The School of Life - How To Live More Wisely Around Our Phones

How To Live More Wisely Around Our Phones - http://www.thebookoflife.org/how-to-live-more-wisely-around-our-phones/

- there's almost no relationship in which the presence of the phone has not had a profound effect
- addiction
- monasticism - distraction - wall-off instantly alluring and most meaningless distractions offered by the wider world
- digital sabbath - engage directly with others, be relaxed, immersed in nature and present
- look things up inside yourself - give ideas time and attention - 'In the minds of geniuses we discover our own neglected thoughts' Ralph Waldo Emerson
- our phones and our relationships - malleability provides the perfect excuse for disengagement from the trickier aspects of other people
- dating - everyone is radically imperfect, compatibility is an achievement of love, it can't be its precondition - cannot help with the real challenge of love - extending sympathy and understanding to human frailty
- nature and the sublime - we are forgetting (as we update) what nature - quietly and with great and tender majesty - might really have been trying to say to us
- stimulation vs calm - our most urgent need is for calm - we react to stimuli even when we're exhausted - phones are endless carriers of claims to rouse us when what we really need is exactly the opposite
- shopping - purchasing ambitions are focused only at the lower level of our own pyramid of needs (reference image within article)
- beyond instagram - we need to make ourselves pay attention - our ease of which we can create an image works against our desire to properly notice anything - put down the phone and sketch
- appreciation - phones deliver the world directly to us yet often limit the things we actually pay attention to
- poetry - brevity to vacuity, serious ideas must be transmitted in long and challenging texts - this is an educated delusion - you can conjure the deepest, sweetest and saddest truths in a few words - brief media to say big important thing
- news - modern idea of news is falsely and unflattering - it imagines we need to know everything thats happened in the world - really important news is just everything that is crucial for us to take in order to understand our own world and our place in it
- FOMO - its not the notion of missing out thats the problem, its ideas of what we might be missing out on - phones unhelpfully skew this
- the dream of being liked - we might know plenty of people but others never quite know us as we wish to be known - loneliness is simply a price we have to pay for holding onto a sincere ambitious view of what companionship must and could be
- travel - while our phones can record and reveal to others the half-formed thoughts circulating our mind they cannot as yet bring our submerged reactions to the surface
- play - the unexpected intensity of fooling around with a normally staid and measured acquaintance - as we play, we forget to cheque our phones 
- selfies - tempting to think we should take them less seriously - distance ourselves from it and see it in a mocking light - but the wiser move might be to get much more ambitious - self-reflection - not seeking the approval of others but seeking self-knowledge
- communication - technology annihilates physical but not psychological, distance - our words move infinitely faster than a carrier pigeon or a scroll bearing slave but we are as yet no better at explaining ourselves than we were in early history
- death - we use our phones for constant reminders - there are more important appointments to be reminded of - appointments with ourselves, our worries and not the anxieties that they create - brevity sadly is the key to appreciation - it is when we remember death that we understand properly the urgency of the time we have left 

- utopia - still so far from technology that will really help us advance - capitalism has delivered on only our simplest of needs - primitive times - in the future our phones will be kind and not merely subservient - they will know how to edge us away from a stupid decision and how to summon up our better natures

The School Of Life - Videos

The School of Life is a global organisation dedicated to developing emotional intelligence using pyschology, philosophy, culture and everyday life. Via their Youtube channel, I've found some short animations relating to my COP project aswell as some short articles on their website. The videos are documented below whilst the articles will be documented in a seperate blog post in order for me to be able to refer back to them a little easier.

