Tracking Non-Face-to-Face Communication

On Tuesday I decided to keep track of how often I use would use a source of communication that was not face-to-face. I included using my phone, checking e-mail, or using social media in this tally. Keeping track of my phone usage was a bit tricky because I use it for a variety of activities so I broke that into three different categories: checking my phone, communication, and other uses. In checking my phone I marked down any time I would randomly check my phone whether it be to see the time or to see if I had missed any texts or anything like that. Communication consisted of any time I was aware that I had just received a text, call, or e-mail. The other use category was any time that I would use my phone for something else, such as Googling something or using any of my apps. I only checked my e-mail/social media accounts a total of eight times throughout the day. This did not surprise me because the only social media sites I really use are Facebook and LinkedIn and I do not often check them without knowing that I'll have a notification waiting for me. The thing that really surprised me was how often I would randomly check my phone. I checked it 15 times throughout the day. I figured that I was awake 16 hours, but six of those hours were spent either at work or in class where I could not use my phone. This works out to me checking my phone every 40 minutes. I think this is way to often to be worried about people that could be talking to me rather than actually going outside and talking to real people versus a screen.