UX Week 7 – Diary of Behavior

DAY 1 – create a diary of when, why and what you use your mobile device for. Observe how others are using their mobile devices. What are the most common uses and where do you see these behaviors?

27th Feb – Today I’ll be heading to school for a consult and meeting, so we have abit more to write about. Oh and, my phone: iPhone 6.

Morning

My alarm goes off, which of course, is my phone. I have quite a few “sets” of alarm pre set. One thing that I’ve been constantly paranoid about is not hearing my alarm, or it not ringing, so prevent this, I: 

Do not switch my phone to silent mode.
Always keep it by my bed side
Charge it an hour and two before I sleep

So, I snooze it couple of times around 9am, and I finally get up. This is when I charge my phone while I brush my teeth and get dressed. It takes me about 1-2 hours to get done, so my phone has its own time to get to full battery before I use it. I’ve heard that charging your phone overnight is not really good for it, so after a couple of years, I’ve settled into this routine.

I use the phone to switch on Spotify on the telly (oh the wonders of technology) and I make myself some food. While eating, I look through my phone to check the following (and strictly in this order)

Messages – Mom, Boyfriend, best friends, school friends, others

Social media – Instagram, Youtube (to see what’s new, I don’t really watch anything for now), Facebook, Twitter

Before packing for school, I checked my phone for the bus schedule, contemplate ubering because 2 hour commute, check my bank balance, tell myself that I need to learn to save, and then check the bus schedule again. This happens almost every time I commute I school from home. I HAPPEN TO FIND THIS REALLY FUNNY BUT TOO REAL. I then pack according to how much time I know I have to the next bus.

Commute

Alot of people “plug in” on the train – listen to music or watch videos etc. But today I had more things to do, so I didn’t. I wanted to do some planning of my week cause my boyfriend birthday was coming up and I was organising a surprise. I took out my notebook to do that, but after roughly writing everything out and sketching my plans, I used my phone to enter everything neatly and concisely in the Calendar and Notes app.

Then I put my phone away again and I started writing down notes (pen and paper) for my meeting and consult later, and this sufficiently passed my time till I reached Boon Lay, and then ADM. I would occasionally check my phone for messages but I typically would not text during long commutes cause I get motion sick from screens easily, surprisingly not with paper.

Work

While I was having my meeting and consult, I would generally keep my phone away, and used my notebook or laptop to work. So nothing much to note, except that I realised how I feel like having my phone out was kind of rude or disrespectful to the people I was talking to. So I would generally keep it out of sight, either on my lap or in my pockets.

I know it’s common to have your phone on the table near you and visible (my group mates all did) but one thing I realised about myself is that I tend to not do that if its a proper sit down or a meeting. I would just rely on it buzzing for me to know that it needs my attention.

DAY 2 – Do not use your phone, computer or electronic device for 24 hours. Create a diary documenting and describing the difference in your behavior patterns. How did you do the things you would normally do with your phone? What other alternative behaviors did you develop? What else did you notice about the difference in behavior?

28th Feb – Lets be real here. I didn’t make it through the 24 hours. But I did my best. We good? Ok.

But to be real, there was way too much work I had to do that I couldn’t leave my laptop alone, that probably the tipping point. I realised most of my school work + outside projects involved the laptop and its softwares (cause visual comms) and it was virtually impossible to get things down without it. But I tried for the most part. I was in my room, with my notebook and pens, sketching my poster layout, totally gangsta as I hustling it out. There were so many limitations, backspace, delete, searching up the internet for information and references. Most importantly G R I D S. Computers changed the game for us versus straight lines.

Secondly, communication. My mom was quite annoyed that day because she had work and she has this habit of checking up on me when I’m home, asking me if its raining and if the windows are closed, if I bathed, or taken my lunch, or if the house is still standing. I was glad to be off the grid for that, but she wasn’t haha. But I did allow myself to go to my phone (I placed it in a drawer) once every 4 hours to check her messages (only hers). For me, I think this is fine as I’m not really the kind to need conversations 24/7

Thirdly, generally having something to do. I played the guitar alot that day (after I gave up with my poster layout). I even wrote a tune. Then I went to the gym (I usually do at least twice a week) but it felt so weird without my music, and it was abit uncomfortable for me as I couldn’t block out the noisy guy at the row machine.

I kind of gave up after feeling that I wasted too much time not doing anything productive. It really does show how much we rely on electronics and machines to make things easy for us or to entertain us.