Ok. I got my cellphone 1.5 yrs. ago. I have not downloaded apps ..because I don't use them. All formally university trained IT folks in Canada, warn NOT to download bank apps for iphone to do banking. Do your banking on desktop /at home. Public wifis are not secure. There is no guarantee of good/tight security. I don't use twitter, facebook nor instagram. 1 of the hospital networks where a sister works, it got hacked..cyber-hacked in Toronto. This is a hospital for pediatric care and research. This includes critical care. Several Canadian municipalities have been cyber ransomed. It was very serious.
I suggest if you have time do the reverse: research just a few big cyber-hacked cases on Internet and explain/insist to a receptive employer, that you are able to teach with existing software. No need for all the apps. You are in SE Asia and folks there are absolutely not reading the critical serious cyber-hacking that has happened in North America within the last 12 months. I can imagine for full-time teacher like you, online teaching requires additional set of skills in addition to traditional. Plus now, it's the concern of plagiarism by students. :( A problem now teachers in North America increasingly must pay attention.
Hey, thanks for commenting here, Jean. I've been working on your suggestion, a post on WP vs Substack and will publish it on the blog soon.
Yeah, as far as the apps for school. I don't have them on my phone. I needed it at one point to do something minor and then I deleted it. The school takes security very seriously, which I find annoying because, unlike your sister, we're not a hospital. But we fall under the umbrella of Australian educational practices, so that's where it comes from, I'm sure.
Tech has become this overgrown monster, so I'm not surprised by the hacking. We don't use public WiFi and have VPNs on our home and devices for this very reason. When I use my phone I use mobile data, but maybe I should use the VPN on top of the mobile data. Hmmm. I can't stand how complicated daily life has become!
If it wasn't for the religious aspect, I think I'd like to be Amish. I haven't had a mobile phone since 2016 (https://bradonomics.com/single-function-devices/). It's mostly not been a problem. I have had to set up an Android device in a virtual machine once. There was a site I needed access to that required an TOTP authentication app. At the time I didn't know an alternative. One inconvenience in eight years. Not having a mobile phone isn't as bad as you'd think. There's plenty of room on this bandwagon if you want to join.
I wonder if this is going to change when you join the Reserves? Because I think your particular situation is unique. I know folks have Nokias just for this reason. I have a phone, but that's all it does kind of thing.
I'm not anti-phone, I'm anti- this is device has become everything to the vast majority of people and is necessary to do so many things. I'm sure there are work-arounds, but most of the apps I use require a number because I rely on communication apps and apps for transportation. QR payment is also a nice convenience.
Like I said, I can't run off into the woods. I just wish there was a happy medium. And also, I believe we have an overreliance on tech that will backfire. You can see it already happening.
Thanks for commenting Brad. I'll check out your post.
It's interesting that you bring this up. I recently facilitated a creative writing group for Seniors in which we used the time each week to write to assigned 'prompts,' on the spot. Nothing profound there, EXCEPT that I insisted everyone who was able to, use a pen or pencil. Prior to the class, I had done lots of (credibly sourced) research online which proved that writing things down - either creatively or for future memory retrieval - uses a totally different bit of the brain AND a more effective part at least as far as remembering goes. So the old-school Moleskines and "daily planners" suddenly make absolute sense again and particularly when our attention spans are slowly being ebbed away with each vapid YouTube make-up tutorial we watch. (And as an "older woman" I'm still going to wear eyeliner anyway, gah!) But seriously, whenever I do a "manual"grocery list the writing seems to really make it stick. The seniors (I hate that word but that's what the class was called!) were truly impressed/surprised and commented on the difference it made to their actual writing process as well, as they aligned their thoughts differently, more creatively. I do always love a little book in my purse myself :) Enjoyed this post a lot, Lani. I think what you say here is spot-on, at least to my way of thinking:* I don’t want to be shackled with all this digital garbage, but I can’t run off into the woods and hide either *. YES!!!
Thanks a lot, Sue. It's a discussion that I don't think many people want to have because they assume tech is put into an evil category and they'll be forced to do things they don't want (aka try to pry this phone from my dying hands).
I have noticed we've reached a tipping point where it once worked well and now it's made our lives more complicated and we're wasting time trying to fix it or keep up with it -- or we're just wasting time on it general. In any case, I want to say that I knew the benefits of writing it down, but this was such an important reminder, so thank you.
My hubby and I have a running joke that I write the grocery list to forget to bring it. And well, this last time this was the case, but since I write it down, I remembered everything. Despite having a laptop, I still try to make the effort to write in a journal everyday and yes, the planner, there was something about wanting to write it, not put it in Google Calendar, you know?
VPN is good.
