Reflecting

I have sat down several times today to write something for the blog. I got nothing! Thought about it for the last few days too. I’m in a blogging rut. 

Usually I get inspiration form course readings or finding a social media relation from my everyday life. This week I struggled with finding my blog topics. Perhaps I just needed a break. I’m looking forward to the coming week and hoping there is more inspiration to be found! 

The Daily Scoop

I'm going to be really honest here. I do not watch the news or routinely check news outlets. It frustrates me! I get more anxious and upset by it. I honestly cannot tell you the last time I watched news on TV.

Many of my friends are political enthusiasts and watch or read news articles daily. I am usually not current until I receive their updates. I should mention I have a variety of friends with varying political views. So I do feel I get a well rounded perspective when I hear their updates and perspectives.

How does this relate to social media? I'm sure you guessed. My Facebook newsfeed is my source of current events. I leave it to my friends and acquaintances to provide updates. Let me also say, I do not solely rely on their interpretation of a news report or article! If the headline or comment interests me enough, I will perform my own research to better understand the post. By having friends of varying political views or interests, I am able to learn a lot about what is going on in the world. I can then form my own opinion on matters. It might not be the best method and some may criticize, but this helps me live my life without being upset and frustrated about things out of my control. My overall mental health is better. I am respectful of my friends views and opinions. I do not get upset if I happen to disagree with their perspective, rather I take it as an opportunity to understand them better.

I think we should all seek to appreciate the differences each of us bring to the world.

Soical Media, A Rat Race

Ever feel overwhelmed by the constant social media updates?  Have you ever set your phone down, walked away and returned to 50+ notifications? The need for constant connection has changed how we live and our daily interactions with others. The news runs 24/7. Social media is accessible in seconds with new posts from friends/followers. But what are we learning from our friends and how does that affect our psychological well being and life choices?

The other night I was thinking about what my next blog post should be about. I try to think about how social media impacts daily activities or thoughts. I could not get out of my mind, the feeling of needing to check in on my various social media accounts for updates. I had not checked in on some platforms for days. The anxiety of not being able to catch up on all that I missed was unsettling. This is unusual for me. I'm usually nonchalant about missing out on these types of activities. So why now am I anxious? 

I do not have an answer, but it did prompt me to look at how social media is a Rat Race. I learned this term growing up. There is a financial board game and a movie with the same name. I've played the game and watched the movie. The meaning of Rat Race, per Cambridge Dictionary, is "a way of life in modern society, in which people compete with each other for power and money."

I found a couple of blogs on the Social Media Rat Race perspective. They were enlightening to read and provided validation to my thoughts. One blog focuses on the need for people to continually post and attract followers. The number of followers determines  social media success. For example, Influencers are born from the number of followers they gather (and knowledge they share). They are winning the social media rat race!

The social media rat race is affecting how we interact with others and how we live. We are influenced by the posts we see and become consumers of the ideas and likes of influencers. Are these your true desires? Something to consider...take a moment and reflect on what influences you and whether it is something you truly desire.

My feelings of needing to check in and be current on social media postings is my rat race. It's an endless and pointless pursuit to be "current." I have since regained my balance and refocused my intentions for social media usage.

Digial Break

I attempted to participate in a class digital detox challenge. My goal was to have most of my course assignments completed by Friday night so I could enjoy my Friday evening and Saturday without electronics or the obligation to complete school. Let's be honest, in grad school there is always something to be reading or completing. But nonetheless, we need mental breaks too.

The challenge for the digital detox was to step away from digital devices for 24-48 hours. My goal for the challenge was 24 hours. I was not completely successful, but I learned a lot about my digital uses.

    Here's what I learned about myself:

        When the goal is to shut down completely, it's more difficult than I thought. I found my attempts to be like starting a diet. I kept telling myself, at 8pm I'll put my phone down and step a way until tomorrow...then 9 pm came around, and I was still surfing Pintrest and Facebook. Being cognizant of wanting and needing to shut down, made it so much more difficult for me.

        In the past, I have been successful in performing a digital detox. Usually I would travel to a forgien country and not have a data service. I do realize today, it is a lot easier to get WiFi and stay connected, but I had no reason or desire to see what was happening back home. I was living in the moment and emerging myself in the country I was visiting.

