Step 3: Write
In this day and age, the lines have blurred between the virtual world and the real world. Drawing from my own experiment of tracking my media use and then testing a new media habit for 87 hours, I have come to the conclusion that identities should not be formed only within the realm of the digital world, and many of us have become very dependent on communication technology, myself included.
One of my all-time favorite quotes is by Steve Furtick, "The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel." And I hate to admit it, but I fall under this spell too; wondering why someone has 400 followers on Instagram or 900 on Twitter, while I only have 33 and 46, respectively. Or wondering how someone has hundreds of likes on a Facebook profile picture, while I have none. Why does it really matter? We are in an age where the lines between our digital lives and real lives have greatly blurred. And the satisfaction we feel for ourselves in real life sometimes corresponds to how many likes and favorites a post receives on a social media platform. As a consequence, our real lives are suffering. We pay attention more to our digital lives because we receive immediate gratification and responses to anything we post. Cooking and eating meals, working out, stressing out about school or work, going for a walk by the lake, shopping, and so many other normal everyday activities people do, now must be documented on every single social media platform we have an account on. And the things we post about usually aren't anything unusual, but we still want every single one of our 792 friends to know about it. And we wonder how our digital lives and real lives have become so intermixed...
John B. Thompson argues, "An everyday world external to the media is central to individuals' experience of their lives and their self-formation" (New Media: A Critical Introduction). I agree with Thompson's suggestion that an experience of life outside the media is critical to our identity and self-formation. I know from my own experience that I do not like how much time I spend online. I always feels like a waste of time; I could always be doing something more productive than scrolling through my Facebook feed with posts of the hundreds of "friends" I never talk to, or scrolling through pictures on Instagram of what others are having for lunch. It's truly unnecessary to see most of the things I do run into on these platforms.
Digital dualism, the belief that online and offline are largely distinct and independent realities, is a fallacy. Stèphane Vial, a French digital theorist, explains, "One century after the invention of the telephone, we still know the difference between the face-to-face presence and the telephonical presence. But we don't feel it as a problem or a conflict anymore. We know how to enmesh them peacefully. That's the same with the difference between the digital and the physical: We are learning how to enmesh them peacefully and, very soon, we will no longer feel them as a conflict." Although I do agree what Vial suggests is most likely inevitable, I still would like to preserve, for the meantime, some of the traditional face-to-face, physical interactions we have with actual human beings.
When beginning this new media diet project, I began to attentively observe not only my own media habits, but also those of the people around me. Whenever I used public transportation, I noticed that the majority of people were plugged into their phones, either with headphones or their eyes glued to the tiny screens. I can't even imagine what the atmosphere would be like instead if no one had an electronic device on them. I truly cannot give even a possibility of what that would be like - riding the train with no one listening to music through their headphones, no one scrolling through their feeds on their phones, or no one reading on their tablets. In some ways it almost seems like paradise.
But another major observation I made was in my best friend, who also happens to be my roommate, and her media use. Many times when we'd be sitting in the living room talking about our days, she would be on her phone the entire time while I talked. My phone wasn't even anywhere near me, so I had my full attention on the conversation, and I felt somewhat disconnected and ignored by her divided attention. I would call her out on it too, and she would assure me that she was listening, but it truly didn't feel like she was. And there were other times we would both be on our phones sitting in the living room together not even talking to one another, but if she or I found something interesting or funny in our phone entrancement, we'd read it or send it to the other. But since starting this project I have tried to avoid using my phone while talking to someone in person, just because I know I feel when someone else only gives me their divided attention.
Douglas Rushkoff writes in his book, Program or Be Programmed, "On the net, we cast out for answers through simple search terms rather than diving into an inquiry and following extended lines of logic." This makes digital technology - and those of us using it - biased toward a reduction in complexity. The other day, I played the children's mind game, "Johnny Whoop," on my roommate, which took her a very long time to figure out. She became frustrated and only after a couple of minutes declared she was going to "Google it" for the answer. Eventually, she did figure out the trick on her own, but the instant reaction to receive a quick-fix solution has become embedded in our society. I have caught myself doing the same exact thing numerous times. Although I am getting a quick answer instead of spending a lot of time figuring it out on my own, I feel like I am actually hindering my ability to solve real world problems without the help of new media.
For the four weeks I tracked my media use, I realized how dependent and how much my world revolves around new media and technology. A day does not go by in which I do not either use my computer or my phone. Three specific habits I discovered in my use were: I have an intimate relationship with my computer; I use my phone as a filler for void or awkward moments in my everyday life; and although most of my time online is used for school and productive activities, a lot of it is also used to procrastinate and do nothing very worthwhile, and this is when I am most distracted and am wasting precious time.
