Chatting With People
I had two long phone calls on Sunday. First, with my dad and then with a friend. The phone call with the friend was made over WhatsApp. In addition to speaking on the phone, I used iMessage and WhatsApp to chat communicate with a total of 9 people.
Moving Around Town
I took a long walk with a friend on Sunday morning–the weather was fantastic! We walked from my house in Somerville to Bagelsaurus where I used my credit card to purchase an Everything Bagel. We then walked down to Harvard Square and towards the Mt. Auburn area. There, I made a stop at Darwins to purchase a coffee with my credit card. While walking, my internet remained connected to my Verizon data. We then walked along the Charles and finally looped back to my house in Somerville. After the walk, I did not leave my house that day.
Getting Online
I spent a considerable amount of time on the internet. I had to write a policy memo for another class, and needed to research the impact of climate change on water infrastructure in Chennai. I browsed through news publications (NPR, Washington Post, Caravan, Scroll, NYT, The Hindu, Times of India, etc). I also browsed publications from the OECD, World Bank, Observer Research Foundation, and USAID. I logged into the MIT library network to pursue academic articles, Stella and Harvard Canvas to check on other assignments. I typically do my writing on google docs, so I was also logged into my google account. While procrastinating on my research and writing, I watched a few episodes of Veep on Amazon Prime, browsed through Instagram, and Facebook. I also listened to a few live musical performances on YouTube.
Other Things
Since I didn’t leave the house, other then to take a walk, I don’t think I left as much of a data trail as I normally would have. I am careless about closing apps on my phone, and typically have WhatsApp, Instagram, FB Messenger, Safari, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Maps, and Blue Bike on in the background. I imagine that though not in use, they might be passively collecting my location data.