My Mobile Day: My Phone Addiction in Real Time
Like most of Gen Z and Millennials, I rely heavily on using my phone throughout the day. If I ever don’t have my phone with me in my hand or in my pocket, it feels like a piece of me is missing.
My screen time on my phone is embarrassingly high, so I try my best to take time away from my mobile devices. However, using my phone has become a big part of my daily routine. Here's what a typical day looks like with how I use my phone.
Morning Time
I set three alarms for myself each morning, no matter what time I need to get up. I do this so that I can mentally prepare myself to actually get out of bed and not be late for the day. For example, if I need to get up at 7:30AM, I use my phone to set the alarm at 7:00AM, then 7:15AM, then the last one at 7:30AM. Is this crazy? Maybe. Probably. But it’s what works for me to get my day going.
Once I’m awake, I use this time to check my notifications, check my emails, or just get some extra sleep. Everyone says using your phone first thing in the morning isn’t good for you, but for me it really helps to satisfy that “I-want-to-know” micro-moment.
Now that I’ve been caught up to date on my notifications on Twitter, TikTok, Outlook and Gmail, I grab my Apple Watch, I listen to a podcast on Spotify and start doing a few morning stretches. My current favourite podcast to listen to is “Anything Goes with Emma Chamberlain”. I like to listen to a podcast in the morning because it helps me get into the right mindset for the day, filling that “I-want-to-do” micro-moment, which might be the most important one for me. When I’m done stretching, I get started on my skincare routine, get breakfast ready, and open up my laptop to get started on any school work I have to do.
Afternoon Time
By this time in the day, I start feeling really productive and open my Notion app to check out what assignments, notes, and tasks I have to complete for the day. Here’s what my mood board looks like on Notion to remind myself of my goals.
At this point I usually attend my online class in my Digital Media Marketing Program using my laptop to take notes, study, and attend any group meetings I have planned. Once I’m finished class, I make myself some lunch, check out Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, then grab my iPad to watch a TV show. Watching a show while I eat fits my “I- want-to-relax” micro-moment and allows me to take a break from a busy day. Recently I’ve been watching Euphoria and The Handmaid’s Tale on Crave (the iconic Miss Sydney Sweeney is in both shows!).
After I’ve finished my lunch, I get back to studying on my laptop and complete any assignments or notes I need to do for my classes. Occasionally, I will use Snapchat to send pictures of videos of my dog to my friends, or just random things throughout the day to stay connected with my friends without actually having to text them. While I study, I enjoy listening to some music on Spotify to keep me interested and awake during the day, obviously with the help of my iced coffee. On some days if I’m in the mood, I will go to Starbucks and order my favourite Iced Chai Latte, and collect rewards through the Starbucks app.
Evening Time
In the evening, I use this time to get on LinkedIn and apply for any marketing positions that I may be interested in. Being in this post-graduate Digital Media Marketing program, most students in my program are looking for internships or full time positions in the marketing field starting this May 2022.
Going on LinkedIn fits my “I-want-to-do” micro-moment and “I-want-to-know” micro-moment. I enjoy using LinkedIn to see what content my classmates are posting so that I can support them on their journey in this program as well. In terms of job search, it’s important for me to see what companies are hiring, what type of positions are available, and reach out to recruiters to make myself available for future opportunities.
After catching up on LinkedIn, I spend some time away from my devices by playing Fortnite with my friends. Even though this is still an electronic of some sort, I still consider it time away from my devices as none of my social media apps are linked to it. Once I’m finished playing on my PlayStation 5, I turn on my TV to continue watching The Handmaid’s Tale, and check my emails on Outlook.
Once I’ve finished my episode(s) on Crave, Netflix, or Prime Video of whatever TV show I’m watching, I open up TikTok and start scrolling for what feels like endless hours until I realize it’s now 2:30AM. Once I am in a panic (even though this happens every night) that it is now 3AM in the morning… or night… I plug my phone into the charger and go to sleep. I like to charge my phone on my desk, next to my bed so that I can easily reach over to answer calls, messages, and set my alarm. Then, the cycle repeats the next day.
