Habit: Stop playing video games during the weekdays.
Although video games have allowed me to meet people across different walks of life, maintain decade-long friendships over long distances, and have a blast while doing so, I have to be honest with myself and acknowledge that I am spending too much time during the weekdays (M-F) playing video games instead of exercising, meeting new people in college, and getting work done on time. Since I try my best to finish schoolwork during the week rather than the weekend, I chose to only track my activities on Monday and Tuesday. Ideally, my dataset would have richer data if I could track my activities the entire week, Monday through Friday, but logistical limitations have disallowed this option. Normally, my weekly schedule is almost symmetrical along the Wednesday midpoint. Specifically, my Wednesday schedule resembles my Monday schedule; my Thursday schedule resembles my Tuesday schedule; and, my Friday schedule resembles my Monday schedule. So being able to log my activity on Monday and Tuesday would normally be sufficient to get a solid grasp on my habits and practices associated with playing video games throughout an average full week. However, this Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so I did not have school that day. This is a limiting factor in my approach, but this fact may give me an intuition as to how I would behave on Sunday, a school night with no class.
Method: Logging my activities during the week in 30-minute intervals on Bear, a note-taking app.
I went over my calendar on Sunday to set alarms in 30-minute intervals on my phone to audibly ring whenever I am not in class. During class, I would try my best to be aware of what time it was to be consistent in logging my behavior every 30 minutes throughout the day while simultaneously not distracting my classmates from their studies with a ring or buzz every half hour. I decided to log my behavior on my phone because it is always physically near me throughout the day and can fulfill the timekeeping and note-taking role for this activity.
A regular game of Valorant, in my experience, usually takes about 30 minutes to end. Therefore, I think that measuring my behavior in 30-minute intervals throughout the day would be just enough time so that I will probably not miss any gaming sessions that I might have throughout the day in my logging, but not be too time-consuming or intrusive. In this way, I would be able to indirectly record the total number of games of a certain game I might have played within the 30-minute interval.
Monday, January 15, 2024
9:00 am: Sleeping.
9:30 am: Sleeping.
10:00 am: Sleeping.
10:30 am: Sleeping.
11:00 am: Sleeping.
11:30 am: Sleeping.
Noon: Sleeping.
12:30 pm: Sleeping.
1:00 pm: Sleeping.
1:30 pm: Sleeping.
2:00 pm: I woke up about 15 minutes ago without an alarm. I went to sleep late last night (~5:15 am), watching Season 4 of Friends on my phone in bed. I am still in bed, messaging with friends on Meta’s Messenger.
2:30 pm: I am sitting at my desk. I am watching a Lex Friedman podcast on my desktop. I just ordered “lunch” on DoorDash from Tommy Thai. I ordered pad-see-ew with Chicken.
3:00 pm: I am watching the same Lex Friedman podcast episode.
3:30 pm: I am eating my pad-see-ew at my desk while watching the same Lex Friedman podcast.
4:00 pm: I am still eating my Thai food. I am messaging my friends on Discord on my desktop. I am now watching Friends on my desktop.
4:30 pm: I am still watching Friends, however, I am now watching it on my television which is also in my dorm room. I am still sitting on my desk chair.
5:00 pm: I am sending a text to my mom about how my day is going. I described it as going well. I a still sitting on my desk chair.
5:30 pm: I am walking towards Arrillaga Family Dining Commons from Mirrielees House for dinner. I am currently near the Wilbur complex. I’m always on my bike during the week, so I decided to slow it down and walk instead.
6:00 pm: I am sitting by myself at a table in Arrillaga Family Dining Commons. I am listening to a news show on YouTube on my phone while I eat.
6:30 pm: I am walking towards Mirrielees House. I am near the Wilbur parking lot on Escondido Rd. I am listening to a news show on my earphones while walking.
7:00 pm: I am sitting near my desk in my dorm. I am messaging friends on Discord on my desktop to get online so that we can hang out on a voice channel later.
7:30 pm: I am playing a standard game of Valorant on my desktop. I am listening to Spotify in the background on my headset. I am playing my “gaming EDM” playlist. I am playing alone.
8:00 pm: I am playing another standard game of Valorant on my desktop. I am still listening to Spotify in the background on my headset. I am still playing my “gaming EDM” playlist. I am playing alone.
8:30 pm: I am waiting in a queue for a casual 1v1 match of Rocket League. I am still listening to Spotify in the background on my headset. I am still playing the “gaming EDM” playlist. I am playing alone.
9:00 pm: I am now in a Discord voice channel with 4 other friends. I am waiting in a queue with 2 of my friends who are also in the voice channel for a 3v3 casual match of Rocket League. I am no longer listening to Spotify in the background.
