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Magic Life: Empowerment

Coming off these 4 days of challenging my relationship with media has been trying to change my lifestyle. What stuck most with me from this episode of Note to Self is the origin of the word “priority”. Mainly the fact that the word remained singular 500 years after it’s conception. Truly emphasizing it’s meaning and simplicity. Which is what this entire challenge is about. After my media self assessment and diary reflection I realized that I am way more dependant on media and this challenge just affirmed my belief. At the same time, it made me realize I can change if I am dedicated enough. Technology truly is a good servant and a terrible master which exactly why I will begin leave my phone on not no disturb. This way I’ll only use it when I want to and not when I feel it calling me. Starting from now I will be more conscious about my use of media. Since its impossible to avoid entirely I must stay conscious about when I use it, for what and whether I’m using it for myself or because I feel like I need to.

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Magical Connection: Real Friends...How Many of Us?

I remember the first time the “seven-minute” rule was introduced in my life but under a different context. My sixth-grade teacher Ms. Konje said if you repeat something seven times it’ll help you remember it. I don’t know why I remember that so well especially since I never practiced it. In the context of this challenge though it involves having a conversation for seven minutes even through its highs and lows. The goal is try and being more spontaneous rather than composed while connecting with people through vocal conversation.

This challenge was the easiest so far since I already enjoy communicating in person more than online. So, I knew this was going to be breeze coming into it but I wasn’t prepared to enjoy it as much as I did. It began by having a conversation with a friend about the recent election news and it somehow made its way to gun control. I believe that guns shouldn’t be banned and we need to look more into the people and the reasons why they commit such violent acts instead of scapegoating the gun. While my friend believed, they should be banned entirely. I realized that such a controversial conversation is best to have in person where you don’t have the time to sit and ponder on the best way to state your point. Instead we were forced to dive deep into the topic and speaking from the mind however it came out. After everything said and done we felt closer cause of it and it helped us progress our friendship.

After this challenge, I didn’t particularly feel any major changes since I do this daily. I just left feeling a bit sad that we’ve reached a time as a society where we must have a challenge to have to do this and it is not the norm. Reflecting on this experiences makes me want to make the conscious decisions to have more physical interactions with people. Also watching our relationship progress after the conversation made me realize how important it is to have real life friends instead of Facebook friends or twitter followers. 

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Magic Brain: Addicted

Actively trying to avoid pop culture is no easy task especially if you’re a teenage active media user. I would only attempt this because of the challenge since living in contemporary society information overload isn’t even considered a thing. After listening to this episode, I realized that we are being attacked with so much different information all at once it can be overwhelming and there is no way of trying to understand it all without actively making the effort. That’s where writing important things down comes into play. We’re reading more than ever before whether we recognize it or not so without writing things down it’s hard to learn it.

To complete this challenge my main goal was to stay off twitter. Which may have been the hardest task in the past three days since I am addicted to twitter. As a person who only uses Facebook to message people instead of texting them, twitter is my vice. It’s where I go to read up on news, find comedy and kill time. I’m constantly on it whether I’m in class, café or walking around. I began my day with writing down “DON’T GO ON TWITTER” on a sticky note and putting it on my table serving as a reminder for myself when I’m bored and absent minded. Hanging out with friends may have been the most difficult time since we’re always showing each other funny tweets and meme’s its almost impossible to interact with them when trying to avoid such. As the day ended laying in bed was even harder than I expected. I just tried to lay there staring into the ceiling and not thinking about checking my twitter right before I fall asleep. Let’s just say I learned that I’m a way bigger twitter addict than expected.

Afterward the struggle to relapse kicked in and I binged my timeline to see what I had missed through the day. I realize that I am way too dependent on Twitter and that I need to learn to live away from it. While I wasn’t itching to tap that small blue icon I did feel a bit more free but at the same time it was harder to connect with my friends since so much of our laughs do come from it. I had to in a way became distant and anti-social for the day and stay in my own mind a little more. Even though I know all I missed was the election, Donald trump and Kermit the frog meme stuff I still felt the need to read and laugh to it. Its funny how we suffer from information overload yet feel withdrawal from it.