The Dangers of The Internet: 

- addiction - checking phones ahead of interpersonal communication 

- we know too much and understand too little 

- privacy is under threat

- online crime is out of control 

- unrivalled challenges on how to interact with our partners, keep our critical faculties alive, stop thinking that the answers always lie 'out there', remain emotionally connected to real life people, make discoveries that come when we are bored and letting our mind lie fallow 

The Problem with our Phones: 

- used to keep our own selves at bay 

- incapable of sitting alone with our thoughts 

- self-avoidance 

- consult phones rather than ourselves

- we must spend time with our worries rather than the anxiety they create 

- 'remember you are made of dust and will be dust again' 

Why We Feel Lonely and Odd 

- know ourselves from the inside, know others from what they chose to or are able to tell us - limited, edited - like how we present ourselves on social media 

- knowing people through public pronouncments (idea of 'perfect lives')

- physiological asymmetry - think of ourselves as more peculiar and shameful than others 

- our emotions and experiences are more intense, we know alot more about who we are 

- results in loneliness and shyness, feeling inherintly different to everyone else 

- easily intimidated by people we assume cannot share in our vulnerabilities 

- feel like imposters in positions of power

- solutions lie in art and love 

- art allows for accurate portrayls of the inner lives of strangers

- love allows for occassional deeply precious sense of security - learn about yours and other vulnerabilities 

- we must presume that everyone is closer to what we are, than they are to resemble the personas they show to the world 

Mind Change: How Digital Technologies Are Leaving Their Mark On Our Brains - Susan Greenfield

Social Networking and Identity:

- hyper-connectivity (constant connection), spread of social media, increase in online personal information - key factors which will interact to influence identities
- online self and 'true self' are not necessarily the same - 'true self' notion introduced by Carl Rogers - one of the founding fathers of physchotherapy
- John Bargh - concept of 'true self on the internet' - individuals tendencys to refer express real aspects of the self through anonymous platforms rather than face-to-face communication - the internet provides individuals with a unique opportunity for self-expression that encourages people to reveal their true self, including the aspects which are not comfortably expressed face-to-face - cyber communication could be regarded as more intimate and personal
- Erving Goffman (sociologist) described how in general we are always alert to how others react to us, continuously adpating our outward demeanour to ensure the best possible image - editing, curating
- Social networking has now resulted in three possible selves: the true self, the real self, and the hoped-for/possible self displayed on social networking sites - deliberatley constructed, socially desirable self to which individuals aspire but have not yet been able achieve
- advertise yourself unchallenged by the constraints of the real world
- dangerous gap could grow between the idealised 'front stage' you and the real 'back stage' you, leading to a feeling of disconnection and isolation
- exaggerated obsession with the self - narcissits (link to turkle) - social networking can demonstrably increase narcissism levels - exhibitionism, entitlement, exploitativeness, superiority, authority, vanity - such behaviour is linked to low self-esteem
- 'perfect' lives - people long desperatley for others to notice and interact with them - encourages the hoped-for/possible self
- 'if you see other people also as commodities for enhancing your percieved significance still further, you will be incapable of having the kind of human relatiosnhio essential for well-being'
- envy caused by self-comparison - decreased life satisfaction
- Klout Scores - social media scores that could become an 'ingredient' in job interviews
- The fact that importance is measured through social networking, that it depends on how much attention you attract and that this attention can be rewarded, is unlikely to bring out the best in anyone. What kind of lesson are you learning about relationships and indeed how you see yourself?
- Quitting social media has been termed 'virtual identity suicide'
- 'Social media removes evolutionary precautions and presses the accelerator on unfettered self-disclosure in a context where the usual brakes applied by normal interpersonal feedback are absent'
- self is publicised to an audience of hundres and held up to endless scrutiny and coment


