Digital Media

Over the break I was back home. It never felt so good to be back to the city. I was waiting for the day to come. Now that I was back home, it was time to see all the people that I had missed. I realized that many people found it easy to gather friends through social media. I always found out last about a meet up because I was only reachable by text or call. The convenience of social media use to my friends was useful in planning out events. I just didn’t think I wanted to go through activating Facebook again. I like the pace with what I have now. I really don’t miss Facebook. I find myself doing other things rather than looking at people’s updates and funny stupid videos. If I really wanted to talk or know how someone was doing, I’ll text them or call. For me, I think it is a much more close tie to a friend by calling and reaching out by phone than using Facebook unless there was a circumstance that caused a barrier for communication. I liked Facebook, but I don’t seem to think much of it now. Working with just a phone and for now a twitter has shown me that there is not much of a need for social media. It’s a good thing to kill time and see what others are up to and what not, but sometimes it becomes too much in your life. I like not constantly thinking of what’s going on on Facebook. It may be hard in some ways to reach me, but I like it this way. 🙂

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day and realized how much technology has changed and how behind I am. I just recently upgraded to apple products last November and this would mark my year with an apple product. I now have three apple products which I honestly barely know how to really work. The updates just keep coming and I just don’t find time to actually play around and be tech savvy. It is a sad thing, but I was never really someone who invested her time in technology. I was always a busy body only using my phone to talk and text and occasionally surf the web. Apps always helped as well with anything that I really needed from my Droid that I had. I just wanted the simple things in life from my phone.

When I got into the Apple world, it was something totally different to me. I was a Droid and Windows type of girl. Switching to an iPhone was really confusing at first. I got the basics down, but I still had a lot to learn. Up to this day I am still learning about the many things that I could do with my phone and computer. I can say I am impressed with Apple’s improvements over the years and the collaboration between the products that they have going on with iCloud. I’m still a bit iffy with the new updates that were released for the iPhone and Macs. I’m scared of the changes that might take place and I’d be lost without the friend that helped me get through my struggles.

I’ll be back home soon though with my friend to calm me with the updates so I will conquer my fears! Oh Apple…

Just the other night I had to study for my Political Science Midterm. My political science midterm happened to be the first midterm I will take here at Middlebury college. It was also one of the only tests this semester that was not open book. My Professor gives his lectures in a speedy manner. This caused for me to study by finding the information need for his midterm on my own. What better way to do it than finding definitions and court cases by using the web… That was until the internet crashed.

The panic was never this real.

All that I could do was sit in Ross with my study buddy and sit in frustration. Using our iPhones was the only current solution. However, I didn’t know how much the cell service sucked with data plans until being without wi-fi. The time that I needed the Internet and I depended on it, it FAILED me. I have learned how clueless and frantic I turned. I really had no alternative. I had my books, but they didn’t have the necessary information that I needed. This really taught me a lesson on depending on technology. It was the worst night ever until the internet was back up and running again.

Watching the movie Disconnected really bought me back to a few years ago. Around the time that the movie was being made and came out, I was in middle school. I had a computer at home and my mother would only allow for an hour use of the computer everyday. Most of the days were spent going out or my mother would shop and go downtown. When Myspace was popular, I had one of those, but I really didn’t do much with it. AIM had an impact with Instant Messaging, but I only really had an hour to use it because I had a time limit. In school, the introduction of the use of the Smart Board was fairly new as well.

It seems as though computers were really beginning to become an increasing factor during these times. Watching the movie showed me that as the world upgrades continuously it makes ways of life, when you’re not used to it, a bit harder. When one of the college students went to the library he was faced with a reading that was on the computer, but he really couldn’t use it. This caused a bit of a struggle as well as writing on a type writer. With that said, it was mentioned in the movie that it was an inconvenience to not have a computer but it helped to become more focused and less distracted.

I believe that this movie was a great way to show the dependence that has grown onto college students and the usage of technology. It’s hard to escape from the urge of using a computer or send out a text. Since that time, many other various advances have been made which complicates things a bit more. Smart phones, tablets, iPhones, and more makes it much easier to have an all-in-one device that’s hard to put down. It’s up to us how we incorporate this in our lives.

Media fasting happens once in a while for me. Doing it now, was not all that hard as I thought it would’ve been. When I first came to Middlebury and had to go camping on my Middview trip where I had no cell service. This was my first taste of how it felt like to be away from home and not being able to stay in contact with people. Previously, when I was at home, I would have random days that I would stray away from my technology and just relax and enjoy simple things I liked to do, but I knew that I would always have a connection through phone if they called. It wasn’t a task assigned to me so I felt at ease mostly.

