The Internet: Occupy Boredom

Coming home for Thanksgiving Break has seen a tremendous increase of my internet usage.  I wake up in the afternoon, sit in front of my laptop all day, eat maybe once or twice, continue laptop usage until the late night, go to sleep, repeat.  Perhaps I am not used to having the abundance of free time.  After all, living in the dorms at college has shown me that there is something going on all the time.

Some of the things I do are as follows: Check Facebook and various news and blogs.  I don't even want to talk to people but this is just a habit that seems to pop up.  Play League of Legends and Skyrim.  This is such a time killer.  On average, League of Legends games last anywhere between 40 minutes to an hour.... then I end up playing several of them throughout the day.  When I get burnt out on that, I switch to playing Skyrim.  On a few occasions, I have texted or Skyped a few very close friends.  Ultimately, I am confident in saying that I spent more than 12 hours each day in front of the screen...  I guess that's a bit unhealthy.

Many people visit their high school buddies during this time of rest and return.  As for me, there weren't any particular people that I truly wanted to see again.  I wouldn't mind, but the thought of staying home all day attracted me more.  I have Skyped a few friends and played a couple of online games with others, but for the most part, that was the extent of my social interaction.  Maybe I'm anti-social when I feel comfortable.  I do value my alone time and living in the dorms at college took away a lot of that.  During my high school life, there were a multitude of times where I honestly did not feel like going out to hang with friends, simply because I enjoyed being idle at home.  During those times, I would indulge in my unproductivity.  In some respect, it's like I binge on anti-socialness, yet a relaxing time for personal meditation at the same time.

Making Music Online

In July 2009, I began making original music with a digital audio workstation (DAW) known as Fruity Loops, or FL Studio.  This nifty program allows me to create melodies, harmonies, and rhythms in a pattern-based format to ultimately create music, whether it be an original song, or a cover of another.  It became a hobby of mine, which I have grown somewhat emotionally attached to.  This is a brief history of my "career" in making music online.

I. Beginnings 

My first song

My most popular song

My first musical project was my own original music under the alias, Marshmallow Meth.  It was essentially electronic music perhaps more fitting towards the genre of Happy Hardcore, a variation of electronic music which tends to be well... happy.  During my time working under Marshmallow Meth, I was an extreme novice just getting the hang of FL Studio.  Patterns were simple and as a result, my songs were very repetitive.  Very very repetitive.  When I showed my friends these songs that I had made though, they generally seemed to like them.  However, to this day I am still unsure if they were being nice or if they legitimately liked it.  For all I knew, none of them had ever listened to my demo CD of 6 songs more than once.

At the same time though, I had another friend who somewhat followed in my footsteps in this path that was never before traveled amongst my peers.  He made music under the alias, Mirage Island.  We sort of competed. (I was better obviously, but that is a biased and subjective view by myself.)  We were racing to create better songs than each other, judging each others original music, finding flaws in each others musicality, but ultimately coming together to collaborate.

II. Collaboration

Our first song

 Our most popular song

 

Less than a year later, my friend and I decided to collaborate on original music together.  We combined both of our (amateur) skills of musicality to conceive our new music project wwwww.  Our Last.Fm profile describes us as "wwwww (pronounced “wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh-wuh”) is the ultimate result of God using the magic card polymerization on electronic musicians Marshmallow Meth and Mirage Island. This dynamic duo has unrivaled attack power but lacks defense. wwwww draws musical influence from many areas, such as ice cream, true love, and K-Pop."  

In essence, the existence of this group was a complete parody of sorts.  We were trying to be cute and Asian.  Music was better, somewhat.  I had learned to play with various knobs and special effects, so growth is apparent in our songs.  We also threw in "solos" which were more like random notes and rhythms in a specific key put together during a segment in order to extend the total length of the actual song.  Additionally, my friend promoted our releases on 4chan's /mu/ board.  Many of them liked the music enough to download our 7 song EP, which garnered 176 total downloads.  The most resonating response which appeared over and over again was that our music sounded like the type of music one would hear in a video game.

III. Collaboration + K-Pop + Singing + Asian Stereotyping

Our first song

 Our most popular song

Our most popular song (at 1.8k views) is unable 

to be embedded due to technical difficulties...

So click here to check it out! ^_^

RORRIPOP, spawned in September of 2010, is simply the greatest idea ever conceived in our short musical lives.  We cover K-Pop songs.  We completely remake the instrumentals then sing over it with our own (terrible) voices.  The catch is that we make our own racist lyrics full of Asian stereotypes.  Here, creativity erupted in its most hilarious and racist form.  Legality of it.... is questionable, but this our contribution to remix culture.  We took per-existing content and spewed it out in a completely new form, with only the intention of having fun.  RORRIPOP is also the most successful  music project that we have done, attracting (at the time of writing) 8778 total upload views on YouTube and 155 downloads of our full-length album (not including 50 copies of our album which I had distributed in Korea during my immersion trip there)!

