Spring Cleaning

Clearing Out Clutter

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Clutter means a lot of different things to people.  However, when I see piles of clutter and build up, I always equate it to energy flow.  To me accumulated piles of stuff represent stagnant energy, or a blockage, in one form or another.  Sometimes the “fix” is as easy as rearranging furniture, getting rid of something, or committing to finish something that’s been lingering on the to-do list.  Other times the “fix” can be more complex. Either way, I use clutter as a diagnostic tool to figure out what’s really going on.

I became interested in feng shui some years ago.  Admittedly I don’t really know or understand that much about it, but what I remember is that certain areas of the home represent different areas of our life (e.g. finances, health, relationships, career, etc.).  Having and maintaining a good flow of energy in each area is integral for us to remain balanced and happy in our lives.  Armed with this minimal understanding of feng shui, I started applying it to my home and my professional career.

A few years ago I noticed that I wasn’t being creative (i.e. playing my instrument and writing).  I took a long hard look at my designated “creative area” and immediately saw the problem.  Somehow my creative space had turned into a dumping ground for my junk.  I couldn’t even see my desk anymore.  I sorted through the chaos and then relocated my “creative area” to a different spot in the apartment.  Not only did I start to feel creative again, but the desk never accumulated clutter the way it had in the previous area.

Even in my professional career I’ve observed correlations between the well-being of the employees and the amount of stuff lying around their work areas.  For example, one department I worked with had huge volumes of files, boxes, and binders piled up everywhere.  They also had a high turnover rate and employees were always trying to transfer out.

Tips:

  1. Observe if you have any piles of clutter and build up stagnating in your home (or work place).
  2. Figure out what those areas represent to you in your life.
  3. Assess what’s causing the energy blockages.
  4. Change something, anything.
  5. Try out the new changes and keep adjusting until you feel satisfied.

Homes and work places are dynamic environments that may require changes over time to accommodate ever-changing needs.

Digital Dilemma

Agreeing to the Apps

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Setting up my new smartphone required me to reinstall many of the apps I had grown fond of using.  I suppose the first time I set them up I blindly agreed to the 30 page terms of service and granted permissions for access to whatever was listed.  This time, however, I took a longer look at what the app was asking permission to access.  Some of them had long lists and included parts of my data that I couldn’t even conceive what the app would use them for.  Even more troubling, is that you can’t opt out of any of the requested permissions in order to use the app.  It’s ALL or nothing.

Below is a screencap for all the things on my phone that Waze, a community-based traffic and navigation app, needed permission to access.

Waze App Permissions

Only some of the permissions seemed self-explanatory for a traffic and navigation app.  Some of the access permissions I could understand immediately such as the microphone to allow for voice-activated commands while driving, the location details, and even contacts to coordinate arrivals at events.  But I couldn’t figure out the requested access to Photos/Media/Files, SMS, and Calendar.  I suppose you might want to integrate the calendar with the app to seamlessly transfer location information.

Below are two screencaps for permissions requested from the WhatsApp Messenger.  The list was so long I had to capture it in two separate pieces. I also expanded some of the descriptions to try and figure out what the app intended to do with the access.

WhatsApp Messenger I

WhatsApp Messenger II

Of course I accepted everything so I could use the silly thing, but I found some of them really puzzling.  Why does WhatsApp need to access my “Device & app history”?  Or what about “Device ID & call information”?  I also found the “Other” permissions particularly alarming especially since they seem to be written in IT-ese, or some other foreign technology language.

Admittedly, I feel torn.  I want the convenience and perks of using the apps, without losing control and constantly wondering “what are they going to do with all that data?”.  It feels invasive.  What are we agreeing to when we ACCEPT?  I’m in favor of seamless integrations and automation, but I also want to understand how it’s happening and be able to decide which data is being used for what purpose.

Digital Dilemma, True Confessions

Technology Transitions

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After my unanticipated dunk in the lake with my smartphone (available here), the rice did not work as well as I had originally thought.  Thankfully all the data was restored and accessible, but the camera never worked again.  Selecting the camera icon resulted in a black screen that consequently caused other weird things to happen. Also the battery only lasted about 5 hours, max.  Even when turned off, the battery was still draining itself.  I figured it was just a matter of time before something disastrous happened.

I know some people are constantly upgrading and switching their devices for the latest and greatest.  However, I like to set everything up and then use it for as long as possible (basically until the device breaks or becomes too outdated).

The smartphone is newer so it has a few different capabilities from the previous model and some of the settings behave differently.  Some of the integration options are different, or no longer available, resulting in lots of Google searches. I’m still figuring out what it can do and where everything “lives”.  For example, if I want the timer to sound an alarm, the ringer must be turned on for everything in the phone.  Since I use the timer when I meditate, I don’t want the phone tweeting and chirping for anything except the end of the timer.  I’m also a little bit sad the new model doesn’t come with the same default seagull-ocean ring tone.

The transition was not as smooth as I had anticipated despite the fact that my phone hardly contained any unique content.  For example, most of my pictures were available in other places and my contacts were all in gmail.  Naturally I was quite surprised when I logged in and the contacts didn’t just appear.

Even worse, the manager at the shop attempted to move all my contacts from one phone to the other through a bluetooth connection.  The end result was hundreds of contacts appearing, full of duplicates (many of which had to be adjusted manually) and all kinds of weird email addresses that I had used maybe once a long time ago.  I’m still figuring out which settings control this kind of thing.

Obviously I need to invest more time learning how to backup everything, including the apps, so I don’t have to reinstall everything if something else happens.

