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Infomagical Challenge Day Five: A Magical Life

This is the end of the Infomagical challenge. A full week of listening and going through exercises that are meant to help and inform me on my relationship with information. Today, the challenge isn’t so much a challenge as much as it’s a reflection and a commitment to my relationship with media and information on the future. The host of the show asks us to create and write a mantra going forward (the assignment I’m currently doing ask us to create a short philosophy). I will oblige both and think about my future relationship with media and information. Here we go!

               Let’s start with the host's request, to create a note to self. After listening to the episode, there was one thing the stuck with me. When her guest was talking about priorities. This really encompasses what I think I have to work on. After looking at my media habits, I tend to prioritize the wrong thing, of too many things at once. This is where the first challenge of single-tasking has brought me to a better place in my life. It has taught me to be more organized with my time and to set goals for myself. The first of which is to be academically stable and succeed in getting my degree. Another thing I want to work on is getting back into film photography (something to take my mind off school when the stress levels get too high). With this in mind, my mantra would look a little like this: Do what is necessary to myself, follow your priorities and don’t get sidetracked. I have only set two goals for myself, so I do not get overwhelmed.

               When it comes to my assignment, I must focus more on the media aspect of these challenges. I have already done a media self assessment and completed a media diary to see how much media I consume and produce. After reflecting on the results of these two assignments, I can say that I should continue to learn about my media intake and output. I wish to produce more media, and I am working on doing so (this blog is a good start). I will continue to think about where my media comes from and will take the information stemming from that into account. I want to say that I’m media literate, but there is always something new to learn, especially in the fast-paced world of media and information. I guess it might be hard to summarize a personal philosophy but here goes nothing: I wish to continue my media intake, but refine it to what suits my need now (I have to be careful not to shut everything out, but prioritize what is needed), and I wish to continue learning about new media and how to produce more in an efficient way. I must continue to respect media and information by looking into where it’s coming from, what are they trying to tell me and how does this affect me. I think that would be a good start, but there is always room for improvement.

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Infomagical Challenge Day Four: A Magical Connection

Well, here we are, Informagical challenge day four: A Magical Connection. Today’s challenge asks us to talk to someone about something we read, listened or watch for at least seven minutes. The time constraint is put in place so that one can experience a full conversation with someone; all the ups and downs, all the awkward silences and the time where talking becomes fluid, natural.

               When it comes to the completion of this challenge, I didn’t have any issues with it. Every day, I spend at least seven minutes talking and listening to my father, my mother, and various friends. The act of sitting down and talking about what we did today, what we learned comes up all the time. Here is an example of how ingrained conversation is in our family life. Every morning, I get up to either go to school or go to work. Not having a vehicle, I ask my father if he can bring me to the bus stop or give me a ride to work. During that car ride in, we talk about whatever crosses our minds. Usually, we talk about sports and such, but sometimes we venture into the world of politics and Indigenous issues. These conversations don’t only take place with my family or in the car. I can recall one conversation I had with a long-time friend a few weeks ago. I was visiting him in Montreal for a celebration, and we went to a pub. We started to catch up, and the subject of school came up. The conversation that followed lasted a few hours. We talked about his classes, my classes, how our education is shaping us, how we see the world while our minds are learning. During this conversation, there were awkward silences, but the more we talked, the better the communication became. It became natural, and we could’ve kept going all night long, but it was getting late.

               I can see why this challenge can be difficult for some people. The host and her guest summed it up in an elegant way. They said that having a conversation with someone is to open up ourselves to that person, every awkward silence shows the other person a ripple in our collected mind. It is a reciprocal relationship when we talk to someone face-to-face. We read them, and they read us, and I know that this is scary for some people, who are comfortable behind a veil of thought. A lot of people need to think about what they want to say, but I must side with the host. The person who thinks is hiding their true self. They’re not completely hiding, but they change a certain aspect of their response when they have the time to think. I must admit that I prefer talking to anyone face-to-face. The communication that happens between that person and me seem natural, even with all of the lulls and unexpected responses. I have one more thought on this face-to-face communication. Another reason why I prefer it to most other forms of communication is that there is much more information that can pass between the two parties. Body language, voice tone, and expressions can tell you a lot more about a person than a “LOL” at the end of an email or text message. Even that awkward silence speaks volumes when we speak face-to-face.

               Alright, now for my update on single-tasking. Every day I single task I get better at it. I focus on the task at hand and get it done quicker. I even had to tell someone that I would look at what they wanted me to see after I was done what I was doing. I think I will keep using this technique for the rest of my life (at least the rest of my academic life)!

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Infomagical Challenge Day Three: Magical Brain

Day three of the of the infomagical challenge. Today’s episode is about not being sucked into information that is not prevalent to me. The host uses the idea of avoiding a meme for today or avoiding what is trending now unless it is important to you. In other words, chose what I want to see, curate what I want to read, watch and listen.

