As part of our Media and Literacy subject, I was tasked to record the time my family spent on their gadgets as well as the amount of time we spend with each other. Data gathered from this process is shown below: 

    As seen on the tables above, all of us spend a tremendous amount of time on our gadgets, especially during the weekdays. As I observed the activities we were doing, I found out that we would often spend time on work or school activities. Looking on the bright side, if this was in a normal setting pre-pandemic, our family would not have even been able to see each other until the evening. At least in the setting of working through computer screens, we are still able to eat together during meals and have a few discussions. During the weekends when we had a more relaxed schedule, we tried to spend more time with each other. However, as we have grown accustomed to using our gadgets, it can no longer be easily taken away from our daily routine. Nevertheless, my father still stuck by his old rules and made sure that we’d spend time with each other as a family as much as we can. 

     Data from Limjoco (2020), who did the same activity, showed similar findings as well. In his article, it was revealed that his family also spends the majority of their time on their gadgets, leaving only a few minutes to an hour of family interaction. This is in contrast to the observation of Santos (2020) whose family spends roughly 5 to 6 hours together with each other in a day. 

    Every family is different as we all have different responsibilities and personalities. Some will really see to it that they get to spend enough time with each other to balance out their gadget time while some may find it difficult to take time out of their day to interact with those around them. Despite that, it is still evident that gadgets have really dominated our lives and yet, I realized why we shouldn’t let them.

    When I showed the findings to my parents, they weren't surprised, but they were disappointed to see the results. The pandemic made it even harder for us to move away from our screens. From anticipating news updates, talking with friends far away, or seeking entertainment, we were stuck to these little things that radiate light. Nevertheless, they felt as though we lacked connection. I realized that we should leverage the situation right now with the pandemic and use this time to interact with the people around us, taking this opportunity to reconnect with them the way we couldn't pre-pandemic as we were always far apart. With that, we discussed how we should start changing this. Every weekend, we'd create an activity where all of us can participate so that we'd be able to spend time together. This could include cooking or playing board games. I realized how fast time was passing by. It was as if the lockdowns have only started yesterday. Little by little, time is slipping away from our hands. This is why it is important to spend it on things that matter. 

    I was thankful to be tasked to record the amount of time we spent together and with our gadgets. It was because of this activity that I realized that I have been spending too much time on my screen and in turn, it greatly affected the amount of time I spend with my family. Something was wrong with the way that I was living and I wish to change this. I do not want to wake up each day and live in a world where personal interaction feels like a chore. With that said, I should start controlling my daily consumption of gadgets and reconnect with the things that really matter. If we continue to neglect physical social interaction, then eventually we’ll grow up in a world that no longer knows how to interact outside the use of gadgets. It took me a while to realize what I was missing out on when I kept devoting my time to said technology. I’d experience times when my family was talking about something that happened a few months ago, and I could no longer relate because I was too busy on my phone to sit down and chat. 

    Gadgets have indubitably taken over our lives and we rely on them to do our daily activities. As a result, relationships are sometimes compromised as well. This is why in the midst of this fast-paced world of advancing technology, we should learn to pause and reconnect with things that really matter. The process of balancing our gadget time and family time may be difficult at first, but I feel like this will have a lot of great benefits that we will be grateful for when we are older. Don’t let the sentence “I wish I had spent more time with them” be something we’d say when it’s too late.