Having since come to college though, I have not had the chance to work further on RORRIPOP.  We have released several songs beyond the album release though.  Nevertheless, our skills on sound manipulation has grown immensely since our humble beginnings.  We have done several re-recordings of many of our songs simply because when we listen to our songs later, we realize all the mistakes in time alignment or sound quality.  We can simply hear what sounds good, and what sounds bad in music production.  Obviously our home equipment can sound nowhere near as well as studio quality recordings, but we try our best.  Our musicality is somewhat improving too.  After copying several K-Pop songs bar to bar, you grow to see the patterns and techniques the professionals use in popular music.

IV. Conclusion

I can confidently say that I have produced creative content during my presence on the Internet.  Obviously, my passions lie in music.  This is an activity I thoroughly enjoy, so I have lately been thinking of the possibility of a Music major or minor.  I would like to learn more about Music Theory and Composition, but I am quite aware of the lack of its practicality in the future job market.  Being successful in music is a field where talent and renown is vitally essential.  So thus, Music becomes a possible double major for me, even though my first major yet is not even decided yet!  If anyone reading this has thoughts about this, please feel free to share your opinion.  Of course, I would also love to hear any thoughts regarding my creative works.

Technology and Social Interaction

Thanks to technology, social interaction online is very unique in that it unites people with similar interests, forming friendships that transcend distance and time.  I can relate to a great extent, having met a number of people whom I consider better friends than some of my real life ones.

My venture into the online world began in my fourth grade by joining a forum-based community called GameWinners.  Here, I would converse with a number of individuals about various video games, primarily about the Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh franchises.  I did not realize it back then, but I was an active member who actively contributed to conversation, both receiving help and helping others along the way to completion of these games.  There were also forum based fan-fictions and role-playing where users collaborated in creating an entirely new world.

In my fifth grade, I stumbled upon the massively multiplayer online role playing game, RuneScape.  I spent the next seven years actively playing the game.  I admit that there were moments of addiction to the immersive gameplay.  However, I had acquired a circle of friends and became especially close with a number of them through conversation via IRC chat.  Unlike many of my real life friends, the interactions forged online fostered a sense of camaraderie since we engaged in a plethora of activities.  Although I have since stopped playing the game, I still keep in contact with a few who still play.  It's quite amazing to have friendships online that have lasted up to six years and still growing strong.

Since people usually do things online by interest, it is by those acts they will typically find various communities revolve around respective subjects.  Sometimes, the newcomers feel compelled to immerse in the community and become an active contributor.  The community is united by an interest that all members share, whether it be a political/social issue, game, information, or any other possible topic.  If it exists, there is likely an online community solely devoted to it.  I think meeting people online is definitely a viable method of creating meaningful relationships.  The friendships made are just as valuable as any in-person relationships.  Those who think otherwise have obviously not made any sort of friendships online. 

As a society, both real life and virtual worlds should exist to facilitate discussion.  They accomplish the same things; the only difference is the method on how goals are achieved.  People may have a preference to online chat versus face to face, or vice versa.  Our society needs to accept these relationships because ultimately it all comes down to people talking to people about what they love.

Social Networking and Privacy

I believe myself to be an active user on social networking sites, specifically Facebook.  I often find myself checking the latest status updates on my laptop or phone.  Prior to coming to college, I would typically make a status every day.  I was a bit of a Facebook comedian, trying to post funny or clever things in order to fish for the most "likes."  Having since arrived into the college setting, I do not feel the need to publicize all my thoughts anymore.  Nevertheless,  I still stay connected to my peers by commenting on certain statuses or sharing things I find interesting.

That is not to say that Facebook has impacted me indifferently.  I, like many others, are immensely distracted by the presence of Facebook in my life.  When doing homework, I often find myself refreshing the news feed.  The greatest tool Facebook has brought to me is connection with friends from far away.  I participated in two immersion trips with high schoolers from across the country to Japan and Korea.  Meeting people from vastly different backgrounds than my own has opened my perspectives immensely.  On the same note, since they are from such different backgrounds, staying in contact is difficult.  With Facebook though, I am able to keep in touch with many of them in an online social setting.  Even if I may be thousands of miles away from some of the most wonderful people I have ever met, Facebook rebuilds these weakening connections.

