Day One – Magical Day
It is surely interesting to hear about the progress information consumers have made towards media usage today and how often this interplay can switch between an online activity like reading e-mails and responding to Facebook messages to an offline activity, such as working on an assignment or relaxing in your dorm with some friends from class. It is to my surprise that there even is data about the duration media user spend between the two types of activities. However, the number is significantly lower than it was ten years ago (three minutes) at forty-five seconds. The reason being, people are rapidly switching between tasks at a faster pace inevitably causing more anxiety and stress leading to low amounts of finished work produced. The situation worsens and worrisome. Gloria Mark, Professor of Informatics at the University of California-Irvine, says, “From an observer’s perspective you’re watching a person [and] they’re typing in a word document. And then, for no apparent reason, they suddenly stop what they’re doing and they shift and look at email or check Facebook. These kinds of self-interruptions happen almost as frequently as people are interrupted by external sources,” because workers are becoming more susceptible to distractions in the workplace. Mark’s opinion on external interruptions, “So we find that when external interruptions are pretty high in any particular hour, then even if the level of external interruptions wane [in the next hour], then people self-interrupt.”
Within the first day, my attempt at keeping the focus on one single task was certainly challenging until it is complete due to my A.D.D. and because on Monday’s I have no scheduled classes, essentially leaving my day wide open. Nevertheless, beginning my day is fairly simple; wake up, walk to the gym to workout, walk to the cafeteria to eat then shower – no matter the hour. I ensured I would plan out what day I wanted to begin the first day of the “Infomagical Challenge” because it would set the tone for the rest of the challenge regarding how successful the day prior ended. The challenge began on a Monday due to the fact that I have no scheduled classes. After showering, I decided to focus on creating and finishing a video project in one day. First, I made a list of all the things I plan to bring then I gathered all of my equipment to head to Hogs Back Locks (twenty-twenty-five minutes). During the walk, James a friend of mine plays music in the background, while we talk about an overview of what is going to happen and when and where. Coincidentally, listening to music and talking to someone decreased the travel time by six minutes. Shortly after, we walked back to campus to begin the editing process. For this, I put my phone away from me and turned it off. This is so I do not become distracted by the use notification sound or vibration. Another resource to lessen distractions/multitasking was using earphones to minimize extra noise.
Overall, it was a good experience that I had yet to try ironically in university. I find concentrating on one task helps with my concentration difficulties. It is typical for me to misplace items as well for the reason that I change my attention quickly from one thing to the next. Creating a list ensures that I have everything I need to complete said task correctly and efficiently, in addition, talking about the subject I am focusing on at the time, in this case, the film’s outline proves useful also because I am going over what I am about to do. This reassures myself that I know what I am about to do/doing as it is often difficult to remember previous actions and thoughts without being constantly reminded of they were at the time.
Day Two – Magical Phone
After understanding today’s challenge out of five in the “Infomagical Challenge”, I think of it as a menial task to say the least. Already there is solely two folders on my phone labeled, “Apple” signifying apple applications and “Interact” signifying everything else I use. However, there were a couple of applications that do not necessarily use but are there in case I feel the need to use them. For example, Apple “Tips”, Apple “Reminders” and Apple “Voice Memos”. Nevertheless, the next step is more interesting, it is putting the remaining applications in one big folder but the only way to search and activate said ‘apps’ is to use the search bar. It is interesting because the phone user becomes more task oriented and efficient by specifically looking for an application to use as opposed to looking through the phone to see which application he/she should use next.
Overall, this is a challenge to begin in the morning right when you wake up because I found that starting mid-day might cause the phone user to fall back into the habit of just looking for an application to use because they start with their normal routine. In addition, the challenge proves to be burdensome. The fact that the phone user is to search for the application of their choice, created for me more work which I did not care to do. As a result, I used my phone today less than average, thus spending more time doing my assignments and hanging out with my friends.