9:30 pm: I am playing a 3v3 competitive match of Rocket League with the same 2 friends as before. One additional friend joined the Discord voice channel; there are 6 of us in the voice channel now.
10:00 pm: I am playing a 3v3 casual match on Rocket League with the same 2 friends as before. Two of my other friends are sharing their screen with the voice channel, streaming their Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023) multiplayer gameplay for all to see. I am watching them on my second monitor when I have any downtime on Rocket League.
10:30 pm: I am playing a casual match of Fortnite: Battle Royale with 3 of my friends who are also on the voice channel. We are all listening to a shared EDM playlist that is playing in the background of our voice channel while we play the game. There are still 6 of us in the voice channel. I am drinking water.
11:00 pm: We are all saying goodnight to each other in the voice channel as we all have decided to get offline. I am about to watch a YouTube video discussing recent updates made to The Finals, the video game. I am still at my desk, sitting on my chair.
11:30 pm: I am brushing my teeth. I am watching a YouTube video about Taiwan’s election on my phone while I brush my teeth.
Midnight: I am in bed trying to go to sleep. I have been trying to fall asleep for about 15 minutes. My eyes feel tired.
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
9:00 am: Sleeping.
9:30 am: Sleeping.
10:00 am: Sleeping.
10:30 am: Sleeping.
11:00 am: Sleeping.
11:30 am: I just woke up from my alarm on my phone which is charging on a table near my bed that is within my reach. I am still in bed. I am feeling tired.
Noon: I am in the Lane History Corner on the second floor in my PHIL 186 lecture. The professor just arrived and is writing our daily philosophical questions on the board for us to answer to be marked for attendance. I am not feeling as tired as I previously did.
12:30 pm: I am sitting in my PHIL 186 lecture. We are reviewing the differences between Identity Theory and Functionalism. The professor is lecturing.
1:00 pm: I am sitting in my PHIL 186 lecture. We are discussing Functionalism.
1:30 pm: I am in Olive’s Cafe at the Quad waiting in line to order a turkey sandwich and iced tea for lunch.
2:00 pm: I am sitting outside of Olive’s Cafe at one of their outdoor tables eating my sandwich and salad. I am simultaneously listening to an entrepreneurship-focused podcast on Spotify on my headphones while I eat.
2:30 pm: I am sitting outside of the Thorton Center near the Terman fountain on a bench listening to the same podcast episode. It looks like it will begin to rain soon.
3:00 pm: I am at the Thorton Center sitting in my PHIL 186 discussion section. We are going to be starting five minutes later than usual to allow for others to find their way to the classroom. The TA has passed around a sign-in sheet for us to sign and receive credit for our attendance. We will be reviewing what we covered in last week’s lectures: Cartesian Dualism, Behaviorism, Identity Theory, and Functionalism.
3:30 pm: I sitting in my PHIL 186 discussion section.
4:00 pm: I am standing in Starbucks at Tressider Memorial Union waiting for the cold brew that I ordered online. I have a lengthy problem set for my LINGUIST 121A class that will probably require me to stay up late if I want to complete it on time, so I am picking up some caffeine to help me achieve my goal.
4:30 pm: I am sitting in my room near my desk. I am listening to lo-fi hip-hop while I read the required readings needed to complete the LINGUIST 121A problem set.
5:00 pm: I am still reading the required documents needed to complete the LINGUIST 121A problem set. I am still listening to lo-fi hip-hop in the background. I am drinking water.
5:30 pm: I am replying to my friend group on Messenger on my phone. I am still listening to lo-fi hip-hop in the background. I have finished reading the required reading for the problem set.
6:00 pm: I am on my desktop learning how to use the tree-generating software that our LINGUIST 121A professor suggested we use in our answers to the problem set. I have the problem set instructions on one monitor and the tree-generating software on the other. I have only sipped my cold brew coffee once until now.
6:30 pm: I am outside of my dorm building throwing out the garbage from my dorm room.
7:00 pm: I am writing my introductory paragraph for my answer to the LINGUIST 121A problem set. I am also using the tree-generating software to render relevant trees that I am planning on using in my response.
7:30 pm: I am reviewing my introductory paragraph to see if my line of reasoning is valid. It appears to be valid.
8:00 pm: I am attempting to generate ungrammatical sentences from a “limited” grammar composed of words in a limited lexicon and non-exhaustive phrase-structure rules that exemplify the overgeneration and under-generation of grammatical English sentences, therefore demonstrating a need to expand and modify our existing grammar to rectify this unwanted behavior. I am mechanically applying the phrase structure rules to the words contained in the lexicon, highlighting any ungrammatical sentences that stand out. As a result, I am writing my progress on my iPad before translating my findings onto my Word document.
8:30 pm: I am still finding examples of overgeneration and under-generation in our grammar on my iPad.
