Holiday Cleaning

Have you ever heard the words, “holiday cleaning”….?  Holiday cleaning refers to a special type of cleaning that people do once a year. Once a year people all over America (maybe even all of the world) clean out their residences of all the stuff that they acquired over the past year/s that they don’t want anymore. For example, one my get rid of boxes of papers or clothes that don’t fit anymore. Holiday cleaning is a way of keeping one’s space organized and relevant. This year, I propose that along with cleaning one’s physical, real life space that we also clean out our non-real life space, primarily our Facebooks. I noticed recently that my Facebook was full of applications, information, and pictures which are no longer relevant. While they do not create much clutter or take up a lot of space, they are still sometimes very annoying. For example: suppose you are applying for a job and the person interviewing you asks if wouldn’t mind sitting down with them and showing them your Facebook (unlikely, but possible). Right away your in a jam… you may have photos from high school or college that would incriminate you, or make the person interviewing less inclined to hire you. What about having photos on your Facebok which portray you and your multiple past boyfriends or girlfriends??...Depending on the type of person your current partner is, they may not be very happy.

While applying holiday cleaning to the flushing out of one’s Facebook may seem pretty ridiculous, I think there is something to be said about it. Facebook was created a social networking tool, a way for people to connect online. Instead of just connecting, people are now sharing, sharing high amounts of personal information with many people. With everyday that I live and learn more about the world, I realize that we are true “test dummies” of the Internet. No one really knows what happens to their information once it is officially edited onto the Internet (regardless of privacy settings). That to me is very scary because there is always an outside chance that it could someday pop up again at the most unexpected or worst time.

I recently cleaned out my Facebook. Not only did I delete hundreds of photos but I also deleted a lot of information that I previously had written in my “bio” section. My theory for deleting photos is that I don’t want someone to be able to learn too much about my life by scrolling through an album of a few hundred photos. The same theory applies to my “bio.” If one really wants to know what kind of music I like or what my favorite books and move are, then I believe that they should just ask me, Asking me would create a more meaningful situation in which we could converse and share thoughts, ideas, and opinions.

No matter your reason, this holiday season I urge to consider the idea of cleaning out your Facebook and similar sites that hold information about you online. What’s there may be there (on the Internet) forever, but seeing as we do not know the true power of the Internet yet, it does not seem wise to constantly keep pushing the limits.

O yeah, by the way…..I hope y’all have a great holiday season!

Thanks for reading! 

Media Diet

The following is my media diet for 5 days. It spans from Friday, November 26 to Tuesday November 30. It includes TV usage, Internet usage (with division for "heavy hitters" like Facebook and iChat), as well as phone time.

Friday: 
TV: None
Internet: 20 mins. (15 mins. Facebook, 5 mins. email)
Phone: Texted on and off throughout the day and made a couple of calls
Saturday:
TV: None
Internet: None
Phone: Used it to listen while skiing and took a couple of pictures along the way
Sunday:
TV: 30 mins.
Internet: 20 mins. (15 mins Facebook, 5 mins miscellaneous, 20 mins iChat)
Phone: Texted on and off throughout the day and made a couple of phone calls
Monday:
TV: 10 mins.
Internet: 30 mins (10 mins Facebook, 20 mins for studies)
Phone: Texted on and off throughout the day and made a couple of phone calls
Tuesday:
TV: 20 mins. (Warriors game which they got spanked in, hence why I only watched 20 mins.)
Internet: 40 mins. (20 mins. Facebook, 20 mins for studies)
Phone: Not much, a couple of texts and a couple of calls

As I reflect on my media diet for the past 5 days two thoughts become immediately highlighted: 1. I don't like how much I use Facebook and 2. I don't like how much I text message.

Completing a media diet made me realize that I (and maybe all of us) under use the Internet for its benefits and overuse it for what I think are silly tools which keep us reasonably entertained. Often, when I open my laptop the first thing I click on is my "booksmarks bar," is the bookmark for Facebook. For some reason I am highly compelled to see if anyone has written me anything or if I've been tagged in any photos, etc. This is to me is simply weird. When I think about how many times Facebook or Facebook related things come up in conversation or social situations, I realize how much of an impact it has had on today's world, especially the youth. When I look around classrooms where students are allowed to use their laptops, I see many of my peers flipping back and forth between and taking notes on Word and lurking on other people's Facebooks or having a conversation with someone on the Facebook "chat" application. Last time I checked the purpose of attending class was to learn something about the topic the class was based on...chatting is not only disrespectful to the teacher, but also detrimental to one's educational experience and ability to focus (don't lie about it you self-proclaimed multi-taskers!).

Many of today's youth who are using the Internet, are using some form of a social networking site. Many use these sites as a way to connect with other's and keep in contact, but I also believe that many people are using Facebook as a way to lurk on other peoples lives. People will go through albums of 100's of photos checking someone out trying to learn about the persons life and who they are/what they're about. Get a life!!!!!

In regards to my texting, I'm not proud. I text more than I'd like to. I've noticed that I enjoy my days slightly more when I am disconnected from my phone and more connected with the non-digital world around me - I find the non-digital world more stimulating, just as I find real sex more stimulating than something like second life sex (I haven't tried digital sex yet, and mark words: I will never!) Texting, while sometimes efficient for making plans is starting to replace lengthier, real life or telephone conversations. These days, companies manufacturing phones are designing them so that longer texts and emails can be authored faster and quicker...great! Anyway, I plan to budget my texting significantly in the months to come. Hopefully it will bring me greater peace of mind.

Other than my Facebook and texting addictions, my media intake is fairly minimal. I don't watch much TV. I usually just watch TV when Entourage and Californication are on. I've also been known for catching a sports game here and there. I use iChat to talk with friends far away - it's as close to real life interactions as you can get (I'm still waiting for teleporting to be developed). I try to read the news online (from a variety of sources) for a few minutes everyday so that I have some idea of is going on in the world (I read BBC and The Daily Best mostly).

Moving forward, I hope that my media intake remains balanced: I hope to text less, go on Facebook less. I also aim to use the Internet more for its rich educational opportunities. I've started listening to some of Ira Glass' radio programs from the archives and they're great (check it out!)

I hope I didn't offend anyone with my remarks about Facebook usage or sex. I see the digital world and the Internet starting to solidify its place in our world and our societies and it scares me. I hope in the years to come that the Internet develops and grows into something that can be used to inflict positive change in our communities and  world as a whole... isn't that what we really need after all?

Thanks for reading!