On Thursday, December 10, I downloaded the app Moment, an app that tracks how many hours you spend on your phone.

After four weeks of tracking, I am shocked by my results.

The first day, I used my phone for six hours and 28 minutes which is nothing compared to the 12 hours and 42 minutes I spent on my phone the next day.

The numbers are very different between the days I am in school and the days I am not.   On Tuesday, December 22, two days before winter break started, I only spent one hour and 48 minutes on my phone the whole day yet Sunday, December 27, two days after break started, spent 19 hours and 36 minutes on my phone.

My first thought was “did I even sleep that day?” That was during winter break and on a Sunday. There was nothing going on, but all I can think of is how I could have spent the day doing something productive or just anything else besides laying in my bed, staring at a screen.

My average is 9 hours and 36 minutes a day, and the longest I’ve spent on my phone in one day is 23 hours and 17 minutes on Sunday, January 10.

Honestly, I never realized how many hours I spent on my phone until looking at my results. I seem to be more in touch with my phone than the world around me. Instead of cherishing moments with the people I am around, I am either documenting it, by taking videos and photos, talking to other people, or looking at social media.

Now some might say taking photos and videos are just capturing the moment, however the several minutes spent after capturing and looking at views or likes takes away from that. I think this app would be very helpful for everyone to open our eyes and broaden our knowledge on just how much technology has taken over our everyday activities.

Many of you may be scoffing at how high my phone usage was, but until you start tracking, you can’t put those numbers into perspective.

I took a lot away from this experiment but mostly I want to start putting my phone down and focusing on the world around me more often.

I challenge you to do the same. Download Moment, track your usage, and write something about your results. We would love to publish your reflections.