Bored in the House and In the House Bored: Is Boredom Healthy?

 Boredom.

The sometimes-overwhelming feeling that took over our nation when COVID hit. We couldn’t go out to see friends or family, couldn’t go to museums or movie theatres, no more concerts or live music, no more physical social interaction.

When the nation was put under lockdown during the beginning of the pandemic, the cabin fever was real. But how bored were we really? We had our phones, TV’s, and other at home activities to keep us busy, so were we really bored, or just having a hard time paying attention?

In her book, Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self, Manoush Zomorodi talks about boredom and how it may unlock a part of your brain that generates ideas.

She also offers up some challenges for her readers to try, including CHALLENGE ONE: Observe Yourself. You essentially look at your phone screen usage over a 24-hour period and take note about how often, what time, and where you use your phone.

Let’s take a step back and talk about what our brain does when we begin to fill the void of boredom we feel. We start trying to find small tasks to keep us preoccupied, and in Zomordi’s Ted Talk that you’ll find below, she explains to us that our brains enter a Default Mode.

When we go into default mode, we do something called autobiographical planning. We look at our daily challenges, make goals to accomplish them, and then start making lists to accomplish those goals! Sounds like what our brain should be doing on a regular basis, right? It’s actually becoming less common since the popularization of the handheld technology.

What we think of as “multi-tasking” is actually just switching our attention from one project to another, it’s not a constant stream of productivity so its never our best work. We get burnt out faster and have a harder time focusing on tasks, but that’s why we need boredom!

How to we reclaim our boredom?! It’s a challenge, but one easily lined up for in her book. Back to Challenge One.

I personally analyzed my own phone usage and was shocked that in a 12-hour time span, I used my phone for social media for roughly 5 hours. Not email or messaging, but Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook.

They say the first step to breaking an addiction is identifying that you have an addiction… so hi everyone, my name is Cailey, and I am a phone addict. And there is nothing wrong with identifying this issue in my life, it just gives me the opportunity to make some healthy changes.

During COVID-19, there was a huge change in the way we dealt with boredom, and it showed in our electronic usage.

Jory MacKay

In this study done by Jory MacKay, he found that our daily usage of our devices jumped 16% overall, or almost one full hour in a day. That’s one more hour of distraction.

Long story short, boredom is something many of us try to avoid, its always had a negative connotation to it. Many of us try to fill this time by distracting ourselves with our electronics by either trying to multitask or by mindlessly scrolling through different media streams.

How can we overcome this? The first step is to analyze your usage and accept the reality of where you are in terms of your usage. You also should be open to the idea of boredom being ok! It’s a gateway into mind-wandering and creativity which turns into productivity.

Virality during COVID

Everyone seems to be on their phones. Even though we don't get to see each other in person anymore we can all still see how active we are on social media. And with COVID, virality seems to be the theme of popular media.

From TikTok to Facebook, there have been a multitude of viral trends popping up during the pandemic. Things from the Trick Shot challenge to the Flip the Switch challenge, social media has become a way for individuals to partake in similar activities to stay connected and entertained. 

But why do we choose to partake in these activities, and why do they seem to be appealing to such a wide variety of people? Jenkins, Ford & Green who wrote Spreadable Media would say that its due to "spreadable practices and stickiness". 

Spreadable Practices include "technical resources that make it easier to circulate some kinds of content." and our use of this resource created the concept of "stickiness" which measures the success of the content.

But could this all be a rouse? Could it be that we are just entertaining ourselves to distract ourselves from the dreariness of current events? 

In review of Childish Gambino's popular music video of This Is America, this may just be the case. Check out this YouTube Video from  the REACT channel. https://youtu.be/LtpqdJkoKm8

One of the kids in the video actually participated in the music video and was able to give a description as to what the music video was about.

So the question is, do you think we get involved with popular trends because its fun and brings us together or is it all just something we use to cope with the situation were in?

Could be one or the other, or it could simply be both. The choice is yours.

Memes and Mead

 

What's in a Meme?

What is a meme? 

heather15blog

For most college students its a language were are fluent in, but still learning due to its Gen X edition being released in the past few years.

For others like Millennials and Baby Boomers, it can be hit or miss in terms of whether or not you can get the joke or follow along with the main idea of the singular image.

In short, memes are a means of communication and connection between people, but is it really for everyone?

Everyone would like to think so, but how many times have you judged a person for using a meme "wrong"? How many times have you told your parents/teachers "that's not how you use that meme.."? More often than you thought, huh?

