Most of my tweaks were just for being humorous. Although a global space exploration program would be nice… as well as auditions to Deke’s next big performance!

This week I noticed how I was scrolling and scrolling (and scrolling) through Pinterest. More specifically, I was obsessed with seeing the entire picture of each pin. As you can see in my screenshot below, you can’t actually see the entire image for any of the pins. This caused me to scroll up and down the screen to view them. The scrolling caused more partial images to show. This then led me to begin the cycle again. I also noticed that a lot of the pins were the same pin, but that didn’t stop me from scrolling through to see if there were any different pins. After a while, and due to the repetitive nature of the pins, I was able to pull myself away from the screen.

The choice of layout for the pins definitely aids in my habitual scrolling, but the interesting part is that the pin sizes are largely determined by the people who upload the pins, not by Pinterest. There is a width limit of 238 px, which is determined by Pinterest, but the height is proportionally adjusted based on the image you upload.

I decided to (AB)USE Instagram. I’ve been using it a lot lately, but I’ve never really thought much about how it works beyond the posting, liking, commenting, and using hashtags to put your picture in a group with similar pictures.

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I don’t consider myself obsessed with Duolingo, but I do utilize it for keeping up on my Spanish skills. When I launch the website, however, I tend to immediately obsess about my stats. I scroll along the right side of the page, scanning my stats to see where I stand. Typically, nothing really changes.

After checking in with my stats panel, I’ll look over my practiced skills on the left side of the page. It’s interesting to note that while the skills section takes up a majority of the page, I always start by scanning the stats bar on the right.

Once I’ve reviewed my skills and their respective strength bars, I decide on my plan of action. I always start by trying to fill up at least one strength bar on my previously full skills each time I’m on Duolingo. If all of my bars are full, I’ll go on to the next skill lesson on my path (which would cause another strength bar to show up).

Below, you can see two screen shots showing the strength bars in various stages of completion. In the top image, you can see many full strength bars. The skill icon even turns gold when that skill is fully strengthened. In the bottom image, you can see mostly in-progress strength bars. The icons are in full color, which helps to draw my attention to them.

Part of my obsession with checking my stats and running through a certain path has to do with how Duolingo determines my stats. As per the usual, completing a task fills up the meter. However, my strength bars will go down after inactivity. In the top image, you can see how my Basics 2 skill has gone down — that’s only the third level on Spanish! This is because I haven’t interacted with Duolingo and the content that’s in the skill section. When I took these screen shots, I was actually compelled to fill my Basics 2 strength bar all the way up, even though that’s not my normal path. The individual meters and declining stats due to inactivity definitely has me a bit hooked to keep them filled. If anything, it gives me something to look forward to doing each time I log in.

This screenshot comes from the collection of links at the start of this assignment. From the “duplicate status” link, I was drawn in and began clicking through the pictures. I realized that I liked looking at the next and previous arrows as they lit up when the mouse got near the arrow. The lighting up aspect gave the arrow an anthropomorphic quality, as if it were a loved one’s face lighting up as I walked in the room. Those happy feelings, even if they are subconscious, drive my obsession to click the arrow. The collection of intriguing images certainly enhances this obsession, as I’m curious about what witty or interesting thing I might see next. Even when the next image isn’t as wonderful as I had hoped, I have faith that there is a gem in there somewhere. It’s almost like a gambling addiction, but instead of cash, I’m gambling my life away in hopes of that “big win” in the funny or interesting image department.