#idcict

First things first, I expected this to be way harder than it actually was. I was tasked with giving up some form of technology for a week, in the hopes of becoming more productive. Believe it or not, that actually ended up happening! (To an extent of course.)

As soon as I heard Ms. Cuttle say the words “Tech Detox”, I knew exactly what this meant for me. It meant I would be giving up Brawl Stars. Brawl Stars is a mobile game that me and many of my friends find super addicting. If you’ve ever walked past room 115 at lunch, you would’ve most likely heard a group of 10 or so teenage boys on their phones yelling at each other over some game on their phones. It’s basically become an epidemic. Me, along with my two friends Oscar and Jon started playing religiously about two months ago. Jon and I both got to top 1000 overall in Canada, with some of our characters reaching top 150 in Canada. For a game with almost 10 million players worldwide, that’s pretty impressive. Enough bragging though. I knew I had a problem when over the winter break I checked my phone usage and I was told I had logged 34 hours of Brawl Stars in the past week. That’s almost as much time as a full-time job. Spent on Brawl Stars. It’s almost like this assignment was meant for me.

Tuesday came along and I was feeling confident. I remember doing our learning strategies assignment a couple months prior and recalled how well that went for me. I exhibited crazy amounts of self control and became vastly more productive (See the blog post for more details!) I was ready for this detox, hopeful to cure my Brawl Stars addiction (for one week at least).

My first “lapse” came Tuesday morning at exactly 12:00 am, aka the second the detox was supposed to start. See, I was already playing at the time, and didn’t realize it was Tuesday, and then proceeded to play 3 more games before i DID realize it was Tuesday. So, I’m just gonna let this one go. It was 3 games (10 minutes at most?), I completed my punishment, and failing here had NOTHING to do with my lack of self control. It doesn’t count.

My first REAL lapse came that same afternoon at my friends house. I was feeling common withdrawal symptoms of not playing my favourite game, shakes, vision problems, dehydration, and loss of coordination. I was super bore. I just had to get my fix. After that one game, I decided that it would be the last one, and surprisingly, it was.

After that incident on Tuesday, I didn’t experience a single subsequent lapse. I still logged on to collect daily rewards and chat with friends, but I stuck to my commitment and didn’t play any matches. And like the learning strategies assignment, it was way easier than I could’ve imagined. I guess when I have some sort of motivation, like my marks for example, it becomes really easy for me to control my impulses.

So I didn’t play any more matches for the rest of the week! I don’t know how. I have the worst self control. I’m a chronic procrastinator (current time 3:19 am) and likewise, I play too many games of Brawl Stars based off the reason “why not”, when in the moment that I make this decision I can literally list millions of reasons why not to play a game of Brawl. Why these Self-control assignments are so easy for me are honestly beyond me.

Summary:

For my self directed project, I decided to write my own song and record it using audacity. I used several online tutorials as well as my own intuition to learn audacity and get my desired result. This project started as something that I was very hesitant about. I was my first time writing a song, and I had no idea if I would be able to write anything at all- let alone anything good! On top of that, the fact that I had no actual audio recording equipment, and access to only a guitar as an instrument made me scared that this project would not be a success. Though I was hesitant, I feel as though I was able to make something I was truly proud of with this project, and I’m really happy that I took on this challenge! 

How I learned:

The songwriting process was largely something that I improvised, I figured that following tutorials would ruin my creative process, and that I would find it hard to be original. I started writing by playing chord progressions that I found nice, and added a melody and then words on top of it. I found that everything came very naturally and seemingly out of thin air. More than that- I found the process almost magical, like I created something from nothing.

Learning audacity was definitely something more structured, and actually required tutorials to do. I followed several different online tutorials (linked below) to get a general understanding of audacity, as well as tutorials that addressed how to achieve specific effects I wanted. I also sometimes found myself on the audacity forums to find answers to specific problems I had.

Tutorials I used: 

I also found this Wikihow article helpful.

I didn’t find audacity too difficult to master tool wise, but I definitely found it a little finicky when it came to rerecording audio and syncing it up properly. I felt like those actions had a bit of a learning curve to them, and only could be done efficiently with a good feel for the program. 

