Digital Dilemma

Tech Addiction

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Lately I’ve been considering how much time I spend in front of my smartphone and wondering if it really is addiction. And then I started reading a lot of articles about how tech companies have essentially made us addicted to our devices so we spend more time on them! The manipulations are endless. I suppose now some of the tech companies feel some moral responsibility and you can get an app that tracks how much time and what you’re using on your device. Yet another thing to get addicted to, viewing and usage stats. Some of the apps will also allow you to set a daily time limit on activities where you are wasting your time e.g., scrolling through social media feeds. Check out Moment here.

So we need an app on our device to show us how addicted we are to it. How ironic. I’ve resisted installing an app to track my usage for a number of reasons. First of all, I don’t like to voluntarily track things about my personal habits that get stored with 3rd party providers. Secondly, I don’t want to know. If I feel like I’m wasting time using my phone too much, I put it away for a few hours and turn it to silent.

In some ways, I know I’m addicted to my smartphone. When I started reading more about the addiction and the tech companies’ solutions, i.e., more addicting technology, I decided to approach the problem in an analog way. I started observing when I was using my smartphone and for what reason. I made a conscious decision that I wouldn’t look at my phone when I was in motion, unless I was on transit or waiting for it. Looking at my phone while I was walking around the city definitely felt like addictive behavior. Now I wait until I’m someplace where I can focus on whatever it is I need to do on my phone.

Other times, I’m using my smartphone to work. Or to read news and articles. Reading on a smartphone is convenient. Otherwise I would be leafing through large sections of newspaper which are cumbersome to read on the go and leave my fingertips black.

I also use my smartphone to keep track of my calendar, task list and grocery list. Is this feeding my addiction, or just being efficient?

Digital Dilemma

Biometric Behavior Data Collection

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I recently read a few articles about the collection of a new kind of biometrics, our behavior and movements. The full list incorporates hundreds of data points, but includes things such as the angle at which we hold our devices, how we unfreeze a locked screen (e.g., move the mouse side-to-side, up or down, touch a key, etc.), the movements we use to fill in information (e.g., use tab key or mouse), if we use the mouse wheel to scroll, how fast we fill in details, and on and on and on…

When I first read about biometric behavior data collection it was in the context of being used as a way to protect us, as customers, against identity theft. For example, I always log onto my bank account the same way by using keyboard commands. If the bank senses someone trying to use a mouse to login to my bank account, that could trigger an alarm that my information had been compromised.

Sounds like a good plan, in theory. People want to feel safe in an online environment. Many of us have already grown accustomed to having bits of our digital lives silently tracked and being used to offer us great deals and incentives through highly targeted advertising campaigns. But as we have seen, there are huge problems with so much unregulated data collection and flimsy, or non-existent, laws to protect us against misuse (e.g., the 2016 election outcome, Facebook, Google, etc.).

I have problems that this type of data collection is done behind the scenes without any regulation or consent. Moreover, when I started researching it, I discovered that many companies engaging in biometric behavior data collection hire 3rd party companies to gather and monitor the data. This means that the 3rd party companies are maintaining profiles for millions of customers. Who knows how they are going to protect, treat, and manage this vast amount of information properly. Likely the company that hired them hadn’t even fully thought out this part of the process.

In my experience as an information management professional, I’ve noticed that information, and the management of this valuable asset, is a top concern, but one of the lowest priorities to work on.

Our privacy and identities are worth protecting, even if it’s just about how we like to scroll through a news feed or login to an account.

Digital Dilemma

JOMO

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Last month I read an article titled “How to Make This the Summer of Missing Out.” It was in the self-care section. JOMO is an acronym for the Joy of Missing Out. Some years ago I blogged about FOMO a few times, the Fear of Missing Out. (One of my personal favorites is the FOMO vampire.)

FOMO refers to the fear we’re supposed to feel about being left out or left behind while scrolling through the feeds of our friends showcasing their amazing lives. Every post, every filtered picture and selfie displayed all representing the idyllic vision of what it means to be out having the time of your life. And we’re at home, or sitting somewhere boring, reading about these things instead of being out and experiencing them. Remember YOLO? (You Only Live Once).

Enter JOMO, essentially the opposite sentiment. JOMO means you’re supposed to turn your device off, stop scrolling through your friends’ feeds enviously wishing you were doing those things and spending every waking minute scanning your social media accounts in case you miss out on something. With JOMO, you’re supposed to feel joyful about missing out on these social media feeds because you’re out living your life. You’re engaging with it and living a story instead of spending all of your time creating (or fabricating) one on Snapchat/Facebook/Instagram.

Smart phones have not been around that long, I think just a little over a decade. But we’ve already become so addicted and infatuated with them that we have to label time spent away from them as the “joy of missing out.”

What strikes me odd about JOMO is that when I’m out enjoying myself and not glued to my phone, I don’t understand what I’m missing out on. I’m fully immersed in a pleasurable experience and engaging with the world and the people around me. Couldn’t we find a new term for it like JOEL, the Joy of Experiencing Life? Or something catchy that expresses the gains we’re making instead of phrasing it as though we’re losing something, or failing to take advantage of an opportunity if we step away from our technology.

When I take a break from my phone, the only things I’m missing out on are possible eye strain and a fresh bout of text neck. Everything else can wait, as far as I’m concerned.

Productivity, True Confessions

Important Sh*t

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In my line of work, trust is essential. Every time I start to speak with somebody about his/her files or documents, s/he usually gets defensive. After working at my first contract (back in 2008!) for a couple of months, I built trust with the client. One day during a casual chat, the client offered to show me her “important sh*t” drawer. I was intrigued.

