Balance Scale
Transcript: This is the story of this person balancing their academic work and personal interests in their new computer Introduction One day, like many other days, this person begins their morning by opening their devices. Despite their reluctance and laziness to get themselves ready, this person has the energy in their fingers to unlock their screen and slide their fingers across the screen, their eyes reflecting a scrolling screen. However, that laziness loosens their grip, smacked flat on their face, and waking them fully as an alarm clock to get up and start their first day of the semester. Student This person is going to be a graduating senior whose main focus is to complete their capstone project. Little did they know the start of their research will be overwhelming. ACT 1 Act 1 While listening in zoom class for the capstone, I follow along the instructor's directions to using specific databases according to my theme or topic. However, my instructor's choice of web browser is different from mine, therefore, the layout and search results are formatted differently. The instructor's choice of web browser is Google Chrome whereas my web browser for my HP laptop is Microsoft Edge. His web search offers an option to pull up "scholarly articles," which then his results pop up differently. ACT 2 Act 2 I was already falling behind his instructions, and at this point, I stopped moving and listening. As someone who was used to using Google Chrome on their smartphone, getting the results I wanted was simple but difficult to navigate on a very small device. While I stared at the same screen I left off, I noticed a color that stands out.... This unfamiliar feature appeals to me. As it says, "open links in new tab," and with just one click, it takes me to the site on a new tab! Unlike this browser, most browsers have users right-click to open a small menu of options including "open in a new tab." ACT 3 Act 3 Surprised by this action, I continued to explore by clicking all the links randomly, which then, with only a matter of 1 second of clicking, it brings me to those websites in new tabs. Google Chrome Microsoft Edge vs Realizing that only Microsoft Edge has this feature makes navigating on this web browser easier. Of course, I wasn't just randomly clicking links. I selectively chose relevant sites for my topic before a pile of tabs cluttered up would make it hard to read the titles on the window's tabs. No toggle button Gamer After exploring the new web browser, their zoom class was already over before they knew it. This person decides to spend another hour or two to get accustomed to the new web browser. Later, they will start their second half of the day of leisure through their computer. However, the conflict arises when they realize they need balance their work and leisure. ACT 1 Act 1 Zoom class was over, and as I was glad to find some sources to start out with, I'm more excited to finally have leisure time for the rest of the day. I immediately got onto a game in my smartphone and open up a few socializing apps. What I never really thought about was the extra clutter of tabs I was going to add to my Microsoft Edge browser with my sources for my capstone. ACT 2 Act 2 I always knew the best device to access to social media is through small devices. And like how all phones should be, I socialize through calls on Messenger and Discord. However, as one of my hobbies is to play games, most of my games are on my smartphone. "One window tab shouldn't clutter too much," I thought to myself as I got in contact with my friends through Messenger call on my Microsoft Edge and getting on one of my games. To think that I kept repeating this thought as I needed to do some research on my games. OR ACT 3 Act 3 Before I knew it, a total of what seems like 20 or more tabs are lined up, and I could barely read a single word on each tab. Clicking one by one to get to the right site was quite frustrating. And because the size of the tabs shrunk due to the clutter, the close buttons for each of them were visible that I almost closed some of them by accident. "Opening a new window for personal interests should be okay," I thought to myself. It took quite a while to organize all the sites for my gaming research purposes to a separate Microsoft Edge window. Then, the clear difference between my academic work and personal interests are a lot more visible. Navigating to where I want to go between my academic work and personal interests was a lot easier! Hopefully, I don't create more windows. For this person, balancing their two lives in this computer is like weighing their work and leisure on a balance scale. Keeping their two lives separated, organized on different (Microsoft Edge's) windows, and without spending too much time over another has made navigating their day to day life consistent. The End