Digital Dilemma, Social Media

Reinforcing Social Connections

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In late March I heard a story on CBC’s The Current about a scientist who studies a pod of sperm whales in the Caribbean.  One of his main areas of focus is how sperm whales communicate.  Through observation, the scientist noticed that the whales carve out time to reinforce social ties.  This involves them playing, talking to each other, and having physical contact.

I thought about how we reinforce social connections both before and after the influence of e-communications.  The first things that came to mind all involved being face to face with other people and spending time with them.  Activities like talking, sharing, checking in, and doing something fun, or painful, together.  Then I thought about ways I reinforce social ties with people I don’t live near, or whose schedules are different from mine making it difficult to meet up.  With these people I tend to communicate through calls and messaging, occasionally a sweet care package might get sent via snail mail.

Then I thought about all the ways in which technology has both enhanced and diluted our social ties.  On the one hand, I appreciate being able to stay in touch with people that live far away in ways that are reliable, easy, and free. On the other side, I feel like technology dilutes our social ties rather than reinforcing them.

Technology makes it easy to send messages or post updates, requiring little to no effort to hurriedly dash off a typo-filled message, or just “like” a whole bunch of somebody’s posts as a way to say “hi, I’ve noticed.”  It’s also easy to reach out and find other like-minded people across the vast digital landscape, to “connect” with people in other time zones and countries.  And there are so many options available about how we want to network with others.  New apps and platforms are constantly being developed all with the goal of connecting in mind.  This is in addition to thousands of online groups and forums already used by many to reach out to others.

But is this really reinforcing our social ties?  Or is it only serving to diffuse our social ties across a wide variety of interests and platforms consuming so much of our time and energy that it becomes difficult to create something meaningful.  Perhaps we can relearn from the whales to reinforce social ties the way we used to.

 

Digital Dilemma

Life Line

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Last week I blogged about my accidental time off from my smartphone.  Since I wasn’t distracted by it for two whole days, it gave me an opportunity to think about how many things I use it for such as messaging on three separate apps, checking email, taking & viewing pictures, using the calendar, storing contacts, navigating, researching, maintaining my to-do list, accessing information, jotting down notes/story ideas, and plain old phone calls.

Ironically enough, the most difficult challenge of being without my phone was for the least-used feature, making actual calls.  At some point during my two-day break I had a moment of panic about how I would contact somebody if there was an emergency.  I’m not sure the fire department is equipped to respond to tweets and 9-1-1 Skype calls.  I have an old-fashioned push-button phone plugged into the jack to access my building’s intercom system, but that’s all it’s connected too.

During our AGM the other week the Board mentioned they were looking into the option of having the intercom connected with a cell phone instead of the regular plug-in kind.  Many people cheered at this.  I would have been one of them before being phone-less for two days.  Even if we do get the cell phone hook up option, I’m still keeping my old-fashioned phone for backup, just in case.

This is one of the main problems we face when we rely on one device to do so many essential things.  When one part breaks, the whole organism fails.  Not very sturdy or reliable.  My smartphone does so many amazing things for me that I often forget at the core, it’s still a phone.  When it took the plunge last week, I only thought about the data losing sight of the most important, basic function, being able to call for help.

I wonder if this is what it will be like for “smart” homes that rely entirely on a hub to manage and control a household of things connected through the internet.  What if something happens to the hub (e.g. an accident, water damage, faulty wire, etc.) or the internet connection?  Will people be left with a house full of working items that can’t be used or controlled because the motherboard is down?  Will we lose sight and control of our most basic necessities because we’re so preoccupied with convenience and speed?

 

Deletion, Digital Dilemma, True Confessions

Go Jump in a Lake

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Friday evening, while enjoying a pre-dinner glass of wine, I had the misfortune to tumble into a lake with my phone in my dress pocket.  erp.  To be fair, it wasn’t because I was tipsy.  The dock post on which I was supporting myself fell into the water taking me with it.

The faulty dock post is on the left with a piece of rope tied around it. It was pretty substantial and left me with three shin bruises in addition to taking me into the water!

The faulty dock post is on the left with a piece of rope tied around it. It was a pretty substantial post and left me with three shin bruises on the way down!

After the initial shock, I immediately handed my phone to my friend who ran to the restaurant for a bag of rice*.  She ran back with a towel.  By that time I was back on the dock wringing out my dress and giggling, definitely a by product of being tipsy.

I felt calm about the whole thing.  Most things on my phone are available somewhere else, albeit less convenient to access.  And in a nerdish, professional way, I was curious to evaluate the robustness of my backup system.  It also forced a couple of personal projects related to digital photos and calendar synchronization into high priority.

I often read articles, or see advertisements, about taking vacations without our devices.  Without a phone to access I had time to wonder, is it more stressful to have a smartphone or to be without it?  Occasionally I’ve forgotten my phone, or had the battery die, but not knowing if my phone would work was a different feeling.  After day one I did start to feel mildly stressed about the cost, time, and effort involved to replace it.  I rely heavily on my smartphone as both a convenience and a time saver.

By day two I started to appreciate what it meant to be phone-less.  I took a walk through the botanical gardens near my house.  This was both to take a restorative break and to distract me from constantly checking my phone every 20 minutes to see if any more water droplets had disappeared.  As I strolled through the gardens I could feel myself relaxing and spending more time looking, smelling, and experiencing.  Was this because my phone wasn’t in my purse as a silent and pervasive distraction?

I do think it’s healthy to power down and take breaks from our devices, but it inherently feels less stressful to do so when:

a) I’m in control of when I’m taking the break; and

b) I don’t have the stress of having to replace (or restore) anything.

My advice, leave your device at home before you go jump in a lake.

 

*It took 2 full days, but the rice worked.  Remove the battery and cards.