iExamen

During my time of reflection, while completing the first Examen, I learned things about myself in terms of how I communicate and how I react to various situations. I think that people, specifically of my generation, lose themselves in technology and social media, resulting in them lacking a solid idea of who they truly are as people. Self-reflection can help people to discover themselves, especially in how they interact with others, and potentially improve upon those interactions. All of the things which I reflected upon, in terms of how I communicate, was my reaction to others, how I act behind a screen versus in person, as well as how I simply carry myself. Prior to consciously observing myself for this Examen, I assumed that there would not be very much to notice, however, I was wrong. I do many things subconsciously that I am not aware of and that explain how my interactions go.

In the beginning of the day, when I woke up, I immediately turned to my phone to see if anyone texted or called me while I was asleep. I had a few texts from my friends back at home. As I read and responded to those messages, I realized how much technology impacts my current life. Being away from home and having all of my friends scattered around the country at their own respective colleges, technology is an incredibly important tether to us remaining connected. We check in with each other, casually, throughout the day. If I did not have my phone, we would probably drift from each other much more easily, due to the distance. Those are friends who I have leaned on throughout my transition to college. Texting allows for a continued connection, however, when it comes to more serious conversations, I always need to call them so that they can better understand my tone and inflection. In reflecting about this, I become more aware that I always need to actually talk to these people when I am talking about more important things. I did not fully realize how much I was doing that prior to actively looking for it. So, on some level, I have always known that texting limits important factors which lead to successful and competent communication.

Later in the day, I put my phone aside for about an hour. I had recently done this for a sociology project, and I found it to be a liberating experience, so I was excited to try it again. I noticed that I definitely tried to initiate conversations with the people around me more than I typically would. Being without my phone gave me a feeling of loneliness that I wanted to alleviate. I felt that I was having more engaged conversations with my roommate. We usually talk while we look at our phones in bed. This time, since I was not on my phone, she eventually put hers down, as well. This made me realize that technology actively dictates many of my conversations and if I stay mindful of that and try not to fall too deeply into that, I can have more connected interactions.