Hi there! My name is Caleb, though my nickname is "Slumpy" and many variations of it simply because I thought it was cute and silly back in middle school. I'm from a small town in Michigan but now travel all over the world, learning about different cultures and seeing different places. I've lived abroad before as well, and I'll be back in my second home, Taiwan, for a duration of this term.
I've actually taken quite a few communication-related courses before. Currently, I am studying Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Science, but before, I was a Journalism student overseas. The program I was on focused heavily on new media and communication, so I learned a lot about communicating to consumers, through film, writing, and media industries. So, aside from being Gen Z and growing up with technology, I'm pretty familiar with new media and communicating through it; however, there's certainly always more to learn! I took my previous communication courses in Taiwan, so I'm curious to see if digital communication is different from a Western perspective.
Some of my hobbies include traveling, writing, language learning, and all sorts of other assorted things. I like a variety of things, though! From crochet to making YouTube videos to researching marine life, I do a bit of everything. Whenever something piques my interest, I tend to just go for it!
I deleted all social media for a while to stop my addiction to doom-scrolling and to clear my head. But recently I've made a new Instagram account. Otherwise, I have a YouTube channel where I post videos about travel, especially eco-friendly travel and traveling as a young adult. I haven't uploaded in a while due to my break from being online (and not knowing what to post), but I'll include a link in case anyone is interested: Slumpy Adventures YouTube Channel. Aside from those two platforms, I don't have any other public social media accounts (except this blog, now).
My goal for this term is to learn more about communicating effectively and safely online. I've grown up with the internet but never took my digital footprint into consideration until getting a bit more mature. My aim is to learn how to present myself online in a way that avoids giving out too much information, how to protect my identity online, and how to deal with AI in the online-scape. Aside from my apprehension, I want to learn about how to reach people and be more connected in the digital scape. It's our reality and future, so learning how to safely be present in this space and utilize it to its full capacity is vital.