What I liked:

I found audacity to be a very user-friendly program, with lots of documentation available on how to use it. I didn’t find it hard at all to record or edit my audio, and it was very easy to apply the effects I wanted onto what I recorded. The effects I put on (such a reverb, bass boosting, echo, volume stabilization etc…) still maintained the natural, lo-fi sound that I wanted for the recording, which I was happy about. I also found there was a lot of freedom in audacity to truly produce exactly what I wanted. I could meticulously adjust every setting to my hearts content to get the exact sound I envisioned- something that the perfectionist in me really loved.

What I didn’t like:

The audacity software tended to run slowly on my computer- which is pretty odd considering that resource heavy programs such as Premiere Pro and Photoshop haven’t had many issues regarding lag in the past. Sometimes audacity would freeze, sometimes when recording audio there would be dropouts in the recording due to lag- something that forced me to re-record pieces that I thought came out well. It was also very tough to line up audio, as there were no tools to actually do so. This process was frustrating and time-consuming, and I wished there was a way to do it more efficiently.

The worst thing ever!

Definitely the worst and most frustrating part of this entire project was the moment my audacity software crashed out of nowhere and decided it could no longer read any of my files. At this point I was just adding the finishing touches on the song, and somehow the program just gave up on me! When I googled it, I was told what I experienced was an uncontrollable audacity error, and could not be fixed. Learning this was of course very discouraging for me going forward, and was a big obstacle I had to get through to achieve my final result. Though momentarily feeling like it was the end of the world, I was able to re-record my parts to produce what I think is a better produced recording overall. 

All my audio was lost! 

Conclusion:

I am extremely happy with my results using Audacity, and would definitely use it again for a variety of purposes, which could include writing new songs, editing voice overs for projects or videos, or creating audio compilations. I think that Audacity is a very powerful tool, and I am very happy that I chose to learn how to use it in IDC. As well as this, I think this project really made me less afraid of songwriting in general, and has inspired me to continue to write and make music in the future.

Did you enjoy the experience? Why or why not?

If I’m being completely honest, I enjoyed working on this placement. While it was a really big hassle, as we needed to wait a month (28 days to be exact) in order to actually start working on the placement, I found working on the placement to be a good experience. We got to work at our own pace, without fear of deadlines, and with ample class time to complete our work. Additionally, working with a teacher and helping them with a specific project or task was a nice change from, say, a presentation.

What went well with your placement? What difficulties did you have with your placement?

WELL, let’s start out with the difficulties. A lot of our placement was in complete shambles. We were tasked with setting up an online classroom for Ms. Law, where her students could submit work and receive verbal feedback. We decided on using turnitin, and you know as well as I do how difficult it was to gain access to turnitin so we could actually create a classroom for Ms. Law. While we were waiting, we had various odd jobs to occupy our time, such as creating a “Google Classroom vs Google Sites” infographic for teachers, and rearranging the demo slam website. After we finally got the turnitin key, we began working, learning about the turnitin features, creating a info document for Ms. Law to reference if she needed, and setting up the actual class. After about a week of work, we finished our guide, and we were ready to teach Ms. Law about turnitin, Time to finally begin our placement wrap up!!! Or so we thought. Apparently, we had misjudged what Ms. Law had wanted out of her website, which means we had to search for a new software (meaning we spent a month waiting and another week doing the work for nothing :( ). We settled on using Kaizena, a chrome extension, paired with Google Classroom to create Ms. Law’s online classroom. In the end, she ended up liking Kaizena, so we could finally finish our placement!

Basically, our placement was a complete mess. From waiting a month to even start, to having to do pretty much everything all again, it’s a miracle our placement is even done today.

Now some positives. Yi and I were able to work together efficiently and effectively. We evenly divided up all our work and we were able to communicate and problem solve together. Additionally, both Ms. Law and Ms. Cuttle were super nice and understanding, which helped a lot throughout the placement.

Do you consider your placement a success?

Yes, I consider our placement to be a success. We achieved our goal of creating an online classroom for Ms. Law where she could provide voice feedback and complete her marking online. We also spent much of our placement time completing tasks such as rearranging the demo slam website (which turned out well), and creating the Google Classroom vs Google Sites doc (which I hope turned out well).

Do you think the project is useful/has value for IDC students/teachers/students of placement teachers?

Yes! Like I mentioned before, I really enjoyed doing placement work. Working on our placement was a very nice change from regular projects such as presentations and essays, and I think many of my peers can back me up on that. On the other end of it, placements allow many teachers to have IDC students do things like research and design websites for their classroom or hold workshops for their students. Placements really do hold value for everyone involved!

How could the project be improved for future IDC classes?