Ok. I got my cellphone 1.5 yrs. ago. I have not downloaded apps ..because I don't use them. All formally university trained IT folks in Canada, warn NOT to download bank apps for iphone to do banking. Do your banking on desktop /at home. Public wifis are not secure. There is no guarantee of good/tight security. I don't use twitter, facebook nor instagram. 1 of the hospital networks where a sister works, it got hacked..cyber-hacked in Toronto. This is a hospital for pediatric care and research. This includes critical care. Several Canadian municipalities have been cyber ransomed. It was very serious.
I suggest if you have time do the reverse: research just a few big cyber-hacked cases on Internet and explain/insist to a receptive employer, that you are able to teach with existing software. No need for all the apps. You are in SE Asia and folks there are absolutely not reading the critical serious cyber-hacking that has happened in North America within the last 12 months. I can imagine for full-time teacher like you, online teaching requires additional set of skills in addition to traditional. Plus now, it's the concern of plagiarism by students. :( A problem now teachers in North America increasingly must pay attention.
Hey, thanks for commenting here, Jean. I've been working on your suggestion, a post on WP vs Substack and will publish it on the blog soon.
Yeah, as far as the apps for school. I don't have them on my phone. I needed it at one point to do something minor and then I deleted it. The school takes security very seriously, which I find annoying because, unlike your sister, we're not a hospital. But we fall under the umbrella of Australian educational practices, so that's where it comes from, I'm sure.
Tech has become this overgrown monster, so I'm not surprised by the hacking. We don't use public WiFi and have VPNs on our home and devices for this very reason. When I use my phone I use mobile data, but maybe I should use the VPN on top of the mobile data. Hmmm. I can't stand how complicated daily life has become!
If it wasn't for the religious aspect, I think I'd like to be Amish. I haven't had a mobile phone since 2016 (https://bradonomics.com/single-function-devices/). It's mostly not been a problem. I have had to set up an Android device in a virtual machine once. There was a site I needed access to that required an TOTP authentication app. At the time I didn't know an alternative. One inconvenience in eight years. Not having a mobile phone isn't as bad as you'd think. There's plenty of room on this bandwagon if you want to join.
I wonder if this is going to change when you join the Reserves? Because I think your particular situation is unique. I know folks have Nokias just for this reason. I have a phone, but that's all it does kind of thing.
I'm not anti-phone, I'm anti- this is device has become everything to the vast majority of people and is necessary to do so many things. I'm sure there are work-arounds, but most of the apps I use require a number because I rely on communication apps and apps for transportation. QR payment is also a nice convenience.
Like I said, I can't run off into the woods. I just wish there was a happy medium. And also, I believe we have an overreliance on tech that will backfire. You can see it already happening.
Thanks for commenting Brad. I'll check out your post.
It's interesting that you bring this up. I recently facilitated a creative writing group for Seniors in which we used the time each week to write to assigned 'prompts,' on the spot. Nothing profound there, EXCEPT that I insisted everyone who was able to, use a pen or pencil. Prior to the class, I had done lots of (credibly sourced) research online which proved that writing things down - either creatively or for future memory retrieval - uses a totally different bit of the brain AND a more effective part at least as far as remembering goes. So the old-school Moleskines and "daily planners" suddenly make absolute sense again and particularly when our attention spans are slowly being ebbed away with each vapid YouTube make-up tutorial we watch. (And as an "older woman" I'm still going to wear eyeliner anyway, gah!) But seriously, whenever I do a "manual"grocery list the writing seems to really make it stick. The seniors (I hate that word but that's what the class was called!) were truly impressed/surprised and commented on the difference it made to their actual writing process as well, as they aligned their thoughts differently, more creatively. I do always love a little book in my purse myself :) Enjoyed this post a lot, Lani. I think what you say here is spot-on, at least to my way of thinking:* I don’t want to be shackled with all this digital garbage, but I can’t run off into the woods and hide either *. YES!!!
Thanks a lot, Sue. It's a discussion that I don't think many people want to have because they assume tech is put into an evil category and they'll be forced to do things they don't want (aka try to pry this phone from my dying hands).
I have noticed we've reached a tipping point where it once worked well and now it's made our lives more complicated and we're wasting time trying to fix it or keep up with it -- or we're just wasting time on it general. In any case, I want to say that I knew the benefits of writing it down, but this was such an important reminder, so thank you.
My hubby and I have a running joke that I write the grocery list to forget to bring it. And well, this last time this was the case, but since I write it down, I remembered everything. Despite having a laptop, I still try to make the effort to write in a journal everyday and yes, the planner, there was something about wanting to write it, not put it in Google Calendar, you know?
Thanks, Sue!
I DO know! I am waiting for proper list writing to become trendy. You and I? We will be ready!