If I had all the time in the world, what would I do?
I took a nap the other day—or what was supposed to be a nap—and woke up half a day later more refreshed than ever.
That was probably more sleep than I had gotten int he past two months.
But if I had all the time in the world, what would I do with it?
Maybe, let’s narrow it down to a day—all the time in the day.
1: Sleep
Sleep could not be more valuable than now, but I know that I’ll need it even more 10 years from now. As a student, I could care less about my sleep. Like, yes I care about it a lot, but there’s not much I can do when I have a semester’s worth of assignments due in the next week or so.
Plus I have to keep up with work and everything beyond school and work without completely botching it all. So for the time-being, I could care less about my sleep. It’s 12:53 AM and counting and I don’t have time to sleep.
2: Travel
Travelling is one of those long-term goals that I don’t need to fulfil right away, but I can definitely dream.
If I could go anywhere in the world, it would be Europe. Just Europe. All of it. Don’t make me pick and choose specific countries because I cannot handle decision-making and this will only stress me out more than I already am. This is a discussion for years from now.
Anyway, I don’t know if it’s the food, architecture, or aesthetic—it’s probably all three and more—but something about Europe just seems like a beautiful place to visit. Something about the landmarks, cobblestoned city roads, and European food just screams ‘chef’s kiss.’
3: Explore the city
Now you might think that ‘explore the city’ and ‘travel’ are kind of the same thing… but they aren’t. Travel is a broad-scale, long-term goal-type of adventure. But explore the city is like a mini, everyday-type of adventure that I can easily manage on almost any given day. No need for advanced planning and extreme saving. Open mind and comfy shoes required, and that’s it.
Though what would I explore? You name it: food spots, landmarks, places I’ve passed by a million times but have never actually stopped to see, you get the gist.
4: Hobbies
Whenever someone asks me what hobbies I have, I panic because I never know what to say. I am so busy with school, work, and everything else on top of that to the point where I don’t have time to get into traditional ‘hobbies.’ I have time to write papers, work, listen to music, transit place-to-place, and that is pretty much it.
BUT with all the time in the day, I could probably relax and paint, read a book or two, try playing an instrument, or learn to origami-fold all my old homework because why not?
5: Spend time with friends and family
As much as I hate to say this (especially because my parents think this too), I think I spend more time out at school and studying than I do at home with family. That’s just what the job responsibilities entail but it is just sad. I cannot even imagine being a full-time student working full-time at the same time. To the people who can do that, bravo.
If I had all the time in the day, I’d meet up with friends who I haven’t seen in months—maybe go to dinner, go shopping, or just sit and chat in a café; watch movies with my family; take a group trip somewhere; the possibilities are endless.
6: Alone Time
Lastly, I couldn’t forget to have some time for myself. Take a break from my phone; go on a walk first thing in the morning; paint my nails; read a book; bake a cake; clean my room; enjoy a movie; watch a sunset; or just sit in the comfort of my own presence without a worry.
I could add lots more to this list, but I can’t get too ahead of myself. There’s too much for me to get done right now, but in the meantime, I can always dream.
It’s time for me to take a walk, a long, long walk. I just need to get out of the house, enjoy the weather that spring has to offer, and relax for a moment.
Seriously though, when was the last time you left the house to just walk? Wait—when was the last time I left my house to just take a walk?!
Bring me back 10 years and I would have said that this is the most plain and boring thing I could do as a person to have fun… but what do you honestly expect a kid to say?
Whatever. The times have changed, and I know better now.
When I find myself sitting at my desk all day on my laptop, anything sounds better than working. Cleaning my room sounds like more fun than working. Putting together IKEA furniture is more enticing than working. Anything but.
But it has been a hot minute since I’ve taken some time for myself to enjoy the simplicity of the outdoors and the scenery of my neighbourhood. It sure sounds cheesy, but like I said: anything sounds better than working.
I can just imagine how peaceful it would be. The sun would be rising over the houses across the street first thing in the morning. The air is cool but not cold—a comfortable cool. Once I get my earbuds in and a good playlist going, I’m all set.
Depending on where I walk, I can see the mountains in the distance or smell the scent of fresh laundry fill the air. In the evenings, I can even catch a peek of the sun setting on the opposite side of my street or see the city lights glow in the distance.
Not going to lie, this sounds like something I would have written in language arts class back in elementary school. The imagery is really coming together in my head but putting it all into words is a different subject.
Anyway, the point is that I could really use a walk. Now you might be wondering, why don’t I just stop writing and get walking already?! Well, I should remind you that I’m writing this very early in the morning and the light of day is nowhere to be seen.
On top of that, it’s late-March/early-April when I’m writing this, so the weather is the worst it could possibly be right now. No, it’s not snowing so I can’t complain, but rain and clouds are not any better.
Give it another month and it’ll be nice and sunny out. For now, a good imagination will suffice.
