Content Creator Evange Petrakis Tracks Her Screen Time For 7 Days
The EP Jewels founder dishes on her phone habits during a ~typical~ workweek.
In Chronically Online, Elite Daily asks people to get real about their phone habits by tracking their screen time over seven days. This week, content creator and business owner Evangelina “Evange” Petrakis shares the apps she used the most while filming social media videos, working on her brand, EP Jewels, and everything in between.
TikTok’s resident “clean girl” Evange Petrakis stays booked and busy. From filming GRWMs and daily vlogs for her nearly 1 million TikTok followers to analyzing inventory and scheduling brand meetings, the 21-year-old entrepreneur has seemingly mastered the art of time management. Juggling all of these tasks while maintaining an ultra-trendy and chic aesthetic? It’s *a lot*.
After her YouTube channel took off in 2021, mostly due to her viral glowy makeup routine and gag-worthy jewelry collection, Petrakis decided to turn her love of trinkets into a full-blown business, with the launch of EP Jewels, while continuing to make lifestyle content surrounding her interests in beauty and fashion.
Since then, she expanded her social media reach to TikTok and grew her follower count to 1 million on Instagram — and with those, the success of her business also grew.
Now, she spends her days cranking out videos about her favorite makeup products, sharing OOTDs, and giving her viewers all the inspirational (and juicy) BTS from what it’s like to run her blossoming company. That means she spends a lottt of time on her phone. Below, Petrakis tracked her screen time, giving an inside look at her phone habits during a typical week of work and content creation.
Occupation: Content creator and business owner.
Age: 21.
Location: New York.
Weekly Average (Jan. 19-25): 12 hours, 5 minutes.
Day 1: No TikTok, No Problem
It was the first (and only) morning without TikTok (throwback to the 14-hour shutdown!), so instead of what would usually be me scrolling for hours, I spent most of my morning in my Google Drive, downloading my content from December and organizing it in a folder in my Photos app for easy reposting to my other platforms like IG Reels and YouTube.
The previous day, I had decided to start an Instagram broadcast channel called “Evange’s BTS” so I can share more details of my day-to-day, post sneak peeks of my brand, EP Jewels, and behind the scenes of my life to anyone who wants to tune in. In less than 24 hours, 5,000 friends joined my channel, so I spent some time chatting and responding to some of my fave questions that afternoon.
Since I was recently in Antigua and hadn’t posted much, I took about an hour and a half to curate a photo dump to post on my @evange Instagram page. Then I spent an hour reading my DMs and replying to my followers. Hi, everyone!
Most Used Apps: Google Drive, Photos, Instagram.
Screen Time: 11 hours, 43 minutes.
Day 2: WFH
After a night of snow, it felt like another perfect day to work from home. I had two meetings for EP Jewels, so I spent three hours on Google Meet. The first meeting was with my EP Team to talk through an upcoming drop and our checklist of what needs to be done this week. The second call was for an exciting collaboration we’re working on and planning to launch in May.
After these calls ended, I still ended up texting various EP team members throughout the day (apparently for a total of two hours, according to my iMessage deets). I always try to be available to answer any questions they may have, help with designing edits, and collaborate on new ideas together.
For my brand, we plug all of our info in Google Drive. I love using it to store all of our projects, spreadsheets, folders, documents, images, etc. I spent two and a half hours creating new launch spreadsheets, organizing folders, uploading new images, and planning for March and April product launches.
The previous week, I had filmed a few "timestamp day in the life” videos, “get ready with me” videos, and a nail vlog, so I spent an hour and a half on the InShot app editing them so they’d be ready to post on TikTok for the next few days.
Most Used Apps: Google Drive/Google Meet, iMessage, InShot.
Screen Time: 14 hours, 12 minutes.
Day 3: Day Tripping To NYC
I started my day at 9 a.m. and headed to the EP Headquarters on Long Island, New York. We are in the process of remodeling one of our main offices, so I spent the first few hours unboxing packages, building new furniture, organizing, cleaning, and decorating. So, lucky for me, I got some time away from my screen.
Once I finished all of the remodeling tasks, I spent about one hour on Instagram, responding to the comments and scrolling on my Explore page and feed.
Since I had to leave the office around 3 p.m. for my hour ride to NYC, the team still had plenty of work to do that needed my input, so I continued to chat with them through iMessage.
