gracielbas

[gracielbas]

It's 2024 and who doesn't succumb most of their days scrolling in their phones, typing away in fb messenger, making tiktoks or just laughing at cat memes. Of course, as a Gen-Z-er, I'm part of the digital native population or basically you can call me—chronically online because let's be real here I basically grew up with the internet. That is why I cannot imagine a life without technology, I feel like life would be 100x harder than it is today.

If you were to ask me how deeply integrated technology is to my daily life then I would tell you I am living in a "Cybereal world" and what is that you ask? It's a word I just made up to describe an interconnected world of technology and real life. Now, to get you a look in my daily life in the Cybereal world, let me show you how my day usually goes.

First, in the morning I consider my phone as my lifeline. Why? because as a student who's always tired and sleep deprived I find it hard to always wake up on time so I set up countless (and when I say countless I really mean infinite number) of alarms with 10 to 20 minute intervals. Sometimes, my friends also call me via Messenger or through my phone number to wake me up which I really appreciate so much 'cuz nothing beats starting your morning with some good vibes from your friends right?

After waking up, I start preparing for school. My school schedule is divided between online and offline setup. So on days where I have to go to school, I get ready with music playing in the background. I stream music from youtube 'cuz ya know I have to support my fave kpop group by streaming their music video or I use spotify as I have a subscription (thank god for student discounts it's like the only best thing I have received for being a student) ehem, anyways I usually just play music in my phone or my laptop (mp3 and CD players are so out of trend) . Then after getting ready, I chat my schoolmates and my beloved friends that I'm on my way to school and we decide on where to meet up for breakfast. Once I arrive school, the most important feature in our entire university campus is the elevator. I would not climb up 9 floors of stairs just to get to our room everyday. My weak body cannot tolerate that so praise whoever made elevators.

Online classes are like the best example of how internet and technology has changed this world like can you believe you can get proper education in the comfort of your homes? I really cannot grasp that idea at first but due to the pandemic that happened and the rise of digital world, it just became normal for me. Therefore, my online classes are just me (staring) listening attentively to my professor and taking down notes in Google Docs (PRO TIP! its easier this way).

After classes, I usually go out with my friends to go eat or visit some recreational spots just for leisure and enjoyment 'cuz we always go by the saying "You're never this young, so enjoy your life to the fullest." Of course, we cannot go anywhere without our phones 'cuz how are we going to navigate our way there without google maps? Or how can I go home without the use of transportation booking apps? As someone who sucks at directions google maps and online transportation booking apps are my holy grail.

Everytime I hang out with my friends, I always and I say ALWAAAYS end up with a hurting stomach because of excessive laughing and of course these moments are the moments we want to cherish and keep for the longest time. There's no better way to capture such wonderful moments than with your very high quality phone camera.

After spending a healing moment with friends, I'm back to being a fulltime student as I open my laptop and slave away to finishing school works. During exam seasons, I spend the rest of my week cooped up in my room in front of my computer reading transes for my exams. I also search more information on our topics and lessons in the internet. I also want to give a very special shoutout to Nurse Sarah and her youtube channel for carrying me throughout my college years.

Sometimes, I hop on discord call with my friends and we study together and teach each other concepts and lessons. I appreciate the rise of online calls through various platforms as it really makes it easy to communicate with people even without leaving my home.

A little bit about me is that I am diabetic so I have to take note of my blood glucose. There's this device called glucometer which lets me take my blood glucose level at home—which saves me lots of money as I don't have to go to the clinic and pay for professional fee just to get my blood glucose checked. Aside from that, I have to be active to stay healthy or else I'll have complications with my health. Therefore, I keep track of my exercise activity which I do using my phone and this app called health tracker.

I agree with what Ms. Ariana Grande said in her song 7 rings "whoever said money can't solve your problems must not have hadenough money to solve them" and so, I tend to reward myself by spoiling myself with my favorite things like buying kpop photocards and merchandises. I usually buy them online through applications or platforms like Shopee, Lazada or through twitter, which is now known as X. Whenever I buy online, I use this mobile money transferring app called GCash to pay for my items. I do agree that this form of e-wallet made purchasing items faster and more convenient as I don't have to frequently withdraw money from my bank account. If ever I do need to transfer money from my bank I can do it online through money transfer from bank to e-wallet. I would like to say that this also made me more impulsive in my buying decisions though. Luckily though this easier method of buying and paying is now applied in offline stores as I can pay my items through any e-wallet. All of this leads us to the equation of more things bought + more items gained = happier me

After doing all of these mentioned above, I move on to completing other house chores like washing my clothes like my uniform and then cooking food using our electric stove or the microwave if I'm feeling lazy. Being done all that, I end my day by listening to music again or watching k-dramas to put me to sleep. (i often forget to set my alarm again but I wanna thank whoever made scheduled alarm setups). All in all my cybereal world is full of living life with technology to accompany me in every step I take. Starting from waking up to ending my day, I need technology to back me up. Yes, I agree that I can do these things without my phone, laptops, etc but aren't traditional alarm clocks, cars, and even our doors are form of technology too? I believe that technology came to fruition to be a support for our everyday world. It's just up to us to control the way we let technology control our every day life. That ends this post, if you want to share your application of technology in your daily life then feel free to comment below your own version of your CYBEReal world! Thank you for reading~