I have this 530 pages book from 1964 called Manners (Berkling, L. A. Et al). If you ever in a social situation feel insecure, you can consult this book and you will learn all about the right manner in appearance, communication, behaviour etc. There is a chapter on how to use the telephone, where you learn what hours that are appropriate to call, how to answer, how to introduce yourself etc, all in respect to your peer citizen.

Now, 55 years later and with a lot of new digital tools for communication, I think that communication manner in many ways has changed to communication management. Maybe no so with traditional communication tools such as telephone, as we care for our counterpart and check time zones before making a call to someone, but with digital chats, forums and mails. Sending a chat message or posting on some wall, I do not need to care for my counterpart, or I might not even know who my counterpart is. The counterpart or receiver is the one to manage when and how to interact in a communication.

Hansen and Zachrisson (2018, 2019) has pointed out how we are effected and affected by the massive communicational input we expose ourselves to just by having a smartphone in our possession. It resides in our pocket or on our table as a constant reminder of the question “is there maybe something exciting going on?”.

Personally I put quite an effort in to filter what calls for my attention. An effort that makes me feel ahead of the information activity out there. A brief background to this is that it goes back several years to a period where I felt cornered at work as colleagues and students could (and would) reach me 24/7. For some years after that, I quite furiously controled my living by separating my profession and private life at several levels. I started using separate phones for work and private life, I separated web accounts the same way and became reserved to new connections, social services etc. Another example is that I meticulously looked over my annotation settings in my phone making sure only what I wanted called for attention at the times I wanted. Later years, thanks to the practice mentioned, I have won back the confidence of being in control and the feeling of agency over my digital life. I have realized the value of investing time and effort in to “setting my digital table” which can include to try out new tools, practice on those I choose as I incorporate them into my everyday life and make it easier.

My digital footprint is from a slow walker, mostly visitor (White and Le Cornu, 2010). I choose Quora over Facebook, scholar services like Mendeley or blogs over e-magazines and so on. I want to take part in grounded thoughts, and I need time to formulate a contribution. But the ONL-course has already been an eye opener to approach the more livelier parts of the web. This blog is an example, another is using Twitter on occasion and not necessary continuously.

I have learned to manage the attention-drawers. I have learned how to find, evaluate and incorporate new digital tools. Being mostly a visitor, I have found some arenas that suits my kind of trace, and I am up for the further challenge of being more of a resident on the web.

References

Berkling, A. L. Et al (ed), (1964) Skick och Bruk, Esselte AB, Stockholm

Hansen, A., Zachrisson, L. (2018) Hjärnstark: hur motion och träning stärker din hjärna. Månpocket, Stockholm

Hansen, A., Zachrisson, L. (2019) Skärmhjärnan: hur en hjärna i osynk med sin tid kan göra oss stressade deprimerade och ångestfyllda. Bonnier, Stockholm

White, D. and Le Cornu, A. (2010) Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday. Fetched 2019-10-11 from http://www.firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/3171

FINELC [web site] What is digital literacy. 2digi. Fetched 2019-10-11 from http://2digi.languages.fi/what-is-digital-literacy