Blog of Log

I logged my interaction with technology for 2 days because I felt that the first time I did it, I picked a bad day. I had a five hour practice where I would probably be using technology. I also was purposefully checking email and listening to my mp3 player (which I rarely do) in order to have something to write down. However, the second day I logged the time I spent with technology, I felt like I was on the computer all day and that this was accurate. I was working on making my survey for my ethnographic research and I spent about 2 hours on the internet working on it. Here is a summary of my log:

Saturday November 8th
Time How long Medium Purpose
9:30 5 minutes email email - check school business
9:35 2 minutes facebook facebook - check and clear status personal
9:40 1 minute cell phone call Pam for breakfast meeting
10:38 1 minute email email - send survey to myself homework
10:40- 11:55 1 hour 15 minutes Google survey make/fix survey on Google homework
10:40-11:55 1 hour 15 minutes iTunes listen to music personal
11:56 5 minutes email email survey to Pam, Sam, Anita and Prof homework
11:58 1 minute directory check for Sam's email address on directory referential
12:35 2 minutes cell phone talk to Pam on the phone about the survey referential
12:37- 1:28 50 minutes Google survey work on survey homework
12:37- 1:28 50 minutes iTunes listen to music personal
1:29 1 minute printer print survey homework
4:27 3 minutes email check emails from professors referential
4:30-4:59 29 minutes email send ballroom business email; respond to friends school business/phatic
4:40 2 minutes internet Check DPAC schedule referential
4:48 2 minutes facebook set up meeting with Chris meeting
5:55 5 minutes cell phone 3 calls to set up dinner time meeting
6:05 2 minutes blog post homework
6:06 2 minutes email check - nothing new school business
9:30-10:45 1 hour 15 minutes iTunes listen to music personal
9:30-10:45 1 hour 15 minutes TV watch the ND game - sound down personal
10:39 2 minutes facebook get friends addresses referential
11:00 1/2 hour internet/TV watch the Office online personal
11:40 15 minutes Google survey fix survey homework


Wednesday November 5th
9:15 10 minutes mp3 listen to music walking to class personal
10:45 10 minutes mp3 listen to music walking from class personal
11:15 10 minutes email check general emails and respond to professors school business
10:40 2 minutes cell phone voicemail referential
11:25 2 minutes facebook respond to event invitation personal/meeting
2:50 2 minutes cell phone call sister - set up meeting meeting
2:53 1 minute cell phone voicemail personal/referential
5:00 15 minutes email general check school business
5:17 2 minutes facebook check to see if anyone contacted me personal
11:25 4 minutes cell phone voicemail personal/referential
11:29 2 minutes cell phone set up appointment meeting
11:44 2 minutes cell phone set up appointment meeting
11:35 55 minutes Computer/email writing email to friends but was doing other things in my room - used email for about 15 minutes phatic


I think the most interesting thing about the log is the comparison between the two days. On wed, I used CMC for 1 hour 17 minutes. On Sunday, I used CMC for 8 and half hours. (There was some multitasking.) Generally, I think I use CMC more like I did on Wednesday. However, the range is really interesting. It is very possible for me to spend half my day on the computer if homework calls for it. I found this data very surprising.

I didn’t spend that many large chunks of time on CMC on Wed, but 10 minutes here, and 2 minutes there really add up. When every I check email, I always feel that I spend more time than I want to online. I didn’t realize that I spend over an hour using technology. Saturday was something of an anomaly. By the end of day, I felt completely burned out and wanted to throw my computer out the window. My dependence on my computer, especially for homework and sending referential emails really shocked me.

For the most part, I was alone when using CMC – cell phone use excluded. The only exception was the large chunk of time from 9:30 onward on Saturday. I watched the game, listened to music, and watched online TV with my sister. The rest of the day, I was communicating with other people but I was alone in my room. It was a very isolating day for me. I usually don’t spend this much time on my computer alone. I don’t really feel that I am actually connecting to people when I send emails. There’s something artificial and business-like in them. I don’t feel like I’m sending them to anyone at all.

The last point that I thought was interesting was that I did no multitasking on Wed but a lot of multitasking on Saturday. I listened to a lot of music when I was working online. The hours multitasking, I double counted for my total of 8 and ½ hours of technology. The amount of time spent without double counting the multitasking was about 6 hours.