1.2 | Joining OpenLab (Instructions) & Blog Post 1: Your Phone as a “Self-Portrait”

For our first blog post, I’d like you to write a bit in response to the prompt below and post your response as a “comment” on this thread.  To do so, you’ll have to setup your City Tech e-mail and set up an OpenLab account here. You’ll then have to join the course here by clicking “Request Membership” on the left hand side.

The Writing Prompt (responses due by 10pm Wednesday): How is your phone a kind of self-portrait? In what ways does your phone represent your sense of self—that is, who you are and what you like to do? Explain.

16 thoughts on “1.2 | Joining OpenLab (Instructions) & Blog Post 1: Your Phone as a “Self-Portrait””

  1. My phone acts primarily as a handy personal assistant, among other things. It’s essentially used to keep me in touch with friends and family via messaging and/or social media, and to provide access to an abundance of intellectual and research material via the internet. That being said, it’s safe to say that my phone is an embodiment of myself. Be it pictures, text messages, or notes, my phone shows the sort of person I am and my interests, without a doubt. (Interests being basketball, football, TV shows, NBA 2K, for example)

  2. In many ways my phone represents who I am and what I do. It works as a personal assistant and always comes in handy. Need a date saved? Put it in your calendar. Have an important number? Put it in your contacts. Want to know a random fact? Ask Siri. Of course, it is also used to keep up to date with everyday life and how everyone is doing. When it comes to who I am and what I like to do, my phone is a big part of me. It is basically my connection to the outside world. From my favorite activities to my favorite books, it holds it all. In conclusion, I believe it is safe to say I probably can’t live without my phone.

  3. My phone is a true reflection of myself. I have just a few contacts consisting of my close relatives and friends. Music and sudoko keep me entertained on the go. I have a horrible memory so I like to record and make notes.Other than a few apps for school, that’s about it. It was always about efficiency for me. A simple life = a simple phone.

  4. My phone is a self portrait in the sense that i take care of it like how i take care of my own limbs. My phone is apart of my body and since I treat it as such, I always make sure that my phone is well protected hence why i have a bulky case for it. My phone represents me because if you were to look at the contents of my phone, you could have an idea of the kind of person I am. An example would be that i am very protective and I make sure everything is secure which is why I have a strong phone case. I treat my phone like i would with my own child, with care and love.

  5. My phone is a kind is self portrait because it contains all elements that represent myself and who I am. For example, all the memories I have are saved through pictures. All of my important dates I have in mind are written down in my calendar. Anything that has to do about myself or concerns myself is put into my phone. It even has it’s own personality through the wallpaper and lock-screen I have chosen, it screams who I am through tiny visible details. Even the music I have stored in it creates who I am. It’s all me in one.

  6. I would describe my phone as a mirror-like reflection of my personal life, both public and intimate. It’s been through my best times, and my worst times, and whenever I need to ground myself, I like to binge on Spotify. My diverse plethora of songs, that range from alternative to rock, etc… all have songs that are relatable to me, and that I can feel the message from the songs filling me with inspiration. Without my phone, I wouldn’t be able to upload to my Instagram, which is one of my primary Social Media outlets, and share my photographs with my followers.

  7. My phone is a self-portrait because it represents my likes and dislikes, hobbies, my personal opinions I put out into the social media world. The way my phone for example there’s this app , although my major is in architecture, I like learning about fashion and its critiques of ways that clothing can change the world and how that piece of clothing, can make a human being feel more like themselves or in a way of their expression is being shown and put out there for everyone to see. I think my phone represents my interests of hobbies and the inspiration of learning something new every time I go on that app. Or there’s also my gallery of photos, which represents what kind of a person I may be or appear to be, kind, caring, loyal etc. because of all my family photos and pictures with most of my loved ones, and successes I might have achieved so far. Photos can represent so much because of the way others see you, or and how you make yourself appear to others through the world of social media, however I don’t like texting as much, rather take phone calls. There you can see clearly I only have like close relatives in my messages , so for me that kind of represents how I put my loved ones first. I have recipes in my notes app, for like small cooking’s however, because not a big fan of the kitchen.

  8. It is impossible to live without my phone. when my phone isn’t around I feel like I am missing something. Using my phone I can communicate with anyone across the globe anytime anywhere. Which wouldn’t be possible without my phone. When I get bored I use my phone to watch movies and TV shows to entertain myself….phone is kind of like a best friend it is there when I need it…. I use my phone to see my grades in classes and make schedule for my daily routine…my phone even helps me to keep truck of my doctors appointment….

  9. My phone is a self portrait of me because my entire life is mirrored through my phone. It is to the point where i can say it’s like my personal diary. All of my personal notes and social accounts are kept in the single device. My phone reflects who i am through my music, pictures, notes, social accounts and not to mention my personal messages. If someone were to look through my phone i would feel like they are reading an autobiography on my life and just learned so much about me.

  10. Posting for Saniel Ramirez (post sent via e-mail):

    My phone is a kind of self portrait because basically it’s for me and no one else . So essentially it is like a fingerprint. Like a fingerprint , my phone is my identity and everyone has their own fingerprint/identity, this correlates to having your very own phone. My phone represents my sense of self and who I am because it has the stuff that I do on the phone and that shows who I am. Basically saying it describes me as a person , for example social media , the things I post on it shows a little of who I am to the public . Another example is having a lot of games on my phone , clearly showing that I like to play a lot of games and what not . There are many examples to what I am trying to explain but those are a few of them.

  11. The way i see it, my phone is simply an extension of my PC at home. to answer the question, I like to sit at home and browse the web in my free time. When i leave for school, i get of my PC and almost seamlessly transition to browsing the web on my phone. Im skimming through some of the answers other students wrote, and it seems their strong connection torwards their phone completely relies on their being a constant and reliable source of high speed internet access. without the internet, all these devices would be obsolete. its more of our dependence of on demand web access that should be looked into, because in the end if there is no internet connection, you wont be able to share that picture you took of some bland pasta you had for dinner at Olive Garden.

  12. I really hard for me to not use my phone. Only because when i use my phone it helps me not focus on things that really happens outside, The way I see my phone it’s therapeutic in a way for me that helps with my anxiety around strangers that i’m not use too. So when my phone is not in my possession I feel exposed and my anxiety goes up and i start to feel a little bit nervous.

  13. My phone acts as a self portrait of myself because just as every aspect of myself is shown in my phone just as every aspect of my appearance would be shown in a self portrait. My physical appearance is actually on my phone because of pictures so just as a portrait gives away my physical appearance my phone does. Just as in a portrait I do not show emotion but my emotion can be inferred through context in my phone I do not have any information on my internal state.

  14. My phone is like a self portrait in that is shows my physical apperence and In that given enough context my personality can be inferred from simple small actions that I take. Me putting a lock on my phone shows that I like to be safe me smiling a natural phototgenic smile shows that I am a generally happy person because I don’t have to force a mile for a picture. etc etc

  15. My phone represents me because its set up to my preference and has a lot of personal information. I mostly use my phone to listen to music and talk to my girlfriend 99 percent of the time. My phone is set up very simple which shows that i am a very simple person and gets satisfied with stuff easily.

  16. My phone is a reflection of my self. good looking and flashy on the outside (iPhone 7 with a supreme case) yet simple on the inside. the “inside are various apps I use which aren’t many. I use Facebook and snap chat; other than those two I only use my phone to make phone calls, and for directions

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