We walked over to her desk. In one swift motion she lifted up her desktop calendar exposing the dark underside. What lurked beneath was a jumbled mass of papers – small scraps, large sheets and colored bits. She was an incredibly organized person so I was a bit surprised to see the haphazard array hidden from sight. Once she started to explain what she used it for, it made a lot of sense.

The space beneath her desktop calendar (and I mean a literal desktop calendar, the large, paper kind that used to lay across the desk) was used for urgent and/or critical items. It was a quick access space for things that she needed to deal with immediately, or be able to find instantly.

What really sold me on her system was how it aggregated things based on need. Typically people like to categorize, or organize, things based on subject, topic, or other similar characteristics, “like with like.” By contrast, the “important sh*t” space was organized based on need, to either do something urgently or to retrieve it quickly.

Even now when I think about this system, it still makes a lot of sense to me. In fact, I use and create similar systems. For example, most software applications have a space readily available to showcase “recently” used documents or files. Whatever you are actively working on is conveniently accessed with one click. This saves you time from having to search for the document, or to drill down several folder levels to open it.

When I reorganized my bathroom, I designated one box for “quick access – use first” items that I use daily, or will expire soon. Though to an outsider, it may look like a box of random, mismatched items.

In essence, Important Sh*t drawers (or folders) should be used for dynamic content. By dynamic I mean the content should be changing as you deal with your urgent items and move on. If that’s not what it is, then it’s just another junk drawer.

Spring Cleaning, True Confessions

Junk Drawer

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Everyone has a drawer like this. Or maybe two or three.

Junk Drawer

 

Random stuff that accumulates organically over time. The way it seems to creep into that one empty drawer, or hard to reach cupboard, or even a space that’s really convenient and in a prime location. What it really represents is a haphazard array of stuff that you want to keep, but you don’t know what to do with. And seemingly none of the items in the drawer are related to each other. Mostly random one-off items, or things with short-term value. And then they just start to build up.

I remember watching a tiny home segment about a man who lived in 70 sq. feet of space. His microwave was the kitchen and he shared a bathroom. Even so, he had two junk drawers.

Here are some of the weird items I’ve found in junk drawers:

  • a paper clip (yes, just one lonely paper clip)
  • thumb tacks
  • pens (some that write and some that don’t)
  • book marks
  • change (especially pennies!)
  • business cards
  • old receipts
  • cheap, plastic toys and rubber animals
  • bits of string or yarn
  • cool, nifty gadgets
  • something broken that is on the to-do list for repairs

If you’re like me, you feel bad throwing these things away because each item has some use. But then again, it’s not always worth the effort to put it away. So it gets stashed in the junk drawer, to be pulled out at just the right moment, which almost never happens. Usually as I begin the tedious work of cleaning out a junk drawer, or at least “freshening” it up, I’m always holding strange things up and asking myself why I ever bothered to keep this…And yet somehow this exercise doesn’t seem to deter the strange impulse and force to create, and re-create, a junk drawer in every place I’ve ever lived.

I have a tendency to be messy, but prefer to have my stuff organized. Over the years I’ve developed some strategies to keep things manageable, even those pesky, ubiquitous junk drawers.

  1. Have less stuff to make a mess with. I consider myself “low maintenance” rather than a minimalist. My place can usually be tidied up within an hour.
  2. Go through “junk” drawers at least once a year.
  3. Have designated “use first” areas.

More about the last point in next week’s posting, “Important Sh*t.”

Human Archives

Relief

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Last Wednesday I signed up for my first paddle of the season with the Harbourfront Canoe & Kayak Centre. I ambitiously selected a mid-week sunrise paddle. As I struggled to get out of bed at 5am I briefly considered rolling over for an extended snooze, but ultimately got ready and biked down to the launch.

The moment my kayak glided into the water, my face spontaneously erupted into a giant, toothy smile. Free! Floating! I remembered how much I missed being on the water. The fresh(ish) air. 

My body immediately relaxed succumbing to the gentle swaying motion of the boat in the water. The effect was hypnotic. I dipped my paddle into the water and propelled myself forward, leaving everything else behind on land. This included the day’s to-do list, the unwashed dishes in the sink, and the myriad of other pressing things on the agenda. For the next 90 minutes my only task was to paddle and enjoy the scenery. A small respite from technology, email, screens, and obligations.

I have always loved water sports and boating. I’m not sure what it is about kayaking, but I feel a huge sense of relief the minute I’m bobbing around in the water. Listening to the susurration of the waves gently lapping against the edge of my boat has a calming effect, at least when it’s not super windy.

What I love about kayaking, more than other types of boating, is that I’m so close to the water, literally attached to the boat. I feel like a strange aquatic centaur, half-human and half-boat, powering myself through a new element. Seamlessly gliding along without a care in the world.

The kayak provides a unique combination of sensations: floating, security, strength, and adventure. As a lap swimmer for over 20 years I’m definitely comfortable in the water. The kayak, however, offers me an opportunity to be at ease on the water.

The scenic view of the Toronto skyline returning from a sunset paddle.

As I blogged about earlier this year (click here), kayaking is also a great way to get close to nature and observe it, without being obtrusive. In 2016, on the 4-day kayaking trip I took with my family, we had the good fortune to see whales, orcas, eagles, seals, sea lions, and stunning scenery.

Sea lions hanging out on a rock.

Regardless of the scenery and cool animals, the thrill of being on the water in such an intimate way already feels like a treat.

A duck found refuge on a bench during a summer of flooding in 2017.