I know this is specific to my placement, and not at all the fault of my group or my IDC teacher, but making sure all potential technologies that are presented to IDC students for use during their placements are” ready to use” would improve the timeliness of some placements.

Black Mirror is a British T.V. series first airing in 2011, which portrays a society similar to our own, however there are various technological features and advancements that alter the characters’ way of life.

What technologies are depicted in the show?

The episode Nosedive (S3E1), takes place in a society where individuals can give others a “rating” through an app on their phone, from one star to five stars. These ratings are based off real world interactions, and can also be given when viewing another’s profile, where one can post photos and videos of their lives.

As well, additional technologies are also shown, such as contact lenses that can create holograms, virtual reality gaming devices, and futuristic electric cars.

Briefly, how have the technologies changed people/business/society/government choices and behaviours?

These ratings dictate the lives of each and every person in the society, and as a result, the lives of the people in Nosedive revolve around keeping their rating as high as possible. Someone’s rating can determine where they can work and live, what they can buy, who they can be friends with, and so on. We see examples of this throughout the episode, such as someone needing to have a 4.5 star rating to qualify for a discount on apartment, or a 4.2 star to be able to buy luxury plane tickets.

In a society where ratings like these are so important, it is not unusual for characters to behave in ways we may not be familiar with. People have useless, shallow conversations with complete strangers, plan their days to have new and exciting content for their profiles, and are barred from interacting with certain people, all in an effort to keep their ratings up. Almost every single person we see has a mask on, a fake outer personality, only showing others friendliness, fake laughs and never revealing any negativity whatsoever. People cut off friends, get into fights, and perform good deeds, where their only motivation for doing so is to keep their ratings from falling.

These ratings are used to judge one’s self worth. People strive to get good ratings, and for many, satisfaction only comes with 5-star ratings. Anything below that, 4, 3, 2, and God forbid a 1-star rating, causes a flurry of negative emotions and self-dread. People judge others based on their ratings; a person’s rating is your first impression of them. People can judge you as “lower” than them simply because your rating may not be as high, and in a way your rating is used by others to dictate what kind of person you are. In reality, however, these ratings measure how well you are able to adapt to this society. How well can you pretend to be happy and friendly, and how well are you able to portray yourself to others?

Overall, are the technologies portrayed in a positive, negative or neutral fashion? What evidence do you have to support this?

At the beginning of the episode, the rating technology is portrayed to be a “cool new app” that everybody has, however as the episode goes on, through the life of Lacie Pound, we learn about the many negative side effects having a rating system can cause. Lacie starts off at a 4.2 rating, hoping to achieve a 4.5 in order to qualify for a discount for a new apartment. Lacie, along with most of the shows characters, is addicted to this rating app, and scrolling through profiles is all we can see many of the show’s characters doing with their free time.

We are able to see how one of Lacie’s coworkers loses his job following a split with his partner, and subsequently a hit to his rating, how Lacie is unable to book a flight after hers is cancelled due to her rating being too low, and Lacie’s distrust and prejudice of anyone with a rating too much lower than her own. We also hear the story of Susan, a widow whose husband was denied medical care in favour of another patient whose rating was 0.1 stars higher than his own, effectively costing him his life.

However, if we dive deeper, we can see other societal problems a system like this creates. Lacie is invited to her old friend, Naomi’s wedding. Lacie was asked to give a speech as one of Naomi’s oldest friends. It is later revealed, however, that both Lacie and Naomi only agreed to participate in hopes that both their ratings would increase, as opposed to them actually being good friends. Naomi even tells Lacie not to attend her wedding after her rating drops below 3 stars, as Lacie’s attendance could mean a hit to Naomi’s rating. Lacie’s brother, Ryan is critical about the concept of ratings, and doesn’t think that ratings should be able to judge a person or their character, and this opinion creates multiple conflicts between the siblings.

Would you want to live in this future? Why or why not?

No, no no, no no no. I would 1000% NOT like to live in a future like the one portrayed in nosedive. Some of the technologies, like virtual reality gaming or holographic contact lenses would be really cool, and I hope to be able to use technologies like these in the future, however I would never like to see a rating system similar to the one in Nosedive implemented into society.

Having a rating seems way too stressful. A good rating in Nosedive is necessary to have a good life, which means time and effort needs to be put in to achieve a good rating. Knowing that after an incident, fight, or breakup, your rating could plummet would be much too stressful for me.

