iexamen 1

Communication is something that we all use on a daily basis more or less. Being a soccer player I communicate with my coaches and my teammates daily both on and off the field, both in person and through the phone. I also communicate with my friends with different methods, I communicate with my computer and my TV.

Looking back at this day I was actually very excited to see how I would act without using any electronics for an hour and how different my communication actually would be. I was also very excited to see how often I use my electronic devices on a daily basis that I thought was not used that much, due to the fact I like to be outside and sport. A normal day I’m not using the cellphone too much, compared to other people I know. However this assignment made me realize that I use it way more then my initial thought. What I mean by that is not about sitting with my cellphone for hours doing different sorts of stuff you do own a cellphone. Instead I noticed a bad habit that I would gladly be rid of, and that is that I’m checking my phone way too many times. Every minute I took it up to see if I had received any messages, snapchats or e-mails. Clicking that home button on the bottom of the phone happened probably over 200 times. It was some sort of urgency that I had to be connected all the time and being up to date with everything. Checking what is going on around you through a screen is not very healthy.

Another important thing I noticed throughout the day was the need of my cellphone while being bored. The same syndrome applied as earlier with checking it every minute came up when I was bored. Scrolling the same Facebook timeline over and over again is not very productive, and it will not make you less bored. While I was bored I was eager that I would had received a text message to make me less bored, which as earlier stated is not healthy either.

The hour without any electronic devices made me nervous before due to the fact that I was not sure how I would react. The scene that this hour was played out at was Boulder café with a couple of friends. The biggest things I learned from this exercise were by not looking at the phone all the time made me way more visual and audible. I was able to overhear what people was saying at other tables and seeing what was going on around you way more was some sort of mind blowing. While using your phone you are often in your own world and not certain about your surroundings. Talking to other people while not having the phone made me feel more engaged in the topic. Sometimes when I use my phone and communicating with someone verbally I usually do not listen that well, as I did now when the phone was put away. Talking with someone verbally and not through the phone also gives you the feeling of engagement. There are no real feelings in communicating via the phone. The last major thing I noticed was how eye contact played a part. Keeping eye contact with the person I was communicating with made me as earlier stated more active and engaged. The people I communicated with who used the phone also gave me the feeling that they did not give the same sort of eye contact and they were not as engaging because they were using their phones.

This exercise made me realize both how much I use my electronic devices and what they do to my communication. First of all I did expect that I used electronic devices as much as I did. Almost the whole day I was connected in some way, so getting that hour was really helpful. The other thing is that I did not realized either how it affected me. Becoming a zombie and living in your own world is not healthy and changing my habits to the better is something I will try to do. Seeing other people using their phone made the whole process easier too by realizing that you act in the same way as they do. However I also believe in a balance since electronic devices plays a huge part in society and in most peoples life. But it should not exceed to the fact that verbal communication is a non-factor and people are just interacting with their screens.