And So It Begins….

This week has been the start of my sustainable challenge. I have decided to only charge my phone twice a day. No more walking into my room and plugging my phone in every time I do it. I have to be smarter about how I use my phone and when I charge and this first week has been hard and very different. I think my phone has died more in this week then it has in the last month combined but I guess that is an adjustment I am going to have make in regards to this challenge and it has not been easy when my phone has died. This challenge is definitely going to take time to get used but that all will come in time.

I think the hardest thing about this week thus far has been about reminding myself to be conscious about the use of my phone. Sometimes when I find myself bored I take my phone out but then have to really think if its worth it at that time to use. Also, another hard part of this week has been just remembering not to charge it. I will walk into my room and want to charge but then remember that I only have two charges a day so I have to stop and think about it if this is time a I really want to use for charging. I think I am going to put a note on my charger that reads “only twice a day!” just to remind me every time I see my charger. It really has taken an adjustment period to get used to these new habits but in a way it has been fun too.

The positives definitely have outweighed the negatives in regrads to my challenge. I have seen myself be more attentive and more “in the moment” you could say. Not using my phone as much has been good in that in class I pay attention more and with my friends I am just more there. I think as this challenge goes on these positives will only become more evident, which is definitely something to look forward to.

A very interesting article that I found on cnet.com stated that if 10 percent of the world’s cell phone users unplugged their phone once it was fully charged then it “would reduce energy consumption by an amount equivalent to that used by 60,000 European homes per year”.  To me that is enough motivation to be smarter with charging my phone.

Overall, this week has been a challenge but that is the whole point right? We are supposed to take ourselves out of our comfort zone and that is what I am doing and I look forward to the continued challenge. I believe that any little bit can help the environment and if that means me saving a small amount of energy through not charging my phone as much then I will gladly do it.

http://news.cnet.com/Your-cell-phone-is-charged–please-unplug/2100-1041_3-6118116.html