A Week Without Google and Facebook

I tried, but I failed! I’d probably be successful if there was an incentive like payment. For my communications course at Lehman College with Professor Brucker-Cohen he gave us a challenge of no Facebook and Google for a week. I’m aware that I’m invested deeply in the Google echo system. Before google, I had a foot in the Apple ecosystem. Their lack of affordability drew me away. I couldn’t keep up with the luxury costs. Till this day I still wish Yahoo It would have became a thing!

Checking Emails & Search Engines

I was born in the beginning of the 90’s. Google wasn’t a big staple house as it is today. There were Yahoo! Commercials and AOL dialup was used for internet. WIFI wasn’t readily accessible. I don’t even know if it existed. My Yahoo! Email is still my go-to email. I use office 365 Outlook for Lehman Email. I didn’t bother using my mobile devices for checking email. Enter a [Check] for me because I’m not using Gmail as my email client. Yahoo Email worked well on iOS as well as Android, Windows, etc. Yahoo was also my go to search engine before I transitioned to google about a decade ago. Going back to yahoo for my search engine wasn’t an issue. Enter another [check] for switching my search engine. For the record, I will never use BING for a search engine!

Internet Browser & Calendar

In early computer years my internet browser of choice was internet explorer. I transitioned to Google Chrome about a decade ago, Safari and Firefox never stuck for me. When I realized my browser information could be synced across google cloud service Chrome was a keeper. There was no way I was going back to Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge, so Firefox was my go-to internet browser. [check] My go to calendar was yahoo for a long time. When I transitioned to leaving apple, I noticed the native android calendar apps weren’t the best. They also didn’t port my calendar over accurately. Yahoo failed to provide it’s consumers with a native mobile calendar app. This made me transition my entire calendar that worked well on iOS to Google Calendar… enter an [X] for the lack of ability to transition my entire calendar from google calendar. While I was looking for a calendar app to replace on mobile, I found my old inquire with Yahoo asking them to add a calendar app. I did use the native windows calendar app when I was on my PC though.

Smart Speakers

I unplugged my Google Home Smart Clocks and speakers but that didn’t last long… I ended up plugging my bedroom clock back in the next morning. I turned the kitchen smart speaker back on the next day during lunch. I just recently plugged the bathroom smart speaker in yesterday. I need music while showering! My google Home smart speakers and displays keep me on track for calendar, shopping lists, reminders, alarms, phone calls, etc. Without my smart speakers I miss a lot of phone calls. When visiting my mom I shout, “Hey Google”, only to be reminded that I need to get her a smart speaker for her apartment.

Telephone

VoIP is used for my home phone. It is ran through google voice. I left it on so I could continue to receive phone calls and be accessible. Sometimes, I’ll forget my phone is on vibrate; that’s where I’ll get a notification for calls on my home phone/smart speakers. [X] My cell phone is also set up through google voice for calling and texting. I prefer to have people call one number and reach me no matter where I am. No other company does call forwarding and VoIP free of cost. I liked having the option to text from a computer, before iMessage was a thing. I also like being able to text/call via internet when most of my job sites are in Television Studio basements with no cell phone reception.

Video Chatting

I had to stay in contact with my mother, we use google, WhatsApp and Facebook messenger to video chat. Getting my mom to download an additional app wasn’t an option. I would have dusted off my skype account but getting people to move over to different apps is pretty difficult.

Social Media & Instant Messaging

Twitter success [check] I usually let my twitter notifications pile up.

Instagram FAIL [X] I usually delete Instagram from my phone during the semester, it’s addictive. I failed by Friday.

Facebook FAIL [X] I check in every few days

YouTube FAIL [X] I stayed away from YouTube for a couple of days. I also let my notifications pile up.

Facebook Messenger [X] a family group chat with family members who don’t use what’s app

WhatsApp [X] the family group chat is there with family that doesn’t use Facebook…

Conclusion

I’m heavily invested in the google echo system. My smart speakers help me as an assistant get though my day; Setting multiple timers in the kitchen helps with food prep. It helps with launching entertainment. Turning on or off the Television with my voice. Turning the volume up or down for times where the remote is missing. I still check emails more effectively at a computer. I can do without google as my search engine. I can comfortable navigate over to Firefox as my daily browser. I never found an android calendar app with a clean and simple interface like google calendar.

Without call forwarding to all my readily available devices I would miss important phone calls. Video chatting is the next best thing. I can convert over to skype, but it would take some time as I would have to convert each family member one by one over to skype. I think the idea of restriction from social media made me gravitate to them more than usual. My YouTube and twitter usage stayed down while my Instagram and Facebook usage went up. Touching my cellphone is less stressful. My home is set up so I touch my cell phone as least as possible. I’m less productive on mobile devices. The infinite scrolling gets me. I’m more productive on actual traditional computers.

In Response to Is Google Making Us Stupid by Nicholas Carr?

I agree with Nicholas Carr’s Article for the Atlantic, Is Google Making Us Stupid? It’s not exactly Google that is making us stupid. It is our reliability on technology freeing our minds of certain things to fill it with other things.

Losing my Music Recollection to Shazaam

I used to DJ small family events. As we moved away from owning music and our music library, I’d stop organizing my music catalogs and relied on streaming music sites like Spotify. In my teenage years I could tell you every song or artist off the tip of my tongue. I was a human shazam, way before shazam! As I DJ today, I stumble on songs titles, artists, and albums. This is horrible for a live DJ set. I agree when Car writes, “traditional media have to adapt to the audience’s new expectations.” I rarely listen to radio live as I can just catch up on radio shows in the form of podcasts and speed up the playback rate. I request music with my voice, and it’s played in seconds. I miss looking at album artwork though.

In response to The Web We Lost by Anil Dash

I agree, with Anil Dash. I was fortunate enough to have access to the internet and a computer in my home at an early age. Today I am on my fifth personal machine with a custom build for multimedia production it can even do some slight gaming as I’m not a hardcore gamer. Many of my colleagues would call it a gaming PC.

Surfing the web in the earlier days was just that. You would ride one wave from one site to the next. Today the web has a fixation of keeping you on a select few sites in rotation, with them being social media sites. Myspace was one of the very few social media sites that allowed html editable coding. I would learn and share coding from friends and the inner-city youth around me. We have the ability to learn, and care when something peaks our interest. We began to get fluent in the html language and pimp out our myspace pages! It was fun. We learned, but then forgot, and didn’t realize what a valuable asset to our skill set html coding would have been. We lost a whole generation of what could have been future inner city coders.

KeyAnna Hooker

Award Winning Short Filmmaker holding a degree in Media Technology / Media & Digital Film Production, under Communication Arts & Sciences. She is in her final semester completing Film & TV Studies BA with a concentration in Television under Journalism & Media Studies for Fall 2020