Also, let this be a good reminder for everyone to take a break from everything and relax. You deserve it.
I haven’t listen to a podcast for awhile and I think it’s time to do another one or something similar to it. Sometimes we don’t have enough time to listen to an hour video or podcast, but today I have linked short videos … Continue Reading
Media and the internet have evolved faster than the rate of comprehension, creating new norms and nuances that we could not have seen coming. Some of these changes happen overnight while others slowly erode the very fabric of the internet, and our contemplation of it. When it comes to changes online, blink and you’ll miss it. These variations are often not good or bad but are just different and we can explore some recent ones by looking into memes and slang two online expressions that can influence the way we interact.
To me, memes are the encapsulation of human existence in a visual, uncomplicated form. There’s an image, or two, a few lines of text, and suddenly you’re laughing at a picture that otherwise had little meaning. Memes can be reused, reduced, and recycled like any sustainable internet phenomenon and have brought about a new age of laughter and even political commentary. Alexis Madrigal says it best,
“in the end, the meme itself is powerful. It spreads to tens of millions of people. It makes one woman rich. It helps market soda (2018).” Because what are memes if not the culmination of creative and ideological expression? They may not be the most elegant way of communicating how much you hate Donald Trump, but these images are able to condense profound insights or passive opinions and spread them at a rate unimaginable. Many individuals who became internet sensations overnight dealt with ranging experiences from Ghyslain Raza facing immense “cyberbullying” and “death threats” to Laina Morris who “initiated her own Internet fame, and she has embraced every bit of it (Merrill 2015).” Instances like these show that there is a light and dark to the internet and that even seemingly harmless memes have great power.
I would argue slang is one of the most difficult languages to master, it’s not static and while there are some evolving guides, slang often varies depending on the demographic you are part of. It’s also a pretty universal experience to have a time when you just did not understand a reference, or think someone was speaking strangely but they were using slang you just didn’t know. The blame is not only on the uninformed though, apps like TikTok have an “interface (that) makes it difficult to link out to external information” a strategic tactic that has users, “digging through the comments for an explanation for something living rent-free in their heads (Weekman 2022).” For those wondering, I don’t know how to quite encapsulate what ‘rent-free’ means so I turn to Urban Dictionary to offer you assistance. Like memes these words also have powerful messages that often rely on a backstory that viewers must understand, often taking one word and inputting innuendos and layers to the point where the definition cannot quite set you on a straight path to understanding the slang. From fake accountants to relationship status nails, the internet can create neuro links that the average user can only take so much of. This said, having shared online experiences, words, and customs can create a culture that transcends traditional barriers of space and characteristics, a girl in Canada can suddenly relate on a deeper level to her counterpart across the world- a microcosmic feat of globalization. These transmissions of phrases do come with their problems, with “internet slang” … increas(ing) its influence over everyday language, …concerns about how those trends appropriate African American Vernacular English (AAVE)” are also prevalent in media (Thompson 2022). Policies on hate speech and appropriation can be used to mitigate such risks but in such an evolving landscape stopping such issues is easier said than done.
Memes and slang serve as examples for the case of internet evolution while also showcasing the dangers and benefits, in equal measure, of various platforms. It is up to us, the creators and curators of the internet, to use it responsibly.
Works Cited
Madrigal, Alexis C. “What Sorry to Bother You Gets Right about Memes.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 24 July 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/07/what-sorry-to-bother-you-gets-right-about-the-power-of-memes/565835/.
Merrill, Brad. “5 People Who Became Memes, and How They Reacted.” MUO, Make Use Of, 6 Apr. 2015, https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-people-became-memes-reacted/.
Thompson, Dillon. “Is the Internet Changing How We Talk about Slang Words?” In The Know, In The Know, 17 May 2022, https://www.intheknow.com/post/slang-words-tiktok-gen-z-linguist/?guccounter=2&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9wb3NpZWwuY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACu2GNjkeKAqgad9gt8WcHdGUucEcsythL-jYIYKAbCOYs343vCDNLgsFAzP8axg4Aav6gBAyySmJmLM-3b2xhsJ0ngHiPKiYHIdltGdoe0mEHLW2HuARE-j3nO8xVS067t5n_WViVldWXWO3ZYJK6uH-0kjLIDIrYl7Epw0iMqR.
Weekman, Kelsey. “In the Know Glossary: Your Guide to Internet Slang, Trends and Celebrities.” In The Know, In The Know, 16 May 2022, https://www.intheknow.com/post/in-the-know-glossary/?utm_source=internallinks&utm_medium=internallinks&utm_campaign=internallinksglossary#letterv.
Was it a good one? Eh, it was decent. But what do you expect from someone thinking out loud at 1 AM in the morning? If I’m being honest, not much.
