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Scroll-free September - The Open College of the Arts

To find out more details about the transfer to The Open University see A New Chapter for OCA.

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Scroll-free September

When I saw an article about Scroll free September I’ll admit to a momentary flicker of panic. While I am not particularly Twitter or Instagram savvy, like most ex-students I have student friends around the country, and having moved away from the family hub, a lot of my communication is through Facebook.
Like others I know, I’ve built up a support network over the years – parenting groups during the difficult night-waking stage, student friends for support on a course I was taking, groups for tips and encouragement on whatever sport I’m trying my hand at this year.
On the flip side, it’s not always the positive experience our rose-tinted glasses often try to sell us. So much of what is posted on social media can often be carefully edited, tweaked, and distorted to portray a completely different reality. These perfect moments can often seem a world away from our own perspectives and turn a good day into a bad one.
A report from the Royal Society for Public Health highlights a similar picture, and so with Scroll free September they suggest a number of ways to reflect on your social media usage and find better balance.
At OCA we’ve asked staff to take the quiz at the bottom of the campaign page and choose which plan they will be following in September. Some of us were surprised at the results, and will be reflecting regularly on what changes we notice, or what we miss.
#weareoca will feature updates from staff members across the month of September – I will personally be trying the ‘night owl’ (take a break from social media after 6pm each night) after an unsurprising check on my usage via an app-monitoring tool.
We’d love you to join us – let us know how you fared on the quiz and share which plan you’ll be doing!
Image credit: Evelyn Basch, https://www.rsph.org.uk/our-work/campaigns/scroll-free-september/resources.html

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Posted by author: Lia Harness

4 thoughts on “Scroll-free September

  • Wow. This is serendipidous as life often is. I decided a couple of months ago to respond to a call for propsals for an art gallery housed in a former phone box to make it into a site specific project based on iphone use. I am using this proposal as my Assignment 5 for Drawing 1.
    do you know ‘Connected but Alone’ by Shelley Turkle – TED talk?
    She has also written a book.
    I will take a closer look at the Night Owl project and contact them. Thank you for drawing attention to it.
    I will take a look at my own usage which has been bothering me for a year or two now!

    • Hi Susan – serendipitous indeed, your proposal sounds interesting!
      Look out next week for our update on how the first of our team are getting on with it. In the meantime I will look up that TED talk thank you!

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