This experiment was extremely difficult for me the first thing I usually do when I wake up is look at my social media accounts and check my DMs and messages. on day one when I woke up went to grab my phone and check but then I stopped myself from looking at it I had a lot of notifications from my social media which makes it hard to ignore it. in todays society people keep up with friends and family through social media people rarely call people now a days everything is done through instant messenging so doing this experiment was out of my norm. I did realize that  I spend a lot of time on social media and it plays a major part in distracting me from important matter and causes procrastination in certain aspects in my life. i lasted about four days before I gave in and checked social media and I used google often to search restaurants or places I want to visit. I stood off Facebook because I rarely use that the social media websites I tend to gravitate more towards are instagram, tweeter and Tik Tok. I think the curiosity as to what was happening on social media got to me I like looking at trends and meme and even current events. media outlets like instagram and tweeter often provide current events at a faster speed then news outlets.

It might be surprising but I did not struggle at all. I have no social media no instagram no Tik Tok, facebook ( I HAVE AN ACCOUNT BUT CANNOT REMEMBER THE LAST TIME I LOGGED IN). The only social media I have is snapchat and its mainly because of the news and stories I like to read there. I barely post pictures so a week without that was not bad at all. I am always asked how are you young and don’t have any of these things. I always hear them say… “you need an instagram”! I don’t feel I do feel like those networks are great for marketing and political purposes and also to be in touch with family and friends oversees. I simply keep in touch with Whatsapp and I guess I am just a little less outspoken or maybe I just keep to myself a lot oh and I definitely hate taking pictures… I am not photogenic at all! If I ever make an instagram or other social media platforms would be for marketing purpose since I am working on opening a Spa. I feel it serves great purpose to help many who want to pursue a career as bloggers or influencers as well as business owners.

I’d like to start off with the fact that I knew this wasn’t going to work out for me. I really depend on Google on a day to day basis. If I don’t know the answer to a question, Google. If I want to see a restaurant’s hours, Google. Literally anything you can think of, I go to Google for my answer. Within the hour after class, I was on Google. I quickly remembered that I was trying to stay off for a week so I tried the other search engines. That lasted about two days. I just didn’t like the layouts of the other search engines and felt as though they didn’t give me as much information. A part of me ridiculously even felt as though the information they gave me wasn’t even true.

I don’t use Facebook as much so I knew staying off for a week wouldn’t have affected me so I decided to try staying off of Instagram. I did better with this challenge but still did not complete it. I was off for about four and a half days. What I think hindered my chances of going all the way is that I knew that there were a bunch of stories and memes waiting to be seen and read in my dm’s. I watched the little notification number grow and grow until I couldn’t take it anymore. I also felt like I was bored at times and had to rely only on twitter for entertainment. If I were to try this challenge again I’d probably plan ahead and turn off my notifications as well as make sure that I’m always busy.

Well to start things off I want to say this challenge was not easy and I did not pass the challenge. This challenge became very difficult as time went by because to go from something you do everyday to suddenly just stopping, was the hard part. People use social media for many things besides posting how they feel, it can be used to promote a small business/ entrepreneurship you’ve created for yourself to make or bring in extra cash. Without the promotion, you will not get your business off the ground successfully. Therefore making it complicated not to use. As for me, I enjoy video games and sports gambling. Twitter is the social media site I use the most as I use twitter for checking out what is going on in the gaming community (preferably call of duty) and I use it for finding information form most sports beat writers which help me create lineups for fan duel and darlings for fantasy sports betting. These beat writers give information on certain teams, weather in that area, and different stats to help create a lineup for sports betting. Without using twitter I didn’t realized how much time I take using social media just for mainly those two things.

