I plan to take a modified version of the medium option for the digital detox. I am going to stay off of two social media platforms, but instead of giving myself 3.5 hours of digital entertainment and 3 hours for other activities on my phone, I am going to combine it all and stay under 3 hours of screen time on my phone a day. Since I got to college, I have been trying to limit my screen time on my phone and have already seen some improvement. However, I still need to work on my consumption of social media. I usually stay around 3 hours on weekdays, but on weekends I can go as high as 6 hours a day. My goal is stay consistently under 3 hours every day, including weekends.

Overall, my digital detox went well last week. Except for one day, Friday, I stayed under 3 hours of daily screen time. During the week limiting my screen time was not as challenging as I had originally thought, since I spend a lot of my free time practicing sports, hanging out with people or doing homework anyway. Usually, my schedule during the week is pretty tight, so I do not have a lot of time to spend on social media. However, I was most challenged on Friday night. I had a cross country meet early the next morning so I could not go out with friends, and so I had a lot of free time to myself. I ended up spending more time on social media that night than I realized, and I went about an hour over my 3-hour screen time limit.

Statement about Principles of Ethical and Inclusive Design

For this project I am going to focus on including a diverse amount of people in the images I use for each infographic. For some of the infographics like the one on facial recognition’s bias I will naturally need to incorporate images of people of different races and genders, since the subject pertains to how the software interacts with different races and genders. However, even in my infographics not directly related to issues of race or gender I will still make sure that the pictures of people I choose to incorporate represent different cultures or backgrounds. Since my audience is internet users in general, an audience comprised of many diverse groups of people, I want to make sure that a variety of people are visually portrayed in my infographics. I also want to focus on each infographic’s functionality and understandability. When incorporating text explanations, I will make sure that the font is large enough to be read by general audiences, even on smaller devices. The language in each infographic’s text will be sound, both free of stereotypes and assumptions but also breaking down the complex subject matter about digital media to a level that viewers just getting acquainted to each topic will be able to understand. As is part of the goal of my project, each of my infographics will go beyond the white, middle class American’s experience of the internet to examine the problems people of other cultures, races and genders face when interacting with digital media and technology. In some instances, multiple perspectives will be explored at one infographic, like in the one about media creators. Beyond challenging common misconceptions about digital media, my other primary goal of this project is to create visually appealing and interesting graphics. I want the images at the center of each infographic to highlight and even aid in explaining the points I am conveying by giving users a visualization of each topic. Multiple images will be included to display the different points conveyed in each separate block of text. Overall, the images and designs will help my audience to connect the lessons of each infographic back to their own experiences on the internet.

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/3f1be2255b744bea862836570036a9ad

A short podcast where I explore how digital media can both strengthen and prevent a rich community life. Hope you all enjoy!

Came across a red bridge while hiking on a local trail close to my home in Maryland in April 2019.

Schade, Julie. Hike. 17 April 2019. Author’s personal collection.

One of the Minnesota boundary lakes at sunset. My dad took this picture when we went on a five-day canoe trip with the Northern Tier High Adventure Camp in August 2021.

Schade, Mark. Northern Tier. 2 August 2021. Author’s personal collection.

A view of the Atlantic Ocean hiking along the cliffs of Howth, Ireland, July 2023.

Schade, Nicholas. Ireland. 2 July 2023. Author’s personal collection.