My point is, it doesn’t take as much effort as one thinks to write, and by write, I mean write.
Write down whatever comes to mind. Whatever you think in a moment, note it down on your phone, on a sticky-note, on the back of your hand, or whatever you like to take notes on.
I’m not necessarily talking about writing a Master’s thesis, a dissertation, or a essay on how your positionality has influenced your epistemology (do not ask me what that last one means because even after writing a paper on it, I still don’t fully understand what this is trying to say). I just mean writing words down.
Writing words down is how I start anything. Need to write an essay on how a theory can be found in today’s world? Need to remember what to pick up over the weekend? Just start writing.
I’ve heard some people call this a ‘word vomit’ moment, where you just ‘vomit’ out any words that come to mind. Think of it nicely as a brainstorm session, and don’t take it too seriously—unless you’re working against a very tight deadline; in that case, please take things seriously.
Now, please understand and keep in mind that I am no expert when it comes to writing. Yes, I am a Communication student, but that doesn’t mean anything much (trust me).
Yes, I write lots of papers for my classes and I’ve lived much of my university life between Microsoft Word, Citefast, and Google Scholar, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I am a good communicator or writer.
This takes me back to my thoughts on what the term ‘Communication’ means and what it means to study it. Though, even without critical thinking and analyses of historical theories, one can still put words on a page.
Not sure where I was going with all of this in the first place, but let me just remind you that writing is not as difficult as it seems.
As cliché as this is going to sound, ideas don’t come together over night, and so won’t your writing too. It takes time, review, and revision, but we all have to start somewhere.
So, get moving and write down whatever comes to mind. Something is bound to stick.
I think I’m burnt out. Burned out? Burned… Burnt. You get what I mean (I hope). I don’t know which of the two it is but I think I’m that.
I don’t have the motivation to do anything right now. I’d rather be sitting around or staring at a wall. If anything, I could be using this time to sleep, but that would just be a big waste of such good time.
You know what though? Writing about this gives me a reason to get all those bleh feelings out. Trust me, I’ll be over it before you know it.
It’s just insane though to think about what the human body puts up with. If you’re like me, you stay up much later than you should only to wake up noon the next day (okay, well not always noon, but it feels that late a lot of the time). And then you may spend an hour or so getting ready for the half-a-day you have left to make use of. Then a couple hours go by, you do some work, it’s time for dinner, and all of a sudden the day is over.
Rinse and repeat.
Even though I spend my days working away at homework and work, it still feels like I never get anything done. Well, okay I guess it doesn’t help when I spend more time on my laptop online shopping or clearing storage up on my phone than I should. It’s just a matter of me using my time wisely… productively… usefully? Please, could this sound any less cliché??
I should be sleeping right now, but instead I’m forcing my eyes awake so I can get stuff done and feel accomplished.
I’m sitting here at my laptop like something amazing is going to happen. Maybe in the literal blink of my eye, I’ll watch my list of things to do completely disappear. I’ll be done with this semester, and I’ll finally be able to enjoy some much needed sleep and leisure time.
That, however, is for another day. Something to look forward to for sure. In the meantime, let’s just get through this month. This is just another one of those moments that I’ll get over soon with enough time spent scrolling through Pinterest or Instagram.
I just need to romanticize life for a sec and everything will be fine.
I got this. You got this too. We’ll be fine! Just trust the process.
For my final peer review, I looked at Mercy’s blog, MindMediaRes, which is a website that analyzes media through personality theory, as stated in the tagline. In his about page, he explains that he’s been interested in psychology his whole life, and when he got into personality theory, he found the competitiveness of the community extremely toxic. Therefore, with his blog, he wants to create a space where he can safely write about his opinions and invite others to share theirs too.
Who is the Target Audience?
Through exploring Mercy’s content, it becomes clear that his target audience is composed of personality theory enthusiasts, or more specifically, personality theory enthusiasts who are interested in how it manifests itself in media.
Fattal explains that counterpublics are publics who oppose dominant discourses, and I think that Mercy’s target audience fits this explanation perfectly. Personality theory is a way of explaining the mind that isn’t rooted in science, which is the dominant discourse in our society in terms of psychology. By catering to this audience, (or counterpublic) of personality theory enthusiasts, Mercy successfully creates a public and generates discourse in a welcoming environment.
At the same time, Mercy makes it obvious that his intended audience is also himself. Basu explains that the creation of digital gardens is different than simply making a blog because it involves talking about niche interests and focuses on learning and growth, instead of growing large audiences.
In alignment with the concept of a digital garden, Mercy creates an environment dedicated to growth and the telling of his own thoughts and ideas, explained on his about page. He states that “this blog is based on my own thoughts, feelings, and ideas” and also emphasizes that he’s trying to learn more and is open to hearing other people’s opinions too. So with the digital garden in mind, he’s also marketing to himself, but for the purpose of this review, I’ll be focusing on the marketability of the counterpublic of personality theory enthusiasts (which he is a part of anyways).
