Thoughts on Interconnectivity in a Personal Network

The Challenge

This week, Dr. B challenged my classmates and I to log and map a full day of technological interaction. I chose to keep an email draft (to myself) open at all times so I could voice-text whatever I’d just done when I used my phone or computer. The photo below isn’t the entire log (and doesn’t contain all the information I eventually added to it), but it’s a decent representative sample.

Screenshot of media log for Tuesday, January 28th.

I used that data to create a picture of my personal network. Because I like mixing new and “old” media, I drew the map by hand, adding in illustrations, app logos, sketches of family and friends, and thoughts. I particularly appreciated the weirdness of drawing the Instagram logo or a YouTube video of an SNL sketch in a leather-bound notebook.

A few quick notes:

• I drew each app icon only once, even though the apps very often overlap in purpose.
• I added words and quotes that went along with my thinking and filled in some of the blank spaces, creating more of a rhizome than a star shape. (I even included some real rhizomes, bottom left corner.) Some of the words are negative.
• The far bottom left depicts some of the locations in which I interact with technology (spoiler: everywhere). I’m interested in the effect the lack of necessary downtime has on our brains and overall emotional health. (Do we need media breaks? Probably…)

 

My Network Map

Network map of my media connections by purpose

Notes on Purpose

When thinking about how to present my network map, I first thought about purpose, jumping off with two basic questions:

What do I use each app or platform for?

What forms of technology do I use for each purpose in my life?

I first considered mapping by app. I listed all the forms of media I use in a given day and made notes on what their purposes are. This answer is easy sometimes — I use Netflix for entertainment (particularly while doing boring house chores), to learn things (like organizing my drawers, baking a traditional genoise sponge, why the Fyre Festival failed), and to occupy my children while I’m trying to cook (#momwin). But other apps, like Instagram, Chrome, or even Messages (for basic texting) are a lot more multifaceted.

I ultimately flipped it around, organizing my map more or less by purpose:

Practical life stuff/logistical communication (bottom left)

This included things like buying vegetable seeds online, looking up gluten-free restaurants in Hendersonville and following Google Maps directions to the one I chose, texting my husband grocery lists, looking up the weather and time, and doing work for my GA position.

Research/Learning/Scholarly Connection (bottom middle) 

It’s been a fascinating thing to be able to complete a Master’s program online. Additionally, all my capstone research is media-based, as are my relationships with the people in our cohort and the scholars whose work I’ve gotten to know.

Entertainment (bottom left)

Obvious, but there’s a lot of crossover with other categories. I can use Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat to connect with people or ideas or express myself creatively…but more often I use it as a form of entertainment.

Curiosity (top left)

This was the most interesting thing in my log. Turns out, I google things constantly, and not just because my sons are 8 and 6 and ask a million questions a day. I love the fact that I don’t have to wonder things when I don’t know them. Things I googled that day included: 2015 video of giant squid Japan (which is amazing btw); Michelle Obama (bio on Wikipedia); onion root structure; elderberry trees; gluten-free genoise sponge; difference between Italian and Swiss meringue buttercream; lyrics to Be Thou My Vision; what is caster sugar; dog tooth root abscess symptoms; flu symptoms in children; and my personal favorite query: “how did tudors get live birds in pies without cooking them.”

Related bit of amazingness from one of my favorite comedians that is well worth 2:46 of your day (if only because by the end you’ll know where Tom Petty is from):

Personal Connection (top right, those closest to me)

I love the ability to stay deeply connected with family and close friends in spite of distance. I thought a lot during the day about what platforms I use for different types of communication and different people. In general, with my closest friends and family, the more I see the person in real life, the more likely I am to just text them or maybe send a silly meme on Facebook Messenger. Phone calls, Skype, Marco Polo, Snapchat – those are what I use to close the distance gap with people I love who I won’t see for quite awhile…and the ability to hear and see them makes that difference.

Impersonal connection (top right, moving farther away from me)

This is how I’ve come to think about most social media interactions on Instagram, Snapchat stories, or Facebook. We’re enabled to keep up with people, seeing what’s going on in their lives (or at least, what they share publicly) without ever connecting personally. In some ways, I think it’s great. (A high school acquaintance’s daughter won a writing award I’d never have known about – cool!) In some ways, I think it allows us to be lazier about actual communication. (My cousin’s kids sang in church…but since I saw it on Facebook I probably won’t call her about it.)

Creativity (sprinkled through bottom left and right)

For me, seeing things inspires me to make things, whether it’s writing, art, baking house decor, whatever. I’m exactly the weirdo Pinterest was made for. But I have learned to make and do a lot of new things because of it, so I count that a win.

Facilitating (conduit for other things, all over)

I’ve started thinking about an app like Google Chrome as a facilitator. I use it to enable learning, research, entertainment, all kinds of real-life things, creativity, communication, etc. There’s probably a good deal of theory about this concept.

 

A Conclusion (for now) and a Question

I assumed when this project was assigned I’d come out of it with a better understanding of the ways I overuse media. Because I do sometimes ignore my family and zone out with my phone, scrolling. What I feel I’ve learned, though, is to think deeply about purposeful media use, and all the affordances various media offer in my everyday life.

The question that kept occurring to me throughout the day was this:

To what extent did knowing I was logging my media use affect my interactions?

I can think of several possible effects from this particular day:

• I kept returning to a media-based log to add things (even when I wasn’t using my phone at the time). This likely reminded me of other things I wanted to do and encouraged more media interaction.
• I knew I was analyzing for connectivity, which reminded me to text my brother…which reminded me to text my other two brothers and my brother’s girlfriend. 🙂
• I wasn’t at work that day (I was home with a sick kid), so I didn’t do work-related things and instead, consumed a lot more Great British Bake-Off than I otherwise would (especially on a day when I was keeping track of my media use).
• I already think scrolling social media feeds is a bad habit, and I did it significantly less than I might otherwise because I didn’t want to have to log it. Ha!

So, probably a blind test would be more accurate…but then, I wouldn’t have had the entire day to think about media connection.