Social Networking and Relationships
- new technology has fundamentally changed the way that we communication - we're not required to talk to each other
- verbal communication over the phone or in person has become increasingly less popular
- the type of emotional support that can be provided by these forms of communication turns out to be very inferior
- conversations over the phone or in person shown to indicate a reduction in stress levels - in regard to providing emotional support, messaging appears comparable to not speaking with anyone at all
- instead of body language, tone of voice and physical contact, the dominant vehicle for expression is words  - misinterpretation - no matter how much you discuss your emotions, statements can't live up to true facial expressions
- interpersonal interaction is not sufficiently rehearsed - lacking in social skills
- Digital Natives - struggle to communicate face-to-face, shifted the development of romantic relationships online, couples prefer to get to know each other through the safety of their smartphones - Using the internet to make friends is linked to lower levels of well-being
- Development of interpersonal communication skills and empathy - ability to empathise with others keeps maturing well into our twenties
- 'emotional intelligence' - the ability, capacity, skill or a self-percieved ability to identify, assess and manage the emotions of ones self, of others and of groups
- correlation between soaring popularity of social networking sites and the decline in empathy
- reduced ability to communicate effectivley, associated with a lack of emotional intelligence, including poor performance on interpreting facial expressions
- deficits in the early stage of face-perception processing, impairment linked to a range of disorders including physcopathy and autism - possible associations between technology use and the later development of autism
- difference between online and offline relationships is that in the former you only show what you want, often cataloguing what you like and dislike
- cannot successfully hide what you may truly be feeling in a face-to-face situation with a friend - lack of rehersal of social skills may foretell a decline in deep and meaningful relationships - trust grows from empathy - miss out on deeper intimacy with others
- too much social networking can cross the line into interpersonal dysfunction and damage, displace time spent on relationship maintenance, lead to increased opportunity to communicate with ex-partners or potential partners, leads to jealousy and tempation in current relationships
- high levels of facebook use were associated with negative reationship outcomes, leading to cheating, break-ups and divorce - increased paranoia and jealousy
- continuing offline contact with an ex-romantic partner may disrupt emotional recovery  - social media disrupts the process of healing and moving on from past relationships - unhealthy perseveration - lower personal growth easily accesible and difficult to resist infomation
- snooping on individuals is not only allowed but expected - stalking has been coined as 'social surveillance' - ability to pry freely and anonymously into the lives of others is a serious issue
- such sites are having a significant impact on interpersonal communication and hence relationships - there will be wider percussions for society as a whole

Keith Negley

Tricky subjects, soft colour palettes, varied textures, quiet melancholy, meditations on lonliness and suffering

- crucial to be fearless
- dont be afraid to be vulnerable to your audience
- our deepest darkest secrets make the best art
- if the thought of sharing work with an audience makes you feel uncomfortable, you're on the right track

Teen Suicide

Philosophy of the Heart

The Family That Preys Together

COP Re-Think

I've been struggling alot with figuring out the link between practice and context and how this is going to work in terms of my dissertation. Anyhow, over the weekend it kind of clicked and I think what I've been trying to get at (in terms of practical work) is how emotion is conveyed through illustration.

Still a bit vague and I've left COP alone for a while as it was stressing me out, but tomorrow I'm going to pull all my ideas and thoughts together and figure out what exactly's going on so I can go to my tutorial later this week with a more refined plan of action. 

500 Word Summary No.1

So far into this project, I must admit I’m struggling a little bit. I think the change of direction late on into the research part of this module has left me at a bit of a disadvantage in that I’m very aware I don’t have a lot of time to pull all of this together. Nevertheless, I have been thoroughly enjoying my research this far and have discovered some key starting points as well as having more thoughts on how to further my research.

From reading Sherry Turkle's 'Alone Together' I have started to realise key points of interest. I'm looking more in the direction of how social media and online spaces impact our ability to communicate with each other on a face-to-face level. How does this impact our relationships with other people? Why do we feel more comfortable communicating feeling and emotion through a screen as a pose to face-to-face conversations? I think this is something that I want to continue researching into, as it’s an element of Illustrative practice that I’m interested in, in terms of how human experience and emotion can be communicated through image. I feel that it links back to my own practice, I enjoy emotionally driven work, I enjoy things that are personal and feel that I process my own thoughts and feelings through work I create, as do many others. In this sense, in terms of the practical element of this module, I feel that my chosen research topic will suit my interests in emotionally driven illustration and help me develop my own practice further in this way.

Additionally, from reading Danah Boyd’s It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens’, I’ve had insight into counter arguments to some of Turkles statements. I think it will be interesting to further read up on both sides of this argument, although at this point my personal stance on the topic would be that over-use of Social Media can lead to a feeling of disconnection and isolation rather than actually bringing people closer together. I also believe that people spend way too much time online, maybe this is something that I should aim my practical work towards, in that I could create images that aim to promote people spending less time online? I’m also quite interested in looking at the idea of self presentation online and feel that this could also be interesting too explore through my work.

