Sanctuary, Sanctuary: My Semi-Media-Fast

I sent a text out to my friends and family at 11:33pm on Friday night announcing that I was participating, yes, in a Media Fast for the next 24 hours. I then immediately set my cell phone to "airplane mode" so that I would no longer receive any texts anyone tried to send me.

I arranged earlier that night when my boyfriend would pick me up for work, and when my roommate would pick me up from work (since I don't own a car), so that we wouldn't have to worry about not being able to coordinate with a cell-phone.

I awoke the next morning (using my cell phone solely as an alarm clock.) My natural instinct as I was getting ready was to reach for my laptop since I usually listen to General Conference talks or music in the morning while I'm getting ready. But I refrained.

I had already established for myself that this fast excluded anything work- or school-related as I can't afford to fail a class, and especially not to lose my job. But actually, in many ways my job worked in my favor. You see, I teach Danish at the Missionary Training Center--a hub for media-deprived people: no cell-phones, no music, no Facebook, etc. Yet even this media-deficient center relies significantly on technology and media. The entire outline schedule of what we as teachers are supposed to do with missionaries that day is on the MTC's website, as are the displays we use for teaching the language, the necessary  "Preach My Gospel" video-clips that we use for training, emails about meetings from my supervisor, etc. So from the very beginning of my day I did, unfortunately, have to use some media technology.
(I realized even further how dependent my job is on technology just earlier today when the entire server was down for a bit. We had no idea what to the plan for the day was, what grammar we were supposed to teach; and we couldn't even teach the Preach My Gospel Fundamental properly. Until to our relief, the system came back to life again.)

That day I had to work both the 7:30am-11:00am and the 5:30pm-9:00pm shifts because my co-teacher was out of town. Being a person who strives to optimize efficiency and lacking a car, I determined to just stay and work on homework at the MTC my entire break time. This did require me to use my laptop and the internet--there was no way I was going to sit around for six and a half hours doing nothing when I had a ton of homework hanging over me, the majority of which required computer usage. However I did strive to minimize my internet-use as much as possible. I was working on a PowerPoint presentation for my Danish class, and here are the only sites I used in working on that: BYU Learning Suite, danmarkshistorie.dk, Google Translate, and Google Images.

I was amazed at how productive my homework time was without having any emails, texts, or other social media forms of interruption. I actually haven't used Facebook much at all since the semester has started, so I realized that the only things that were really different in this "fast" than what I usually do were texts and my gmail (most of which is related to school and work stuff anyway.) Yet not being constantly interrupted by these things  made it even easier for me to me effective.

I did have to go to the BYU site as well in order to put money on my Signature Card so I could buy lunch at the MTC cafeteria (that's the only way they'll take payment--yet further evidence of how our society demands the use of media.)

But other than that, my day was quite media-free. Yes, perhaps I had it a bit easier being in the sanctuary of the MTC, but I still learned a lot from the experience nonetheless. The next day after the "fast" I didn't even use my phone as much, and my mom asked me if I was still fasting, wondering why I still never responded to her texts.

While I was "disconnected" from the world, my cousin got engaged, I received a text from an old friend, plus another cousin I hadn't heard from in a long time. The interesting thing was that, since I didn't respond right away to these messages, once I finally did respond, I never heard back because I guess it was somehow too late. I suppose in some ways that shows that media is such an important part of society to keeping and building relationships and not being rude or anti-social.

All in all, an interesting experience. Yet I know I couldn't have managed at all if I had gone for complete abstinence from computers.

Nothing New Under the Sun

Well, it turns out that others have already started on this idea I've had of a Digital Diet. Or something similar at least. It's called "Information Diet" which seems to have started out as a book, and now has a whole website devoted to it: http://www.informationdiet.com/

I've even started formulating an idea in my brain for a website where people could track their media consumption. At first I thought informationdiet.com did this, but as I've been browsing around the website, I don't think it does. Rather, they suggest some software you can download in order to make your information consumption on the internet more efficient, such as AdBlock and SaneBox. So perhaps there still are a few new ideas I could contribute to this discussion after all. In addition to simply focusing on monitoring what we consume, I would also like to focus on monitoring what we contribute, with a focus on using the internet for meaningful contributions to society. Maybe I'll even contact the author Clay Johnson for his thoughts and a little "expert social feedback." But I should probably actually read his book first. :P I'll update you more when I do.