Reading Reflection:

In relation to Network Theory, the web in an incredibly rich source of networks, information, user-generated data and much more. According to Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the “World Wide Web”, the web is immensely significant when it comes to the creating connections and relationships between sets of data known as “linked data”. Emphasizing his phrase of, “Raw Data Now”, he explains that if all data was to become accessible to the public, real and true data from the government and different enterprises, then the amount of knowledge available to the public would be infinite. And even more so, that useful links could be created between different sets of data. For instance, if a person states online that they are from a certain city in Spain, a data link would be created between that person and Spain. From clicking on that person, a different user would also be able to find more data on Spain, the specific town they’re from, the history of that town and so on. On the word of Fred Vogelstein, and his article entitled, “The Great Wall of Facebook”, Facebook also intends to do something similar with personal user data which they have coined the “social graph”. This basically means that Facebook wishes to and is currently creating a way where they use people’s personal data to help the users find things or answers. If a user searches up the nearest foot doctor or cute clothing store, recommendations would be provided by their linked data, those they are friends with and admire online. “Facebook is an advanced communications network enabling myriad communication forms” (Vogelstein 2009) verses Google’s use of impersonal algorithms to find the answers to questions that users look up on a daily basis. Both Facebook and Google use a kind of “linked data” to create connections between users and their interests, but in different ways. Facebook’s invasive method for targeted advertising uses one’s personal data found on that social network itself and/or on the other 10,000 partners sites or apps. Though not discussed in the article, I also wonder if Facebook listens to us on a daily basis. After hearing a number of stories from friends and family that advertisements would pop up on their newsfeeds only after physically talking about an experience or product aloud. Google created their own version of “linked data” between user and content by a user’s search history and browsing activity. This may be less personal, but hey, Google is still an essential part of everyone’s daily life. Facebook and the ways they use data to provide better and more personal online interactions for their users is a great idea, but there is a fine line between efficient and just plain creepy.

Good Riddance Google and Facebook Experiment

“Our most powerful 21st-century technologies – robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech – are threatening to make humans an endangered species” (Joy 2000). I started off with this quote because of how dependent we all are on technology alone. Yes, this dependence is a necessity in this day an age where the “all-knowing” internet, unlimited knowledge, and boundless entertainment are greatly sought after because they are miraculously efficient, and incredibly convenient. But how convenient is too convenient? After completing this experiment, I have come to the realization that I am unbelievably dependent on these two companies and their products. Facebook and Google are literally habits in my daily life and they were harder to break than I had imagined. After the first two days following the instruction (Thursday and Friday), I would begin browsing my phone for some sort of entertainment in my break times. The firsts were always Youtube and Instagram. Then I would remember and quickly exit the apps. In this time, I learnt that Tumblr was owned by Verizon, 9GAG and Pinterest independent companies and Netflix, a tool that requires great patience to find the good stuff (well, I kind of knew that last one already). Bing, a Microsoft product, taught me all of this, which quite honestly, resembles Google’s search engine almost entirely. At first, I found searching things up on Bing to be a bit tedious because on the Safari application, both used on my phone and laptop, when you search something in the website/browsing bar, it automatically takes you to a google results page. I would have to type “bing.com” into the browser every time and then look up one of the many random things or questions that come up on a daily basis. I would say I found it quite difficult at first because Facebook and Google products are habits that I didn’t even know I had. After a while of not using them, I kind of just got used to it. I found other things to do like finally tackle that sewing pile that’s been building up with my father’s records playing in the background. I wouldn’t say I found it stressful by the end because there are so many different companies out there that need the extra user-time where Google and Facebook do not. I also regained my love for the app 9GAG, so if any of you guys enjoy dark humor or any funny content in general, check it out.

Honorable mentions:

“Reading, explains Wolf, is not an instinctive skill for human beings. It’s not etched into our genes the way speech is. We have to teach our minds how to translate the symbolic characters we see into the language we understand. And the media or other technologies we use in learning and practicing the craft of reading play an important part in shaping the neural circuits inside our brains” (Carr 2008).

“Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts” (Nietzsche 1882, Carr 2008).

German media scholar Friedrich A. Kittler about Nietzsche’s prose, “…changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style”(Kittler, Carr 2008).

