Tag Archives: reading

noticing myself

Here we have a reading telling us all to always think about ourselves. Maybe not just ourselves, but our actions and their consequences. This sounds like something about climate change and saving animals. Maybe it’s relevant to that, but to me, the reading by John Mason got linked to noticing myself in places and spaces (of course).

Even as I write this, I’m biting my nails. It’s a horrible habit and one I’ve wanted to stop for years but I just never notice. Mason says to alter our actions we have to broaden our sensitivity to the different aspects of whatever it is you’re practising – in my case, close encounters between hand and mouth. As it has been getting to the point where my fingers look ragged and bleed, I’ve tried nailing down triggers. My hands are never bitten at work, where I maintain proper food hygiene levels, or on public transport, where I also maintain proper hygienic practices. I’ve noticed my nail biting is most frequent in places where I allow myself to feel stress – home, study areas etc.

Nail-biting began when I was first in school, spending my time at the library reading fiction and biting cuticles instead of biting actual food. This has followed me into all types of reading and writing, be it the stress of a fantasy character fleeing, or an overdue assignment. Though this type of place is augmented, I believe it’s relevant as the biting follows me online. Realising I don’t even notice what is cannibalistic self-mutilation is a pretty scary pointer to other things I may not know about myself. It’s a very good practice to notice, and it could definitely turn a (head) space into a (non-biting) place.

The essence of noticing is being awake to situations, being mindful rather than mindless.

they know where you live

This studio has gotten us onto a few interesting and very “this makes me seem well-informed and edgy” topics. In relation to Creswell’s article on the definition of space, we’ve talked about geo-location apps and services.

“At a time when multiple alienations of modern society threaten our sense of belonging, the importance of place to creative possibility in life and art cannot be underestimated.”

Whilst this quote addresses art, it’s also relevant to our sense of augmented place – geological information services merging with our personal online connections. What we’ve created is are online spaces, and sometimes places, where the companies and brands we once were able to visit on our own terms now come to us. They knock on our doors, follow us to work, break through the windows. One of my classmates reminded us how most of those with smartphones are tracked constantly, Siri and Google telling us exactly how long it would take to get to work.

This information is assumed. Never have I ever told Google Maps exactly where I work, but it understands that a place I visit four to five days a week, for five to ten hours a day, and occasionally gets directed to using the GPS service, is where I spend my time flipping burgers. It’s uncanny. I’m scared that it will start noticing my late night travels to Malvern and assume I deal drugs there or something. Or maybe it’ll read my messages saying “On my way” and know it’s my boyfriend. Creepy.