I am someone who deeply values a sense of self-awareness. I enjoy cultivating mindfulness habits into my daily life, ones that improve my mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical health as well as ones that improve the relationships in my life. I enjoy putting energy into my romantic relationship, my friendships, my family relationships to make them the happiest and healthiest they can be. I also enjoy putting time into improving my relationship with faith, exercise, and money. Technology is an area I don’t often reflect on. Although, this class has definitely made me reflect on and rethink my personal relationship with technology.
Overall, I would say my relationship with technology is pretty healthy actually. I honestly enjoy my days the most when I can put down my phone and spend quality time with my loved ones and in nature or pursing activities and hobbies I enjoy. I enjoy my technology-free days to unwind and spend time with myself. And when I do enjoy the benefits of technology, it is usually for the right reasons. I use my laptop of course for schoolwork and use the plethora of information available to be to broaden my horizons and make my world a bigger place. Or, at the end of a long day, I enjoy snuggling up with my dog and watching a good movie. Social media is an area that I would say I need to work on. Honestly, the only platforms I use are Instagram and Snapchat. I have a Facebook profile, but I only really use it for business as I post babysitting and dog sitting jobs on there. Even with social media, I regularly go on cleanses where I delete the apps for a few days, weeks, or even months just to get out of the rut of endless and mindless scrolling. I cannot even tell you how many times I have spoken with friends that are asked what they did that day and all they can respond with is “went on TikTok.” It is upsetting and such a waste of time! Time is the only thing we have in this life and it is precious! We have to life every moment and day to the fullest!
While I do have a healthier relationship with technology, I still think it is misleading and giving me unreliable information often. As I wrote in my first post, I don’t often go out of my way to find reliable sources because I feel helpless in doing anything about what I hear. So, as a result, I find out about a lot of current events through social media. That is something that this class has helped inspire me to change as I don’t want to believe the narrative that society is telling me. Rather, I want to use the blessings technology has to offer to find out the story for myself and form my own opinions.
The issues I’ve discussed are something that I personally do worry about, however I also think these are things an accepted part of society. A lot of this class and of our posts have related to the invasion of privacy technology poses on our life. Before this class, I just accepted the fact that the government was keeping tabs on me and it was just what it was. Now, I feel encouraged to at least take the steps that are in my power to protect my privacy.
As far as my friends and family’s relationship with technology, it varies a lot by generation honestly. My grandpa doesn’t even have a cell phone which today is basically unheard of. My grandma has one, but it is a flip phone so she really only uses it for calls. My 14-year-old sister on the other hand, she spends probably 10 hours a day on her phone. She is definitely addicted to TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, all of it. And when she’s not on those platforms, she is binge-watching Netflix. It saddens me to watch her grow up that way and let social media tell her how she should feel about herself, how she should look and act. It makes me grateful that I grew up right before the era of 8-year-olds having phones.
There are indeed positives of having technology in my relationships. When my boyfriend and I live 8 hours away from each other over the summer, we’re able to FaceTime and text all the time to stay connected. I am able to call my grandma to keep close with her in her old age. When I am at school, I am able to call and Facetime my family. I am able to meet friends and keep in touch with what they’re up to via social media. I am able to snuggle up with my family and spend time together watching a movie.
On the other hand, technology wedges us apart sometimes too. We opt to binge-watch our own show instead of spending time together. We opt for playing online games instead of a card game at the dinner table. Times are indeed changing.
If you haven’t noticed, my name is spelled a bit unique and therefore my online footprint is very easy to find. The first four links that come up are of course social medias. I will say the first one is LinkedIn which is a good one to start with as you can see my professional bio right away. LinkedIn is followed by Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. After the social medias, the next link is a link to the student profiles for the honors scholars program at HPU which is something I am proud of and am sure my employers would be happy to see. The next link is one that mentions that I served as a resident assistant for HPU which again I am proud of and am sure my employers would be happy to see. The next two links feature articles in which I was awarded grants and scholarships in high school for “serving as an example to her classmates for her drive, love of learning, and unending optimism.” The link of my online footprint mentions how “resident assistants work to maintain excitement of college life” in HPU’s campus chronicle. The rest of my links are related to other members of my family with the Frankunas last name. Overall, I am honestly impressed with my online footprint and would be proud if a future employer looked me up online!
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