In the city, I attended a CoverGirl event for the brand’s new Yummy Plumper Gloss launch and captured content using my Camera app. I love to clean out my camera roll, so I spent the hour ride home looking through my content from the day and deleting any unwanted photos and videos.
Most Used Apps: Camera, iMessage, Instagram.
Screen Time: 11 hours, 4 minutes.
Day 4: Another Packed Work Day
Today wasn’t quite as tech-heavy, but it was still busy. On my way to the office, I stopped at a fabric store to pick up swatches to use as backdrops when we stage jewelry photos for launches before hopping into a Google Meeting with our PR agency to go over our latest agenda.
Later, I spent two hours on the phone with one of our jewelry manufacturers, discussing new launches, production details, and modifying dimensions on a few samples we had recently received.
I absolutely love Pinterest — it’s the perfect place to find inspo, ideas, and trend searching. I spent about an hour creating a board called “photoshoot deck” for us to reference on set.
Most Used Apps: 9 hours, 23 minutes.
Screen Time: Mail, iMessage, Pinterest.
Day 5: A Little Bit Of Work & Play
It was a big shipment day as our jewelry manufacturer came in clutch with all new products ahead of Valentine’s Day and the months ahead. I spent two hours sorting through the inventory with the team, laying out each piece in the collection, and taking tons of photos for our upcoming Instagram posts.
Then I referenced our Pinterest board and printed inspo for the following day’s EP campaign shoot before working on IG feed planning and captions for the next launch.
During my downtime (lol), I got my nails done and filmed the start-to-finish process to post on TikTok. The nail appointment and raw footage are typically an hour long.
Since we had a photo shoot the following day, I still needed to get my hair done, so my mom gave me a blowout at 1 a.m. while I edited my vlog for the CoverGirl event.
Most Used Apps: 11 hours, 23 minutes.
Screen Time: Camera, Instagram, TikTok.
Day 6: So. Many. Photos.
Thursday quickly turned into Friday, since I was up super late and needed to turn around a campaign video at the last minute. I filmed for an hour, edited for 30 minutes, and sent in the final video for approval by 3 a.m.
After only three hours of sleep (!), I was raring to go for a super exciting shoot day in Brooklyn with the EP team and my mom. Call time was at 9:30 a.m., and I live one hour away.
After a long day at the studio, we packed up and headed out to a team dinner. The ride was about 55 minutes, and I spent the entire time uploading all of the pictures from my three SD cards and creating a shared album with the EP team so we could all select our favorites.
We took 1,800 photos, so it was so much fun to decide which photos/videos we loved most. I finished dinner around 9 p.m. before going home. I did some laundry and showered before sitting at my vanity to film another campaign video and do my makeup again. I filmed for 45 minutes, edited for 30 minutes, and submitted the final video for approval by 12 a.m.
To end the night, I washed my face, FaceTimed my boyfriend for 40 minutes, and laid in bed looking through more content from the day.
Most Used Apps: Camera, Photos, InShot.
Screen Time: 12 hours, 6 minutes.
Day 7: Content Filming
Finally, it was Saturday. After days of running on basically three-hour cat naps, I let myself sleep in until 12 p.m. Lucky for me, I spent the majority of my day in pajamas on my couch — but still working.
I edited four videos: two in FinalCut from content captured on my camcorder and flip camera for yesterday's shoot and two videos in InShot for TikTok — my nail appointment and GRWM from the other day.
I spent hours looking through my camera roll to finalize which content we will be posting the week leading up to EP launch day. The final photos and videos will be uploaded across our website and featured on product pages, the homepage section, Instagram feed/stories, TikTok, and, of course, my personal IG.
I also posted two TikToks and spent some time replying to comments. Then it was time to prepare for my next exciting week.
Most Used Apps: InShot, Photos, TikTok.
Screen Time: 13 hours, 35 minutes.
Final Thoughts: It’s Hard To *Not* Be On Your Phone
I’m honestly not shocked that my weekly screen time is almost 90 hours. I’m almost always using my phone, computer, or iPad. Being both a business owner and content creator, my everyday norm is to be on my phone for work rather than just for fun or out of boredom.
We live in a time when it’s nearly impossible to not be on your phone for hours each day and consume loads of content, but I try my best to limit my screen time to only work-related purposes rather than just doomscrolling for hours and hours on end.
I do know that it is important to take a little break from screen time whenever possible, so I try my best — and also encourage others — to put the phone down more often to genuinely enjoy life, and enjoy the quality time we spend with those around us.
This as-told-to has been condensed and edited for clarity.
