Unit 1 Reflection

Final Reflection 

Abby Deering / WRT 205

    In my Unit 1 Analysis, I selected three articles that I felt best represented my topic, the loss of meaning and significance of daily tasks, objects, and lives in general, because of the influence of technology. The articles covered attention span, online shopping, and the impact of technology of the new generation. The main discovery I made in this analysis was that technology has made the world move too fast, and when people move fast we tend to not think. So, in working on this project I tried to focus on slowing down, document what else I was thinking about or working on while I was working on this. 

    To begin, I changed the way I work on papers and analysis. I thought about what my goals were, I wrote them out, and then began to provide analysis (which I also wrote out in pencil first). In the New York Times article about the pencil shop, the author discusses how the store owner urged experimentation in selection of a pencil. Experimentation is a critical aspect of society and living, and is dwindled by the presence of technology. Through creating bullet points and taking the time to handwrite my analysis, I gave myself a greater opportunity to experiment with my words and thoughts. 

I transformed my bullets into paragraphs, and allowed myself to fully think the process out before continuing to my next article. 

“Remove the device. In times of needed focus, take that device and put it someplace else,” states the article from Time titled "Why Everyone's Worried About Their Attention Span -- And How to Fix Yours". To take advice from this article, I removed my phone from the room I was working in, and gave myself space from it while I worked. To say that this was difficult is an understatement. It was incredibly hard to space myself from my device, and it was such a reward to go get it when I had completed my goal. It took a lot of repetition and focus to be able to do this successfully, but it was clear from what I was able to accomplish away from my phone that it was successful, and overall I am happy I did it. 

For my last two articles, "What is Deinfluencing? Unpacking TikTok's Unlikeliest Shopping Trend" and "iPad Kids Are Getting Out of Hand," I tried to focus on having my own opinions, thoughts, and behaviors. I was curious as to what my classmates were working on, but chose to stay focused on my own task in order to keep my project mine, and not be influenced by the way the task was performed. I also took time away from my screen, and spent time outside and with my friends, which I learned is critical for positive outcomes and behavior from my articles. 

Working on this project had significant influence on my abilities as a writer, and my abilities in analysis, however the greatest impact was what I learned from my research and how I chose to utilize it.