Digital Day
How technology effects my everyday life By: Briaun Powell
Early weekend mornings.
Waking up early on the weekends is a must when my nieces stay the night. Our mornings are usually filled with playing games on my phone, or watching TV until someone says they're hungry. The house soon becomes alive with noise, usually from everyone's phones going off and TVs turning on. When my niece wakes up before me the first thing she grabs is my phone, then she aggressively wakes me up asking me to put in my passcode so she can play Temple Run. Our mornings are always entertaining.
Before I make an attempt to get out of bed I check my phone for messages, voicemails, etc. Then it's a must that I check my twitter and instagram accounts. You never know what you might miss while your asleep. The internet is a non stop gossip machine that news travels through faster than a rocket. Instagram is more of a personal app that I like to have for pure entertainment. Twitter on the other hand, is entertaining, but it is also very informational. You may read something on twitter before you get the chance to hear it on the news. As quoted in the Instant Internet Fame article, "Anybody can become a celebrity or a worldwide villain in an instant."
While everyone sits down to eat breakfast we have the t.v. on for comfort, and also to keep my nieces under control until it's time to eat. We flip through channels trying to find something that satisfies everyone while we eat our breakfast, but of course that isn't enough. At the table everyone, especially me, is entertained by their phones. The talk at the table is about the latest gossip on twitter and Facebook for my mommy. I hear about all of the family drama, all because someone posted a status that someone else didn't like. Then I share with my mommy the twitter drama between artists Rihanna and Teyana Taylor. This was one of those things that you had to be up for, because celebrities usually delete any "twitter beef" they have with one another. They have to keep their image clean. Unfortunately, once something has been tweeted anyone can save that image for forever.
Listening to music helps make any day go along a lot smoother. When I'm in the car, listening to music is automatic. When I really like a song I turn the radio up even louder, and sing along like I'll never hear that song again. Music is a way to escape reality in a way. When you hear or sing a song it's almost like you're living those words. Not unless you don't like the song of course. So on my car ride to cosmetology I make sure I listen to music that puts me in a good mood. If nothing good is on the radio then I plug in my phone and play my favorite playlist.
It doesn't stop there, while I'm in cosmetology they have music playing for everyone to listen to. What's a salon without music right? From time to time when the radio plays the same three songs back to back we will switch the station and play something that someone else likes. It's very soothing and comforting to listen to music while you're getting your hair done or vice versa. Music is something everyone can enjoy. It surely makes the time go by.
That's all during the day, to get my night started I use my phone to get in contact with everyone. Without texting I don't know how I would keep in touch with most people. Nowadays everyone is too busy to talk on the phone and hold a full conversation with someone. Texting makes this all easier. Before leaving cosmetology I text my boyfriend to see what our plans are for the night. Whenever I'm texting anyone I keep my phone in my sight to make sure I respond fast enough. That's my main reason for texting someone, to get a reply in a reasonable amount of time. Now that I know what my night plans are, I can go home and manage my time accordingly.
While I'm on my way home my mommy calls to tell me she is taking my nieces back home. When I get to the house no one is home yet, but I am greeted by my loving cat Jinx. You could say this is the only time so far, that I have heard silence. I like to keep the peace and quiet so I leave all of the televisions off and take a nice shower. Before I know it it's 6 o'clock and my boyfriend is on his way to come get me. When he gets to my house he texts me saying he's here instead of ringing the doorbell. So I gather my belongings and we head to the mall.
We don't need our phones to tell us the forecast for the night. As soon as we get to the mall it starts pouring down rain. Theres no point in going back home, so we brace ourselves and make our way towards Finishline. When we get inside I notice that my phone has gotten wet through its case, so I take the case apart to dry it off. We spend the next 30 minutes trying to decide on which shoes to get. I try on at least 2 pair before I decide on one. Before going to checkout, Troy, transfers money onto his account through his phone. It's amazing how much you can do with your phone. Then he proceeds to swipe his card and use the card machine to sign off confirming the transaction.
After all of that is done, we make our way to Applebee's. Before going in we discuss seeing a movie afterwards. Well we weren't quite sure what we wanted to see, so we looked up what movies were playing through our phones. We sat in the car and watched several trailers, then we looked at the times to make sure we had enough time to eat. After eating all of our food we decide that we can go see a movie some other time. Eating all of that food made us way too tired. So he drops me off at home. After I get settled into bed we facetime each other to end our night.
Conclusion
The internet and technology affect so many people today. A lot of people would be lost without their smart phone, I would have to include myself into that category. There are a lot of negative comments that come along with the internet and social websites. When in reality it's all about how you use them and portray yourself on them. The internet can be a useful wonderful invention or it can be the downfall to many people's lives. You just have to be careful about what you post and what others post about you. Use the internet and other sites wisely.