Mercy’s “about” page, detailing the construction of his digital garden
Writing for an Audience
Looking at the content on Mercy’s blog, it becomes obvious that his content posts specifically cater to his target audience of personality theory enthusiasts who also enjoy media. Each content post focuses on an aspect of personality theory, either cognitive functions or the enneagram. Using these aspects of personality theory, Mercy analyzes different media, such as movies and shows. For example, his most recent content post surrounds the character, Trina from the 1992 musical, Falsettos. He analyzes Trina’s enneagram type through the songs she sings throughout the musical.
Mercy’s content also caters to all levels of personality theory enthusiasts, from beginners to experts, which increases the marketability of his website to a wider audience. This is evident through Mercy’s first two content posts, where he explains the two aspects of personality theory he tackles in his blog: cognitive functions and the enneagram. These explanations provide a solid framework from which beginner personality theory enthusiasts can start building their knowledge.
It is also obvious that Mercy’s blog content is more intellectually advanced. This is not only shown through the blog’s subject matter, but in the way the posts are written. The academic tone of the blog makes the content more exclusive, but I don’t think this is a bad thing at all. Hollenbaughexplains that when creating content, writers need to present themselves based on their imagined audiences. In this case, the imagined audience would be personality theory enthusiasts, who are assumed to be more intellectually inclined in the first place, just based on the academic subject matter. Take the first sentence in Mercy’s post, “Untangling Morality in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along” Blog as an example:
“Character archetypes have a fairly predictable lifespan of solidifying themselves in pop culture, going through subversions, and subsequently creating new archetypes based on those subversions over the course of many years.”
The vocabulary used in this sentence makes the blog content more exclusive in nature, making it difficult for a younger audience of children, per se, to understand the posts. Nonetheless, the language caters well to the target audience, who, judging by their interest in personality theory, is already intellectually advanced and can understand the vocabulary used in the blog.
Diving into Design
Judging by the blog’s target audience of personality theory enthusiasts and the content in each of the posts, I think that in terms of design, this makes for a more intellectual, serious, straightforward feel to the blog. Mercy uses elements that help maintain this aesthetic that align well with Mauvé Page’s suggestions for blog design. For example, the typeface personality works well with the more serious, intellectual aesthetic of the blog. It is clean, simple, and legible, and makes sure the g’s and q’s don’t mix up, and all those kinds of things.
Excerpt of a post from MindMediaRes, showing effective use of typography to convey the blog’s aesthetic
More generally, some other effective design elements include the fact that there is a good contrast between the black and white shades, making the writing clear and legible and adding to the “seriousness” of the blog aesthetic. The design is also very cohesive, with a limited amount of colour and one consistent font used throughout the blog.
Mercy’s website is also accessible, which makes it inclusive to everyone within his target audience. In alignment with Gaines’s explanation of the four principles of accessibility, Mercy’s blog is particularly perceivable. For example, he includes an accessibility plug in and all his hyperlinks are underlined, making them different from the rest of the content and reducing the need to look for them.
Design Suggestions
Mercy uses a theme from Alx for his blog. While this template is effective in organizing his posts and laying out all the content in a logical way, Gertzwarns against using templates because they are often standardized and can take the personality away from websites. Therefore, I would suggest that Mercy thinks about building his website from scratch so that it reflects him and his audience better.
But if straying from a template is too much at the moment (which I completely understand as it’s also the reason why I’m still using one), I would suggest that Mercy creates a consistent identity and brand for his blog that caters well to his target audience of personality theory enthusiasts. This might be the “serious, intellectual, straightforward” feel that I talked about earlier, or any other kind of mood Mercy wants to create.
Subtle customizations that reflect aspects related to personality theory might be a good idea. For example, this might include creating a homepage, that, instead of simply featuring previews of posts, hosts a post carousel with pictures related to the content featuring aspects of personality theory. It might also involve playing around with more colours to convey a certain aesthetic if he sees fit.
Branding the site a little more strategically through design elements would create a clear mood and atmosphere for the audience, which, aside from the content, pulls viewers into the experience and shows them what the blog is about even before they read any of the posts.
Overall
All in all, I really appreciate the passion that Mercy puts into his blog. It’s clear that aside from being a school assignment, personality theory is something that he is truly interested in. His posts go above and beyond the course requirements and include in-depth, comprehensive explanations, thorough application of theory to case studies, and even several sources for readers to learn more. Because of this and so much more, I really hope that he continues working on this blog after the course is over and I will definitely stay updated so I can keep learning about personality theory!
Hollenbaugh, E. E. (2021). Self-presentation in social media: Review and research opportunities. Review of Communication Research, 9, 80–98. https://doi.org/10.12840/ISSN.2255-4165.027