In terms of practical work I still need to do more research and see what already exists and how other practitioners might be dealing with the issue. I also want to look into emotionally driven illustration, and try find work that has a sense of human authenticity behind it. My question is yet to be formulated but I feel that this will fall into place a little more as my research furthers.

Key points so far:

- the idea of connection and disconnection
- emotionally driven/honest/authentic imagery

- self presentation
- social relationships
- communication

Tutorial 11/10/17

Research questions - social media/wellbeing-mental health. Illustrations to 'pop up' to raise awareness on topic

Timeline - set weekly goals. 3 illustrations a week etc. Little goals. Method - questions, interviews online - 'what is the best place for your illustration to disrupt'

Chapter outline - Ch1 Intro (research question), Ch2 context (key texts), Ch3 (case studies) has anyone tried to interrupt social media with their practice? Ch4 my practice, Ch5 conclusions

Feedback on research question on friday
- email rachel research question by friday AM, make sure it links to practice
- research practitioners - pick some to be case studies
- organise interviews

I found the tutorial with Rachel to be really useful, I think I've got a clearer direction of how I can combine my practice with the theory element of COP. My next step is to work on refining my essay question and also to look into practitioners who explore the topic of social media - find some case studies - get some inspiration.

It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens - Danah Boyd

Networked Sociality

'Most teenagers now go online to connect to the people in their community. Their online participation is not eccentric; it is entirley normal, even expected'

'Although the specific technologies change, they collectivley provide teens with a space to hang out and connect with friends'

'Social media has enabled them to participate in and help create what I call networked publics.' 

'Networked publics are publics that are restructured by networked technologies. As such, they are simutaneously (1) the space constructed through networked technologies and (2) the imagined community that emerges as a result of the intersection of people, technology and practice.'

'Rather than being seen as a subcultural practice, participating in social media became normative'

'Social media services like Facebook and Twitter are providing teens with new opportunities to participate in public life, and this, more than anything else, is what concerns many anxious adults.' 

Four affordances, in particular, shape many of the mediated environments that are created by social media. They are as follows:

Persistence - the durability of online expressions and content 

Visibility - the potential audience who can bear witness

Spreadability - the ease with which content can be shared

Searchability - the ability to find content 

'Persistence means that conversations conducted through social media are far from ephemeral; they endure.' 

'In networked publics, interactions are often public by default, private through effort' 

'What is new is the way in which social media alters and amplifies social situations by offering technical features that people can use to engage in these well-established practices' 

'Many adults I meet assume that their own childhoods were better and richer, simpler and safer, than the digitally mediated ones contemporary youth experience. They assoicate the rise in digital technology with decline - social, intellectual, and moral. The research I present here suggests that the opposite is often true.' 

'All too often, it is easier to focus on the technology than on the broader systematic issues that are at play because technical changes are easier to see.' 

'Consider, for example, the widespread concern over internet addiciton. Are there teens who have an unhealthy relationship with technology? Certainly. But most of those who are 'addicted' to their phones or computers are actually focused on staying connected to friends in a culture where getting together in person is highly constrained.' 

'Networked publics allow them a measure of privacy ad autonomy that is not possible at home where parents and siblings are often listening in' 

'What drive-ins were to teens in the 50's and the mall in the 1980's, Facebook, texting, Twitter and instant messaging and other social media are to teens now.' 

'The success of social media must be understood partly in relation to this shrinking social landscape.' 

'Teens told me time and again that they would far rather meet up in person, but the hectic and heavily scheduled nature of their day-to-day lives, their lack of physical mobility, and the fears of their parents have made such face to face interactions increasingly impossible.' 

'The ability to understand how context, audience and identity intersect is one of the central challenges people face in learning how to navigate social media.' 