Day Three – Magical Brain
It is important for the information consumer to know when to stop consuming information. I think this challenge is a good way to rid all the unnecessary clutter in the instance of viral videos containing pets, or falls. On the other hand, the world continues to spin and viral news like, “Sobeys slashes staff amid digital push”, a pressing issue to a large number of laid-off workers still appear in my newsfeed on my phone. Essentially, there is a time to watch funny viral videos and/or article and a time for significant news. I do not necessarily think shutting down from all pressing media is a good idea as it is still important for the world to see. Simply, it is not an issue to leave all pressing matters on the table while I go do something else, meaning all I had to do for this challenge was to turn off my phone and disconnect my laptop from the internet.
Overall, I spent half of my day just talking with my friends and hanging out with them in my dorm room. However, I did foresee myself using my phone for the weather, navigation, contact with my contacts, so that is why I turned off my phone and put it away so I could not find it and use it. Surely it was difficult not to use my phone for one day, but I did learn somewhat how to go about my day without relying on my phone to run my life.
Day Four – Magical Connection
Talking to someone who is open-minded is seriously one of my favourite things to do because there is never an end to what you can talk about and learn. My seven-minute conversation was with my roommate James. I certainly believe this is a good idea because it is a break from technology and possible information overload. It is especially strenuous for my eyes and brain when I stare at a screen all day long without blinking. It is also a different way from how information consumers usually receive information and the information received is generally a different and unique perspective. This could possibly generate more ideas on the topic and enhance one’s critical thinking. On the other hand, word of mouth is not always the best solution to receiving information and taking a break from the internet. A definite challenge was attempting to remember all of the information because I cannot go back on the internet and look it up because I would not be executing the challenge properly. Moreover, it was hard to keep on topic as we need to keep into account, anecdotes, analogies, external distractions etc. Another challenge was the ability to structure what one person is going to say to the other person listening since there is a time limit to get everything that needs to be laid out in order to conduct an efficient conversation where all of the points previously thought of are said. The last challenge was the conclusion. James and I did not know how to end the conversation because we forgot what happened in the end.
Overall, the conversation between James and me about the legalization of marijuana was not dry at all. Even though near the end we had forgotten the conclusion, it was unique to see that the two of us could imagine new possibilities for the new information digested, such as the betterment of the economy. As I have previously mentioned, talking to someone about the news, certainly is enlightening as it gives a different point of view on the topic at hand.
Day Five – Magical Life
Originally, I had thought I was using a high amount of hours towards my mobile device seeing that it is on my person most of the time but throughout this “Infomagical Challenge” I have realized that I should not rely on it as much to have a good time, I have found talking to someone is more enjoyable and the fourth day out of five was by far my favourite challenge day. It is unusual for me to pay more attention to another type of modality. It is [mobile device] generally in my pocket screaming at me to use it and so I am attentively going back through my week saying what happened. Even though the overall hours of my media consumption is higher than I was to expect, it is still positive to notice my reason for using so many hours geared towards media. All in all, I would rather see a higher number count in hours concerning medium usages that are beneficial than dedicating my time to wasteful media consumption (instant gratification).
The interplay between media and information is unbreakable, agonizing, and successful. Throughout the day, people are seeing media and information mostly everywhere they look. The bond that these two notions carry is always visible, you cannot have one without the other. That being said, people only see these two individually or not at all when a screen is turned off. A world with just information is an aware one and a world with just media is an empty one. Media and information complement each other like yin and yang. On the other hand, a world like ours, a world being overrun by media and information is unbearable. In this contemporary time, some people are discovering what scientists are calling “information overload”, which is the exposure of too much data. It is to my understanding that people today are experiencing this symptom of the internet a little too much just because the internet essentially gave them the world at their fingertips and stress. There is a time for everything and shutting the media down from your life for a while is considered healthy by my standards. Nevertheless, the media and information prove to be the most powerful today, not our government leaders to say the least. This power couple, potentially can restore balance from chaos and vice versa.
AngeloMatusDíaz 