Katie's Digital Space: A reflection

Image: Memes.com

My Computer Usage

Using social media, applications and programs has become an engrained part of our society.  I watch my students on their phone during the morning and after school.  I wonder what they are looking at or who they might be texting when I catch them using it in their locker.  I have always joked that I was one of the weird generations that was a digital native immigrant.  We had technology around enough I could pick it up quickly but I was introduced to it later then other natives.  When I look at my own usage, I see the story of a working teacher mom who owns a business.  David White describes visitor mode as "individuals that do not leave any social media trace".  Many people will look at or do what they need to complete and then get off.  Resident mode, on the other hand, are individuals that look to have a large social media present with a large degree of visibility.   I found his explanation and movement away from the digital vs native discussion important as we have such an all encompassing thought provoking and a great way to look into my own usage.   

Image: Personal Photos

Visitor vs Resident:

When I look at my usage with the visitor vs. resident mind frame I see that a lot of what is used is not part of my current usage.  There are many fluctuations that have happened especially over the last several months.  I saw that I am now a visitor for certain apps such as Farmville when at the beginning of the summer I was a resident (and probably lived there too much!).  This was one of my games that I used several times a day in order to refresh my brain or spend a little quality time with one of my kids (they would help me with the game).  Some of the applications are still in the visitor section but have moved towards the resident end over the last several months.  For example, my husband and I have been working with various doctors and educators for the last two years to get my son additional support school.  This summer my husband and I took my son in for several sessions of testing to get him the correct diagnosis so he would be eligible for a 504 and possibly an IEP.  This was in an effort to make sure that he started out the school year right with the right supports.  Unfortunately his school doesn't not see it the same way as us and we needed to get additional documentation from my son's doctors.  My daughter was also diagnosed with ADHD within the last year.  My husband and I decided to try medication this school year and we need to communicate with our doctors monthly in order to get a new prescription for her. We then needed to communicate with the pharmacy to pick it up as soon as we could.  The medical applications (myChart and Walgreens) have moved up in their usage and the purpose of the usage.  My role has moved from just doing what I need to do but having a large presence and consistent usage for my kids.        

Professional vs Personal:

As a new school year starts and my small business develops, a lot of the applications I use are focused on work related items.  This has probably been the largest increase in my resident mode.  I am constantly checking my email and messenger to address comments or concerns as we hone our business plan.  This is in addition to getting my classroom up and running.  There are students who need support, move in or out of my classroom and those that need additional supports from other adults in the building.  There is a cluster of applications (Facebook, Instagram, Safari, Gmail, and Messenger) that used for almost everything that I am doing both professionally and personally.  I am checking Facebook to see what is going on my community, my children's school and classrooms, and what my friends are up.  I am doing research on what I can do to best support my children and then what I can to help my softball players.  I am also working with my sisters on our social media presence as we build our brand and offerings for the community.  We are also using the various financial apps in order to get payments or send payments out.  Keeping track of our finances, communications, drafts is done through our Google docs.  Many of these apps were ones that I would more visit then look to make a large, consistent presence.      

All of it together

When I look at all together I see a clear picture of what my life has been these past few months: all of it devoted to my professional development and taking care of my family.  The applications that I use for fun or entertainment such as Reddit and TikTok take up less time or usage.  But I know that it is will be for right now and eventually things will swing in a different direction.  When I looked at my phone there were many applications with the little cloud designation showing that I have even touched in some time. My resident mode will move to other applications either professionally or personally as the dust settles on certain areas in my life.