What is the first
thing you do when you wake up?
Every day.
The very first thing…
In posing that question, I considered the answer myself. At first I thought: go
to the bathroom... then probably eat breakfast, get ready for class… But it didn't take long before I realized that I'd be lying if I said those are the very first things I do.
The real first thing I do with my day, before I even leave my bed, is reach onto my night
stand and check my cell phone.
9:15AM – 2 text messages, 1
voicemail.
I listen to the voicemail.
It’s mom asking me what day I’m coming home for Thanksgiving. I check my texts
– one from a friend I was studying with the night before, another from my
roommate telling me to look at the article she posted on my wall.
9:18AM - I click on
Facebook - 4 notifications.
Sarah has posted on your timeline.
Melissa mentioned you in a
comment.
Conor invited you to his
event.
Brian and Carmen like a
link on your timeline.
Before looking for the article,
I notice a friend’s picture from last night on my news feed. I click on the
album and scroll through a couple photos.
After a few clicks, I get
back to my wall. I see the link. It’s an article about University of Maryland college
students. I read through some of the article until I’m interrupted by an email
notification.
9:29AM - I click on Gmail
- 5 unread messages.
One is from work. An
employee is requesting that someone cover her shift this weekend. I reply
to the email volunteering to take her hours. Another is from management prep.
It’s the schedule for the upcoming conference.
9:37AM – I click on my
iCal to add the events.
Suddenly I notice that its
9:37AM.
I was supposed to be out
of bed 25 minutes ago. I jump out of bed (now its time for the bathroom) and run
to the bathroom. I quickly brush my teeth, wash my face, and put on my clothes
for class. I run downstairs to grab a bagel. Three of my friends are sitting in
the kitchen eating cereal. One asks me a question, but I don’t pay
attention because I’m too busy thinking about the quickest route to class.
I run out the door and
begin my trek to campus. On the way to the business school, I pass my old roommate from freshman year.
She’s so excited to see me. I stop to give her a hug, but unfortunately I don’t
have time to catch up. I notice the disappointment in her eyes as I sever our conversation…
When I finally made it to
class, I thought about that look in her eyes. I realized that I had missed an
opportunity to reconnect with an old friend, solely due to my lack of time management.
I realized that that instant had an effect on both her life and my own, and
even though it was something small, it made me see a big picture.
One exercise in time
management is to write down each activity you do throughout the day. Even the
small stuff, like getting ready for class or checking emails. Lay it all out
on paper so you can clearly see a mapped out image of your day. Have you ever
heard of calorie counting for people who feel they have too much weight? Well
this is the minute-counting version for people who feel they have too little
time.
So I tried out this
exercise. I wrote down each step of my day. And what I found was that the
reason I “don’t have time” for certain things I’d like to do in life, is
because I have too much time for things that really don’t matter to my overall happiness…
Introducing Web 2.0.
Let me tell you what I
mean by "too" much. I mean 4 whole hours of Facebooking (mostly looking through
pictures of close friends, who are also available through the magical portal called reality, and looking through news feed of people I probably haven’t or
will ever speak to), checking e-mails, checking the weather, online shopping,
watching videos, reading articles…
And I am not alone.
The global online
population is 2,095,006,005.
The global time spent
online a month is 35 billion hours, which is equivalent to 3,995,444 years.
The global internet user
spends 16 hours a month online, while the average American internet user spends
32!
People spend 22% of their
online time social networking, 20% reading content, 21% doing searches, and 19%
checking emails.
More than 56% of social
networking users have used social networking sites for spying on their
partners.
More than 1 billion search
queries are made on Google per day.
There are 4 billion views
per day on YouTube, and over 60 hours of content uploaded every minute.
More thatn 250 million
tweets are made per day, and more than 800 million updates are made on Facebook
per day.
Now I have
figured out where a huge chunk of my time has gone. Perhaps the influence of
Web 2.0 and digital media has added to the challenge of work-life balance...
I don’t expect this to
change. I don’t expect people to stop using the internet. After all, you are
reading this blog through Web 2.0…
However, it may be time to
become conscious of how many hours we are spending in front of our computers, our smart phones, our ipads, and take a look at whether that time is taking away from things we'd like to be doing…
So I have one more question:
How would you choose to map out your day if all of the time spent on the internet was
e r a s e d...?
I really liked this post! I know that I am a bit of a Facebook nut, but I had no idea that Americans wasted so much time sitting on the internet. It truly is baffling.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this, I actually went an entire day without social media of any kind, and found that I got so much work done. I can only imagine how much work would be done if other people tried it. I imagine we would have found cures for all sorts of things! I did have a couple of questions though.
Many people's jobs require them to sit online or at a compute screen all day. Also students! I know that I am usually on my computer to do some kind of assignment or to make sure that one is not due. Are they factored into the figures, or are the statistics based solely on people who willingly give their time to the internet? Also, do you think that this is a cultural phenomenon or again, the public's choice? I personally feel that it is a combination of both. People expect to get information automatically, and as a result the culture perpetuates this need, but again, that is just my opinion. My final comment is the ability to reconnect through Web 2.0.
I know that I randomly see old friends while running to class, and cannot even stop. I just run passed them and raise a flustered hand to wave hello. Whether or not they were sad, I have not really considered. I usually go and write them on Facebook later though. And there in lies my comment. It is possible to waste a lot of time, but also to really get the most out of your day. It is just a matter of whittling the time time to a few manageable hours a day.
Hey Christina,
ReplyDeleteReading your blogs never let me down. I know I’ve said it before but I will say it again, I think that you have some of the best writing skills. With you having such a relatable topic about work-life and balance, which I can easily apply to my own life as a college student, you offer such a great perspective on how to balance your life. Moreover, you breakdown your thinking, specifically your typical morning, to help the audience understand exactly what you’re talking about and to help understand your perspective.
I know exactly what you are talking about when you first stated, “What is the first thing you do when you wake up...In posing that question, I considered the answer myself. At first I thought: go to the bathroom... then probably eat breakfast, get ready for class… But it didn't take long before I realized that I'd be lying if I said those are the very first things I do.” It is so easy to just give a brief summary of all the things you typically do to get ready in the morning, but if you really think about it, the things we say we do are not the things that really occupy all of our time. The last thing before I go to sleep at night and the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is most indefinitely is check my iPhone. My iPhone is like my life, which I know is sad to say, yet it is the sad truth.
While I was reading your blog I was not surprised by the statistics you posted about the global online population and the number of users that access social networking sites. I remember when I was in high school I was addicted to AIM, and the social network MySpace, and when I first started college everything became about Facebook. Now currently my newest addiction is Instagram which is a social network site that can be accessed through your cellphone, where you post pictures and can comment on other people’s pictures as well.
I look forward to more of your blogs.
Jasmine Booker