Daily Archives: September 19, 2013

Adulthood

For months leading up to leaving for Middlebury, people told me that college was the time to become an adult. To mature emotionally, mentally, and physically in ways that I did not think possible. The time to find out the most about myself. I would smile and nod politely when someone would give me this speech and would ultimately go in one ear and out the other. It wasn’t until I actually got here that I suddenly understood what they meant. What does it mean to be an adult? When do you actually start becoming one? These have been questions I have struggled with in my first few weeks here at Middlebury. Sure, I can physically take care of myself. Do my laundry. Feed myself when needed. But what does it mean emotionally to become an adult? Without a question, emotionally becoming an adult takes time. Yet when it happens, do you feel the change inside of you? Will the close bonds I have with my family change as a result?I guess time will only tell.

 

Kerri

My Thoughts on Twitter – An Excerpt From My Most Recent Reading Response

One Hundred Forty Characters – that is all an individual gets to make an impression on the Internet. If you are going to tweet, tweet effectively and consciously. From gathering information from others about how they use Twitter and reflecting on how I use Twitter, I have established a personal set of guidelines that I should attempt to follow before sending out a tweet. First, think of your audience – who will see this tweet and how will that individual or group of individuals be affected by it. Next, I like to contemplate about the worthiness of the tweet. I ask myself “Is this joke, link, etcetera something that others will appreciate or is it best that I keep this thought to myself?” Half of the time, I decide to scrap the tweet completely. I have found that I have been able to moderate my tweeting using this strategy of personal reflection. Just as one wouldn’t turn in an essay without revising it, one shouldn’t tweet in an unbridled fashion. My twitter goal is to create a profile that reveals part of my personality through quips, witty responses, social observations, and commentary on current events. However, I don’t want to reveal too much about myself. I’m not going to talk about what I ate for breakfast or what my mom and I talked about on the phone last night. Twitter is a revolutionary tool for interacting with celebrities, getting news, and communicating with friends. But remember, the conscious tweeter is the effective tweeter.

 

– Murph

 

Habitual Pattern, or Addiction?

In my Digital Media Literacy class on Tuesday, many of my classmates spoke of their “addiction” to media, particularly their phones. They talked about how they would feel disconnected or lost without their devices. While some presented their apparent addiction in rather dramatic terms, most described an experience that sounded more like a habitual pattern than actual addiction.

Addiction usually characterizes someone who is incapable of living without something without suffering a severe psychological or physical reaction. The nervous tick of checking one’s phone every five minutes is an impulse created by a habitual pattern. While it resembles addiction because of its frequency and repetition, I would venture to guess that the reason behind that action is not a feeling of needing the phone (as in addiction), but rather of following the easiest behavioral pathway. Most people check their phones almost unconsciously.

Addiction also implies some element of choice, in which the addictee cannot make the choice not to engage in a certain activity, even if they know that activity is harmful. Checking one’s phone is not a conscious choice; it is rather a learned behavior. As with any learned behavior, it can be unlearned. The steps for moving away from that particular behavioral pattern could require similar therapy techniques to those used to treat addiction, but it would likely be an easier and quicker process.

I feel fortunate that I have never learned the phone-check behavior. It is largely because I do not have an iPhone, and therefore do not have all the apps imaginable at my fingertips, but it benefits me in a number of ways. First, I am always present. So often people are simultaneously having multiple social interactions, and not really paying attention to their surroundings. One of my biggest pet peeves is when I am having a conversation (usually in a group rather than one-on-one – I’m not that boring) and someone checks their phone in the middle. It immediately deflates the entire atmosphere. Second, I am not beholden to anyone. Other than a select few people – my family and closest friends – I don’t have to be in constant interaction with others through media. As an introvert, this is an immensely freeing way to live my life. When our teacher presented the idea of a 24-hour “media fast” others reacted with outrage. I just sat back and smiled. What others perceived as a stressful experience, I thought would be a relaxing change of pace.

-epn

That thing called a memory…

After returning from my first full college a cappella rehearsal, I was struck with a connection between singing and the Plato reading we’ve discussed in class. According to Plato, there is no need to write anything down, writing things down weakens the mind. I would definitely agree with him, but the fact of the matter is that there is no way I can retain all of the information I here everyday without writing stuff down.

Unfortunately, my a cappella group is on Plato’s side. No notes, no sheet music, nothing. When learning a piece, you listen to everyone else until you get the tune in your head. Eventually you memorize it. And that’s how it is. A major difference from what I am used to.

In high school we had binders full of sheet music for every song we sang. We attempted to memorize all of our pieces but because we were so used to reading music, it was actually much harder to memorize and sometimes we performed with binders. Now, thats not the end of the world, but it doesn’t look to good on stage.

I’ve found that learning without sheet music accelerates the learning process immensely. After only a rehearsal and a half with my new group, I have a few songs memorized and ready to perform on Friday. It makes me think, if I just sit in class and take everything in without writing anything down will I retain it better? I don’t think that’s a theory I’m willing to test.