「every time」と「all the time」の違い

I had been concerned about our Dracaena sanderiana, aka lucky bamboo. There were no new shoots coming out of the stalk. However, today I noticed this small white shoot had appeared at the top of one of the stalks. I was relieved.

× I had been checking the stalks every time.
○ I had been checking the stalks all the time.

"Every time" means all of the occurrences of something. In the example above, exactly what is occurring is not clear. That's why we should use "all the time" instead, which can mean "very frequently" or "constantly".

• all the time その間ずっと、四六時中、年がら年中、ひっきりなしに、のべつ幕なしに (definition from Eijiro on the Web)
• every time 毎回～するたびに (definition from Eijiro on the Web)
• constantly 【副】絶えず、しきりに、絶え間なく、常に、四六時中、やむことなく、いつも (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

Every time I looked at the stalks, I couldn't see any shoots, so I had been worried. <- this is OK because it is clear what happens each time

It seem I'm reading about China and other countries arguing about territory in the Pacific all the time. Every time I read such an article, it makes me nervous. One of the reasons is that people are competing for energy resources. With that and the safety and waste issues with nuclear power, it would be great if countries would devote their efforts to better solar energy instead. I would be much happier knowing that every time I use electricity it was coming from a solar panel rather than something that puts us at risk all the time.