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Magic Phone : Spring Cleaning!

mTiding and organizing your table, closet or room is a great way to help clear your mind. It helps you think clearly and organize your thoughts. Simplicity is key when it comes to this challenge. The aim is to clear apps off your phone and icons, bookmarks and programs off your laptop to feel mentally tidy and organized. To do this I needed to focus on only keeping what brings me joy instead of what to delete. Deleting apps reduces notifications which correlates to our last challenge having less external interruptions. Turning off the badge notification on apps can help you prioritize what apps to check and not when the number on the top right tells you to. Doing this helps you use your time wisely by checking the apps you need to. Instead of checking them to check off the notification number. The same can be done on your laptop by deleting old programs, bookmarks and simplifying your browser so you don’t feel pressured into always visiting the same sites.

To fulfill this challenge, I began looking at the pages of endless apps on my phone. Before listening to the podcast, I never thought anything of my apps and their notifications and their subconscious affects on my mind. Although it was difficult I started narrowing down from the apps I haven’t used in a while such as “TimmyMe”, “Yik Yak”, “CinemaClock” and the lists goes on. I also deleted old mobile games I used to play but since coming to Carleton I have no time for them. There were also several apps whose notifications I turned off which cleared those numbers off the top right icon. After my phone, I moved onto my laptop and began clearing bookmarks like “Reddit” and “SoundCloud” off my tool bar and only kept my essential email and social media sites which I visit often and bring me joy. Then I moved onto my programs and cleared all these unknown installs that have came with my laptop and removing icons from my start screen leaving my desktop looking simple and organized. This helps me have a better time opening my laptop and not feeling cluttered.

Leaving this challenge, I felt significantly more calm and relaxed. Removing notification icons made my screen appear clean and clutter free leaving my mind feeling at rest while using my phone. Now I use my phone as I wish, not what my notifications tell me to check. These challenges are slowly making me realize how little control we have over our own technology and what I grip it has on us.

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Magic Day: Focus on Focusing

Multitasking is a myth? How could it be? It seems that every piece of technology in contemporary society is geared towards it. With technology becoming faster, more compact and accessible it’s a no brainer to assume that multitasking will become easier. However, after listening to the Magical Day Infomagical podcast this is clearly not true. Switching attention frequently increases stress levels and does not actually make you able to focus on multiple tasks at once. In fact, it does the opposite; focusing on individual tasks faster rather than many at a time. Not only are we constantly being disturbed by external interruption but also by our own minds. Due to the frequent external interruptions, our minds are uneasy even when they subside.

To fulfill the challenge of focusing on one task at a time I made the conscious decision to remember not to multitask due to that fact that we live in a time where it is the norm. Doing so was no simple task, with so much technology retinal available at our fingertips. The most difficult task was to avoid using my phone so often. Everyone is constantly looking down at their phones while walking you forget to admire your surroundings. Walking through the tunnels to the café or walking to Southam Hall and the University Centre is almost an entirely new experience without texting and listening to music. I began to realize the subtle natural beauties around campus and hearing sounds of birds and people talking while walking to class or just having a chat. Sitting through my lecture was also quite challenging without being distracted and checking my phone while taking notes. Even simple task that typically are done one at time such as completing assignments was found to be more challenging than expected. Many times I had to remind myself that I cannot check Facebook or twitter while my mind wonders away from the assignment.  

Going into this challenge I felt confident in my abilities to focus on one task at a time due to the simplicity of the challenge. I found it much more difficult to do  because I never realized how reliant I am on my phone while doing normal everyday task such a walking to class. It made me realize that living life in which you are always preoccupied with different tasks at the same time causes you to miss life’s subtle beauties. For example, if I continued my normal routine of checking my phone and listening to music on the way to my classes I would not be able to experience the beauty of nature that our campus is lucky to have. This challenge has been beneficial in showing me that multitasking is doing more bad than good.