Kiersten Hoff
Virtual Experience
For an hour I jumped between Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. On Instagram, I saw many neat photos, and really cute ones of animals. I continued looking at pictures of places; areas that I would love to visit one day. Some photos are of marine life; people who went diving, while others are of cultural or historic landmarks. I also saw photos of places I have been to, and they brought back memories. I also looked at posts that friends and family posted of recent summer vacation pictures. I then went to TikTok, where I watched a few short videos, with some of them being from friends. I spent the last thirty minutes on YouTube. I had heard that NASA had a recording of the sound of a black hole. I decided to look it up and listen to it. It was eerie, but also cool at the same time. I then watched a YouTube video on black holes to further educate myself about them. I have heard of them, but never fully understood their importance or significance. In the video, an astrophysicist talks to a child, a teen, a college student, a graduate student, and another expert; probing them what they already knew about black holes. She would then tell them more, helping them understand them better. I still have so many questions, especially on the physics of it all. There is so much out there for me to learn. However, I did wonder after an hour, “why haven’t I watched the news yet?”
Natural Experience
I went to Green Springs Gardens and walked towards the pond overlook. It was very green and there were plenty of flowers everywhere. Knowing that it was going to be a very hot day, I sat on a bench underneath tress; mostly pines, by the pond overlook. I heard the breeze, cicadas, and the fountain water splashing the pond along with distant traffic noise. I could see the canopy of other trees with one snag tree in the center, that almost looked like it had been burned. Sitting on the bench with pine trees around me and seeing that snag tree, I was immediately reminded of one of my favorite childhood parks in the north-central coast of California that burned in 2020. The smell of pines reminded of me of the smell that park had before the fire. A smell that is no longer there and that I miss so much. I kept listening to the sounds of the wind and the cicadas before deciding to take a little stroll down to the pond.
I walked through an area of forest and saw one yellow and one dark swallowtail. I stopped to look at them for a while and was marveling at how big and beautiful they are. I noticed the blue specks on each of their wings and observed them eating via their feet. As I was walking through the forest of mostly deciduous trees, I kept hearing cicadas and heard this one very loud one. It was also very hot and humid. I was reminded of walking through the forests of Belize and Guatemala over the summer where there were plenty of cicadas and the temperature felt the same. I also noticed early fall, yellow leaves on some of the tress. Some were falling down as the wind blew the trees. I then started to actively look for color change on other trees and shrubs and there was change occurring. At the pond, there were very tall water lilies with a large pink lily at the tops. There were also several dragon flies, some with a total of four wings, others with just two, but they were a pretty neon blue color. I also heard a few birds and some of the walk paths were of wood chippings, while another was a wooden walkway. There were also a few narrow dirt paths. I continued to walk then went back to the bench overlooking the pond and sat there underneath the pines to cool off. A pine needle fell on me. A light breeze was blowing, and I could see all the leaves on the trees flowing with the wind.
I learned that my mind wonders and makes connections better when I’m out in nature than when I’m on some sort of media platform. I don’t even remember all the short videos I watched. With social media, pictures of places I’ve been to may bring back memories, however, memory was stronger with in-person experiences. One thing I learned is that memory is more than visual. Audio and other senses are involved, such as smell or feel, like the smell of pine, or the hot humid feeling, along with sound memory. I also really appreciated what I saw in nature versus what I saw virtually in media. Media can be good, but it depends on how you use it. I learned that I should be informing myself by watching the news instead of being on TikTok or Instagram only watching cute videos. Watching or reading the news is always good but do it every day and don’t overwhelm yourself. YouTube can be a good learning tool, but you have to be willing to learn. Also, challenge yourself if you’re going to spend time on media. I told myself a few months ago to try and learn something new on YouTube. I made it a point to do so for this blog, learning about black holes. I also learned that I should be doing an hour nature walk at least once a week with absolutely no electronic use during that hour.