful pauses from technology. My favorite part from the video was at the very end, when he used an example of a tweet that he posted about a child’s misconception of light sabers. One of his friends told him that if he would have been engulfed into his technology then he would have missed it, BUT, if he had not posted it then they would have missed seeing it. This is perfect for showing that we just need to find the happy medium and use technology mindfully.

In a reading called Simplify The Internet, it really points out some great points in a very organized way. It talks about how we need to refine our following. This is huge for me, some people make it a competition to have the most followers or follow the most people. This really cuts out on seeing the information that is really relevant to you.  I do feel like 100 people on twitter is a lot to follow and consumes a lot of time when there are so many other things to do in this crazy thing we call life. It also points out that we do not need to be active all day, we can check in twice and that is OK. This is huge also, so many people keep their social media sites up all day long and let it distract them from their tasks. We need to learn to close it and just check in every now and then. I encourage everyone to read this article because it really does have a lot of good points, and really opens your eyes to new things that I think we all should try.

I think people in general need to be more attentive to their personal relationships. When you go out to eat with someone, or when you visit someone, do not be on your phone. This is time to build relationships, not stare at social media. This is a time when we need to stop multi tasking and pay attention to our beautiful lives around us. We are not truly present if we are scrolling social media and attempting to have a conversation all at once. We miss out on relationships and exciting events if we are permanently tethered to our devices. At the same time, when we are online we also need to attentive. For example all of my classes are online. Sometimes I struggle with keeping myself on track and taking one task at a time. I look at everything I need to do and I panic and try to do it all in a mess, when really I just need to take one class at a time. Even in my panic I find myself opening a Facebook or a pinterest tab, and I really need to not do this. I need to stay on task and I will get things done more efficiently with a lot less stress. Technology is a beautiful things, and has opened so many doors in life, however, I am a FIRM believer that it has many negative impacts, and we really need to realize how much it consumes us at times.

Attention Log

This weeks lessons are about being mindful. One of the tasks at hand was to make an attention log of technological observations. I spend a lot of time on technology. It may be homework, social media, wedding planning, or face timing that I am doing but it usually ends up being about 90% of my day.

I made an attention log observing myself during my time doing these tasks. I found that I was often easily distracted, easily overwhelmed, and so exhausted of technology. Part of this is because I have 5 online classes, this requires so much online time. I found that I spend a lot of my life so zoned into technology I really do not know what is going on around me.

Below is the attention log that I have made, the next time you are spending time online, try to observe yourself! I learned from my observations that I need to relax, take a step back, and pause when I get overwhelmed.

Session one:
1. Date: October 15, 201
2. Description of Physical Space and Device: At my house on the couch scrolling social media on my iPhone
3. Duration of session: 45 minutes
4. What occurred: I was very distracted from what was going on around me, my fiancé left for the week a few hours later for work training in Rawlins Wyoming and I paid no attention to him, only to regret it later.
5. What you did: I jumped back and forth from app to app, Instagram, facebook, pinterest, and email.
6. How you felt: Distracted and completely zoned into my phone
7. What worked: I do not really know “what worked” all the technologies and apps worked fine.
8. What did not work: My attention was not on what really mattered.
9. Other comments: My loving fiancé, and dogs were there present, but not in my mind, I was completely distracted by the social media, I do not like this

2. Session two:
1. Date: Monday morning October 16, 2016
2. Description of Physical Space and Device: In my small office at work and on my laptop
3. Duration of session: two hours
4. What occurred: Homework
5. What you did: Working on my multimedia class, I completed a discussion forum about different tips and websites that I could find that aid in the use of excel.
6. How you felt: Stressed out about whether or not I was doing it right or wrong.
7. What worked: Finding sources online
8. What did not work: I tried to do things too long without taking a break and got kind of drained and ended up distracted by other classes and checking other things because I focused on one specific thing too long without giving myself a break.
9. Other comments: Mondays are the days that I spend from 7am to usually 7 pm doing straight homework and need to learn when to give myself a 10 minute break.

3. Session 3:
1. Date: Monday Evening October 16 2016
2. Description of Physical Space and Device: At my dining room table doing homework
3. Duration of session: 4 hours
4. What occurred: lots of research for a computer comparison project, some tweeting, and some other research for classes
5. What you did: Used google, took notes, watched videos, answered questions, saved documents, wrote deadlines down in my planner.
6. How you felt: Stressed and in tears
7. What worked: I got large portions of assignments done
8. What did not work: too much to do, too much stress, and too long staring at a computer
9. Other comments: Mondays are the days that I spend from 7am to usually 7 pm doing straight homework, and today I did it even longer and need to learn when to give myself a 10 minute break.

4. Session 4
1. Date: Late Monday Evening October 16 2016
2. Description of Physical Space and Device: In my bedroom laying down on my bed
3. Duration of session: 45 minutes
4. What occurred: Face timing Denum
5. What you did: Laid on my bed and face timed Denum, as you all learned he is in Rawlins for the week.
6. How you felt: Emotionally and physically drained, along with emotional and uncomfortable.
7. What worked: Laying and relaxing and just talking worked to wind me down after a long tedious day.
8. What did not work: Him being 4 hours away does not work, and facetime is not the same as presence…. I can’t wait for Friday!
9. Other comments: After reading my entries, I was online for well over 12 hours, it was a long day and now I have to clear my mind and get positive and ready to do the same exact thing tomorrow.

5. Session 5:
1. Date: October 18 2016
2. Description of Physical Space and Device: My desk at work
3. Duration of session: One hour
4. What occurred: Streaming social media sites
5. What you did: Sat at the desk zoned into my phone while I was supposed to be participating in a morning work meeting
6. How you felt: distracted and stressed for all of the homework that the day is going to bring but ready to conquer it anyways
7. What worked: Putting my phone down, upside down, and listening to my coworkers once I realized how inattentive I was.
8. What did not work: Multi-tasking did not work, looking at my phone and listening to a meeting is something I should not be doing
9. Other comments.

6. Session six:
1. Date: October 18 2016
2. Description of Physical Space and Device: In my office doing homework on my laptop
3. Duration of session: 3.5 hours
4. What occurred: Taking a psychology test
5. What you did: Watched an hour long video, listened to an audio, and did some research and took an untimed test.
6. How you felt: Overwhelmed by all of the material covered on the test
7. What worked: Reading the test questions and re watching and re reading the content a second time
8. What did not work: Trying to take the test from one time of reviewing content
9. Other comments.

7. Session seven:
1. Date: October 19, 2016
2. Description of Physical Space and Device: In my office on my laptop doing homework
3. Duration of session: 45 minutes
4. What occurred: Watching a TED talk
5. What you did: Watched the TED talk on quitting internet for the year
6. How you felt: Interested and engaged
7. What worked: Watching it and talking notes
8. What did not work: Having my phone on the desk as well because text messages distracted me from staying engaged in the video.
9. Other comments.