Having to fast now was worrisome at first because it’s hard to keep in the loop of what’s going on in Middlebury or class without having access to technology. Anxiety crept its way through the day, but I kept myself sane by cleaning and occupying myself with friends. These are things I usually do anyway, but it was harder for me to actually really find someone that I needed. Technology for me is a way that I use to make sure that I am in the know about what’s going on or if I am needed by someone. I deactivated my Facebook before doing this (thank goodness) which helped a lot more. I didn’t have the urge to constantly check status updates and try to see who is doing what out of my friends. I honestly don’t miss being on Facebook at all. It seemed to be what I used to help me kill time. As for emails, I usually get promo emails from shopping sites and occasionally those important ones that pop up. It was not anything special.

Fasting in all honesty is something I’ll consider doing once in a while continuously. Most likely during breaks because having to put down my technologies here, is really nerve wrecking.

Recently I went to dinner with some of my friends- at least I’d like to believe that I did. It began with us sitting  down at a table from walking from the car. On our way when we walked, we all were conversing amongst each other in our group. Somehow, that dynamic changed in a matter of moments when we took our seats. Within minutes of our seating, the conversations died down and all who sat around the table had tunnel vision that only tuned into their various social networking sites or texting. What just happened?

It is so easy to just glance at a text message and then become engulfed in the conversation depending on how it catches your attention. I know for me if I am in a really good conversation via text or Facebook, in the back of my mind, I am lost in a trans. The topic I am virtually included in has now grasped my attention fully. I’d like to think of dinner with an old fashion taste to it: people gathered around a table with no phones no technology; just a lively family like conversation about how our days went and so fourth. Why didn’t I make that happen? Well, I don’t think it is my place to tell my friends to stop texting- I don’t hold any authority over them nor would I want to have seem a bit weird. I just feel like my friends and I all get into our phones when given a chance to catch up with our social lives outside of our reality. But it would be nice to have those dinners where instead of being invested in our screens while with others , we actually talk and have fun lively discussions and maybe play one of those “phone at the table games.” For example, there is one in which everyone puts their phones upside down stacked in the middle of the table and whoever looks at their phone first, pays for the bill (or takes the dishes when we are in the dinning hall :D). It’s worth a try!

 

Over the years technology has changed. As we grow older and as technology revolutionizes, things we do are made simpler with the use of devices that fit right into the palm of our hands. Not too long ago you would’ve needed multiple devices to do the same things that a smartphone can do in a simple touch of an app. Or you would need to use your instincts and memory for certain things.

Are we becoming lazy?

Need to find you way to the nearest mall? Google and GPS it. Simple, right? What if we didn’t have that technology and had to figure out where the nearest mall was without the use of a handheld device? Would you find it? Most times the answer would be no. As technology makes life easier, it is erasing our ability to find things with knowledge and memory. The convenience of knowing that I’d simply have to just go to my “recent destination” on my phone to get directions to go somewhere would stop me from thinking that remembering how to get from point A to point B becomes irrelevant. Why use memory when we have access to information with one click or command to Siri?

I never really realized how deeply connected I was to  using my phone. I have almost everything on my phone and it has somehow managed to creep its way into being my lifeline. It helps me to stay in contact with everyone I know and with simplicity. I record my life on this one little handheld device called an iPhone with photos, videos and special moments that I’d like to capture. The way digital media is set up now, the stuff on my iPhone can be synced with my Mac which makes my life easier as well. There’s no connecting wires- just have internet and tadaa everything is shared across these platforms! I have all my emails and social media signed in already for easy access. It leads me to think that there’s a sense of dependability that I may have on my sidekick that’s always by my side…

Last week I went camping not far from Burlington, VT. I have AT&T cell service and I was pretty sure I checked the coverage map before I agreed to getting this plan. Oh, how it failed me. I was in the middle of the woods with no cell connection meaning that using my phone was not an option since it would be mostly useless. I just kept having the urge to pick it up in hopes that somewhere somehow I’d be able to connect to the world again and not just with the twelve other people with me and the wild critters and animals that lurked in the camp grounds. I had some hope that I’d find that one spot that allowed me one bar of service. This is when I knew that my phone was a crucial part of me. I had the feeling that I was missing out on a lot of things. Thoughts raced through my mind about what calls I was probably missing, emails plus texts I was not responding to, and the stress of knowing that my mother was calling and wondering why I didn’t answer her calls. I felt lost and disconnected from everything I was familiar with. I was annoyed at the fact that I had to begin to live without my phone when I really didn’t want to let it go. I have converted into a person who waited to get on the computer and respond to messages and have more social time to a person who depends on her phone for daily contact. It’s not a bad thing seeing how convenient my phone makes my life, but it does worry me about how social norms change when technology updates.