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.