        So why was this weekend so much harder to do? I felt like I needed a break. But I also felt like I needed to finish homework. I was also just mindlessly checking Facebook because I was bored.

In the end, I was able to take some time away from digital devices. I fixed a fence and cleaned out a pool filter. Manual labor will keep you preoccupied from electronics! I also caught myself before checking social media accounts for updates. I even let the notification build up on the various apps. That was difficult for me. I struggle with seeing those red icons!

It was a good exercise and I learned more about myself and became even more self aware.

Travel the world: Knowledge Sharing

I live to travel the world. Due to current global circumstances, my travel plans have been put on hold, so I am left to reminisce of past travels. For a course assignment on knowledge sharing, I decided to curate a gallery of photos from my various international trips. Check out my Instagram account to learn more about various place in the world I've traveled. 

Note: I'm very new to Instagram posting, so my original idea of providing captions to each photo was not successful as I created my first photo sharing gallery. I determined in order to share the valuable information per photo, I would need to post separate photos with captions.

Social Hoarding: It's not what you think, or is it?

Once again, I found myself reading an assignment for class and trailing off in thought. This time I was reading about digital collections and Web 2.0 tools available for collecting. As I was reading the assignment and various articles on digital collecting and curating educational resources, I had to laugh at the definition of collection. A few days ago, my family was watching a Netflix series on hoarding. One of the kids asked how the house got to be so full of stuff. My boyfriend proceeded to say, "this is what happens when you collect things." So with the conversation fresh in my mind, I thought about digital collecting turning into hoarding.

I Googled "social hoarding" and "digital hoarding" to see what information was available. In a quick scan, two articles came up that appealed to my interest. Oh, I did end up creating an account with Diigo to "collect" my searches more easily, rather than bookmarking to my browser or emailing myself the link. 

Both articles elude to social/digital hoarding as collecting social interactions. These include: emails, photos, Facebook friends, Twitter followers, etc.

As I was reading the articles, I expected to learn more about the Web 2.0 tools like Diigo or Pintrest that users are collecting information on but never using or the use of browser bookmarking. I was not successful in my quick search for find in particular information. But I did come across questions to consider in the two articles I did read:

• Do you keep every email, "just in case?"
• Do you collect Facebook friends, even though you don't know them (anymore)?
• Are you obsessed with followers on Twitter and Instagram?
  

The article by Mallet (2012) takes the approach of social digital hoarding to be a psychological disorder, no different than physical hoarding.

I'm guilty of hoarding tendencies in the sense of "collecting" sites (URLs) as bookmarks in various places and forgetting about them and where I saved them. Never to return to them. I think tools like Diigo and Pintrest are useful. My lack of digital organization is due to my lack in keeping up with all the tools once I am introduced. For example, I created an account with Diigo. Will I continue to use it beyond this class? I'd like to say yes, but being honest with my previous experiences using Web 2.0 platforms...probably not. But I may surprise myself! A lot of my continued use of a tool has to do with the usability. Diigo appears to be easy to use.

Web 2.0 Journey Pit Stop

I'm taking a moment to reflect on my Web 2.0 Journey. I'm about half way through my course and thought it would be a good idea to take time to reflect upon what I've learned.

I defined Web 2.0 as interacting with the web. I still maintain that to be true. Over the last several weeks, I have become more comfortable blogging. Hope you are enjoying the random blog posts! Last couple of weeks I joined a couple of online communities and expanded my understanding of online communities and the importance of not just lurking or observing. Participation is key to getting the most out of the group. 

In all honesty, I have not been very good about trying all the new Web 2.0 tools my course has suggested. I do check them out and for most of them, I'll create a log in. But I've not been diligent or active in many of the new tools. Partly this is from the feeling of being overwhelmed with social media platforms. I tend to limit my electronic use naturally, so it takes a conscious effort to be online. 

I have noticed, through my classmates posts, there are many educational benefits to the various platforms. And perhaps if I were teaching in a classroom, I would feel more obligated to discovering ways to incorporate Web 2.0 safely into my teaching. Since I work for the University and primarily with faculty and staff for administrative support, I have thought about how Web 2.0 can be better used for my job. I have not totally figured it out, but keeping my options available. That being said, I have found great professional development, leadership, and other performance improvement pins on Pinterest. 

Hopefully, the next half of the semester I will be more adventurous in actually trying the new tools! I'm trying...the first step is creating a log in.