Digital Dependency
Resident or Visitor?
"Visitors and Residents is a simple way of describing the range of ways individuals can engage with the Web" (White, 2014). Digital residents have more of an online presence and interactions, whereas digital visitors seek out a piece of information online or complete a task and then leave. The image below using different examples to explain how residents and visitors use the web helped me clarify where I would fall on the spectrum with the online applications I use.
My Digital Usage
I thought of the different online tools that I use in my personal and professional life. I was able to create this chart by using my phone's "Screen Time" function to see which applications I use the most and I checked the desktop at my job for sites most visited.
It is clear that I prefer to use online applications for personal use and am considered a resident on half of them. I interact daily with individuals through comments and messages on the applications that fall in the "Personal" and "Resident" section. The applications that I split most evenly using professionally for tasks at my job and personal interest when at home are YouTube, Pinterest, and Canva.
A Closer Look
I had an idea prior to this post of which applications I used the most and estimated how much time I spend daily on my phone. I was completely wrong about how much time I am spending online. I knew iPhone's came equipped with a "screen time" function in order to help individuals map out time spent on applications. I have always avoided this function. I wanted to live in bliss by believing that my online usage was minimal at a couple hours a day.
image source is author's personal screenshot
Seeing these numbers embarrass me. They are weekly and daily averages of my screen time. I average at a daily 4-5 hours which rack up to a total of 30 hours a week. Analyzing the photos, I spend most of my time on social apps and games. The third screenshot of this weeks time so far contains an outlier with 2 hours spent on Apple Maps. I was out of town for my birthday this week and only used the application as a visitor to get to and from home which took a total of the 2 hours that are listed. The applications I frequent the most are TikTok, Love&Deepspace, and Safari web browser. I spend approximately 10-14 hours on TikTok a week, 3-4 hours playing the video game Love & Deepspace, and 2-3 hours using the Safari web browser. The fact that these are my numbers without the time I spend on a computer at my job honestly horrifies me.
The most interesting thing about these images I also observed is that my time on Saturdays and Sundays are drastically reduced. When I reflected on this, I think it is because weekends are when I try to do most of my "catch-up" work with school, chores, errands, and real-life socialization. I use my phone applications to decompress after working all day and it is hard to have any energy to spend on something else after 10 hour shifts, but these screenshots are shocking. I need to find better outlets for my time and find better coping resources, because I do use TikTok and games as a means of escapism. But this seems to be a double-edged sword. "Whether at night or during the day, using screens for long periods has been associated with higher rates of depression, anxiety and other mental health disorders in adults..." (Mindel & Yuhas, 2023)
Starting from this point on I am going to monitor my screen time and even utilize the "App Limits" function on my phone if I must. This week has been very eye-opening.
I hope you think this activity was a positive one, Mary. It's so interesting to me how we have an idea in our mind of something and then after we put it "on paper" it tells a new story!
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