The Screen Vortex

Fourteen days of tracking my digital dependence. This is a visual diary of daily phone unlocks and the hours consumed by the YouTube vortex, mapped against my mood, sleep, and university schedule to understand the hidden shape of my daily compulsions.

DATA HUMANISM PROJECT

A guide to reading the visualization

YouTube Usage (Size of the vortex)
Light spiral = Minimal YouTube usage
Deep vortex = Extensive hours absorbed
Sleep Quality (Stardust)
Sparse sky = A restless night
Full sky = Deep, uninterrupted sleep
Phone Unlocks (Battery)
Green / Full = Phone barely touched
Red / Drained = Compulsive checking
Morning Mood (Vortex Color)
Warm red = Bad morning mood
Deep blue = Neutral mood
Warm amber = Good morning mood
University (Wi-Fi icon)
Wi-Fi visible = Free / home day (no university)

Interact with the phones to uncover the numbers behind each day

Feb 27 - Mar 01: A weekend offline. Tracking was paused to avoid introducing bias into the dataset during an unusual deviation from the routine.

What the data reveals

Patterns drawn from ten days of digital life

Daily Context Avg. Phone Unlocks Avg. YouTube Time Avg. Sleep Time Avg. Mood
The Free Time Paradox
University Day
Unstructured Day
y = YouTube Time (Hours)
x = Timeline (Days)

The data reveals a digital paradox: on university days, my phone usage is highly fragmented. However, on unstructured free days, the unlocks drop but the YouTube vortex deepens, turning micro-distractions into continuous hours of absorption. Yet, real life breaks the pattern: on March 7th, a day full of analog activities and sports completely silenced the digital noise, proving the vortex can be escaped.

The Exhaustion Cycle
Mood:
Bad
Neutral
Good
y = Phone Unlocks
x = Sleep (Hours)

A clear pattern emerges in my personal tracking: nights with less sleep frequently coincide with higher phone unlocks the following day. The red dots grouped on the top left illustrate that physical exhaustion and digital compulsion often appear together during this period, while well-rested days (bottom right) correspond with a calmer relationship with the screen. However, this correlation hides a human story: the major outlier on the top right (March 5th, 159 unlocks) completely breaks the trend. That day, my frequent screen checking wasn't a mindless habit tied to fatigue, but an act of care, constantly monitoring my phone because my girlfriend injured her knee.

YouTube
Unlocks
Sleep
Mood
University