My Digital Life

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How much does one spend online, whether it is on a phone or on a computer? As I work full time during the day, student at night, and mom 24/7, this really made me ponder. At work, I spend a limited amount of time on a computer, but when I am not teaching, I am creating documents for organizing information for students in the classroom for the Special Education Resource Teacher and getting things together for lessons that are planned. At home, I am organizing my remarkably busy Google calendar of our family activities and events. In addition, I am working on my master's program, which involves quite a bit of technology since it is all online.  
  
Everyone uses technology in some way, and you cannot really get away from it unless you unplug from it all.  
 
 
Image Source: Giphy.com

My Digital Space Map
As I created my digital map, I really had to focus on where certain things fit. I added most of my educational (master's Program studies) in my professional quadrants because it related to my future profession. After looking at my digital map, I was not surprised by what I found. Honestly, I felt like this is minor compared to how I used to use the web
The whole concept of mapping and "visitors vs. residents" is all new to me and having to reflect on how much time I spend digitally was a bit intimidating. Visitors vs. residents simply put is a way of describing how people spend their time on the wide world web. I heard these terms being used online, but really was not curious about it. What is the difference between visitors and residents? 
  
Visitors - Visitors are those that go to a website with one purpose and then leave the site leaving no social trace behind. For example, I need a specific color of yarn for a crochet project and browse online to Michael's website to see if I can find it in store. I discovered I can purchase my yarn in store today and then immediately leave the site. In this case, I completed the task of finding my yarn and moved on to something else leaving no social trace behind.  
 
 Residents - Residents are individuals who "go online to connect to or be with other people (White, 2011). This is different compared to visitors who just get what they need to get done and move on to another site or just walk away from the computer.  An example of this would be posting a question about Fall to my direct sales VIP group to engage with customers in the group.
  
Pictured below is my digital map:



Image Source: Blog Author

When I look at the visitor quadrant in professional engagement, I see that there are a few
sites I access at work for students: Learning Ally and YouTube. There are a few sites or apps that overlap into the visitor quadrant (professional and personal) because I run a direct sales business and make crocheted items for friends: Canva, PayPal, Google, and Venmo. As I examine my other quadrants, I would say that everything I access is more for communicating with someone else (for school, work, and my own family) as far as family organization. I am all about list making, so I have lists on Goodreads and Google Keep. On my personal visitor quadrant, my web use consists of quick conveniences of shopping for delivery and grocery pickup, maps to help with getting to places, and YouTube videos when I am stuck on a project. I did not track the frequency in which I used the sites, but the bigger icons indicate how often I use them. The bigger icons when I examine them, focus on tools for organization, homework assignments, and overall communication with friends and family through social media.  

   On weekends, my time online is spent mostly scheduling grocery pickups, homework, and planning my schedule for the week, so the activity I would say for my personal and professional quadrants would change as far as frequency. Overall, this activity of digital mapping really made me aware of what I really use online on the computer and on my phone. I try to limit my time and prioritize my time with my family.

Wondering where you are? Create your own digital map and see how yours compares to mine.

Cited Sources: White, D. S., & Le Cornu, A. (2011, August 9). View of visitors and residents: A new typology for online engagement: First Monday. View of Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement | First Monday. https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3171/3049 

Comments

  1. Karla BernalSeptember 17, 2023 at 4:46 PM

    Sara, I agree with the fact that reflecting on how much time we spend on the web can be intimidating I also think this is due to the fact that there is still a big debate surrounding technology. "Is it actually helpful? Our kids spend too much time on it." The constant back and forth between both sides is what really makes me feel unsure on how to feel about technology all together. Thanks for your post!

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