Digital Culture and Learning

                                                                                                                            Picture:  Junseong Lee Throughout this semester, I’ve been writing mainly to my classmates, people who are going through the same course, reading the same material, and doing the same assignments. Keeping an audience in mind made me more intentional with my writing. Even when I wasn’t sure anyone would actually read closely, I found myself explaining ideas more clearly, choosing my words more carefully, and trying to be more thoughtful in how I presented my opinions. Writing “to someone” made the ...

                                                   Photo: Maxim Ilyahov Over the past few days, I chose to try a digital well-being practice from the Center for Humane Technology . It’s the practice of turning off notifications and alerts. I picked this specific practice because notifications constantly interrupt my day, and I wanted to see what would happen if I took back control instead of letting my phone control my attention. At first, I underestimated how often my phone actually pulls me away from what I’m doing. I turned off non-essential notifications like social media, emails, and app alerts, leaving only calls and a few important messages on. The first challenge was purely habit-based. Even without the notifications, I still found myself reaching for my phone out of instinct. I would unlock it without thinking, expecting some...

                                                                 Photo: Brands&People As I work on my final project, I am not just completing an assignment, but I am creating something that will exist on the internet, available to everyone to see. Because of this, I have started to think more carefully about what it means to create content for a real audience instead of just turning in work for a grade. It changes how I approach both what I say and how I share information. The main topics I am exploring are media literacy, learning with AI, and online versus offline identity. These are all connected through how people interact with digital spaces. My intended audience is college students and young adults who regularly use social media and digital tools. These are people who are constantly co...

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Photo: Chris Linnett I explored the idea of how powerful crowd dynamics can be, more deeply through The Wisdom and/or Madness of C...