Until then, I recommend watching this video clip that explains a little bit more about Information Diet:

Digital Diet

All this talk of a media fast has got me thinking.

About the thoughts and ideas I've been developing in this class in conjunction with "The Things They Carried;" about my focus on having purpose on the internet and being an active, creative contributor rather than a passive consumer; about the discussions I've had with Audrey Blake, Curtis Jenkins, and others about identity and the internet.

And I've especially thought a lot about a general theme that seems to reoccur in lots of my comments and posts: that there needs to be balance and moderation in all things; that the internet isn't inherently evil, nor perfectly utopian, but rather that the best option is not to go to one extreme or the other, but rather to find a balance.

After reading about the proposed "media fast" last night, I interviewed my cousin who had done her own media fast just a week or so previously.I asked her what she thought of it, what she learned from it, and if she would recommend it. Here's what I got from this media fast interview:

When I asked her how it went, she said that she felt "isolated" and kind of lonely. She said it was harder to do research for her homework, because her natural reaction now is to go to the internet, which she says has become our main source for problem-solving or finding answers. When trying to find a friend's house, she realized she didn't have their address, and then didn't have a phone to try to call them to find out where she needed to go. So she just ended up not going. "Nowadays we don't think of bringing a quarter for a pay phone, or memorizing addresses and phone numbers," she said. She hadn't realized how "debilitating" the media fast would be. Computer abstinence wasn't required because of  homework (just social media, etc., which I personally think would be a good rule to have for our media fast), but she chose not to use it anyway because she knew she would inevitably find herself on gmail or Facebook, because her fingers are so programmed to automatically type in those URLs when she gets online.

But would she recommend it? Her answer was, "Yes. Yes, for a learning experience. It's a good thing to analyze how much you're using, and how much is really necessary."

This answer of hers got me thinking even more. About the purpose of media fasts. If the purpose is to analyze how much we're using and how much is really necessary, I think there is a more effective way of doing this:

Rather than a Media Fast, what about a Media Diet? Just like we need a balanced diet for food, I assert that we also need a balanced media diet--not to an extreme, one way or another. Just as somethings are better for us to eat than others, some media things are better for us than others. But just as it's okay to eat a brownie every once in awhile, it's also okay to indulge in a few minutes of mindless games or Facebook-stalking every once in awhile. Balance in all things, my friends, balance in all things.

Rather than completely abstaining from media, this project would entail keeping track of the media that you do consume and how much time you devote to the various forms of digital media: how much time you spend on Facebook, playing games, using internet for school, texting, watching TV or videos, etc., etc. More than a mere media fast, focusing on our media diets would help us see where we're using digital media wisely, productively, how much time we spend on perhaps more passive, purposeless digital media activities, as well as how this compares to our time spent on non-digital activities. This will help us analyze our media consumption/contribution, how we can find balance in it, and make changes to make our digital use more purposeful and productive. It also helps us find balance between our digital and non-digital identities.

This is a project that I would like to further pursue and advocate. What are your thoughts?

Meeting Online, Meeting in Person, Living in Both:

I had an interesting experience yesterday in class when we broke up into small groups of three. As we began to discuss what we read and our developing ideas for our papers in connecting a work of fiction with a digital culture-related topic, I witnessed something which I found quite fascinating.

I started discussing Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried," and my approach of discussing it in the light of being active contributors with a purpose in digital interaction, rather than simply being passive consumers. As I mentioned this, one of my group members, Jake, chimed in saying, "Wait, that was you? I commented on that post, I thought it was great..." and we continued in person the conversation that we had started online.

Then it was Audrey's turn to tell about what she had read and is writing. She's focusing on internet identity, honesty, and how people feel they have to portray themselves in a certain way online. This actually fit well with some of the identity issues I'm considering and addressing in my own study. We had a good discussion comparing notes, and determined that we most definitely would have to continue this discussion online as we each developed our thoughts and papers further.

Then it was Jake's turn. As he told about the former student's blog that he had been assigned to read, Audrey said, "Wait--that was my blog from when I had Brother Burton for a previous class!" They then were able to have a great conversation together about that.