I do not want to live in a society where I’m judged only by my rating, and where I judge others the same way. I don’t want to have to put on a mask every time I go outside to seem more happy or friendly than I really am, I prefer listening to music, saying a short “thank you” to someone who might hold open a door for me, and mind the rest of my business. Similarly, I don’t want to deal with everybody being fake, for lack of a better term. With everyone being kind and friendly, it’s hard to tell who really means it and who is putting on a show solely for the benefit of their rating.

We already have effective rating systems in today’s society. Think Uber or your credit score. With Uber, after every ride, you can give your driver a rating out of 5 stars, based on the quality of your trip. Drivers need to maintain a certain rating in order to stay driving, and if their rating drops below a certain point, their account may be suspended. This is a system by Uber to make sure customers get the best possible service they can get, keeping good drivers in and bad drivers out. Additionally, there’s no reason for your driver to stress over their rating, as long as they are somewhat friendly (e.g. a polite greeting) and efficiently get you from point a to point b, they have no need to worry about their rating.

I watched a Doctor Who episode called “The Waters of Mars”. It takes place in 2059 - 40 years from now. Though the episode takes place on Mars- focusing in on the first humans to visit the planet- it still showcases many new technologies that would exist in 2059, as well as gives a glimpse into life on earth at this time. 

The most obvious change in technology is the fact that humans have been able to set up a mars base, and have people live on it long-term. This achievement takes countless technological developments- such as mass oxygen production, and improvements in harnessing power, as well as meticulous planning. Other “new” technologies are emphasised in the show, such as walkie-talkies that seem to work very well over a long range, a robot with hands that can be controlled by a human wearing movement-tracking gloves, personal domestic robots, and laser guns. As well as this, a biodome which sustains plants as well as animal life is incorporated within the Mars settlement. During the episode, characters also spoke about humans almost becoming extinct during the previous 50 years due to war and climate change- which I found very interesting- especially since Doctor Who is largely a family show that doesn’t necessary delve into humanity’s immediate future. 

Though the large majority of technology in this show revolves around life on Mars, there seems to be a stress placed on the influence of robots in the daily lives of humans on earth. Humans seem to have “domestic robots” that help them at home, robots built the Mars base, and a robot helps the crew on board. Though the show doesn’t go into detail regarding robots, I would assume the increased amount them used by humans would decrease the need for labour jobs we have today, such as construction or cleaning. As well as this, connectivity on the base is near to seamless. There are cameras nearly everywhere and pressurized sensors which track people throughout the base. People can be recognized by computers by just the sound of their voice. This seems to suggest that life on Earth would lend itself to be much more connected- even more than today. I could imagine surveillance camera technology being much more widespread, and face or voice recognition very accurate. This could mean the justice system might work much more quickly and surveillance could provide compelling evidence for many crimes, but also invade privacy. 

The technologies in this show are depicted as positive to neutral. They are seen as more of a set of tools rather than entertainment. In fact, I think technology in this show takes a very similar form to what it is today, it is used as a way to connect, and as a way to help humans both carry out hard tasks, and survive on a planet that otherwise is uninhabitable. The robot in the episode, “Gadget”, becomes a main plot device, and ends up saving the crew from their impending deaths, which is definitely a positive thing. But other than that, technology is simply used as a tool that carries out everyday life. It isn’t viewed as a miracle but it also isn’t viewed as a destruction. More than anything, it is just viewed by the crew as a way for them to be able to carry out life on Mars. 

Ignoring the fact that human race might have been close to extinction in the past couple of years according to the show, I wouldn’t mind living in this future. I think the show has depicted tech as something that isn’t completely invasive, and instead something that is in the control of humans rather than controlling humans. It’s important to me to have a future where humans can remain autonomous while technology evolves, and I think that is the world that is depicted in Doctor Who. On top of that, I would love my own personal robot!! 

There’s no denying it. Our lives revolve around the smartphone. The cell phone has managed to evolve from a useful tool we use to reach friends and family on the go to a magical attention-sapping internet box where all productivity (or lack thereof) lies. In the past few years, the smartphone has managed to squeeze its way into almost every aspect of our lives. We use our phones as our alarm clocks, our cameras, to manage our tasks, set reminders, watch netflix, you name it. I’m one of those people who uses their phone for EVERYTHING; you’ll never catch me without my phone within 3 meters of me, and I’m ashamed to say that I am fully dependent on my smartphone, as I’m repulsed by even the idea of not having my phone on me at all times.My daily average of screen on time is approaching 9 hours (seriously), and I’m ready to admit that I have a problem, which leads me to the question: Do smartphones have overall a more positive or negative impact on the world?

