This is in response to this week’s learning activity. I am not very aware of what I do on social media each day so it is actually very eye-opening after I realized what I’ve been doing all day.
Thursday, 10/23/2014
1:00~2:00AM: I have a full day of class on Wednesday from 8:40AM to 7:30PM so by the end of the day I’ve used up all the brain functions allocated for the day. I end up falling asleep between 8:00~9:00PM on Wednesday night so I couldn’t fall asleep earlier. Instead, I had my tablet and phone in hand scrolling down Twitter and Tumblr endlessly, adding ‘Likes’ and ‘Favorites’. I choose not to comment on anything or interact with anyone on Facebook at this time because my brain wasn’t working anymore, but it’s easy to participate in Twitter and Tumblr by supporting content that I enjoy.
2:00AM~: Fell asleep with phone in hand and face on tablet.
9:00AM~10:00AM: My mornings begin with me waking up but staying in bed. I spend a good 30 minutes at least responding to Facebook and LINE messages, checking my emails and work assignments. Because Thursday is a lazy day for me, I go back to checking Tumblr. I feel compelled to participate on Tumblr because of my Tumblog, so I also go through specific news sites to select content I might want to publish onto my Tumblr later in the day. I’d save links to these news articles as drafts to work on them at another time.
10:00AM~11:00AM: Some friends catch me online in Facebook and LINE, so I end up chatting for a while, before falling back asleep.
11:00AM~12:00PM: I finally roll out of be and told myself I need to stop using social media.
12:00PM~2:00PM: In class. Swiped phone twice to look at Facebook for no reason. Liked a few comments and pictures from friends. Did not comment because typing takes two hands and I was using one hand under the table.
2:00PM~6:00PM: Went about lab, running errands, etc. Did not use any social media.
6:00PM~10:00PM: This is my working hours for the day. Because I use social media in my work, I have everything from Cyfe and Hootsuite to LinkedIn and Facebook open. Here I participate by scheduling prepared content and monitoring comments about my company on social media.
10:00~12:00AM: Wind down time for the day. Thursdays are usually pretty free so I have more time on social media. There are days when I can go without looking at Facebook because I don’t have time. Watched TV and blogged a picture of a package I got from a friend on Ameba again before passing out.
It appears that even though I use social media very often, I seldom participate by contributing content. Content creation requires time and effort, and it’s much easier to participate by judging content. As a content creator, I understand that every ‘Like’, ‘Favorite’ and ‘Reblog’ means the world to the creator, so I am not stingy about what I like. Some of my friends belong to the camp where they do not want anyone to know what they’re looking at on social media, so they almost never like anything. However, I prefer to show my appreciation or acknowledgement.
When I do participate, I spend a fairly large amount of time curating the content that I post. If I’m posting a picture on Instagram or another site, I’d use a photo-editing app to trim and touch up the picture. If I’m writing an article, I’ll proofread it several times and make sure I have the right sources credited before posting. I supposed I am a firm believer of producing relevant and useful content instead of ‘just generating more crap’ on the internet.
