Finally broke the blackout. Checked Facebook last night. As I assumed nothing new in my digital world had drastically changed; just a few messages from my friends. That being said, it was quite the experience of not having Facebook. Unfortunately most of my time that would have been spent on Facebook was spent in boredom wondering about what was happening on Facebook. I have learned a lesson through this: moderation. Some of the down time that I normally spend on Facebook didn’t necessarily go to more productive things. I spent the most part of my extra time on StumbleUpon. Which I suppose is kind of productive given that my interest include things about current events, politics, technology, etc. So the time that I would have used socializing was spent instead gaining knowledge. However, during this I noticed for example, that when I found a really interesting website I wanted to share it, obviously via Facebook.
Tag Archive for Facebook
UNPLUGGED: DAY 2
First full day done, and another just started. It has been tough not being active on Facebook only because I know I have messages from friends waiting for me. It’s hard when you become so reliant on something to give it up. It would be like if someone didn’t email or text for a week; especially if you know that you are receiving emails and texts. It highlights how interconnected we are and how much the world has changed. 20-30 years ago few people had cell phone, there wasn’t texting, and the internet wasn’t in the palm of your hand. If you didn’t hear from someone for a while that was ok, because the access to people was smaller. Today, it’s still ok that you don’t hear from a person but at least you’ll know immediately.The access and speed is really bothering me.
However, the reality is probably that not much has gone on in my digital world in 36 hours.
UNPLUGGED: DAY 1
It is my first 12 hours of being unplugged from Facebook. It’s hard because it seems so second nature to check it. Before going to bed, or when I get up in the morning it’s the same process each time; open email, check the weather, check Facebook. I wouldn’t say that I NEED to check Facebook, but it feels like I know that I have messages waiting for me, people trying to get in contact with me. I suppose if I needed to I could always send them an email. I know I’ll have to cheat a little this week, two of my classes use Facebook for discussion. I’m going to try and not let that be an excuse. It’s still pretty hard. I figured in the last 12 hours I would have been on Facebook maybe an hour total; like 4 or 5 times checking it just for ten to fifteen minutes. I don’t know which I feel worse about, that I can’t check it out (even though in reality nothing has probably changed online) or that I can’t go about my normal day without checking in online.
Reflection #2
Blackout Social Networking Article
1. Without having experienced a social media withdrawal, how can you imagine it would it affect your daily routine?
I would feel out of the loop. I use social networking, mainly facebook, to keep in contact with my friends, find out what people are doing, and share what I’m doing. There are other ways to communicate for sure, but without social networking it would be more awkward. I imagine I would get about the same amount of things done. I use facebook when I’m bored. If not facebook, then something else like stumbleupon.
2. Once you have answered 1 above, complete a self-imposed “unplugging” from one or more social networks that you typically use. Fully dis-engage from your iPhone, Facebook, Twitter or other social tool. How long were you able to stay unplugged? What was easiest/hardest about disengaging? What did you learn in the process?
3. What alternatives to completely unplugging might be good suggestions for your peers as they learn to balance social engagement in online and real-world environments?
Reflections Week Before 9.18.11
Working at CAT and Info Commons has been going alright. This past week I had to finish up on a video editing project for Paula Saffire. The main thing for this was that she had short documentaries (about 15 minutes each) that she wanted cut into sections so that when presenting them in class she didn’t have to fast-forward and guess when to stop to show a certain section. She was not showing the movie in sequential order, so the clips would allow her to jump from one topic to another within the movie very easily. This was not difficult to do in iMovie, simply cut the clips up. The problems (of course there is always something that comes up) is that once these clips were done, they took much longer to export than previously expected. Also, she only had a 2 GB USB drive to put them on at first, but then I asked for something larger and she gave me a 4 GB. Regardless of these issues, as well as the fact that we could never get our schedules straighten out, the project is finished.
As far as technology overlay in my life; three of my classes now are using technology in two different ways, all three classes are Poli Sci class. For Dr. Brabant’s PO490, we still have three people assigned each week to work with technology. One person is to be a webmaster that shows a clip, article, picture, any sort of media to the class and then we discuss it. The other two people are notetakers in class that transcribe the discussions in class then post the notes on BlackBoard. That is the extent of the technology in that class, but it is a great leap forward from what used to happen in a Brabant class. My other two Poli Sci classes are now actively using Facebook for class discussion. Dr. Craig Auchter and Dr. Su-Mei Ooi both have begun using Facebook as a forum for class discussion. It very much surprised me that 1) Dr. Auchter had a Facebook and that 2) he used it with such ease. He must have took our emails and found us online because my privacy settings make my profile unsearchable. But nonetheless he found all the students, created three separate groups, invited us, and now twice a week we have student led discussion on the groups wall. Likewise Dr. Ooi has just switched from using BlackBoard discussion page to creating a Facebook profile specifically for the class. I feel this is not as nice and neatly done as Dr. Auchter. Dr. Ooi created an entirely new profile for use to post and comment on. I get the feeling that people will be less active commenting on a profile made for a class rather than a group made for a class. Group activity is more easily displayed on the sidebar of the newsfeed, a profile just acts like a profile. It may or may not notify me when a new post or comment is made; it would definitely notify whomever’s profile that is. A group will let me know in my notifications that ‘so-and-so’ made a comment/post. Either way it is reflective of our professors to realize that BlackBoard is not something we check regularly (not as regularly as expected). I see functionality of BlackBoard, but it’s not something that a student is gonna check twice, thrice, or more times a day. Using Facebook keeps me more in the loop of both with my friends and with my classmates. It only makes sense to me to facilitate discussion in a forum that is already being used for conversation. It is the commonality between real life and digital life. Just as in the public sphere of my day to day life, conversation with my friends/classmates may be personal but it might also pertain to discussions so too may the digital sphere of my day to day digital life reflect what my real life is doing. Often it has without incentive/requirements by my professors. My friends and I already have a Facebook group for just us that we post links to, create discussion threads on, and generally come up with ideas for the next Thursday meetings or weekend plans. Since we are all Poli Sci, IS, Philosophy, or Anthro majors much of what we discuss is relevant to not only to our personal lives but also to our educational lives. Therefore the fact that professors have caught on to the forum we already are using to communicate makes the incentive/ease to communicate in class discussion that much easier and more likely than on another forum such as BlackBoard.