DL 319

Technology Weirds The World

Welcome back, all. Here is Digitally Literate, issue #319.

I posted the following this week:

🔖 Key Takeaways

📚 This Week’s Highlights

Key & Peele’s humorous sketches deliver sharp commentary on social issues. This short clip captures the essence of their brilliance.
Why this matters: Humor can be an effective tool for addressing sensitive topics.

Social media and modern technology have created an “attentional pathogenic culture” that makes sustained focus increasingly rare.

...we need to ask if we are now developing “an attentional pathogenic culture” – an environment in which sustained and deep focus is harder for all of us.
Why this matters: Recognizing the systemic factors affecting attention is key to reclaiming our mental space.

A Tennessee school board barred schools from teaching a beloved graphic novel about the Holocaust in a unanimous vote the day before Holocaust Remembrance Day. The move to ban Art Spiegelman’s Maus, first reported by The Tennessee Holler, is the latest in a wave of book banning sweeping the country, particularly school districts in conservative areas.

This Twitter thread by Lisa Corrigan is an excellent explanation of the rationale for book bans and the focus on eroding support for the public good.
Why this matters: Censorship threatens critical thinking and historical awareness.

I've been spending a lot of time getting back into distributed, federated technologies and Web3 is one piece of that puzzle.

Good friend Doug Belshaw provides a response to this post about Ed3 reimagining education in a decentralized world.

Belshaw indicates that what is exciting is decentralizing power and decision-making as we think about the possibilities. That...and a dash of transparency in the model...and count me in. :)
Why this matters: Transparency and decentralized power could reshape educational systems for the better.

Anne Helen Petersen on the power of games to serve as fillers in our interstitial or in-between times.

I've found myself playing mobile games, Kingdom Two Crowns to be more specific. I've also started up a Minecraft Realms account again for friends and family to reconnect and play. I spend time playing instead of zombie-scrolling social media. I started playing games again when I noticed my partner playing more solitaire before bed...instead of surveying social media.

Petersen suggests that this focus on Candy Crush...and now Wordle is not bringing us together, it's merely distracting us from other parts of our existence.

This is ultimately a story about control. Burnout, particularly when interwoven with depression, makes it difficult to actually choose to do the things that you really do want to do — socializing, getting outside, reading the book on your bedside table, not canceling an appointment, showing up for someone, fixing something, just doing something that you choose. You often find yourself on the path of least resistance, whether that means binging a television show you don’t even really like or scrolling Instagram until you get a recharged life on Candy Crush. You revenge bedtime procrastinate. You feel passive in the flow of your own damn life — and frustrated that you can’t muster the strength to redirect it.
Why this matters: Understanding our digital habits can help us reclaim control over our time.

6. GIFs Are For Boomers Now, Sorry

Amelia Tait examines how GIFs are falling out of favor with younger generations as online trends evolve.
Why this matters: Shifting preferences in digital culture highlight generational differences in communication.

🛠️ DO: 3 Keys to Evolving as a Lifelong Learner

Lainie Rowell shares how a process of learning, unlearning, and relearning puts educators on a path to continuous improvement.

  1. Reframe your mindset: Embrace continuous improvement.
  2. Be less helpful: Allow others to problem-solve independently.
  3. Ask more questions: Cultivate curiosity and critical thinking.

Learn more here.

🌟 Closing Reflection

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
— Alvin Toffler

Reflect and Engage

Thank you for reading Digitally Literate. Stay tuned for more insights and discussions. Connect with me at hello@digitallyliterate.net or explore Newsletter Index for all past issues.

I really enjoyed this primer on rapid COVID test results from XKCD.