Interpersonal relationships 

Root of anxiety about social media addiction - how easily time slips away - easy to become absorbed - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 'flow state' - time dissapears, attention focuses and people feel euphorically engaged - ideal state for creativity/artistry/athletes/actors to harness performance - also experienced when gambling/playing video games/interacting with social media - deep engagement does not seem to be a problem in and of itself unless coupled with a practice that is socially unacceptable, physically damaging or financially costly 

'Teen 'addiction' to social media is a new extension of typical human engagement' 

Ivan Goldberg - internet addiction disorder - satirical essay - intending to parody societys obsession with pathologizing everyday behaviours, inadvertently advanced the idea

'Anyone who engages in a practice in ways that society sees as putting more socially acceptable aspects of their lives in jeopardy are seen as addicted'

'Being 'addicted' to information and people is part of the human condition: it arises from a healthy desire to be aware of surrounding and to connect to society.' 

'Social media - far from being the seductive trojan horse - is a release valve, allowing youth to reclaim meaningful sociality as a tool for managing the pressures and limitations around them.' 

'As they make their way toward adulthood, teens need to learn how to engage in crucial aspects of maturations: self presentation, managing social relationships, and developing an understanding of the world around them. The structured and restrictive conditions that comprise the lives of many teens provideds little room for them to explore these issues, but social media gives them a platform and a space where they can make up for what's lost.'

'By exploring broad networks of people and diverse types of content, teens can easily get access to values and ideas that differ from what their parents try to instill.'

'Media narratives often propagate the notion that engagement with social media is destructive, even as eductional environments increasingly assume that teens are networked. Many adults put pressure on teens to devote more time toward adult-prioritized practices and less time socializing, failing to recognize the important types of learning that take place when teens do connect. When teens orient themselves away from adults and toward their peers, parents often grow anxious and worried about their childrens future. The answer to disconnect between parent goals and teen desires is not rhetoric that pathologizes teen practices, nor is it panicked restrictions on teen sociality. Rather, adults must recognize what teens are trying to achieve and work with them to find balance and to help them think about what they are encountering.' 

Analysis:

Both Boyd and Turkle have explored the idea of a 'flow' state but in juxtaposed circumstances. Turkle argues that social media and constant connectivity interrupts the flow state and decreases concentration whilst Boyd argues that getting lost in social media for seemingly endless amounts of time is just another example of people slipping into a 'flow' state of full engagement. 

Boyd seems to be focusing on the positive aspects of social media and how networking sites are allowing teens/young adults to engage and connect where as Turkle seems to be focusing on the negative effects of this constant connection. Boyd argues that social media allows the youth to reclaim sociality and offers social media as a 'public space' where people can 'hang out' and 'spend time' with friends. Turkle argues on the other hand that this constant connection with friends and accquaintences is leading to diminished relationships, lack of complexity of emotions and lack of empathy towards other people. 

Although social media may allow for a 'public space' in which communication and connection can be reached, are these communications real? Do they have substance? Or are they simplifed and reduced versions of real face-to-face relationships? 

Alone Together - Sherry Turkle - Notes and Analysis

The second self - subjective side of personal computers - what they do to us/our ways of thinking/relationships/self/being human

'Social media accomplishes the rudimentary and because of this we reduce our expectations of each other'

'With constant connection comes new anxieties of disconnection' Life online becomes life itself

New experience of place - 'What is a place if those who are physically present have their attention on the absent'

Face-to-face communication is routinley interruputed by texts/calls/notifications - Do you ever really have a persons attention? Do you ever really pay attention?

'If it is always possible to be in touch, when does one have the right to be alone'

Connectivity brings complications - sustain and constrain
- Sharing a feeling is a deliberate act, a movement towards intimacy
- Technology supports an emotional style in which feelings are not fully experienced until they are communicated - 'gold standard of autonomy'
- Uneasy to text/message about feelings as there's a possibility of no response - validation becomes part of establishing an emotion

Narcissism traditionally indicates people with a personality so fragile that it needs constant support - this can also be supported by selected and limited contact with people - contact lists make people appear on demand - take what you need and move on, if not gratified, you can try someone else

Social media asks us to represent ourselves in simplified ways and comform to those simplifications - spend more time perfecting an online persona

At a screen you feel protected and less burdened by expectations - although you're alone, the potential for instantaneous contact gives an encourgaing feeling of already being together

Shortcuts for actual social interactions

If you send fond feelings or appriciation digitally, you protext yourself from a cool reception - One of the emotional affordances of digital communication is that one can always hide behind deliberate nonchalonce

