iExamen

Victoria Paternostro

2/7/13

iExamen

            Through out the day on Wednesday, from the time I woke up, around 7:15 am, and the time I went to bed, around 1:30 pm, I practiced self-observation.  I concentrated on how I communicate with others during the day.   While completing the iExamen I noticed some really cool things. I found that I talk more to my friends through technology then I do in person, which I would like to change. I also realized that I don’t really talk much in classes.

            As I was getting ready for my 8 am class, I was trying to be as quiet as possible so I didn’t wake Emily, my roommate. Walking across campus so early in the morning, there were only about three or four other students. I found that I really liked this. It gave me time to think about my day instead of concentrating on all the people walking by, if I knew them or not, and if I was supposed to say hi to any of them. During class I just sat and listened to my professor talk about the Bible and although there wasn’t really a lot of class interaction at eight in the morning, I realized I really should speak up more in class. 

            After class I crossed campus and got back to my dorm. Here I found my roommate still sleeping, so naturally, I fell back asleep. Before I knew it my alarm was going off and it was time to go to my meeting with my Effective Writing professor. By now, Emily was awake and we walked across campus together. Although we walked side by side like we usually do, we didn’t really talk that much. Granted we had both just woken up and were freezing. We did however make comments to each other about the weather and not really wanting to go to classes. After saying goodbye to Emily and wishing her luck on her Spanish test I knew she had I continued to my meeting.  I noticed during the meeting the posture of my professor. He sat in his chair across from me and in a relaxed yet professional way. This made me feel like he was more approachable and I felt comfortable talking to him. 

            Through out the day, I used my cell phone like it was attached to my hand. I noticed that I really only talk face to face with my friends about less then half the time that I text them.  The hour that I chose to go technology free was after returning back to my dorm.  In doing so I left my phone in a drawer and cleaned my room, did the dishes, and went over to my friend’s room down the hall.  My friends and I talked about the rooming situation for next year. Without having my phone with me, I found that I was less distracted and was able to focus more on our face to face conversations instead of worrying if another friend texted me back or who poked me on Facebook.

            When I returned to my room, the hour was over and I went back to my phone. I had a bunch of texts and two missed calls. Immediately, I answered the texts and called my mom and friend Samantha back. I went back to using my phone as my main way of communication with friends but for the rest of the night decided to have more actual in person conversations with my roommates and friends.

            After observing myself all day, I found that I need to use my phone less and have more face to face conversations with others.  I also need to talk more in classes, I found that I’m too shy and need to come out of my shell more. I wasn’t really sure what I was going to get out of this iExamen, but I really enjoyed doing it and I learned a lot about myself.