The digital world in Lebanon did not welcome me that much. Between my impatience for the slow-mo internet connection and adapting to this whole new blog thing, I was already considered an outsider.
I regard myself as an old-fashioned pen and paper guy, where I scratch everything I don’t like, and get satisfaction out of seeing it on my paper proving my willingness to work. My usage for computers and digitals devices started accumulating when I first entered university, that is when I was introduced to the AUB student information system to register for courses and financial aid. Alongside the first course came my first assignment on the infamous Moodle or what I thought was called noodle at the time. To the naked eye, Moodle is a normal academic platform that is used to submit assignments, deliver academic content, and more. Nevertheless, to AUB students, it is a platform that can be accessed from laptops, tablets, phones, and any digital device. I never knew the importance of such a platform until my previous semester at AUB when the Lebanese revolution started. Moodle delivered full courses’ contents, live interactive video lectures, and exams. Education was literally delivered to our digital devices as simple as that.
Now let me tell you how I waste my time on social media scrolling through news, events, and other people’s lives. Every morning I wake up with Instagram, chat with snap over lunch, and since I do not have twitter, I sleep with insta too. However, I can’t say that social media totally threw me in the can. As I am mostly interested in both business and sports, social media allows me to be constantly updated on their news and practically anything I am interested in. I wouldn’t necessarily say my world revolves around technology, but I think almost everyone is guilty of living in a digital world subconsciously, and it’s just how the world works at present. Usually I am very busy with my life that I don’t have time to read a full 400-page book. Social media such as blogs, twitter, e-news etc. gives me the opportunity to read what intrigues me the most in a small matter of time as well as to interact with people and gain knowledge. For instance, I follow Bloomberg Business on social media, which updates me on business news and events all around the world. I engaged in an interesting conversation with a guy who “Dm” me because he recognized my Arabic name and was interested in the Lebanese dollar situation. Although I am almost sure Marc Zuckerberg did not intend for this, but my writing skills did also develop due to my finger constantly scrolling through feeds. I am not sure how he did it but that’s why he’s a billionaire and I am here writing this blog. No offense to my new blog writing community.
If I’m being honest, joining a new online community always comes with a fresh and exhilarating feeling. For example, I can recall the time I joined a sports community in Qatar on LinkedIn. I felt like I was part of something bigger, which developed into a sense of belonging. A lowkey feeling of being more important or successful somehow. It’s always enjoyable to keep up with social media and trends in general as since everything is accessible online, there are definitely some things that I can count on as a conversation starter.
I can definitely say that I’ve had my fair share of struggles and challenges dealing with the so-called digital world. What feels like a split of a second while I’m checking Instagram for my ‘5 minute break’, is in fact a good 2 hours spent procrastinating on some random person’s page on a completely irrelevant application. I remember a phase of my life when that floppy bird game always got the best of me and everytime I opened my phone, I found myself playing that stupid game.
My understanding of digital technologies stemmed from my personal experiences that had created a safe and easy space for me to be able to communicate with the people closest to me, when realistically they were the furthest. That is, especially when half of my friends left to study and work in other countries. This entirely changed my perspective on social media as I realized how attached I could potentially be, without completely admitting it to myself. It has shaped me in a certain way that allows me to balance my time between the real world and the digital world. However, I do come to the realization at some point that it has taken over my life to an extent, and I lose my ability to control it as even academically, I am very much dependent on social media as an outlet to refer to continuously. To this day, I am unable to grasp the concept of being able to find everything online and in such a simple way that baffles me. Frankly, it shows me what it means to be living in a digital world. Worldwide news is spread like a fire among stubble, people become famous in a period of hours to an extent that is somewhat questionable, and academic research is easily attainable to people of all sorts of levels.
To conclude, the rapid development of technology in general has had a major impact on me as I am 100% guilty of depending on social media as my escape from reality on a daily basis. After all, there is no denial that it is a basic necessity in order to keep up with the digital era that is constantly evolving.
BasketBlog 