Comment I have made

http://en4166ashley.blogspot.com/2011/11/new-media-writing-and-emoticons-now-ny.html
http://en4166ashley.blogspot.com/2011/10/ashley-alex-and-phoebes-hk-video.html
http://en4166rita.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-blogging-experience.html
http://en4166adora.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-digital-life.html

My blogging experience

This is the first time I write a blog. I did have a blog some years ago, but I never put any content in it. And I think it is now buried in the oceans of million blogs without no body taking pity on it, RIP. I didn’t write anything in it because I didn’t know what to write. I had no idea what kind of content is more appealing to other bloggers. Serious content maybe too boring while casual matters may not be worthwhile to read.

But after giving it a try, I do think blogging is fun to do. It’s worthy to do it on a regular basis. The things I like about blogging is that I can write casually about some serious and meaningful matter. This is a better platform than Facebook as the audience base is kind of more self-selected. Only people who are interested in what I write will follow my post. While in Facebook, everyone can take a glimpse at what I write, this is quite annoying sometimes. Blogs are just like communities for people with the same interest to gather together and share their views.

It is the quality of blog content which attracts me. For me, blogging is a good chance to find out ‘hidden expert’ in different fields. For example, experts of photography like to share their experience in their blogs. It's far better looking at their blogs than reading those boring and stubborn photography books. In order to grab attention in the blogging society, here’s something you can do. 1^st, do some research, no one likes to read crap when there are better blogs around. 2^nd, make use of digital media, sometimes it's hard to explain an idea with just words. 3^rd, this is the most important one, crack some jokes. Why so serious? Blogging is supposed to be fun and casual.

My digital life

My digital life is simple. I don’t have an I pad. I am not a smart phone user, but I do think I am a smart phone-user (get it?). The only thing relates me to digital it my notebook. Anyways, I can't live without digital world. The thing that makes me feel digitalized must be Facebook. It makes boring lessons less boring. It makes a 2000 word essay looks less killer like. It just makes the world a better place to live.  

Without doubt, part of my life is now ‘Facebooklized’. Sometimes I just stay online for no reason. I think the only reason that explains my impulsive Facebooking is the tendency to keep updated with all the trivial matters around me. Yes! To be connected, that’s the point of digital life. But that’s also the reason why I don’t get a smart phone, I just want to take a break, disconnect from the digital world in order to reconnect with my real life. 

Digital life. Nowhere to hide

We enjoy the freedom given by digital tools. Just one click and we are connected to Facebook in the MTR. Just another click leads us to the Youtube channel. We are connected twenty four seven. We like it. We are not alone at all.

Of course, the usage of digital tools is not just limited to checking out others’ status . It also facilitates the development of daily business operation. During my internship in Singapore, I was talking to my supervisor through Yahoo messenger even though we were sitting right beside each other. This’s kind of funny as it seemed that we two were ignoring each other, but actually there was a whole lot of conversation going on between us. This is how we all are relying on digital media even when we don’t have to. But digital media can sometimes be our obstructions. The day when my supervisor was on leave, I had the fancy thought I can have a luxury break in the office. But my dream bubble was bursted by the blinking Yahoo messenger icon. Oops…it’s my supervisor. She was instructing me to take over her work. Nowhere to hide, she got me through the internet, my day was ruined. OK, I lied, I didn’t feel bad at all. But digital tools do somehow pull us into the technology black hole.

I just read from newspapers that office workers in Hong Kong are now bothered by their always-on smartphones. There are no more regular office hours. They have to always stay alert to the incoming message of their phones. Some of them feel there is no reason to ‘shirk’ after the office hours as they have the tools to continue working even when they are having dinner with their families. Some of them check the company emails when they are brushing teeth in the morning. The line between leisure and working is disappearing. Some of the ‘remote workers’ complain that digital tools are no longer adding colour to their life but taking away instead.

In these days, it seems that we can’t live without digital tools. It is melting into our daily life. Living without digital tools is just like having pizza without cheese, things will be so plain and dull. But too much cheese will overpower the favors of other ingredients and makes you feel sick. This is a very crappy metaphor but do bear with me. 

