Daily Archives: October 29, 2023

Reality TV Counts As Learning

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This has been a tough week for me. A lot was happening, both professionally and personally, and unfortunately, it was not all good. Tackling a really cool new way to show my learning just wasn’t a priority. However, I could sit down in the evenings and watch some shows on interior design–my favourite. I think these types of shows are great ways to become inspired and to help identify your own style, often by learning what you don’t like.

My all-time favourite show is The Block; I watch the one based in Australia. I watched this in university, and then when I was in Bali–because it’s so close to Australia, I would see advertisements for it. When I got home, I made it my mission to find and start watching it again. I found it on Tubi; however, there were only two older seasons.

Here is the trailer for season 16, which I haven’t seen but would love to! What I like about this show is that most couples who compete aren’t professionals, and so you get to see them struggle through renovations and designing–much like I do. They are also always tasked with unique design challenges, which I love because I see more styles. The show is also cheesy and has some drama–can it get any better!?

In comparison, I have watched Dream Home Makeover on Netflix, and while it’s still entertaining, I find it a bit boring because it’s always the same style over and over. Plus, there are never any complete fails/flops because they are professionals. Check out the trailer below.

Another fun show that I love–and am now realizing I really love seeing everyday people tackle design is Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr, who is hilarious. Again, because this is an interior design competition, you get to see lots of different styles being tried out, some successful and others not so much. This one can also be found on Netflix.

While I didn’t make any progress on my actual dining room this week, I am feeling a little more refreshed and inspired to continue working on it.

Do you have a favourite interior design show?

Can’t Catch Me

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I don’t recall having any cyber safety or digital citizenship education in elementary or high school. I attended a K-12 school with around 100 students total, and at times, I think there was this idea that we were good country kids and the internet was only a problem in the cities. This was very naive because kids will be kids regardless of where they live.

The school division was also slow at regulating and restricting access to material. For example, emails in my day were all @hotmail.com. Unfortunately, if you didn’t know how to spell ‘mail’…well, you can see how that might be problematic, especially if those sorts of websites weren’t blocked. We also all participated in an online chat room that included people from all over the world–many of whom I’m sure were not honest about their identities. It honestly shocks me that teachers didn’t know we were using this platform and that the school division wasn’t blocking chat rooms either. Here’s an article that outlines why chat rooms can be so dangerous.

It was when I was in university, and specifically in my education classes, that the concept of cyber safety and especially digital citizenship became very important. Professors used a lot of scare tactics:

  • If you have a picture of yourself holding a drink, you will get fired
  • You can not have any images of yourself in a bathing suit, or again, you’ll be fired
  • Anything you have ever liked, commented on, or shared could get you fired
  • Anyone who is considering hiring you will look at your social media and determine whether or not they want to hire you

The giph below sums up my experience, and if you have ever watched Mean Girls, you totally get this.

While some of these scare tactics are true, not all exist in the extremes that they were presented to us as undergrads. While this approach certainly made me take a hard look at the content I had posted online, it has also made me very conservative when it comes to my online presence–I essentially don’t have one. I will post pictures occasionally for family to see, but I don’t like, share, or comment on content that in any way may be perceived as controversial.