Present yourself as you wish to be seen - Proccess people as quickly as you want to

It is not unsuaul for people to feel more comfortable in an unreal place than a real one - they feel that they show their better and maybe truer self

Flow - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - The mental state in which a person is fully immersed in an activity with focus and involvment - Flow state = clear expectations, attainable goals

Concentrate on a limited field so the anxiety dissipates and you feel fully present - In a flow state you are able to act without self-consciousness

If lonely you can find continual connection. But this may leave you more isolated without real people around you. So you may return to the internet for another hit of what feels like connection - 'consumed by that which we were nourished by' Shakespeare

Connectivity becomes a craving - when we recieve an email/text our nervous system responds by giving us a shot of dopamine - stimulated by connectivity, we learn to require it even when it depletes us

Not having your phone is a high level of stress - anxiety is part of the new connectivity - all consuming efforts to keep up appearances

Texting is too seductive - instantly contactable, instantly viewable - But who says we always have to be ready to communicate? - Longed for here is the pleasure of full attention, coveted and rare - Technology is associated with shared attention

Texting has evolved into a space for confessions, breakups, and declarations of love - all matters are crammed into a medium that quickly communicates a state but is not well suited for opening up a dialogue about the complexity of feelings - Texting compromises that intimacy it promises

We defend connectivity as a way to be close even as we effectivley hide from each other - loneliness is failed solitude

Lack of empathy with the availability of social media - Have to find a way to live with an addictive technology and make it work to our purpose - we are drawn to connections that seem low risk and always at hand - Simplification and reduction of a relationship is no longer something we complain about, it becomes what we expect and what we desire - It is time to look towards the virtues of solitude, deliberateness and living fully in the moment


From reading Sherry Turkle's 'Alone Together' I have started to realise key points of interest. I'm looking more in the direction of how social media and online spaces impact our ability to communicate with each other on a face-to-face level. How does this impact our relationships with other people? Why do we feel more comfortable communicating feeling and emotion through a screen as a pose to face-to-face conversations? I think this is what I'm interested in anyway - I feel that it links back to my own practice. I enjoy emotionally driven work, I enjoy things that are personal and feel that I process my own thoughts and feelings through work I create, as do many others.

Need to do more research and read more books and try pin this down further.

Revised COP3 Proposal

Over the course of the summer my proposal for COP3 has changed direction. From the impact of zines on the feminist movement I have jumped to looking at the impact of social media on human interaction. This may seem like quite a leap from my previous essays but part of my research over the past two years has looked at the impact that social media has on body image and self perception. I would now like to expand this area of research and look at the impact that social media and digital technologies have on our day-to-day lives and our social interactions.

I have so far highlighted a few books of interest alongside some online journals with articles written on my subject matter. I have been in touch with Professor Ben Light who specialises in digital communication and their impacts. We are currently in correspondence about research and will be setting up a skype call at some point to help further the direction of my research. I feel that at this point my research question is still rather broad but that further reading will help me to pin-point my exact point of focus. I would still like to be able to bring in some element of DIY culture into this module and feel that this could be possible by exploring zines as a form of communication in the practical aspect of COP3. This could include creating a selection of zines that explore online phenomena that could draw influence from my research, essay writing, personal experience and the experiences of others.

Context and Themes: Books
- Alone Together - Sherry Turkle
- Disconnecting with Social Networking Sites - Ben Light
- Social Media: A Critical Introduction - Christian Fuchs
- The Cyber Effect - Mary Aiken
- Its Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens - Danah Boyd

Context and Themes: Websites
- New Media and Society http://journals.sagepub.com/home/nms
- Social Media and Society http://journals.sagepub.com/home/sms
- The Impact of Social Media Use On Social Skills http://newyorkbehavioralhealth.com/the-impact-of-social-media-use-on-social-skills
- The Impact of Digital Technologies on Human Wellbeing http://www.nominettrust.org.uk/sites/default/files/NT%20SoA%20-%20The%20impact%20of%20digital%20technologies%20on%20human%20wellbeing.pdf