Reading Reflection

This week’s reading presents an interesting concept called digital detox. According to Syvertsen & Enli (2019), digital detox refers to a period when people do not use electronic devices such as cell phones or computers, a move intended to help people reduce stress and focus on real-world interactions.

I often hear about people detoxifying their bodies by eating healthy foods that circulate what’s in their bodies. Digital detox, to me literally, detoxifies the brain. The brain is the recipient of the numbers, and if we want to digitally detoxify, we might need to go from the brain to disconnect those links.

The popularity of digital media has brought numerous conveniences and entertainment to people’s lives, as well as many dangers and unhealthiness. In a 2017 survey, the American Psychological Association found that nearly one in five people were stressed by digital technology. 43% said they felt physically and mentally ill from checking email and social media for long periods. (Friedman 2022)

Therefore, I started to wonder if a digital detox was a useful technique to aid in mind and body reshaping. Digital media may have started with good intentions, but because people’s lives are now so closely entwined with them, they have grown to be bad in the absence of self-control or moral judgement. We might not be able to sever our ties to digital media at once entirely, but we can attempt to detoxify by using fewer specific platforms and devices.

In Class Activity

This week, we also completed a brief digital detox in class. At first, I thought the exercise could have lasted much longer than the allotted ten minutes. I’m certain 10 minutes would pass in the blink of an eye if they were spent on digital media. We had plenty of time to reflect and find ideas during this detox period. I also want to discuss my personal experience. I’m a sensitive person, therefore comments on social media frequently affect me. My life has frequently fallen into depression as a result of unfavourable news or opinions. I decided to disconnect from that platform as a result, which I guess is also a kind of digital detox.

In addition, We also completed our creations during the class.

I didn’t choose to do a single type of media, I wanted to compare media to a thing or object. After the first two weeks, I didn’t want to describe media regarding type, time, and technology.

In my mind, media started as a small feather that slowly grew through time, and technology, and evolved into many different forms. The buttons are its connections, and the dots in the buttons are the steps of evolution. Eventually, the feather grew larger and larger, even changing colour, size and form. As time changed, the types of media became colourful and some were so successful that they even blossomed, signifying that they brought happiness to people’s lives. I enjoyed a part of last week’s reading where the social meaning of media is constantly being redefined, in different contexts and moods. Everything has a good side and a bad side, depending on how we use it. We can use creativity to make media blossom, or we can let the negative aspects of media affect us. I love every form of media and the experiences and emotions it brings.

References：

Facebook

Start time: 2014.4.11

I went to an amusement park in Rotterdam and then ate Szechuan food and ice cream with my uncle and Dutch papa. Still remember the feeling, I was thrilled because is hard to eat delicious Chinese food in the Netherlands.

Last Post: 2019.9.15

I just came to Australia and played in a tournament for the club. My partner named Sawan went to the Rio Olympic Games, our opponents were all from the Australian national team, but we still won this tournament.

Reflection on Natale’s Reading

This reading brought me a deep feeling and reshaped my understanding of media. In the first week of the blog, I kept mentioning the concept of old media, but after reading Natale’s article I no longer would define media as old or new.

Nowadays, people tend to define old and new media in terms of technology, level of use, and artificiality. If the platform no longer has cutting-edge technology, or if it’s a medium that the previous generation was passionate about using, it’s defined as old and outdated. Natale makes the point that media is constantly changing, and it’s the type and degree of change that should not be defined by age or time. Technologies that are briefly abandoned may be highly sought after again at another time, such as vintage and Y2K, which are now very popular. the article also mentions that there is no such thing as old or new media if you consider the artificial mobility and uncertainty of the environment.

From my point of view, what media offers us is emotional value, it will record our life in bits and pieces, and when looking back again will evoke many memories of the past. Because of these memories, I may pick up platforms that I no longer use, such as Facebook in the beginning part of the blog. In terms of technology, Facebook has also extended the message function, which means that it has updated its technology in some cases, and technology has been updated to attract new target users to use it, again not something that is old.

There are many different types and ways of media, and we should define them by emotion, function, and experience. Media may be nostalgic, it may be new and trendy, or it may be the most convenient for everyday life. Every period and every situation is changing and can be integrated. However, the media must not be outdated, and old.

This one is a note I compiled in response to another ChatGPT reading, where I compared what people thought were the benefits and drawbacks of AI.
The benefits of AI are that it is a great tool to provide us with ideas and broaden our thinking when we run out of ideas, and it can also help people get rid of boring and tedious basic tasks.

On the other hand, the real value of art is the process and details of creating and completing art. the emergence of AI has replaced the existence of some cheap artists, and people think that AI devalues artists and public art creation. ai makes technology and practices redundant, and the artwork is loved because of its infusion of the artist’s soul, and their struggling, interactive, and innovative techniques are the soul of art.

In my opinion, as a tool, AI is actually worth keeping. It can broaden the artist’s mind and expand a point into a surface. In any case, the process of creating art by the artist is the most precious and fascinating. So AI cannot replace this process, it should only provide people with ideas.

Reference：

1. What media do you use every day? List technologies and platforms, and then I

what you use them for.

There are many types of media that we use in daily life. I believe there are two types: old media and new media. Old media is traditional media, which I often use as print media, such as books and magazines. New media is more like digital media, where I often use social media platforms and video platforms, such as Instagram, YouTube, WeChat, etc. Nowadays, old media is more for learning and gaining knowledge, while new media is for socializing and accepting new things.

2. Put a star next to any media that is offline/real-world.
3. Choose three of these and do some basic research into these.

The three that I have chosen are print, radio, and television. All three of these media are common forms of traditional media. The format of television, which combines audio and video, offers viewers a variety of programming. Contrarily, radio is an audio medium that is most frequently found in transportation. Newspapers, flyers, books, and magazines round out print media. Print media is one of the most reliable media, according to Emrich (2022), because the human brain is considerably more capable of recalling text on paper than words on a scrolling screen.

4. For companies, who manufactures the product? Where are they manufactured?

For this question, I’m not sure about the product and production of a media company, so I will try to answer that with my personal experience. I’m a content executive at a global digital sports agency. we don’t have a specific product, but we use creativity to produce media content and use content to serve account fans, and most of these products are produced from my head.

5. Which of these technologies or platforms measures/quantifies/records data?

What kind of data?

YouTube is a good example of a platform that constantly collects data from users’ views and channels to eventually suggest videos they might like. YouTube records a lot of data, averaging about 8 million signals per day. (How Does the YouTube Algorithm Work in 2022? – Tasty Edits n.d.)

6. Apart from your uses, do the media have any other affordances?

In addition to people’s everyday use, these media have many other functions. Media is more than social and entertainment, it is also about communication and marketing. Social and current events are spread through the media, and advertising and marketing need to be spread through the media, both offline and online.

7. Is there a hierarchy of your media? e.g. do you need to have the phone to use WhatsApp?

My answer is that there is a distinction, probably more of a type of distinction. Digital media almost always requires an electronic device to use, because it needs to be viewed online. But offline media is not. Offline media we see everywhere in our lives, for example, ads at bus stops, flyers received on the street, etc.

Reflection:

In this week’s class, we discussed the types of media. The word “media” was still a bit abstract for me in the first week, and I didn’t have too many concrete concepts. I hope to increase my understanding of media little by little in subsequent classes.

References:

Emrich, S 2022, The Importance of Print Media and How It Can Benefit Your Brand, Entrepreneur.

How Does the YouTube Algorithm Work in 2022? – Tasty Edits n.d., https://www.tastyedits.com/.

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