A day in the digital is not just a day but every day. We wake up and pick up our phones that are so conveniently just an arm’s reach away, to check the time, and notifications, perhaps to turn off an alarm. What we do on our phones in the morning varies considerably but it all has one thing in common, the digital. As the day progresses, and people get on with their daily routines, go to work, school, run errands, etc. many of us, whether we realise it or not are still in “a day in the digital”. We put on music from our phones, text our friends, read the news, or scroll aimlessly through Instagram or another social media platform. The latter is something I find myself and other people (particularly Gen Z) doing a lot of.
When waiting for the bus or your friend at the cafe you are meant to meet at, what do you do? Oftentimes, if not every time, I at least, pick up my phone. I may open Instagram to watch people’s stories and have a look at what they are up to in their lives, or rather, the curated version of their lives. When I get bored of that, I scroll through Instagram instead and see what all the influencers are promoting today. Is it a product? Or perhaps a lifestyle that although may seem very common and normal is in fact very difficult to attain? I sit there in the cafe, waiting for my friend, wishing I was on some island in Greece instead.
The coffee cup is empty and I check the time on my phone, deciding it’s time to head home. I go up to the register and pay with my phone, say goodbye to my friend, put on my headphones and open Spotify to blast music on my bike ride home. I get home, to open my laptop and do some work. After quite some time I check my phone and chat with friends, to then scroll aimlessly through Instagram yet again. I stumble across a recipe that I decide to make that evening and once I am back in bed or on the couch I put on the current TV show I am watching and consume that for a couple of hours. Before going to bed I check my phone for the last time during the day, placing my phone conveniently at just an arm’s reach away, to repeat the process all over again tomorrow.
Writing about my day and how the digital is such a large part of it, makes it seem as though it is a negative thing and all my life revolves around. And although the latter is true to a certain extent, does it have to be negative, dont all of our lives involve the digital in one way or another? Yes, I can and should probably stop scrolling aimlessly through Instagram whenever I feel bored and do something that doesn’t require my phone. However, since the digital is entwined, not only in my life but many other people’s lives, the digital has become the default. This blog post was not written to make people (particularly Gen Z) feel bad for being on their phones all the time, but to consider how our world cannot exist the way it currently does without the digital world.
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