Look, I get it. Computers and the internet are scary. I mean, I work with them all day every day, and they confound me on a regular basis! Here’s the thing though, don’t let that stop you from exploring. They aren’t going anywhere, and there are lots of people who are happy to answer your questions. Like me, for example! Send me your questions, your worries and your fears. I’ll talk about them, answer them all. Remember, a faint heart…doesn’t…win stuff…I guess. I don’t actually know how it goes. Maybe one of you kind readers can answer that question for me? Let’s make this a two way street. Let’s go!
Category: Uncategorized
Let’s talk friends
I love Facebook, but no one has written a manual for how to use it. I think that’s good and bad. It allows for creativity, but it’s also intimidating, and leaves people feeling overwhelmed. Since Facebook is the most popular website on the planet, let’s talk about how to use it.
It’s hard to handle the sheer volume of information on the screen, let alone try and keep up with it. Over the next few days, I want you to really look at your news feed. If you see something interesting, like it or comment on it. Facebook places higher priority on content from people that you interact with regularly. If you don’t interact with it, Facebook doesn’t know that it interests you, and it may get shuffled to the bottom or not get displayed at all. Also, try removing people and companies and groups that don’t really affect your life. (see my guide to leaving groups HERE).
One of the hardest things about Facebook is saying “No” to a friend request. The barrier to entry for adding friends is so low, it’s almost insulting for someone to refuse a friend request. We aren’t conditioned to say No when someone asks to be our friend. Facebook is different though. They aren’t asking to be our friend, they are asking to display information to us with content and timing of their choosing. They will be part of a constant stream of information that we have to wade through. They aren’t just friends, they are contributors. If you don’t have the room in your brain to handle more input, it’s ok to say so. We have to manage the flow somehow. So don’t add that childhood friends older sister that you barely talked to back then, and haven’t seen in 20 years. It’s ok. We have to be the masters of our environment.
Facebook is an amazing tool for communication and collaboration. It’s also a vast sea of information and rapid-fire status updates. How do you organize your digital life?
My Song of the Day
Every once in a while I will share a song that I like. I try to make sure it’s not a Top 40 song, maybe something older I enjoy, or something a little unusual that you won’t hear on the radio.
Todays song is Turbulence by Steve Aoki. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3OzHBEcymw
Information is important
I am beginning to appreciate just how much access to information means to our lives. I have been researching many different careers in the last several years, and the amazing amount of information available has allowed me to eliminate multiple careers paths from consideration. As someone with ADHD, choosing a career that challenges me and keeps me interested is extremely important. If something doesn’t interest me, my brain just won’t work. Without the internet, I very easily could have down a path that would not have interested me. This would have led to low performance, unhappiness, wasted time, and damage to my career.
The internet provides us the opportunity to improve ourselves. Let’s take advantage of the amazing amount of information available to us and learn and grow and make better decisions. We cannot decide what time we are given upon this earth, all we can do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us. Let’s make the most of it, let’s be intentional with what we do, and let’s use the information available to us to make the best decisions we can. We owe it to the past generations of people who strived for knowledge and were denied.
How to declutter your Facebook News Feed
One of the complaints I hear about Facebook is that there is just too much information. It’s hard to find the stuff that you actually want to see. Here is a quick guide to help improve the signal-to-noise ratio by removing Pages from your News Feed.
Pages are specifically for brands or groups, they are not pages for individuals. It’s pretty easy to follow more of these then you realize, and it can clog up your News Feed with advertising that you didn’t know you asked for. Here is how to unfollow those Pages.
- Click on the down arrow at the top right of the screen
- Select “News Feed Preferences”
- Go to pages
- Select Alphabetical Order (The number of stories refers to how many of their posts you have interacted with in the last week)
- Unfollow the pages that you don’t interact with, and ones that you just don’t want to see their content anymore. I know I was following lots more pages than I realized.
I hope this helps you enjoy Facebook a bit more. Let me know how it goes, and feel free to share any strategies you use to make social media more productive. If you have any questions about Facebook, or technology in general, that you would like me to answer, let me know in the comments or send me an email at AskTheDave.com.
If you want more of this kind of content, please follow the blog, and follow me on Twitter. Thanks for reading!
Facilitating a creative culture
This is an excellent article about creating a creative culture. Even if you’re not a manger, we can all benefit from being more creative in how we go about our daily lives. Everyone has to deal with other people at some point to solve problems and create solutions. This article may help you be a more effective team. Feel free to share your thoughts and how you plan to implement some of these ideas!
http://www.forbes.com/sites/sap/2015/05/01/7-steps-to-enable-a-creative-culture/
Wallpaper for your computer!
Once a week I will post a couple of my favorite wallpaper images for you! This weeks theme is water. Enjoy! If you need help getting them on your desktop, let me know and I will be happy to help.
The internet will be everywhere, and it will change everything.
This is a response to the article here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/nest-ceo-tony-fadell-on-the-future-of-the-internet-1430104501?. I suggest reading it before reading this response.
I think he is correct for the majority of the article, but the wheels start to come off when he starts talking about how the boat will take control and stop him from hurting himself. Connecting everything to the internet doesn’t mean that it gets to control us. We have to use the data wisely. Improve how we deal with the world around us? Yes. Stop us from dealing with it? No.
It shouldn’t control our lives, it should enhance and expand it. Technology can’t replace the uniquely human drive to push boundaries. If we rely on technology to keep us safe, we become complacent. We stop exploring, stop adventuring, stop learning things that you can only learn by doing something incredibly stupid. Sometimes the rewards are worth the risk, and sometimes we should do something just to see if we can.
Discovery often rides at the ragged edge of common sense. If we let technology keep us away from risk, where will reward come from?
We are unique, and nothing can replace our passion. We have to use technology as fuel to drive us forward, letting our hearts and imagination lead us forward. Tech should never hold us back! It should push us forward! Help us be better, give us the tools to come together and make the world a better place!
Android Malware
Android has had a problem with Malware on their store for a long time. I really hope they get more aggressive on combatting it. I shouldn’t have to worry about getting a virus when I download something from the manufacturers official store.
Why I’m here.
I have talked to hundreds of people, and the feeling I get, most of all, is that people don’t trust technology. As an optimist, I have been wondering why that is. Here are my thoughts on why so many people are worried, and why I’m not.
We hear a lot about how disruptive it can be, how much damage people using it for criminal or destructive ends have caused. News of credit card data theft, Wikileaks divulging national secrets with a click of a button, and faceless hackers taking over computers scares people. Seeing technology used in the service of chaos and disruption has led to people being very suspicious. They don’t want to get themselves caught in the crossfire.
The great dream of technology is that it will bring us together. It can eliminate the physical distances that separate us, and bring the whole world within our reach. It is also a great equalizer, allowing everyone to have a voice and connect to the rest of the world. It is used for good every day, although you won’t see it in the headlines. The Red Cross raised over $22 million through text-message donations alone after the earthquake in Haiti. A soldier, stationed overseas, can talk face to face with their family. Someone going through a personal crisis can talk to a friend or loved one far away, and it helps them get through another day. This is what technology is supposed to be used for.
The world is also changing rapidly. Businesses and industries fall and rise, crushed or carried by this wave of technology. Technology seems like a giant, faceless mass, and we don’t really know what to do with it. That’s OK, we will learn. We’ll get through this together. We have to, if we want our future to be as bright as possible.
I decided to start this blog because I want to see our world change for the better. I can’t just sit and watch it happen. I have to be part of it, joining with others to help and guide our world.
What do you think of the current state of technology? What are your concerns and fears? What great things do you see technology being used for?
Ask The Dave 