               So, this is yet another challenge that I can see myself already doing. I must confess that getting caught up in information that I do not find important has happened to me in the past, but I try to prioritize and filter what I want or need to take in. One example of this would be looking for articles, videos or other media that I have a vested interest in learning about. I use keywords to filter out some things I don’t want to read or hear about and use other keywords that trigger my need/want to learn/process this information. Words like photography, history, Indigenous, and words that encompass what I need to learn in my classes. The need to know everything that surrounds us is not something I find necessary. I don’t have to know what happened last night on the tonight show, I don’t have to understand what scandal occurred in Hollywood because those things do not interest me. The best way I can describe it would be “water cooler” information. Information that people expect you to know, that everyone should know. I’ve made the decision to only take what I want/need to take in, to sort out things that are important to my studies and my personal interests. It might also help that I don’t use social media all that often. I can see why those outlets can become a trap for unwanted, non-curated information with the way it’s presented, an ongoing feed of non-stop post, news, events, pictures and videos keeping some people entranced in what might be next. The same can be said for other social media application such as Twitter and Snapchat who use a similar interface of “The Feed,” always having something one can click or tap on.

               I can understand why sensory overload can be an issue that people have trouble navigating. The more I look at my own situation I tend to think I have a handle on it most of the time. I tell myself that I must concentrate on things I enjoy. I think about what I watch and ask how is this beneficial to my intellect or my progress if I’m working on a project. I’m positive that I’m missing out on a percentage of pertinent ideas because I filter them out before engaging in the reading, watching or listening. Today’s challenge was not hard because I had to stop and think of what I need to read, but what I might be missing out on because I curate my information. How knows, I might discover something new? But for the situation I’m currently in, it is more important to gather precise and pertinent information that helps me in my goals. If I haven’t been clear on what those goals are, well here is a reminder: I wish to be academically stable, have good grades and hopefully transfer into the Journalism program at my University (I need an average of A-/A). I also want to get back into photography. I used to shoot 35mm black and white film while in CEGEP and develop the film myself. It is something that I have let slip through the years. Anyways, moving onto my daily updates of single-tasking! Today was an improvement on the last two days of single-tasking. The list making in most likely the most significant thing in managing my time and the information I consume. Today I think I will get the whole list of things that needed to be done by today! It is a great feeling to finish something and still have time left over to relax. I used to procrastinate and panic because I would do things last minute, and that is where I had the feeling of sensory overload, but by just doing the simple task of making a list and telling myself to do one thing at a time has helped. I feel refreshed, I can rest and catch up on something that had fallen behind. Overall, these exercises help me understand my relation to information and how to navigate its ever-present influence. Until next time, when I’ll ponder and comment about episode number four, a magical connection.

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Infomagical Challenge Day Two: A Magical Phone

Alright, so today’s task was to tidy up digitally. This shouldn’t be too hard since I don’t really have much on my laptop and got a new phone just last week. I try to follow the instructions that the host and her guest go through to achieve a tidier screen. Let’s start with the phone. I have a full page of single apps mingled with a few folders containing a couple of related applications like sports, education, and so on. The first thing I did was put all of the apps into one folder. I then looked at all the apps I had and did the touch experiment. What I deemed not necessary, or what didn’t bring me joy I deleted. I deleted only two of them; a useless time killing game I haven’t touched since I downloaded it and a news app that I didn’t read anymore. I decided that three of them had to be separate from the mass amalgamation that was going to happen; the phone app, the messaging app, and the wallet app. I decided to keep these three separate and single because these are the one I use the most and it would be inconvenient to have them in a large folder where it might take more time to get to those functions. Now that I have put them in one big folder, I decided to go one step further and organize them by color. Started off with the white, then the orange/yellow colored ones followed by the black, then green, then red, then blue/purple and finishing with the grey colored ones. I then followed the directions to turn off the notifications so that annoying little red dot with the number doesn’t pop up. I put all four remaining spots into the lower part of my display leaving a wide-open screen. I follow the instructions stated by the host and put up a picture of something I want to achieve. I decide to put up a photo of a campfire, as it’s something that calms me and reminds me of the outdoors, my place to relax and become Zen. Now that that is done I went to do my laptop display. Once again, I found this exercise simple enough since I don’t have a ton of files and programs on my laptop. I put all of my school stuff in a folder, all of my software (Microsoft Excel and Word) in another folder and put them in the top left-hand corner with the recycle bin and a web browser. I thought to keep those two separate since I use one of them all the time and I’ve always kept the recycle bin in the top left-hand corner (that is one habit I will not be breaking today).