This little triangle just fascinated me. In one way or another, we had all connected online, and here we had been sitting together in class without even realizing those connections. But then meeting and discussing in person just strengthened that connection even more. Some would say that this is a sign of the detrimental effects of technology; that we can have online connections, and then be in the same room with those same people and not even have a connection to them.

But I'd like to argue otherwise that digital connections, coupled with in-person interactions actually complement and amplify human relations. Already having some knowledge of each others' ideas online improved our conversations when we were in person because we already had something to go off of. And in mine and Audrey's situation, the things we discussed in person encouraged us to collaborate further together online.

I've often lamented the fact that our time seems to like the alliances that literary minds of the past shared, how they would get together and philosophize and discuss intellectual things. Like Wordsworth and Coleridge. Lewis and Tolkien. I've felt that today we just seem to lack that part of culture, at least in the undergrad sphere. But now,  I'm beginning to sense that perhaps that part of culture hasn't disappeared afterall. That it actually exists...through the internet.

Active Purpose in the Digital World in Conjunction with "The Things They Carried"

In reading "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien, I've noticed a connection to something we discussed in class in conjunction with "Consume, Create, and Connect." We discussed the importance of having a specific, active purpose in our internet-use, rather than mere passive consuming. It seems that being active on the internet and driven by a purpose actually creates more of a meaningful identity for the user. The reason we get overwhelmed with too much information on the internet is because we are being passive.

I have found a similar pattern in "The Things They Carried." O'Brien describes the extreme lack of purpose in the march of the Vietnam soldiers within the text saying, "They moved like mules. By daylight they took sniper fire, at night they were mortared, but it was not battle, it was just endless march, village to village, without purpose, nothing won or lost. They marched for the sake of the march" This think this describes well how many people use the internet. They simply surf the net aimlessly; "they surf for the sake of the surf," instead of actually actively contributing to it, because they don't have a purpose.

Furthermore, because the war itself doesn't seem to provide a specific purpose for the soldiers, they begin to redefine necessities and priorities, discarding more vital supplies like rations and weapons, and instead  carry more trivial things. These miscellaneous items do establish a sort of identity for each of the characters, just as the sites we consume from the internet provide a sort of identity for us. But it isn't until the main character, Lieutenant Cross finds a contributing, active form of purpose, rather than being merely passive that he actually makes progress and establishes a real identity for himself. Likewise, it's not until we find a purpose and actively contribute to the digital world that our online identity actually takes on real meaning.

These are just some brewing thoughts I've had in reading and re-reading "The Things They Carried," which I would like to develop and fine-tune further.

A webcam by any other name would smell as sweet.

Jeff had just announced to me that he liked me. But--here's the catcher--he was heading back home to the Midwest the very next day.  So what was the point, right? He would be there all spring and summer and I would be here in Provo, so we couldn't really take things too much further from there. I didn't have unlimited minutes, so that made talking on the phone less of an option. We could text and what not, but that still just doesn't quite serve the same function as talking face to face.

So he said goodbye at the door and headed on his way. I, meanwhile, resigned myself to the fact that this budding relationship would just get snipped before it even had a chance to bloom, and that there unfortunately wasn't much I could do about it.

But later that evening, the doorbell rang.

I opened the door, where I was startled to find the person I expected to be on his way across the country. And there in his hands, he held out...a webcam.

Every time I tell this story, (particularly to members of the female persuasion) a chorus of "Awww"s and "That's so sweet!" ensue, as if he'd shown up on my doorstep with the largest bouquet of long-stemmed red roses the world has ever seen.

It makes me chuckle a bit to think that a webcam has become something romantic. But I have to admit, it was one of the best gifts I've received. Not simply the webcam itself, but what followed with it. Because of  the webcam and my subsequent downloading of Skype, Jeff and I could now see and talk to each other on a regular basis. In the beginning, we only talked a couple days a week, but before long it turned into a part of the daily routine. We were able to get to know and appreciate each other even better to the point that by the time he moved out here to Provo for school we had come to a point where we were already dating.

So often we hear how technology is detrimental to social interactions and real-life human relationships. But in my case, technology proved beneficial to my relationship. You could even say that it is what made it possible.

Certainly, people have had successful long-distant relationships without technology for centuries. But I feel that having the ability to actually talk face to face (like you do with a webcam) has a greater influence and stronger affect on helping people really know each other as they would in "real life" than if they simply write to each other.

