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Infomagical Challenge Blog

Infomagical Challenge 1: Magical Day

Nov.16th, 2017   

      Medical day is a challenge day that do anything without multitasking, which means people do just one thing at a time. From the episode, we can know that when we do more than two things at once, we are not actually multitasking but switching rapidly. This phenomenon usually is caused by working environment and self-irruption. For example, when an information worker does their job and their boss give them a new mission or sends them an email, the worker usually has to stop their current work and give a response to their boss. This kind of irruption is from external environment. Self- irruption is an irrupt from ourselves. As a result of our low self-control, we cannot focus on one thing and do things with “multitasking”. If things continue this way, the more attention people switch, the more stress they have. Therefore, they suggest people to do the challenge.

      From my challenge experiment, I cannot agree this argument in total. On the one hand, when I focus on one thing like studying, doing homework, or things are necessary or important, this focus are really useful since it will improve the efficiency. I can do well in every single thing and save time. On the other hand, as the suggestion from the episode – tell your coworkers or post on Facebook or use signal to let them know you are doing one thing. It sounds really good but it is not realizable. I stuck a note on my door to tell my roommate that I was doing a challenge and I was doing one thing at that time. If she had any problem, please leave a note, I would answer her after my current mission. But the point is that, she needed toilet paper when she found out the paper had used off. So, she sent me a message for asking help; however, I was watching a TV show and I had to response her after I finished the show. In the end, she waited me about thirty minutes on the toilet. 

      Hence, focus on one thing is a good idea and it really improve our work efficient. However, it also depends on the importance of the things. There is nothing absolutely.

Infomagical Challenge 2: Magical Phone

Nov. 17th, 2017

      Medical phone is a challenge that clean up our phone apps. I need to delete some apps that are not useful to me or some cannot bring me joy. Then, pull apps into folders, turn off notification badges, change my wallpaper to reminds me about my week goal. When I need to find my apps, just use search and search apps’ names. 

      Follow the instruction, I started to delete useless apps. I cannot imagine that I had 197 apps and thirteen folders before. After deleting, I left 174 apps and ten folders. There is a little change from the number, but honestly, it was a big change to me. When I chose apps, I thought every single one is still useful to me. Even though I have not used some for a while, but maybe they would be used in the future.

      At the first time, I saw this challenge I thought it was useless because nothing can stop me to stay with my phone. The truth is that I was right because I cannot leave my phone on the cold desk and do not touch it. To a people who just have less self-control, I can find any way to do what I want to do no matter how I try to control myself. I change my wallpaper to my goal but I did not achieve it. Thus, I fell in this challenge since I cleaned my phone but there was nothing change in my life. I am who I was. 

Infomagical Challenge 3: Magical Brain

Nov. 18th, 2017

      Magical brain is a challenge to help me to judge what I should do, what I want to do, or what is value to me. I need to avoid accepting useless information. Because of the background of information development, people receive various information and much of them are useless to people. In other words, it is information overload. Knowing everything is not means I am better informed. Receiving every information would tired both psychological and physical. 

      I tried to avoid any information that I am not interested no matter how popular they were. The whole day, I just searched things in my interests. To be honest, it was a most valuable day to me. I learned many things and it is really joy me. However, I know nothing about pop daily news when I chatted with my friends. Maybe it seems not a big deal, but if things go on like this, it would be hard for me to join in a new group. For example, I had a mandatory discussion group. The teacher wanted people to talk and know each other well, so she started to talk about something popular in the society. It was useful and people started to be friends; however, I am a foreigner who is not really get closed to the society in that country. Therefore, I cannot join the talk and I cannot make friends with other classmates. 

      Thus, avoid information which is not valuable to me is a good thing to do but I think I still need to know some popular things for social connecting. 

Infomagical Challenge 4: Magical Connection

Nov. 19th, 2017 

      Magical connection is a challenge that talk with someone about something I read or watched recently in seven minutes. As the episode, there is a seven minutes conversation theory: if we wonder whether or not a conversation is going be interesting. However, many people will say that they rather to text. For university students, many students would choose to email their teachers instead of talking face to face with them. However, the conversation is the most original connect for people. Technique’s showing up change people totally. 

      I had a conversation with one of my friends about a movie called Black Swan. At the beginning, we talked about the plot of the film. The protagonist is a ballet dancer who has schizophrenia called Nina. She competed for her dreamy role and she practiced hundreds of times for the role. Finally, she lost control and the high stress destroyed her. I was thinking that her ending is due to herself but my friend gave me a new thought. She said that Nina was not bringing the trouble on herself, she was destroyed by her surrounding – the stress from her mother, the stress from the competition, and the hurt from the role chooser. In the seven minutes conversation, I got many new and interesting ideas from my friend. 

      Talking without electronics is not a scary thing as I imagined before. I strongly agree that seven minutes conversation can judge whether or not it is interesting. It gives us more time, more space and more fun.

Infomagical Challenge 5: Magical Life

Nov. 20th, 2017 

     According to the Magical Life Challenge episode, we cannot just define technique as a good or bad. Techniques do bring a huge contribution to our life and development of human history. It changed our life style to both positive way and negative way. The thing that we need to do is not blame techniques, we should use them on right ways. Rational utilization can let them serve their proper purpose.

      After doing Media Use Self-Assessment, the Media Use Diary Reflection Statement and the Infomagical Challenge Blog, I started to understand the rebel of media and information. Actually, media and information are the method and medium between us and the world. In other words, we use media and information to get what we want. To be specific, when we are interested in something and want to get closed to it, usually, we will use media and information to search the thing and know deeply. It always be a useful and valuable method. However, the rapidly developing of techniques let us misunderstand what are media and information. We started to waste time on it and started being used by it. It was supposed to be use as a tool to us, but now we become a puppet in the hands of it. 

      In fact, as long as we keep real and knowing what we like and who we want to be, we would not need to worry about the relationship between us and media and information. I clearly know my goal and my purpose, and I know what is media and information. Therefore, I want to live with media as a method, as a tool and as a helper in the future. Use it but not overload.