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Brief
This experiment was streamed through a course of one week between two participants. The goal was to observe their lifestyles, health and behavioral differences between a person using a Smart Phone and the other person using a Non-Smart Phone. Smart Phones can access the internet through cellular data or Wi-Fi and all downloadable Apps. In contrast, Non-Smart Phone doesn’t have these features and abilities. Data retrieved from each of these participants will show the difference in effect between using different devices. To record the data of specific area for each day to compare the differences between different devices. The result will be including their feedback from the experiences they have, the reason why to discover the differences between Non-Smart Phone and Smart Phone is to change how these participants think and feel while using them.
Goal
The goal of this experiment is to find out how does technology affect people in their daily life by observing the differences between using Non-Smart Phones and Smart Phones. The reason for this experiment is to understand that whether the improvement of technology is actually improving our lives, or is it just making us being more dependent on technology.
Non-Smart Phone user
Smart Phone user
‘Sleeping Time’ means the number of hours spent sleeping at night.
‘Time Spent Outside’ means the number of hours spent outside the house.
‘Time Spent on Using Phone Outside’ means the number of hours spent using their phones while they are outside of their houses.
‘Daily Energy Level’ is data retracted from each participant’s feedback. It also relates to ‘Sleeping Time’ as it is their estimation of their Energy Level that depends on the number of hours slept from the previous night.
DATA ANALYSIS
The average ‘Daily Energy Level’ recorded over a week for the Smart Phone user is Normal.
The average ‘Daily Energy Level’ recorded over a week for the Non-Smart Phone is Good.
The average ‘Time Spend Outside’ recorded over a week for the Smart Phone user is 11 hours. The average ‘Time Spend Outside’ recorded over a week for the Non-Smart Phone is 11.4 hours. This suggests that on average, the Non-Smart Phone user spent more time outside compared to the Smartphone user.
The average ‘Sleeping Time’ recorded over a week for the Smart Phone user is 7.57 hours. The average ‘Time Spend Outside’ recorded over a week for the Non-Smart Phone is 6.92 hours. This suggests that on average, the Non-Smart Phone user spent more time outside compared to the Smart-phone user.
The average ‘Time spent on using phone outside’ recorded over a week for the Smart Phone user is 2.45 hours. The average ‘Time Spent Outside’ recorded over a week for the Non-Smart Phone is 0.25 hours. This suggests that on average, the Non-Smart Phone user spent more time outside compared to the Smartphone user.
Sleeping Effects
It is interesting seeing how Smart Phone affects sleeping. In this experiment with Smart Phone, the test subject sleep less compare to the day when he using Non-Smart Phone. So I went to do some research about how Smart Phone affects sleeping. It may seem harmless to knock out a few emails before bed or unwind with a favorite movie, but by keeping your mind engaged, technology can trick your brain into thinking that it needs to stay awake. And if you’re surfing the web, seeing something exciting on Facebook, or reading a negative email, those experiences can make it hard to relax and settle into slumber. (KHAZAN, 2015)
Participant Feedback
Non-Smart Phone Participant
“I enjoyed using a Non-Smart Phone for this short period. I felt like I was a kid back to the days again when phones were only used to call and message other people. There was no Facebook, WhatsApp or any sort of Apps that helped you to connect to the internet. Most of the time, I spent time with myself, without any distractions from the surroundings. It has not only improved my sleeping quality but also made me feel like I had 8 hours’ worth of energy but only slept for 6 hours. I think it lessened the level of radiations. And I was surprised that I spent more time hanging around outside even though I was by myself. I noticed that I observed the nature more when I was outside than when I am home. However, it was really convenient when it came to work. It was hard for me to contact more than one person at the same time, I had to contact each person one by one. And if I missed out what I needed to say, I would have to call them back again. Before when I used a Smart Phone, I could’ve just texted them twice instead. Also when I traveled, I couldn’t use a GPS, I had to use a paper map to find the location and it really slowed down my journey. My conclusion is that I was really glad that I participated in this experiment because I found the feeling of peace and quiet again. I enjoyed taking a break from the society for a week, at least. But since the world keeps moving forward, we have to rely on Smart Phones to communicate and interact with others.”