Memes can be an amazing way to joke with others, but memes are also subject to policing by younger generations, which makes it less fun for everyone to be a part of.

Mead and me (and don't for get about I)

George Herbert Mead created the social philosophy of "I and Me", closely related to Freuds "ego and censor". 

To make this a quick lesson, I is the active self that is less responsive to social pressures. Me is passive and a reflection of social pressures.

So here is an example of how the two interact, or how you would think they interact: you're working a cash register at a busy department store when an angry customer begins to scream at you. Your "I" would want to give her a piece of your mind, but the "Me" stops you from doing that in order to maintain what society makes you perceive is the right thing to do, which would be to be nice and help the customer anyways.

Mead meets Meme

So, how do memes tie into Mead?

If you think about it, every comment or like that you make on a post is your "me" trying to please the society you wish to make happy. You may think it is your I, but there will always be a group of people you are trying to please, whether you think you're a rebel or not.

Kostas GR

This also begs the question about if we, in our society, still have an I at all? I chose this image because it gives a god visual to what I'm trying to portray. Are we really showing out "I" or are we giving a distorted picture of who we think we are, or "Me"?

Does "I" still exist?

This is still a major debate between philosophers. But, in my own opinion, I do believe we still have an "I". I myself have viewed my "I" in action. When politics were heated I chose to disengage from social media. 

I chose to do that despite the social pressures around me to be involved and get angry on social media.

I made the decision to not please anyone, except myself.

"I" still exists.

Blogging for Noobs

My name is Cailey Young, and I am a senior at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas. This is my first blog for my Social Media & Society class. Our goal is not to write a diary or make you, the reader, feel like you have a sneak peak into my life but rather to use this platform as a way to grow as a blogger and social media analyst.

Kyle Pasalskyj 

So why the random image of a cool rock? Thanks for asking. This is actually an amazing picture of The Old Man of Storr on the Isle of Skye, Scotland taken by Kyle Pasalskyj. Part of our intro for this class was to read a multitude of blogs recommended to us by our professor, Dr. Vrooman, one of which was written by him.

The particular blog I reference is called THE MOREBRAINZ BLOG:  GOOD, FREE, SOURCES FOR PHOTOS THAT YOU CAN REUSE, PART 1: FIND PHOTOGRAPHERS 

Dr. Vrooman gives his readers a plethora of different sites you can brows to find the perfect image for your presentation, blog, book etc. FOR FREE!!! The lesson I took away from his article was  quit swiping images of of google that everyone else uses and find a "free for commercial use" image from any number of the sites he presented! 

Vince Fleming

Another blog I enjoyed was Michelle M. Johnson's blog Train Your Brain (Moving Through Perfectionism to Create) Episode I: Reject Perfection. The picture above is how I relate to their article. I have played volleyball since I was 6, and now I am about to compete competitively for the last time this year, and there is nothing better than feeling like you just ran the perfect play to win a game. Just like Johnson, "Our goal was perfection, always perfection." But my take away from this blog is that with this class, our assignment isn't to be perfect, but to have an experience where we strive for "perfection" but we are challenged and struggle through the process of creation.

Aside from analyzing personal blogs, we also took a look at some journalism/research blogs and corporate content/PR blogs. One I enjoyed was Shaun Andrews's blog How To Up Your Game With CenturyLink’s Dynamic Connections. I learned that giving an analogy for your enterprise's services in a brief manner can be the most effective and efficient way to communicate with your audience. 

 In the blog WHAT STAR WARS CAN TEACH YOU ABOUT TALENT MANAGEMENT, yet another analogy is made for how you personally will progress in a work environment, but as told through the Star Wars Universe. for someone who isn't familiar with how to go from being an intern to being a VP or President of a company, this blog simply says to look at how Luke turned into Obi-Wan, and then eventually becoming Yoda. Again, pop culture is giving people the references that they'll understand. Meeting your audience half way through entertainment bridges the gap between them questioning whether or not to actually absorb the deeper meaning of your blog. 

So, why am I writing this? Why did I read these blogs? Not just because I had to, but because to get better at this whole blogging thing it helps to draw from others work, and it helps to make it fun for yourself, because then you, the reader, is hopefully going to having fun too and maybe learn something, just like me! We all start off as young Padawans, but maybe one day we can be the next Jedi.

The Average Tech Guy