The cultural move towards social networking is a double-edged sword.  In its true form and intent in mind, the social network is a powerful tool.  People are able to share many things about their own lives to others.  Connections of varying distances can be maintained over an internet connection.  However, some people choose to not use social networking responsibly.  Hence, those same people post or share things that end up getting them in trouble or causing them to later regret having done so.  I do believe that an open community is a better one because it facilitates closer relationships with others, but our society is one which tends to treasure our own privacy, which I am somewhat guilty of.  With uneducated users entering the Facebook population, many of them do not realize how much they put online for the world to see.  They tend to later regret certain actions and the media blows it out of proportion.

Personally, I have quite a bit of worry for my own privacy, but I consider myself an educated and responsible user.  I use predominantly fake information on my profile and cover up posts which I feel would be looked at negatively by others.  I do not do anything "crazy," so I do not worry about being tagged in photos that are in bad taste.  I do untag myself in unflattering photos though. 

My Media Diet

Tuesday, November 2

~30 mins or reading new manga releases
~1 hour doing readings for classes
~2 hours spent online on Facebook, checking e-mail, watching youtube videos, reading articles on allkpop
~6 hours playing League of Legends  with floormates
~1 hour total of texting on smartphone/calling mom/miscellaneous cellphone use

Wednesday, November 3

~1 hour doing readings for classes
~2 hours spent online on Facebook, checking e-mail, watching youtube videos, reading articles on allkpop
~1 hour skyping
~2 hour playing League of Legends by myself
~1 hour total of texting on smartphone/calling mom/miscellaneous cellphone use

Thursday, November 4

~30 mins of reading new manga releases
~1 hour doing readings for classes
~2 hours spent online on Facebook, checking e-mail, watching youtube videos, reading articles on allkpop
~30 min in the library using a computer to complete a tutorial for CTW
~4 hours playing League of Legends with floormates
~1 hour using Word to type a Chinese essay
~1 hour total of texting on smartphone/calling mom/miscellaneous cellphone use

Friday, November 5

~2 hours spent online on Facebook, checking e-mail, watching youtube videos, reading articles on allkpop
~1.5 hours watching a movie with floormates
~1 hour total of texting on smartphone/calling mom/miscellaneous cellphone use

Saturday, November 6

- Went to San Francisco for the whole day, not much media usage
~1 hours spent online on Facebook, checking e-mail, watching youtube videos, reading articles on allkpop
~1 hour of watching videos of cute animals on youtube with floormates
~1 hour min total of texting on smartphone/calling mom/miscellaneous cellphone use

Analysis

My media diet consists of extended times spent in a slim range of activities.  I tend to spend a significant amount of time during the day on my laptop.  Some hours may not be captured by the time I spend on idle while using certain media.

I did not quite realize it before, but I spend a lot of time playing League of Legends.  Just by looking at the numbers I marked down, I realized that I had a lot of free time which ended up being put into a nonproductive activity.  It should be noted that I am aware of my own history with online gaming.  Having spent up to 7 years playing RuneScape prior to coming to college, it can be said without a doubt I spent thousands of hours on a single game.  I tend to enjoy my online gaming time being invested into a single game rather than playing a plethora of games with no real skill or understanding developed.  I recently quit RuneScape and picked up League of Legends which continues to take up a lot of time, but not to the significant proportions I had spent before on RuneScape.  I have found floormates in my dorm who share an interest in League of Legends as well, so the activity has shifted towards being more of a social one.

I check my Facebook, e-mail, various news and blog sites several times a day.  I feel a sense of satisfaction being updated on my areas of interest as soon as articles are posted.  Sites of interest I visit daily include allkpop, 8asians, and MangaUpdates.  allkpop caters the English speaking population as a Korean pop news site which translates the latest articles about the Korean entertainment industry.  8asians is a blog that primarily deals with Asian American identity, offering commentary on the latest news in respect towards the Asian Pacific American community.  MangaUpdates is a site which covers releases of scanlations (manga translations) in real time.

My smartphone use, in my opinion, is somewhat minimal and static.  I am not a person who texts much (probably because not many people text me).  I will typically only text either to confirm something or if I have a question that one of my peers can answer.  Personally, I would rather meet with someone in a face-to-face setting.  However, since coming back from my immersion in Korea, I have begun to engage in international group convo texting via the app, KakaoTalk.  With this app, I am able to keep in contact with some of the people I met in Korea.  I use this app on a daily basis and I feel a stronger connection with my Koreans despite being thousands of miles away.  Furthermore, I call my mom everyday.  I typically inform her of my daily activities and whatever else comes to mind.  I don't necessarily feel the need for a smartphone, but I certainly do feel it has made my life much more convenient since I am able to have the internet on hand at all times.

I believe my digital intake to be slightly above my peers because of the sheer amount of time I spend on online games.  While others are on Facebook chatting or updating constantly, I am virtually killing other players in a multiplayer online battle arena.  The sites I visit occupy highly specific niche interests.  Since I visit them on a daily basis, I am constantly connected with events that occur in such areas.