E$AV's Infomagical Adventure

[Captain's log, stardate: 307858.31] This has been a good week.   When you come to realizations about your own habits everyday, you can't complain. It changes you!   I feel that this Infomagical Challenge came into my life at the right time. Assignments were piling up in school, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to balance my media usage for entertainment with my media usage for work. However, Infomagical allowed me to reconnect with my media-use intentions. It helped me to figure out what I wanted to gain from using media, and to filter out anything else that inhibited my growth. Personally, my goal for this week was to improve my focus.   Have I been able to do that? Yes.    This week, I was potentially the most conscious I have ever been, in terms of my information and media usage. Where the trouble lies, is maintaining this newfound focus for the rest of my life. In a great big world of distractions, this is a tall order. For that reason, I am beyond grateful for Infomagical Day Five. Today's challenge invited me to create my own mantra for how I want to incorporate information into the rest of my life.

[Captain's log, stardate: 307857.52] My fourth Infomagical "day" was only seven minutes long. But those seven minutes alone contained enough awkwardness to last me a lifetime. Essentially, the challenge for day four was to improve my ability to connect with others by verbal means, and not through a social media platform. Plain and simple (and not to mention, old-fashioned).  In attempt to complete the challenge, I got together with a floormate from my University residence, and read through an article describing Apple Inc.'s plans to launch a photography book priced at nearly $200. We then discussed our opinions on the article, and the release of the pretentious photography book. Perhaps the awkwardness of the conversation was due to the fact that it was just so contrived.   Honestly, I believe that I had difficulty with completing the challenge because I was overthinking the required actions. For example, I researched a topic of discourse (I.e. the Apple photography book) instead of discussing a topic that just came to mind, and I focused more on the clock, than I did on the progression of the conversation. JUST SO UNNATURAL. Thankfully, my friend and I eventually found our groove, and the topic of conversation somehow transitioned to "Instagram aesthetics" (whatever that even means), and we were able to finish the seven minute challenge with flying colours! Now don't get the wrong impression: This is, by no means, the first time I've ever had to communicate with someone face-to-face for a period of time. This challenge just reminds the media-user how important it is to exercise his/her conversationalist capabilities. Conversation requires awareness, thoughtfulness, understanding, and intuition, traits that are sometimes lost in translation through digital communication.   My fool-proof formula for good conversation is: Good Conversation = Practice + Openness Practice, because it will make you feel  more comfortable and confident when engaging with new people

[Captain’s log, stardate: 30786.90]   Today was Infomagical Day Three: Magical Brain   But before I jump into a recap of my experience with the challenge, I’d like to address how contradictory I find it to my entire field of study. One majoring in Communications & Media Studies wouldn't expect that he/she would be asked to avoid certain kinds of media content. Especially when the reason for avoiding such is because it’s so relevant to pop-culture news (what?!). I prefer to play a more active role in popular culture, keeping up with stories and partaking in the discourse of media goings-on. Well, at the very least, I suppose that this challenge was a good exercise in self-control…   ANYWAYS!   For the most part, I failed this challenge. And I mean epically failed this challenge:

On any given day, I’ll spend at least three cumulative hours using Snapchat, which has multiple feeds consisting entirely of top pop-culture "breaking news" stories. Understandably, I could just not look at them… But they are programmed to play automatically if accidentally opened… And, oh my goodness, they are addicting!

In short, my current media-use habits hindered my successful completion of the challenge, as wading through endless memes and featured stories had become second-nature to me. I would speculate that most frequent media users don't realize how plugged-in they are, which is arguably what makes this challenge so reformative.  

On a happier note:

Throughout my day, I did however experience fleeting moments of success! On many occasions, my friends attempted to lure me into their conversations of trending topics... But I resisted! Yes, I turned a cold shoulder and – eliciting some strange looks – declared, "not today!"  

But how did this make me feel?

I agree that the knowledge of whatever my friends were discussing was likely not essential to my sense of personal fulfillment, but I would, however, have liked to been a part of their conversation, simply for the sake of socializing. Pop cultural discourse is a significant part of modern-day life, and there is no avoiding it! We are constantly being bombarded with information from all sides, as a result of the internet's omnipotent role within society. MY FINAL THOUGHTS: Sadly, I will NOT be adopting the practices defined by this challenge, as they are simply not conducive to my everyday life. Having said that, I certainly understand the idea behind this challenge, as it gave me a new perspective on media's involvement within my life, and admittedly so, it is nice to have some separation from it sometimes. Give your brain a break.