I went on a hiatus from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Netflix and Buzzfeed for an 87 hour period; and it was truly glorious. It was a relief to only have to keep up with one life for at least a short period of time. Now, about two weeks after my hiatus, I try to avoid continuously checking my social media platforms, but it has come to no avail. I have caught myself falling back right into the same habits I had before, of going through my phone first thing when I wake up in the morning and scrolling through all my feeds before going to bed, etc. I haven't touched my novel in what seems like forever.
There needs to be a balance between our real world and digital world, although I do still believe they are becoming more and more intertwined. Physical interaction is much more rewarding and fulfilling than chatting with someone online. Sure, it feels good to have several people like my pose or favorite my tweet, but that only gives me short bursts of satisfaction. While seeing and talking face-to-face to a friend exchanges much more information, emotion and interaction than just clicking "Like."
Another observation I made during this experiment is, what I call, the nervous tick, a habitual instinct to pull out and look at my phone while waiting for anything, the elevator or train to arrive, class to begin, meeting a friend who's late, etc. It have been a very hard habit to drop, but just as it is with most addictions, each day is a struggle. But I need to actually stop giving in to this nervous tick, because it's very unnecessary to be doing. I should look around me for once and maybe I'll notice something I haven't before. I should spend more time looking at the world than at screens.
Surprisingly, my new media diet wasn't as brutal as I thought it would be, and it was instead a quite enjoyable and enlightening experiment. I don't think I could ever completely log-off of new media because I am currently a student going into journalism, where media is prominent and digital connection is a must. But still for personal fulfillment and satisfaction, I believe, my media use needs to be a balance diet of the sweets of social media and the vegetables of the real world.
I acknowledge the fact that I am very dependent on communication technology and desperately do not want to be, but the ever-blurring line between the real world and digital world is making it more and more difficult to totally disconnect from the virtual realm. It will be interesting to see what the future holds in humanity's, at least for those with the privilege of having access to new media, relationship with communication technology. Personally, I hope we stick to some traditions, such as paper books and face-to-face conversations, but it may just become more accepted to have more of a digital life than a real life; although we are quickly heading towards this already. It all just depends on what one makes of it. So we shall see.
One of my all-time favorite quotes is by Steve Furtick, "The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel." And I hate to admit it, but I fall under this spell too; wondering why someone has 400 followers on Instagram or 900 on Twitter, while I only have 33 and 46, respectively. Or wondering how someone has hundreds of likes on a Facebook profile picture, while I have none. Why does it really matter? We are in an age where the lines between our digital lives and real lives have greatly blurred. And the satisfaction we feel for ourselves in real life sometimes corresponds to how many likes and favorites a post receives on a social media platform. As a consequence, our real lives are suffering. We pay attention more to our digital lives because we receive immediate gratification and responses to anything we post. Cooking and eating meals, working out, stressing out about school or work, going for a walk by the lake, shopping, and so many other normal everyday activities people do, now must be documented on every single social media platform we have an account on. And the things we post about usually aren't anything unusual, but we still want every single one of our 792 friends to know about it. And we wonder how our digital lives and real lives have become so intermixed...
John B. Thompson argues, "An everyday world external to the media is central to individuals' experience of their lives and their self-formation" (New Media: A Critical Introduction). I agree with Thompson's suggestion that an experience of life outside the media is critical to our identity and self-formation. I know from my own experience that I do not like how much time I spend online. I always feels like a waste of time; I could always be doing something more productive than scrolling through my Facebook feed with posts of the hundreds of "friends" I never talk to, or scrolling through pictures on Instagram of what others are having for lunch. It's truly unnecessary to see most of the things I do run into on these platforms.
Digital dualism, the belief that online and offline are largely distinct and independent realities, is a fallacy. Stèphane Vial, a French digital theorist, explains, "One century after the invention of the telephone, we still know the difference between the face-to-face presence and the telephonical presence. But we don't feel it as a problem or a conflict anymore. We know how to enmesh them peacefully. That's the same with the difference between the digital and the physical: We are learning how to enmesh them peacefully and, very soon, we will no longer feel them as a conflict." Although I do agree what Vial suggests is most likely inevitable, I still would like to preserve, for the meantime, some of the traditional face-to-face, physical interactions we have with actual human beings.