I know I’m not the only one who has a smartphone dependency, my entire generation has managed to incorporate our phones in our everyday lives. Through my own research, I’ve found that many of my peers have daily averages of screen on time above 7 hours, and there’s a reason for it. Our smartphones, aside from being very addicting, are very useful. I can’t imagine not being able to text my friends for homework help, not being able to look up a random fact on the go, or not being able to call my mom to tell her that I’d be home late. There’s a reason that the smartphone is so ingrained in our society, as it allows us to do things that previous generations wouldn’t even have imagined. It’s a supercomputer that eliminates countless tools previously needed in our everyday lives, and has earned it’s reputation in today’s society. 

All this being said, it’s important to evaluate the repercussions of our smartphones. Our smartphones connect us to the world. You’re always within arms reach of anyone, no matter how far away they are. But sometimes, you just want to disconnect from the world. Have some time to yourself, or spend time with your friends or family.

With the advent of the smartphone however, disconnecting from society is nearly impossible. Sure, I can turn on “do not disturb” or leave my phone in the other room, but I always end up checking my phone anyways, I feel drawn to my phone like there’s a mysterious force connecting us. I get a severe case of FOMO (fear of missing out) without my phone, and all I can think about is if my friend texted me, or if my grandma called me, or what the score of the raptors game is.

In February, me and all my friends went on a 3-day school trip 4 hours north. There was no time to use our smartphones and no cell service or wifi if we made time. And honestly, I had the time of my life. I barely used my phone and had so much fun. I want to go back to that time, where I didn’t feel drawn to my phone.. After those three days, I came back to society and went back to my old habits, and writing this post today, I haven’t felt as happy since the trip. I know that I need time away from my phone to myself,  but I find it almost impossible to find that time, to disconnect, and to leave society behind for awhile.

New studies have come out linking smartphone and social media use to mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. Our generation is spending more and more time on our phones. We get less sleep, spend less time out with friends, and spend more time and effort maintaining an “online image”.

Based on the materials presented in class and your own background knowledge and experiences, do you think mobile phones have overall had a more positive or negative impact on the world?

I have heard a lot of different opinions regarding how beneficial cell phones are. On one hand, I’ve heard adults say they are the “ruin of our generation”, and will cause nothing but bad- on the other- I see my phone is something I use everyday in useful ways. 

My phone primarily to me is a tool that makes me feel safe and secure. I know that it makes me getting lost or stranded somewhere a lot less likely, and gives me constant connection to people I know, or a way to access help if I need. To me, that is extremely important, and plays a large factor in how I live my life- and I can see phones playing the same role in the lives of many others. That being said, my phone is also a major distraction. I think I’ve become addicted to the mobile game “Bricks n Balls”, and find myself playing it when I should really be doing homework. During class, I’d rather be scrolling through instagram or watching a youtube video than paying attention, and it takes a lot of self-control to make sure that doesn’t happen. Constant need to be on ones phone causes many issues regarding distraction, and though this may detrimental to learning in a classroom setting, it can be much, much more harmful in real life. Using a phone while driving is a very serious problem, and when it occurs, can risk the lives of both pedestrians and drivers.

Mobile phones are also a convenient way to have the internet accessible to you at all times, and though having such a plethora of information at your fingertips is something that has been unheard of until today, it also makes it very easy to become a part of some of the internet’s worst practices- like spreading fake news, and participating in harassment. Many companies that practice very negative business practices- such as Amazon- thrive off of constant accessibility to the internet. 

Mobile phones also raise major concerns regarding privacy. The GPS within mobile phones give tracking capabilities, monitoring conversations and activity of others is a very real threat to privacy within our society. I have a friend whose location is constantly monitored by her parents, which I believe is a major invasion of privacy on their part that certainly would not have happened if she didn’t have a phone. 

I know that I’ve been blabbing a bunch about how phones are so negative, and even though there are a lot of problems regarding mobile phones in our world, I still think they cause more benefit than harm (though not significantly). The most defining thing about phones is that they allow people to stay connected at all times, and to access knowledge at all times. Phones allow people to come together, to learn more, to have a significant amount of intellectual and creative freedom. Cell phones mean connectivity and unity amongst a population that is otherwise divided, which though largely theoretical, is something I find sort of poetic.