[Captain’s log, stardate: 307855.19]

After the success of Infomagical Day One, I jumped at Day Two with optimism and an open mind.

Today’s podcast challenged me to regain control of my own cellular device (which is telling because I had never even realized that I’d ever lost control of it)

The idea of the challenge was for the user to weigh the utility of the apps on his/her phone screen, and remove those that were mostly unused, or did not impel any pleasure, in order to relieve the mental stress associated with using an overloaded mobile device. The podcast also encouraged the listener to change his/her background to an image that induced a feeling of joy, which I liked. Very much.

So here is what I did in order to maximize my own user experience:

1. Cleared all unused or infrequently used apps from my home screen

2. Reduced the pages on my phone to a single home screen, comprised of an alarm clock widget, a pedometer, and three folders of applications:

         -“Apps”: a folder automatic to Android devices that contains all of the phone’s applications

         -“JOY: click here for happiness!”: a folder carrying my favourite Multimedia, Social Media and Audio/Visual apps including Snapchat, Messenger, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Netflix, Starbucks Mobile, Internet, and Play music   

         -“Very Functional”: a folder containing mostly educational or utility-related apps that don’t necessarily bring me any sort of joy, but are important tools to have accessible. This includes apps such as Google Maps, Calculator, Phone, Outlook, OneDrive, CU Mobile, Contacts and Dictionary.

Overall, I am happy to report that I completed this challenge with little difficulty. Admittedly, I struggled at first, as I was not used to having all of my apps hidden away in organized folders, but essentially this just means that it took me two seconds to locate and open an app, instead of one second.

Yes, I know. “First world problems”.

Another fascinating result of this “experiment” was the drastic decrease in the amount of time I spent checking my phone. Unbelievable! Usually, at moments of looming boredom, I would whip out my cell and scroll through “the gram” for some mild entertainment, but not on Magical Phone day! Today, I would pull my phone in anxious haste, see a background of chocolate cake and immediately feel emotionally satisfied, without even having to open an app! Double-unbelievable!

So far, this challenge has produced amazing rehabilitative results, of which the effects can be seen almost immediately. There is no doubt that I WILL be adopting the Magical Phone practice into my daily lifestyle.

LLAP

If you’d like to try the Magical Phone Challenge, check it out here:

http://www.wnyc.org/story/infomagical-challenge-2/

For more great podcasts, access WNYC Radio here:

[Captain’s log, stardate: 307854.69] Today I did the impossible. Well, the difficult.

And I tried to do it, that is. Following Note To Self’s  “Infomagical Challenge”, produced by WNYC Public Radio, I spent the entire day monotasking. In theory, focusing on one task at a time should be easier than trying to do them all at once, but I personally found that this activity tested my patience in a not-so-pleasant way. The objective of this challenge was for media users, like myself, to recognize the amount of noise and media overload that we have come to accept as a part of everyday life, and block it out! The resultant practice of “monotasking” should subsequently improve productivity throughout the day. Much to my surprise, I found that the challenge was a success! Focusing all my energy on a single task mitigated the stress of completing it. In fact, I found that I was so focused on my work that I had begun to ignore anyone that was trying to communicate with me. Now don’t get the wrong impression. I’m not suggesting that living your life per the Infomagical Challenge is something worth losing friends over, but for myself, being able to resist a juicy conversation for the sake of productivity is a triumph! On the other hand, this challenge was a PAIN! Never before have I ever been so tempted to check the notifications on my phone, and aimlessly surf the internet. It seemed as though the more I tried to avoid distraction, the more susceptible to it I became. It was very difficult to focus on one single task, as juggling multiple tasks had become second-nature to me, as if it was at all effective. Despite the sheer ANNOYANCE I felt towards ignoring unproductive media, this might have been the most useful assignment I have had all semester. Once I suppressed my rehabilitated-alcoholic-like urges to distract myself, I found that completing one task at a time was like a breath of fresh air [*birds chirp in background*]. It seemed to organize the overwhelming clutter in my brain. I also found that I began using my media devices as tools to complete work once again, instead of deadly procrastination devices of mass-destruction!

MY FINAL THOUGHTS: This challenge is definitely more than it appears to be: