Assignment 3- Time Diary

 Assignment 3- Time Diary 

I started the documentation for my usage of Youtube from February 13th (Monday) through February 16th (Thursday). My usage of the app is primarily through my phone. Most of my time on Youtube is spent through passive usage listening to different audios throughout the day, so it’s more convenient to use my phone to carry around rather than being forced to remain stationed with a laptop or computer. When I do use Youtube to watch something (this is considered active usage to me), especially if it is related to school or work or some for some type of learning, I will use it through the computer or laptop. In this case, being stationed helps me to focus better. During the time period in which I gathered the data for my usage of the app, I used Youtube mostly passively to listen to different audios on my phone. 

I like to have different audios playing throughout my day during different tasks. I usually have on white noise or music, but will also have documentaries, audiobooks, or comedy bits playing as well. If I am doing something that requires my full attention (e.g, written assignments, interacting with people during work), white noise or instrumental music helps me to focus better. I’m listening to the soundtrack from Kung Fu Panda right now (Oogway's ascension theme). I usually avoid anything with words during these types of tasks, as I find myself becoming distracted. If I am doing tasks that are more automated (e.g, chores, working out), I like to play audio with words to give me something else to focus on and make the activity feel less mundane. Sometimes it’s also fun to allow different audios to fuel whatever daydream of fantasy I’ve conjured up for myself. And the last thing that I use Youtube for is to play white noise when I sleep. I don’t always need this as there is usually enough natural noise that comes from outside or maybe from the ac or the fan, but I find that I’ve been needing it more recently. Overall, having different audios makes life more fun in my opinion. 

My usage of the app during the documented time is as follows:

Feb 13th -> 

Total time spent = 5 hours and 12 minutes

Feb 14th ->

Total time spent = 4 hours and 7 minutes

Feb 15th -> 

Total time spent = 5 hours and 23 minutes 

Feb 16th -> 

Total time spent = 11 hours and 44 minutes 

After comparing the daily average for other weeks, my average daily usage of the app is anywhere between four to five hours a day. In the beginning of this week, the average daily usage matches up with my typical average usage. However, the 15th and 16th have an enormous spike that initially confused and scared me. However, after thinking about it I remembered what I was doing those two days. My usage of Youtube for audio is increased during work days for me (I worked on Monday and Wednesday from when the data was gathered). Usually, the amount of time is on the higher end (about 5 hours). So that accounts for the first five hours of the day. I came home around 7 pm that night, and started my assignment around 12 am after taking a break and then finishing other tasks I had. This starts the time for the time spent on the app for the 16th. I stayed up most of the night finishing the essay and had background audios on during the writing process. I then worked with breaks till about 5 am and then slept till 8 am.  During my nap, I played white noise to help me relax and sleep. I had audio playing most of the time throughout the writing process and during my nap, and based on my Youtube history, I had the app on for about 6 hours.I then got up and wrapped up the paper by 9:30 am ( the submission time), but continued to have audio playing during that duration. I had about 7 hours and 30 min of audio time by then. Afterward, I stayed up, took a break, and carried on the rest of my morning as normal, except I didn’t listen to any more audios for the rest of the time. Then around 7 pm, I got tired and thought that maybe I could just sleep really early, but when I went to bed, I was restless. I played some more white noise in the background and eventually fell asleep, but woke up around 1 am from hunger. I found the audio had been playing the whole time I was asleep and turned it off. After I ate something, I went to bed without playing anything else, and the rest of my week continued normally more or less. 

Honestly, this is a horrible process to have gone through in hindsight. The good thing is, I haven’t made it a habit to do this kind of thing regularly. I used to have to stay up later more frequently in high school due to extracurricular activities and AP courses, but I’ve been having a better time maintaining a better work schedule since starting college. It was really interesting though for me to see how badly procrastinating that essay affected my sleep schedule and app usage. It also seems like the more stressed I am, the more difficult it is for me to fall asleep, and I found that I had been playing more audios to sleep around midterms. I expect this will happen again during finals, but I’m going to hopefully make sure to start ahead this time to reduce any strain to myself.