I had a sticky note about something along the lines of "blog about society changing with the information overload shift". I think it said that, I just deleted it on Sticky Notes a few seconds ago, and unfortunately there's no Undo.
I had that for a while now after last university quarter as a freshman. I'd just finished a linear algebra class, my last writing class, and an intermediate python programming class. And to really emphasize it, that was my last official general writing class. Looking at the course catalog, I think I'm required to take an "upper division computer science writing class", but other than that, that was in a sense my last writing class I'd ever have to take in life.
Anyways, I'm being vague about the class details, sorry, but I want to focus on my thoughts on the end of the quarter. My last writing class's focus was on "Argument & Research". Apparently, at the end of the quarter and my first freshman year, I was having thoughts about being information overloaded. Like, I was thinking to myself, "Isn't taking ~3 to 4 classes per 10 week quarter to graduate a tiny bit too much?" It's a lot of information to digest and think about, in my opinion. Though I did well in all my classes last quarter, I'd often think to myself that 3 to 4 classes in that time span is a little bit much to ask.
And I'd have thoughts about what if the university requirement was lowered so that you could pace yourself to around 2 to 3 classes per quarter to graduate. Put less stress on yourself, dedicate more time to the content of classes, allow students to pursue their own interests. I think that the more you encourage people to pursue their own interests, the more it'll benefit them in the long run, and I think that'll make for a better education (and better life accomplishments in general).
Looking back at it more, I'd say even middle school and high school were more content packed, at least from my experience. I remember doing a lot of worksheets and projects, like --a lot-- of them, really. I mean, the subjects were interesting. Going off the top of my head, I took classes about life science, algebra 1 and algebra 2. Band elective in middle school. Art in high school. Spanish 1-2 and Spanish 3-4 in high school. They were interesting, but keeping up with them was really hard. That was like, 6 - 8 subjects per week, looking back at a high school calendar pdf I scanned. Like 3 classes on a Monday, the other 3 on a Tuesday, and with homework. (And also, summer reading! I just wanted to take a break, but in middle school and high school, had to read a book and do a report over the summer. Just wanted a full break then though!)
So alright, now that I think about it, I do see my university schedule as more flexible than my middle school and high school one. Like, a lot. I guess I also feel more flexible since I dorm around the campus. So yes, I am thankful for the change of pace from high school to university. But nonetheless, I'd argue that multitasking with at least 3 to 4 classes is a little bit over the top, regardless of type of schooling, if someone wanted to seriously study all those subjects.
However, I do realize that dropping the amount of classes can have a lot of cons too. People could feel less motivated. And at least in the university, professors and staff may have thought a long time on how courses should be structured or the content they want to present to a student taking a certain major, like Biology or Computer Science. So they can be justified in course rigor. Also, having various classes would help someone gain breadth, knowledge-wise. Like, gaining familiarity with both art and math could be pretty beneficial if someone wanted to be well-rounded.
Anyways, it's hard to remember my feelings about how school was back in middle school, high school, and last freshman year. I just remember feeling a little bit troubled by how much info. I'd have to process with multiple classes. I did genuinely think about course content, (and especially with comp. sci. now!). In middle school and high school, I may have try-harded a lot on my assignments, I can admit that. I did have a few extracurricular activities in middle school and high school. And I may have procrastinated a lot too (but not always!). So all-in-all, it's hard to say right now whether the bigger problem is how much school work is presented, or how much I want to spend on it. Maybe it's equally both. If I were to write more about this, it'd have to be while I'm back in the full university quarter next month.
Nonetheless, what I really feel for sure is that, being at the university I'm at right now, I get more free time to pursue my computer graphics interests, and I'm extremely happy to do that. As long as I get to devote most of my time to that, I'll be happy with any workload.
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Alright, I ended up writing a lot about my thoughts of school and workload, guess wanted to put my thoughts fully there, but what I really wanted to write about was some feeling of "information overload in general" I had.
Like, I thought to myself, "Oh, we're being bombarded with too much information, and like we're using youtube and social media so much and we shouldn't use it as much."
I think it was one of the reasons why I hardly use facebook anymore since starting at university (only use it to check on university pages). And I'm not for other social media either. Not sure if it's just natural for my age, or I'm just busy with university or my computer graphics hobbies.
Looking back at that though, I really think that's mostly incorrect and negative. With internet especially, it's always good to have a lot of information at hand. Especially for news. I'm focused a lot of programming, it's good to have quick access to check on world events once in a while. Whether for fun or for serious purposes, it's great I can view all this on just one computer. And social media's a great way to connect with others. Back pre-internet era, if someone moved or changed address/phone numbers, it'd be hard to keep in touch if they don't tell their friends about it. Though I can't say for certain, I didn't live in that time (technically though haha, when I was really young my family didn't have internet though. And when we started, it was w/ kilobit speeds and DSL, if I recall the terms right). With things like facebook and Skype, you just send a message to stay in touch, you don't even need to consider networking, just get a good internet connection. Besides social media, I've gotten a lot of help from forums, especially with OpenGL and Windows API, and I'm really thankful for that. I'd like to give back to them one day.
So I think my thoughts on what I thought was "information overload and society" are more like "my thoughts about what I'm doing on the computer and what I should moderate for myself", and "advice tips I wanted to list from that". Basically, my thoughts are more of personal reflection now that I think about it. With YouTube, I use it a lot on my phone, mostly for watching let's plays when I wanna give my head a break. (Currently, I'm rewatching MegamanNG's Phoenix Wright: Justice for All walkthrough. On Part 9 as I'm writing this.) As I'm writing this, I'd have to say to myself to remind myself once in a while not to take content like this for granted. Not just let's plays. Any video in general. Of course I'm gonna forget this a lot, I'm busy with life in general. So most importantly, I'd say to myself not to overload with too much of YouTube. I'd say focusing more on my hobbies and interests have makes me happier in the long run. Really, doing personal projects on Windows API and OpenGL is really cool, at least for me. I'd like to try ray tracing one day, and maybe even computer vision. I hope I do more team projects (teaming up in programming is hard from my experience, but I'd like to get better at it. I think team projects is a good thing, and feels better in the long run too).
Anyways, ya, I guess in the end, these ending thoughts would be more personal reflection. I'd like to share it publicly on a blog though just because I feel like it, and I'd also like to share tips I've felt like I've gained from my experience with using the computer a lot. If I'd have any concern about society in general with the idea of "information overloading", I just hope the level of work expected in schools and work don't go overboard just because we have more information, but other than that, this is mostly self reflection.
Tips in the end:
-It's always good to have a lot of information and tools. Just don't overload yourself.
-Pursue your hobbies/interests. Make your own content. I'd say the more you do this, the more you can understand to value what you can do/what you have.
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Ending Notes
-looks like tips I put here match up similarly to a previous reflection I did. was nice coincidence haha, didn't do that on purpose
-Speaking of YouTube, I've been thinking about YouTube demographics. Looked this up, looks like men are mostly into sports and games. I wonder if YouTube's algorithms take this into effect when recommending videos to me. I see sports/games videos a lot in my recommended list. Though it could also be that I just looked a lot of these types of videos up naturally, and YouTube considered that. Just wanted to note that here.
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