My Top 5 Favourite Apps
Clearly I use many apps on my mobile device everyday, but my favourite ones are:
TikTok
I use TikTok mainly to see what new audios and videos are trending, film my own TikTok videos of fun, just watch videos that may be funny or going viral on TikTok. This fits the “I-want-to-know” and “I-want-to-relax” micro-moments.
Twitter for me is mostly to check the news, updates from classmates, seeing what tweets and topics are trending currently. My timeline is mostly flooded with Euphoria and live tweets from Angus Cloud (yes, we are a #Fezco stan). Twitter fits the “I-want-to-know” micro-moment.
I absolutely love using LinkedIn. I spend as much time on LinkedIn as I do on TikTok, which needless to say, is a long time. I use LinkedIn to search and apply for new jobs, post new articles, and use this through my phone and my laptop. LinkedIn fits my “I-want-to-do” micro-moment.
Notion
This app really helps me stay organized with my day to day activities and helps me plan my life, and fits my “I-want-to-inspire” micro-moment. I have a section on my Notion app with long-term goals for myself. I take this time before I do my daily tasks to set intentions for the day and get myself in the right mindset to accomplish as much as I can.
Outlook (email)
I use my email to check for any new updates on sales/new products from companies in which I’m subscribed to, checking to see if there are any new emails from recruiters/companies I’ve applied to in my Inbox and Junk as well. It’s important for me to check my email, including the Junk mail, because oftentimes when you apply for a job, when the company reaches out to you to schedule an interview, it may go to your Junk mail by accident. This fits my “I-want-to-know” micro-moment as I want to know if there has been any updates on positions that I’ve applied for.
Although I love using Spotify to listen to music, podcasts, to wind down, relax, and Instagram to see what new posts there are from people that I follow, they are not my most used mobile apps throughout my day.
User Experience with Mobile Apps
Out of my top five favourite and most used apps, I have definitely faced some mobile “friction” with using my email. I’m sure as many of you can relate, I sometimes find emails from companies/brands I don’t even remember subscribing to. Whether it be through Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo, or any email platform, the user experience here isn’t great because sometimes brands will send you emails that are irrelevant to the topics, products, or services you’re interested in.
As a potential customer, it’s important to make sure you are reaching out to customers with relevant ideas, products, or services in order to build a stronger relationship with the customer. By receiving weird emails like this, customers are more turned off from opening the emails because they don’t meet the needs of the customer.
From a marketer’s perspective, it would be best to analyze the data collected from when the user was on your website or app. By understanding the customer’s behaviour through what they have searched, products they’ve clicked on, ads they’ve opened, marketers will have better insight on what the customer’s needs are, and can then send personalized emails to the user to reach better click-through-rates on their emails to take them to their homepage or a specific product.
A great example of using customer insights is Sephora. They are amazing at building customer relationships through their email-marketing. As a user, my information is already logged in so they can keep track of how many points I have, what products I’ve previously purchased, and what products I’ve searched for. After I’ve browsed the website, if I do not make a purchase, Sephora will email me shortly after asking “Did you forget about ___?”, including the product I just searched for. Their email marketing technique is so perfectly personalized to fit my needs, and reminds me about the product I wanted. By understanding customer insights, Sephora is able to connect with the user on a deeper level, strengthening the customer relationship, and generate more sales, increasing their profit.
Creating a clear line of communication that includes relevant topics, products and services is the recipe towards having long-term, high value customers. If all companies and brands had a similar system to understand and collect customer data, they would have more success in decreasing the mobile friction between the user and the brand.
References
Lindberg, O. (2020). User Testing for Mobile Apps: Tips from the Pros | Adobe XD Ideas. https://xd.adobe.com/ideas/process/user-testing/conduct-usability-user-testing-for-mobile-apps-like-a-pro/.
Pettis, T. (2021). How to Improve Communication with Customers in Business. MHC Automation. https://www.mhcautomation.com/blog/improve-customer-communication-in-business/.
Comments