9:00 pm: I am still finding examples of overgeneration and under-generation in our grammar on my iPad. I am slowly sipping my cold brew now. I am still listening to lo-fi hip-hop while I work on my LINGUIST 121A problem set.
9:30 pm: I am still finding examples of overgeneration and under-generation in our grammar on my iPad. I am still sipping on my cold brew. I am still listening to lo-fi hip-hop while I work on my LINGUIST 121A problem set. I have translated 2 examples of under-generation from my iPad notes over to my typed document.
10:00 pm: I am now finding examples of overgeneration in our grammar on my iPad. I have reached the required number of examples for under-generation in my argument. I am still sipping on my cold brew. I am still listening to lo-fi hip-hop while I work on my LINGUIST 121A problem set. I have translated an additional example of under-generation from my iPad notes over to my typed document. I am thinking about ordering Domino’s pizza for dinner since it is late and I missed the dining hall hours for dinner.
10:30 pm: I am still finding examples of overgeneration in our grammar on my iPad. I am about halfway finished with my cold brew coffee. I am still listening to lo-fi hip-hop while I work on my LINGUIST 121A problem set. I am working on translating another example of under-generation to my typed document. I am waiting for my Domino’s pizza delivery order to arrive.
11:00 pm: I am still finding examples of overgeneration in our grammar on my iPad. I am still sipping my cold brew coffee. I recently replied to my friends on the Messenger group chat. My Domino’s order is on the way and will arrive soon.
11:30 pm: I am still finding examples of overgeneration in our grammar on my iPad. I have finished my cold brew coffee. I am eating a slice of pepperoni pizza. I am still listening to lo-fi hip-hop in the background. I am about to finish generating trees for my examples of under-generation that will be included in my typed document.
Midnight: I am still finding examples of overgeneration in our grammar on my iPad. I am still listening to lo-fi hip-hop in the background. I just checked my email account on my phone to check for any new emails.
Model 1: Connection Circle
Model 2: Iceberg Model
Reflection:
The decision to record my behavior for every 30-minute interval in a day allowed me to be more detailed about each interval than every 15-minute interval in a day as we had to do for our first Measuring Me assignment. Moreover, this longer break between recordings removed the sense of urgency and stress involved in keeping pace with logging my behavior and finishing other tasks. Since writing my behavior down on my phone was not instantaneous, I would have to take about 2-5 minutes taking down notes just to do so in another 10-13 minutes, making the task feel like it took a large portion of my time away from finishing other tasks. By increasing the interval to 30 minutes, I could focus deeply on a task (like my problem set) while still having a short enough timeframe to accurately record what has changed.
A shortcoming of using my phone’s alarm clock to remind myself of when it was time to log my behavior was that it was very difficult to hear my alarm ring whenever I would be wearing my gaming headset over both of my ears. I use closed-back headphones to help me gain positional awareness of enemy players in the context of competitive, ranked matches, so they are usually at a high volume. This made me sometimes log my behavior at the end of competitive matches or during moments of downtime instead of maintaining perfect consistency with the 30-minute intervals. This might be fixed by implementing a visual/auditory notification that is noticeable from within the game since my focus is already on the screen. This might be achieved through a computer-based alarm clock ring that plays in my headset which can be heard over the gameplay sounds. The visual approach can be implemented via a pop-up prompt that overlays itself over any active window/game on my computer. However, this approach can be deemed as being relatively intrusive and distracting in mission-critical moments within a game or activity.
Another approach would be to wear a bracelet, smartwatch, or similar accessory that can provide tactile feedback to notify the user in cases where they can not hear or see their phone. This approach would also help reduce how distracting your notification technique is interpreted by other people in your surroundings. Personally, I forgot that my automatic alarm would ring loudly at 4:00 pm when I was waiting for my pick-up Starbucks order. On top of being startled by a blaring siren in my hands, everyone who was either picking up an order or working at a table close by instantly turned towards me to deduce where the scarring screech originated from. This made me feel awkward and slightly embarrassed. If I had been wearing a smartwatch that could alert me via vibrations, this awkward situation could have been avoided.
Rather than typing my behavior manually on my notes app, I believe it would have been more efficient for me to have taken voice memos or used voice transcription apps to make my note-taking process a lot faster and less punishing in the case where I am participating in the same behavior over multiple 30-intervals. Although current voice transcription technology is not perfect, I think the time savings that come from repeated use would outweigh the slight inaccuracies that may improve with time as AI methods become more sophisticated. In this way, a timestamp (and potentially location) would be automatically attributed to each voice memo for a higher degree of accuracy. Considering that I am usually talking on a microphone when I am gaming, it would be relatively easy to record voice memos directly onto my desktop or phone.