I just wanted to add these three quotes because they didn’t really fit the theme of my reading reflection, but I found them really fascinating. The readings this week didn’t just remind me of how dependent we are on Google, Facebook and the web in general, but also made me question the long-term effects of internet and social network use. We may see it in our generation, though I think it’s safe to say the majority of us grew up without the technology that the generations that follow us have grown up with. Like… when I was a kid, I still played outside and didn’t get my first cellphone (pink Razor) until I got to highschool and that was normal. Technological advancements and the increased usage of them pose the questions: will more and more children and young adults of today think mechanically instead of humanly? And should this be a worry for the future?

So my week going without google or Facebook products went horrible I failed the first day Just due to the fact that I use it every day well mainly google and Instagram. The reason for me breaking so quickly is because whenever I use a different search engine its always inaccurate to what im specifically looking for with google I can type three words or even just two and it would already know what im looking for which makes it easier and saves me a lot of time, especially when im doing homework. Also whenever I go to a place and I have no clue to get there I use google maps. Furthermore, I may have broken early but I have grown so used to living with technology making everything easy for me I wouldn’t be anything if technology would be around it, I know it may be crazy but you can go up to any millennial or 90’s baby and ask them if they know how to navigate using a real paper map I bet most wouldn’t and they would go directly to there GPS.

In one of the readings, this part I read caught my eye it Stated “Eventually, a stage may be reached at which the decisions necessary to keep the system running will be so complex that human beings will be incapable of making them intelligently. At that stage, the machines will be an effective control. People won’t be able to just turn the machines off, because they will be so dependent on them that turning them off would amount to suicide.” (Why the future doesn’t need us) This had such a big impact on me just because of how right the person who wrote this was because already machines are taking over factories and even everyday jobs like a cashier job. For example, If Amazon was to stop running at this very moment a lot of people would be stressed just due to the fact that whatever they needed amazon could supply and could have anything delivered to there home without having to go to the store by taking this away this will cause a massive panic even on the holidays if that were to happen.

In this challenge, I somehow survived. I successfully did not use Google and Facebook products. At first, I struggled because I usually checked my email, but I told myself not to. Now, I accumulated more than 165 emails. I’m surprised I did not check them at all because everytime that I see that 165 emails, I have this itch that I need to scratch. In terms of social media, I mostly use instagram to see what’s new with my friends or what’s trending. Everytime I see the notifications from Instagram, I have this urge to open it. Instead of clicking on it, I dropped my phone and did something else. It was stressful at first, but I adapted the next day. Instead of wasting my time scrolling on Instagram, I wasted my time in the game PUBG. I became more focused on my homework. I have more time to sleep and work out. I have time to make myself some food. This challenge helps me realize that the online world is depriving me from enjoying my time in the real world. It helped me focus on my priorities.

When the professor at the end of class said to try to go a week basically without social media, I said I will able to make it at the end of the week. My first instinct was to delete all those apps I’m frequently on, Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, and Youtube. I kept Google maps for the reason that it is a necessity when I drive although I know my way, I use to see my time and how long the trip will take me. The first days were HORRIBLE, I have the tendency of waking up and checking the gram, a little part of me wanted to re-download the app but instead I tried to distract myself by starting the morning by cleaning my room something I rarely do. As the day went by seeing my sister laugh at Tik Tok, it was making things more tempting. It was temptation, and the separation anxiety I had from my phone, and the little fear that I am going to miss a big thing.

As the week was coming towards the end, I will say .. I gave up by day 3 I could not resist not knowing was happening, I miss the scrolling. I felt that social media did not play a huge factor in my life but in reality, it did. In the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid” it said, “The more pieces of information we can “access” and the faster we can extract their gist, the more productive we become as thinkers.” When I did not have the apps I felt left out, you say I felt lost. It was great that I did this exercise because it motivated me to live in the moment. I had a family event over the weekend and instead of posting what was going on, I really took advantage of “disconnecting” from the social world.