Smart Phone Participant
“Since I used my Smart Phone every day, I did not expect there would be anything interesting to be found. During this week, I tried to be more aware of everything I did on my Smart Phone. Besides having to communicate with the people that I work with, I mainly talked to 3 to 4 people a day. The conversations were really casual, nothing too serious. But it helped me to get to connect with my friends more. I enjoyed using my Smart Phone because I can get the information I want immediately and was easier for me to share it with my friend’s group. I can’t imagine what the other person had to go through, using a Non-Smart Phone! During this experiment, I looked at the data of my sleeping time and found that I spent a lot of time sleeping but I didn’t feel as if I got enough energy for the next day. I’m not sure about the reason why. It might be because I was constantly connected to society and did not allow my brain to rest. I somehow felt like it was affecting my health. My conclusion for this seven days experiment is that it was really interesting to see how using a Smart Phone was slowly influencing my life. But since it was much more convenient to use my Smart Phone to communicate with my colleagues for work, I think it is really important for me. Nevertheless, I think I will like to try to use a Non-Smart Phone for a short period when I’m less busy, but nor for now.”
The result of the balance between those different sides
Each participant has given quite different feedbacks after participating in this one week experiment. There are both advantages and disadvantages listed from using a Smart Phone and a Non-Smart Phone. Using Non-Smart Phones allow improvement in health, an example from the experiment is the hours of sleeping time. The Non-Smart Phone user was sleeping less but said to have better Energy Levels for the next day. The user suggested that radiation levels potentially lessened and it was more peaceful and comfortable when he used the Non-Smart Phone because they enjoyed ‘taking a break from society’. However, it was not convenient for them to work while using a Non-Smart Phone, it takes more time and effort for the users to communicate when they need to contact each other.
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On the other hand, Smart Phone is making thing more convenient. Although Smart Phone has become part of our daily life, the person who used smartphone throughout this experiment, he thinks that Smart Phone is more convenient, it is easier for him to communicate with other people. He can also talk to others whenever he wants. He can get information immediately from the internet, it saves a lot of time for him. But using Smart Phone is actually making him more tired even though he gets more hours to sleep. Although he found that it is better to use Non-Smart Phone but he thinks that Smart Phone is also affecting his sleeping patterns negatively.
In conclusion, there are different sides of the perspective of Non-Smart Phone and Smart Phone. But having their advantage and disadvantage apply in different situations. At the end, both of them agreed that it is actually not easy to compare whether smartphones would be better than non-smart phones. People should not only use only one kind of device but use both depending on the situation.
Survey
From the survey, it shows that 77% of the participant tend to use Smart Phone. Most of them are teenagers, and reason why they choose to use the smartphone because it is easier for them to communicate with one another such as working as a group. There are the only small amount of people prefer using Non-Smart Phone because they do not always interact with other people, or they are at an older age.
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The survey has shown that most of the people tend to spend less than 4 hours on their phones. It has a conflict compared to my experiment. The participants from the survey might not be accurate because they did not have an actual data for each day. However, the experiment cannot represent the whole population, because this result was only gathered from two people, and it could be different when the same experiment was tested with other people. Nevertheless, even though people might spend the huge amount of time on their phones, but they still prefer using Smart Phone.
Reflection
At the beginning, I supposed that the Non-Smart Phone user will find it uncomfortable for the week because you are basically disconnected to the internet and the world outside. The result has shown that it affected his sleeping patternless. It also created a better environment for him to rest. According to the feedback from the Non-Smart Phone user, his feedback about it is mainly positive. Nevertheless, it’s not that suitable for the modern lifestyle. But we should take a break from using Smart Phone too often sometimes.
Conclusion
Nowadays, Smart Phones seem to have taken over Non-Smart Phones. Even though we know that we are relying on Smart Phone too much, the world still requires Smart Phones to sustain our workability and to allow us to keep connecting to the society and communicate with one another. We are slowly forgetting the existence of Non-Smart Phone. However, using a Non-Smart Phone should be encouraged for more people to use because it has fewer vibrations and helps us disconnecting to the internet. But at the same time, we will still able to contact one another.
Reference
KHAZAN, O. (2015, Feb 24). How Smartphones Hurt Sleep. Retrieved from The atlantic.