The data I decided to analyze was my screen time for messaging and instagram. I chose these two applications because these are the two things I check every day. I usually check my messages because it’s where I talk to my friends and parents constantly. Instagram I’m usually looking at different outfit ideas and finding different places to shop. If not, I’m advertising for my friends’ brands, something I’ve been doing a lot recently.
If I showed someone my data without telling them anything else about me they would assume I’m a very social person. Based on the amount of time I spend on messaging shows I text a lot. They would think about whether or not it’s one person I’m talking to or a group of different people I’m talking to. The assumption of me being a social person is true, I talk to different people every day. I’m usually texting 5 or more people within the hour. Based on my screen time for instagram someone could assume I just scroll through my timeline all day. This assumption would be false because I’m not just scrolling and looking at people’s photos. Instagram is where I get most of my outfit ideas from. It’s also where I found most of the places I shop at now from.
What I noticed about my screen time is that it’s very inconsistent. I looked back on previous weeks and noticed the the weekly hours were so different. For example: october 20 – october 27: 4 hours and 46 minutes; october 27 – november 3: 11 hours and 49 minutes; november 3 – november 9: 9 hours and 53 minutes. I went from 4 hours to 11 to 9 in the matter of just 3 weeks. The reason for this is that sometimes I just don’t use my phone. I avoid being involved in anything social. It’s not really intentional, it’s more of a mood I fall into every once in awhile. I just don’t want to talk to anyone with the exception of a few.
For the most part, I am on my messaging app more than I am on any other app including instagram. As shown in my data table below, you’ll see the difference between my screen time for instagram and messaging on some days are very close and on others very different. For example, Thursday, November 7 my screen time for instagram was 1 hour and 38 minutes and for messaging it was 3 hours and 35 minutes. Thursday I had to have been texting for more time than I usually do.
In conclusion, I want to try and limit my time on these apps and bring my weekly average down to at least 7 hours. Being off of the phone helps take a break from everything that goes on every day. If people let social media consume themselves, they’ll start to form unhealthy habits.
DATA
weekly average : 9 hours, 45 mins
instagram messaging
sunday, november 3 58 minutes 50 minutes
monday, november 4 48 minutes 1 hour, 9 minutes
tuesday, november 5 1 hour, 51 minutes 1 hour, 53 minutes
wednesday, november 6 1 hour, 3 minutes 48 minutes
thursday, november 7 1 hour, 38 minutes 3 hours, 35 minutes
friday, november 8 1 hour, 6 minutes 1 hour, 36 minutes
saturday, november 9 2 hours, 4 minutes 1 hour, 23 minutes
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I found it surprising that you average more time on messaging than you do on Instagram. I also want to try and decrease my time spent on my phone and spend time with people rather than being on my phone.