When beginning this new media diet project, I began to attentively observe not only my own media habits, but also those of the people around me. Whenever I used public transportation, I noticed that the majority of people were plugged into their phones, either with headphones or their eyes glued to the tiny screens. I can't even imagine what the atmosphere would be like instead if no one had an electronic device on them. I truly cannot give even a possibility of what that would be like - riding the train with no one listening to music through their headphones, no one scrolling through their feeds on their phones, or no one reading on their tablets. In some ways it almost seems like paradise.
But another major observation I made was in my best friend, who also happens to be my roommate, and her media use. Many times when we'd be sitting in the living room talking about our days, she would be on her phone the entire time while I talked. My phone wasn't even anywhere near me, so I had my full attention on the conversation, and I felt somewhat disconnected and ignored by her divided attention. I would call her out on it too, and she would assure me that she was listening, but it truly didn't feel like she was. And there were other times we would both be on our phones sitting in the living room together not even talking to one another, but if she or I found something interesting or funny in our phone entrancement, we'd read it or send it to the other. But since starting this project I have tried to avoid using my phone while talking to someone in person, just because I know I feel when someone else only gives me their divided attention.
Douglas Rushkoff writes in his book, Program or Be Programmed, "On the net, we cast out for answers through simple search terms rather than diving into an inquiry and following extended lines of logic." This makes digital technology - and those of us using it - biased toward a reduction in complexity. The other day, I played the children's mind game, "Johnny Whoop," on my roommate, which took her a very long time to figure out. She became frustrated and only after a couple of minutes declared she was going to "Google it" for the answer. Eventually, she did figure out the trick on her own, but the instant reaction to receive a quick-fix solution has become embedded in our society. I have caught myself doing the same exact thing numerous times. Although I am getting a quick answer instead of spending a lot of time figuring it out on my own, I feel like I am actually hindering my ability to solve real world problems without the help of new media.
For the four weeks I tracked my media use, I realized how dependent and how much my world revolves around new media and technology. A day does not go by in which I do not either use my computer or my phone. Three specific habits I discovered in my use were: I have an intimate relationship with my computer; I use my phone as a filler for void or awkward moments in my everyday life; and although most of my time online is used for school and productive activities, a lot of it is also used to procrastinate and do nothing very worthwhile, and this is when I am most distracted and am wasting precious time.
I went on a hiatus from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Netflix and Buzzfeed for an 87 hour period; and it was truly glorious. It was a relief to only have to keep up with one life for at least a short period of time. Now, about two weeks after my hiatus, I try to avoid continuously checking my social media platforms, but it has come to no avail. I have caught myself falling back right into the same habits I had before, of going through my phone first thing when I wake up in the morning and scrolling through all my feeds before going to bed, etc. I haven't touched my novel in what seems like forever.
There needs to be a balance between our real world and digital world, although I do still believe they are becoming more and more intertwined. Physical interaction is much more rewarding and fulfilling than chatting with someone online. Sure, it feels good to have several people like my pose or favorite my tweet, but that only gives me short bursts of satisfaction. While seeing and talking face-to-face to a friend exchanges much more information, emotion and interaction than just clicking "Like."
Another observation I made during this experiment is, what I call, the nervous tick, a habitual instinct to pull out and look at my phone while waiting for anything, the elevator or train to arrive, class to begin, meeting a friend who's late, etc. It have been a very hard habit to drop, but just as it is with most addictions, each day is a struggle. But I need to actually stop giving in to this nervous tick, because it's very unnecessary to be doing. I should look around me for once and maybe I'll notice something I haven't before. I should spend more time looking at the world than at screens.
Surprisingly, my new media diet wasn't as brutal as I thought it would be, and it was instead a quite enjoyable and enlightening experiment. I don't think I could ever completely log-off of new media because I am currently a student going into journalism, where media is prominent and digital connection is a must. But still for personal fulfillment and satisfaction, I believe, my media use needs to be a balance diet of the sweets of social media and the vegetables of the real world.
I acknowledge the fact that I am very dependent on communication technology and desperately do not want to be, but the ever-blurring line between the real world and digital world is making it more and more difficult to totally disconnect from the virtual realm. It will be interesting to see what the future holds in humanity's, at least for those with the privilege of having access to new media, relationship with communication technology. Personally, I hope we stick to some traditions, such as paper books and face-to-face conversations, but it may just become more accepted to have more of a digital life than a real life; although we are quickly heading towards this already. It all just depends on what one makes of it. So we shall see.