In many ways, people who are apart actually have closer relationships today than they did before we emerged into this new digital culture of ours. My mom, for example, says the fact that we could email each other every week of my LDS mission to Denmark, plus having the chance to Skype me at Christmas and on Mother's Day, kept us closer together and made it not feel like I really lived on the other side of the globe.

In another blog, "Glimmerbomb" addresses this issue even further as she discusses the benefits of  webcams and human interactions. I found her blog while looking on Word Spy, a site the tracks new words cropping up in the English language. There I found this interesting entry:

Skype sleep

v. To create a Skype connection with a faraway partner and then fall asleep together."

This completely blew my mind. I had never heard of such a thing. Personally, I think that Skype sleeping takes it to a bit of a ridiculous extreme. But I guess it just further proves how many aspects of "real life" are propelled rather than halted by technology.

Word Spy included sources where this new word has been found including the aforementioned blog found here: http://glimmerbomb.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/looking-at-you-looking-at-me/

It also led me to this interesting site called Spark 161 which had a podcast talking about Skype sleep. As I looked further, I found that the site is swimming with podcasts all about digital culture, and will likely serve as a great go-to for me and all the rest of you studying digital culture. Check it out here: http://www.cbc.ca/spark/2011/11/spark-161-november-6-9-2011/

Book Review: The Death of Distance: How the Communications Revolution Will Change Our Lives

Though a bit outdated, Frances Cairncross’ “The Death of Distance: How the Communications Revolution Will Change Our Lives,” serves as an interesting measuring tool for the progress of technology over the past fifteen years. In fact, because of the year in which the book was written (1997) it is also serves as an aid in seeing where the book proved prophetic and where it fell short in the things people then expected to happen in and because of technology in their future. Some things we may even chuckle at as they are things which then seemed so cutting-edge, yet now we take for granted.

The book gives a hopeful outlook on numerous potential benefits of technology and does well in surveying a wide range of areas that technology could potentially affect, from home décor and medicine in third-world countries to legislation and human relationships. While the book has an overall tone of ameliorating and glorifying the internet and technology, it does nonetheless acknowledge some of the shortcomings and potential dangers, though perhaps not as thoroughly as it could. 

Cairncross also approaches the prospects of the future via analysis of the past, which gives the book an interesting dynamic of time, helping you realize that many of the issues at hand are not necessarily new but rather have been an ongoing process of production and progression.

I would not necessarily recommend this book to anyone researching newer media and technologies, since much of the information is no longer current. It does nonetheless provide an interesting background to the progression of technology and the potential that it still has in the various areas that have yet to be reached.

"I wouldn't mind marrying a nerd. Just as long as he doesn't propose in binary code."

Once upon a time, as I sat discussing the peculiarities and wonders of geek-dom, my good friend Katrina Redd made the profound statement, "I wouldn't mind marrying a nerd. Just as as long as he doesn't propose in binary code." This comment gave us all a good bout of chuckles and was immediately voted as quote of the day.

This quote serves as the inspiration for my blog title and actually proves quite fitting for some of the topics I first want to address. We hear so much about the detrimental effects of technology on relationships and social interactions. And while I do admit that my experience of witnessing a group of people in silence because they are all occupied texting someone else somewhere else does support this claim, I have nonetheless witnessed numerous beneficial effects of our digital culture on human relationships.

Here on this blog, I would like to begin a discussion on the connections between digital culture and relationships--the positive, the negative, and otherwise. I kind of surprised myself with the selection of this topic, considering the fact that I traditionally am not one to habitually haunt the check-out lane to see the latest update on Brad and Angelina (or whoever they're with these days); nor am I one to squeal at the mere mention of Mr. Darcy. But I do believe there is a wide field for insightful discussion on the topic of our digital world and human relationships--not just online dating and romantic relationships, but human interactions as a whole. For example, the effects of Skype on personal relationships; maintaining connections via Facebook that might otherwise be lost; missionary work over the internet; growing closer to distant family members; the question of whether one participates more or less in digital culture based on their social life in the non-digital world; and so on.

Of course over time, my blog may venture off onto other topics as well, but for now we'll keep the above heading as the beta title for this blog.

So ladies and gentlemen, welcome to "...As long as he doesn't propose in binary code." And stay tuned for another post soon to follow.