Relationship built by Facebook. How real is real?

I still can’t forget about that day. Around three years ago, I was a university freshman. After a seemingly never ending three hour whatever lesson, I survived. I was chit chatting with my new friends. They are so passionate about my everything. That’s the characteristic of every freshman I bet; eager to make friends as soon as possible. Time passed by, seemed like we didn’t have much time to hang around anymore and we were about to say good bye. Here came the 21th century social etiquette. All of us were supposed to exchange our msn and Facebook account. I exchanged my msn account with them.  ‘Hey, how about your Facebook?’ they asked. ‘I don’t have a Facebook account.’ I said ‘What?! How could it be?! You are so outdated.’ All of them shout. ‘Open one!!!!!’

Before that, I thought Facebook was just a waste of time, I don’t like sticking around at the virtual community, I didn’t feel like the need to present myself virtually on the web in order to obtain an identity. But under all the pressure and shouting, I surrendered. I got home, turned on my notebook, went to Facebook .com and create an account. I entered my email address, my name and all. Simple. Two minutes. Done. I was finally part of the Facebook family. The process of evoluving from outdated to an up to date guy has never been simpler. I felt refreshed, relieved and inspired. (you guys are probably thinking about ‘Shut it!! Cut the crap!!’) OK, I was exaggerating, but the Facebook account really did give me the chance to explore more about the web 2.0

After I first logged in, Facebook recommended some unknown people to me and suggested me to make friends with them. I thought it’s a must to pick a few people in order to proceed to the next step. So I randomly picked a few of them. Added them. they accepted in a manner of minutes. Then I had my first few Facebook ‘friends’

The next day, I exchanged my account with my Uni mates. There were around ten of them. Just in that week, my friends on Facebook increased by 500% from ten to sixty. The number kept increasing, seventy, eighty…. I was amazed. I was proud. I thought this was something to show off. But when I looked the pages of my friends, I felt so little. Many of them have several hundred friends in their friend list, some even three thousands. What the hell! How could it be?

Here comes the question. Where the heck on earth do all the three thousand friends come from? I really doubt the online relationship. Let’s not talk about others, come back to me. Several days after I opened the account, many people whom I thought were already history (to put it in a nicer way, they were not in my memory anymore for a long period of time), appeared in my life again. They added me on Facebook. These people include some secondary school friends, primary school friends and some I can’t even recall when and where I met them. To put it simple, I have lost contact with them for at least five, if not ten years. I have no idea how they got me, but it’s probably the friend recommendation function of Facebook.

I really appreciate the fact that Facebook tries to keep everything real. We are supposed to set up our account based on our real information. Facebook is supposed to be the extension of our identity on the internet. Relationships in this community are supposed to be real also. But somehow I am confused by the lost and found relationship with my ‘long time no see friends’. Sometimes I wonder if we pump into each other on the street, will we even say hi to others. The friend recommendation function is plausible by nature, but many users just abuse it. They just accept whatever the system suggests. Real friendship does not exist in this sense.

The ‘like’ button is another great invention by Facebook. But sometimes I doubt the underlying meaning of ‘like’. Sometimes ‘like’ can really mean someone appreciate your Facebook content. But at the same time, some people just like your status and all for no reasons. I always have experience that just a few seconds after I shared articles on Facebook, the system informed me my stuffs were liked by my Facebook friends. Everything just happened in a blink of an eye. I admire the awareness of my friends. But I don’t think they had the ability to digest the articles in just a matter of seconds. I think the ‘like’ button serves the purpose of proving one existence. It’s just like a way to remind others they are still alive by grabbing your attention by the ‘like’ function.

I am not a Facebook hater, I am a Facebook lover. In fact, I am a bit addicted to Facebook. It’s just part of my life. I really like how Facebook keeps me and my friends connected. It gives me the chance to maintain good relationship with my newly made friends at Uni. It is all our choice of how to utilize Facebook to keep relations real and authentic.  

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