The website Bubbl.us is a tool from the digital toolbox's mind mapping section that I
used. When I was using Bubbl.us, I found it simple to add bubbles, labels, lines, and colors, as
well as move and format the bubbles as I desired. One of the most difficult aspects of this mind-
mapping tool for me was getting my words directly in the middle of the bubble rather than near
the end. Mind mapping greatly aided me in visually recreating my digital ecosystem. It wasn't
until I created my mind map that I realized I own many electronics and use more important
software than many people my age.
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My Digital Ecosystem
In my digital ecosystem mind map, I show the main apps that I use on my electronics in
my daily life. I use Instagram, Microsoft, my laptop, iPad, and Google docs in various aspects of
my life. For example, I use Instagram for fun and business, Google docs and Microsoft to write
poems or stories for fun, and my laptop and iPad for games and watching shows or movies when
they are not used for school or business. I was surprised to see that I spend the most time on my
phone, laptop, and iPad because I had no idea, I spent so much time using the apps on them until
I made this mind map. I'd like to use my phone less than my other electronics, and I'd also like to
use Instagram less because I get addicted or lonely when I use both.
The Usefulness of Mind Mapping
Mind mapping can help you learn to organize important information into one big map
like a family tree. In fact, you can use a mind map to organize your family and jot down who is
related to whom or you can use it in school when an essay is coming up to write down the main
topic and all the evidence or details connected to the topic to help write a better essay. It can also
be used in the workplace to connect a specific boss or director to employees in order to better
understand what job an employee does and who they are. You could use this tool to brainstorm
ideas by developing them and connecting them if they are related. Some difficulties you will
undoubtedly face when mind mapping is messiness, incompleteness, and time-consuming,
especially if you are brainstorming ideas that are scattered.
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Mind Mapping and Digital Fluency
Mind mapping can help you become more digitally fluent by teaching you how to gather
information and effectively use it by organizing it in a mind map. Collecting information already
contributes to your digital fluency but creating a mind map using one of the websites, as I did,
will increase your digital fluency even more because you will be learning to use a different type
of graph, website, and built-in features. Some benefits of visually connecting ideas and thoughts
with a mind map include being able to reflect on that map like notes and being able to recite the
ideas and topic in a more complex way rather than having your thoughts and ideas scattered.
This also assists you and anyone with whom you are working to effectively record ideas and
thoughts that can be used to comprehend complex ideas. Another advantage is that anyone can
use it, whether for school, work, or at home.