The result of doing these things hasn’t really changed my view or habits with my digital screens. I did notice that I deleted a few apps I was not using anymore and therefore gained some space on my phone. This means more music for the long bus rides to work and to school, yay! I’ve always considered myself to be a digitally tidy person. Not by choice, but because of the lack of applications I’ve used in the past and the small number of programs I use on my laptop. I have also noticed that I don’t use my devices as much as I thought I did. I see others on their phones, tablets, or laptops all the time. I’ve realized that I use my computer mostly for school, shopping and research for equipment of all kinds (camping, camera and all the other things I enjoy). As for my phone, I use it primarily for listening to music, listening to podcasts, keeping in touch with my family and friends, and checking my work and school email. I don’t use the camera on it often (although I wish I did use it more often, and I will start to do so), and I don’t have many social media apps such as; Snapchat, Periscope, or Instagram. I do use it to check Facebook and Tumblr from time to time. After this exercise, I can see that I wasn’t overloaded with information from having too many programs to distract me. Speaking of distractions, I have an update for the first exercise of single-tasking. I got through this day mostly without distractions and got a lot of things done. Once again, I made a list of things I needed to get done today and told myself I would do one thing at a time until I finished. I can start to see some improvement when it comes to my time management and my focus. What I read seems to be coming in a little bit clearer, and I seem to be saving some time by keeping my mind on one thing and not jumping all over the place. Well, tomorrow is another day, and that means another infomagical challenge!

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Infomagical Challenge Day One: Magical Day

Alright, let’s start this off. I had to listen to a series of podcast for one of the classes I’m taking in University. This podcast is on media use and the phenomenon of sensory overload. The first episode I listened to suggested that I single task. What does that mean? It means that instead of multitasking, I tried doing just one thing at a time and focus on that one thing until it’s completion. This might not sound difficult from the onset, but it proved to be something I might have overestimated. To start, I thought I might give myself a helping hand in this project. I thought about something that might help me achieve my goal of not multitasking. First thing that comes to my mind, I start writing down a list of things I need to get done. Read a chapter of my Human Rights book, then write my blog post for said class, then find sources for my first-year seminar, then make lunches for my work week and finally do my laundry. After listing some of the more urgent things, it got me thinking. This is nothing more than an organisation exercise. I draw a grid on my whiteboard and put school, work, volunteering (vol.) and chores. Sweet, I got this. Let’s start with the first item on the list now. So, I plunge into my Human Rights book to read my required chapter and promptly get interrupted… This is not a great start to my single-tasking day. I inform the people who interrupted me of what I am doing, and they leave me alone for the day. Alight, back into my book. After a few pages, my cell phone lights up and I can’t resist the urge to look at it. Another interruption… I decided to turn my phone’s Do Not Disturb function on and continue reading. Chapter done, and in only a couple hours! I go back to my list and see what I need to do next. I decide to get some laundry done and think that I can do something else while I wait for a load to get washed. So, I get my laundry from my room and put it in the washer. Next item on the list, look for sources for my first-year seminar. Ok, I got this. I sit down with my laptop and start searching. After only twenty minutes, I get distracted by an email. I read it and try to get back to my research for my seminar but just can’t seem to focus. Great, another distraction has made me lose my focus. I keep looking for what I need and after a few hours (too long), I decide that I have what I need. This is when I remembered my laundry. It had been a few hours and I haven’t even started drying it. So, this is when I decide to really get serious about fulfilling my objective of single-tasking. I tell myself to get all of my laundry washed and hung before I start my next task. Got it done, now I have to make lunches for my work week. Got that done. Alright, anything else on my list to do for today? One more thing. This blog entry for class. I will get it done after I eat supper. Once I finished eating, I go to my room, put my phone on DND, and ask to not be disturbed until I have finished this exact post.

As I’m writing this, it is 8:25 in the evening and I started at around 8:00pm. This single tasking thing might be helpful if I keep it up. I have always known that I tend to procrastinate, lose my focus on something and then be enveloped in the thing that distracted me. I can see that multitasking can actually be a detriment if I need to get something done, especially if I need to get a lot of things done. I can’t do multiple things at once since I couldn’t give my full focus to one thing, both things would not be the best product or the most efficient way of doing it. By writing things down, creating a situation where I wasn’t going to be interrupted by other people and prioritizing, I think I got more things done in less time. I believe that the most important thing is that I can see what need to be done so I can plan for it. Making a list and doing one thing until it is done might mean I get more things done at the end of the day. Of course, I can’t say that I had a full day of single-tasking, there were a few moments where I got distracted by my phone, by an email, or got interrupted by someone around me. I can see the difference when I am focused on one thing and when my mind is being tossed between a few. I can be more forgetful, and do less because my mind is drifting between things. I will keep this up to see if it helps me especially with finals coming just around the corner in a couple of weeks. I will have more insight once I have another day or two of single-tasking and I will update you on my progress and how I feel.

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Through the doors running!

Today I try something new! This is my first venture into the world of blogging (I know I missed the boat by about a few years, but bear with me!). I’ve always wanted to do this for multiple reasons (too many to list off right now but you will soon learn about me and those reasons), but the main reason why is to start working on my dream of being a journalist! After taking a sabbatical (four years), I’ve decided I would throw myself to the wolves by going to University. It is because of one of my classes that I’ve decided to pull the trigger and got this endeavor going (partly due to an assignment I have to complete for this class). The idea for this blog is to offer a candid view of my interest and parts of my life (not to private I promise). Anyhow, I shall update this soon once I start my assignment for my class and continue afterward with things I hope some find interesting!