So what’s the first thing you do when you wake up? It’s likely that you reach for your phone and check your messages on Facebook, Viber, WhatsApp and other messaging apps. Honestly, text messages are the last things we check these days.
It’s so easy to get lost in messages. Before you know it, almost an hour of your day has been consumed by this.
That’s even before you check Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. If you allow it, you can spend another hour on this.
According to the 2017 Digital Future Report by the Center for the Digital Future at USC Annenberg, the average American spends 24 hours a week online. That’s one full day a week. I’m not saying that day has gone to waste but it’s still a day.
The study showed that since 2000, time spent online every week by an average American has risen from 9.4 hours to 23.6. Time spent on the Internet at home has also risen from 3.3 to 17.6 hours a week over the same period.
According to a new report by London, United Kingdom-based consultancy We Are Social, the Philippines again topped the world in terms of social-media usage as the number of Internet users in the country hit 67 million people.
We Are Social said Filipinos spent an average of three hours and 57 minutes a day on social-media sites. Most of this time was spent on Facebook.
The Philippines, by the way, was also No. 1 in the world in terms of social-media usage in 2017. But that’s hardly surprising.
I’ve always thought Facebook was a black hole you could get lost in because there’s so much content to go through. Not everything is entertaining but most of it is riveting.
But have you ever wondered how it is to unplug, even for just a few hours? Unplugging, in my opinion, includes watching movies and television. I’ve actually always wondered though how some people can watch a movie and scroll through their Facebook timeline at the same time. I’m a person who can’t live without my mobile phone but that’s a bit extreme.
My friends are surprised when they learn that I turn off my phone on my personal travels. Work-related travel is a different story but on vacation, my phone is usually turned off except at night before bed when I check messages.
I have, however, never unplugged fully for a day or two but it is refreshing thought.
Here are some things that I think I—and maybe even other people—would enjoy more without a camera phone and the Internet:
Lunch or dinner with friends
I am not comfortable with people whipping out their phones at the end of every get-together and you having to pose for photos for 10 minutes. All this time, you’re wondering whether you have food bits between your teeth and/or you look pregnant after everything you ate.
Traveling
I know that “if it’s not on Instagram, it didn’t happen” but surely, a few photos would suffice. I mean, isn’t traveling all about the experience? I know so many of my friends do it (I can forgive younger people) but does every trip really need a hashtag?
Watching concerts
I’ve been guilty of snapping a photo or two or three and taking some videos but seriously, I don’t understand how some people would pay over $200 to video a full concert. If I had that money to pay for a ticket, I would just hire someone to take that video while I enjoy the concert.
Meeting celebrities
Life, for me, is all about experiences and I believe that one doesn’t need to document every experience. Meeting and/or seeing celebrities in person is one of those experiences. Not everything is about a selfie. I honestly would rather remember how a celebrity has been nice to me and to other fans than capture that moment in a photograph.