When I look at where I am right now in my life and reflect on it, I’d have to say a lot of my life revolves heavily around sports. From rooting for my favorite teams and players pretty much across every major sport to scouting other teams and how they could affect my team, I digest a lot of sporting information weekly. But it wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago when I came to a realization about the news I was reading and watching about. I realized that the news I read on my phone and computer was repeated on every sports talk show that I watched, it was only the opinion on the subject that changed. So how much time that I could’ve spent being productive was I really wasting by hearing the same negative sporting news? I decided to give up sporting news for a week and document the data of how much time I spent working with it and without it.
To measure the data that I collected, I downloaded the Rescue Time application for my computer to monitor my activity. I decided to not do it on my phone because I have recently been distancing myself from it and find myself spending more time on my computer than my phone. The major categories that Rescue Time would be monitoring on my computer were entertainment, social networking, learning/business, design and composition, communication and scheduling, and news and opinion (which sports fell under). In terms of giving up sporting news, I could not go on any sporting news sites (ESPN.com/NFL.com) or search for anything, I could not watch any sports related channels on TV (ESPN/FOX), unfollowed sporting pages on social media, and I removed all sporting apps (ESPN) and notifications from my phone.
I decided to start collecting my data on a Monday, because usually that is when all of the NFL news comes in following most of the games on Sunday. And sure enough when I woke up I went to turn on the TV near my bed but I had to stop myself. I then went onto my computer and saw in the search bar my “frequently visited sites” and I had to drag out all of the sporting sites I visit daily so that I would not be tempted. During the first two days I found myself going for the site on my computer before class, but instead decided to take out my weekly planner and fill in all of my assignments that were due not just for that week but in the coming months. During the course of the week I also found myself working on assignments that weren’t due for another week and just so I could get a head start on them. After the third day I noticed I stopped looking for the apps and websites. If there weren’t any games going on then why should I worry about scores or headlines? I will say one major thing I noticed was a boost in my moral. A lot of the headlines around my teams are usually negative which always concerned and stressed me. But I found myself not worrying having to worry about every interview or Tweet from players, and was instead optimistic about the next game.
Looking at the data there was definitely a major difference in my work production time by removing sporting news from my daily routine. The biggest decrease was news and opinion which fell from 33.40% to 7.40% because most of it was sporting news that I spent my time on but also because that time was put into more conscious work effort. The biggest increase I had was in design and composition which was able to reach 31.20% of all my time spent on my computer for the week because I started working on projects and assignments in advance with no distractions. Social media usage on my computer (mostly Facebook) went down 4% because sports pages were not distracting me or sending me to article links so most of my timeline was empty besides friend’s posts. The change that surprised me and that I did not see coming was communication and scheduling going up 6.2%. The Time Management assessment I took allowed me to realize that I needed to start planning things out weeks and months in advance to reach my goals, and by freeing up time I started to consciously add things to my computer calendar to set reminders and reach out to people via email. Overall I was pleased with the results from this and I hope to minimize my time on sporting news so that I can achieve the same work output I had from this past week more often.
I will say that one thing that helped me to give up sporting news for a week was removing notifications from my phone, and it is something that will not be returning to my screen ever again. I keep my phone on sound for text message or phone call alerts, but notifications for other apps draw me into them when I shouldn’t be, and that is why most people are addicted to their phones. The addiction people have to their phones is on the rise as more and more people switch over to smartphones. According to Pew Research Center, 77% of Americans now own smartphones, compared to 35% in 2011. Outside of calling and texting, smartphones give people access to social media and live streaming of entertainment right on their phones. And with notifications and updates constantly keeping people engaged on the apps, it easily takes time away from their own lives socially with friends and family. Jean M. Twenge wrote about how teens are spending more time at home because of smartphones, yet they are distancing themselves from their parents. But what is there to gain with being on social media 24/7? Most social media apps are being run by advertising companies and over the years the amount of content that real users actually post has dwindled compared to the amount of ads that have popped up. But still people are paranoid about losing their phone and are even willing to give up other major things that are a part of their life. On a survey conducted by Business Insider, they found that 41% of millennials would give up washing their hair with shampoo for a week than losing their phone for a week. And 54% would give up movies and TV rather than losing their phone. I feel that there are a lot of things people are giving up by prioritizing having their phones, and they don’t even realize that they are losing them. People are constantly on their phones to connect with their “friends” but they have to make the time to also be around their loved ones and family. Phones can be replaced and fixed, but there is only one family for each of us.
