A Memory File is a Terrible Thing to Lose
Alzheimer's. Dementia. ADHD. The health of our 21st century tech-addicted brains is on my mind during Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. Plus: How many Javascripts are running on your Website?
Que pasa, you Fabulous Femmebots? Welcome back to the FACTory! I’m Dr. Nutmeg, your hostess, and apparently July is “Minority Mental Health Awareness Month” according to the #Marketers, so this issue I’m taking advantage of the hashtag to explore memory, mental health, and the importance of making time to think and breathe in between all the brain-draining tasks of work and entrepreneurship in the 21st century. Why?
Well, I recently learned that the human adult brain can accumulate the equivalent of 2.5 million gigabytes of memory. In the data community, we would say, “2.5 petabytes” of memory because we’re pretentious and slowly transforming into Bots, but what if you lose a quarter of that memory? Or even half? Fun facts:
My oldest half sister has lost nearly all her semantic memory files due to Alzheimer’s.
My Dad is starting to lose his problem-solving memory files. Could be early stages of dementia.
And me? I’m desperately trying to do two things before their DNA kicks into my own brain:
Create new memories by learning Javascript — scroll down if you are a paid subscriber!
Upload my past memories into Femmebots 7.0, 4.0, and 2.024 — the three main characters in the short animation I’ll be pitching soon to the Enzian’s Brouhaha Film Festival here in Orlando.
Big Thank YOU to Macarena Hernández for your $150 Founding Member subscription to Dr. Nutmeg‘s Femmebots! We will put your money to good use toward the final animation. 🙏🏼
So…anyways, back to mental health issues. It’s not easy to admit you’ve got them, and to ask for help.
It’s…well, “awwwwkward” (as Hollywood characters have taught us to say in a high-pitched voice) and “ew, cringe,” the newer one I’m hearing from GenZ kids who have been living for like two minutes (crotchety old lady voice). And yeah, OK, we get it: sometimes putting yourself “out there” sucks.
Being Vulnerable Sucks
Asking for help sucks.
Admitting your mental health is not 100% sucks.
But hiding behind a “professional” exterior sucks even more because no one truly gets to know the “real” you: The authentically messy, chaotic, super emo telenovela DRAMA queen that my family knows and loves (and tolerates).
To cope in the past, I started working remotely whenever possible because the world is a harsh place for a human empath with traits of borderline personality disorder and undiagnosed ADHD. For me, being in an office environment feels like…I was going to say a “War Zone” pero, I’ve never experienced anything like the Ukraine or Gaza or the civil war in 1980s El Salvador, so I’ll just say it’s like getting caught in a Brazilian Carnaval parade that turns into a World Cup protest in 2014.
Not safe. Gonna get trampled. Need to put on the armor for protection.
Que dramatica, verdad??? But it’s true. I rarely feel safe working in an office.
My privacy issues are instantly triggered: What will they use against me if I share too much of my life????
The walls I need as an empath thicken: Am I feeling my emotions or their emotions???
To me, as I sit at my desk, staring at a computer screen, I’m sinking underwater, inside a tank full of sharks who want to eat me, compete with me, sabotage me, steal my ideas, and SEE ME FAIL. Then the insomnia kicks in. And I wonder if I don’t sleep, will I retain new memories? Will I lose old memories? Will I eventually end up with…
Anxiety? Alzheimer’s? Dementia? More ADHD? BPD Relapse?
The mental health issues are real. But so are bills. My husband. My hijastra. My parents. My sobrinos. I can no longer afford to let mental health issues defeat me. I gotta get a hold of my brain! But how? The way all mad scientists solve problems; by writing a new algorithm:
IF I verbally share and post publicly about my true struggles, whether it’s nightmares or insomnia or burnout or lack of focus or worrying that my father’s mental health is going to get worse, THEN I’ll be able to:
a. admit my humanity
b. conquer the struggle
c. grow up
d. connect more deeply with colleagues, friends, former clients, and Femmebots.
Here is an example of my most recent post on LinkedIn:
It's a holiday. Last place I should be is here on LinkedIn since holidays and weekends are the only times I can sleep, pause, read fiction, do fun things with my husband and hijastra. But I feel the need to share this infographic as I reflect on my new FT day job as a web developer...it's kicking my ass! Learning javascript takes focus, and I've not found my balance yet. Sometimes I feel bored by it; sometimes I feel so obsessed with it that I can't look away from the screen. Apparently I am in "stage 3" of burnout...now that I am aware of it, I can potentially turn it around. Thanks, Gilda Alvarez for sharing this infographic with our local Central Florida WhatsApp group chat Latinas in Tech 💓
At first, I immediately feel a sense of relief. Like after taking a big dump (sorry, but hey, it’s a good metaphor, OK???). If I can admit a vulnerability to my network of current and former co-workers, colleagues, clients, and friends, I can conquer it.
Then the doubt sinks in.
Almost immediately after feeling relief, I’m like, “Hmmm. I should delete that.” What if my new employer sees it?? Maybe they will wonder why I’m posting about it publicly rather than talking directly to them about my burnout.
Then the responsible married version of me who communicates clearly with My Husband realizes, “Oh, I should talk directly to my employers about my burnout, duh.” So I do that, and guess what??
The anxiety ends.
My hypothesis was correct. I’m now creating a concrete plan with my employers to avoid burnout while I learn my job. I’m NOT sinking underwater, I’m NOT inside a tank full of sharks who want to eat me or sabotage me or steal my (stupid) ideas or SEE ME FAIL.
I mean…what a simple solution for success!!!
The hipstery filmmaker version of me is especially happy about this development because I’m creating a public record and documenting a real story about a real Latina working in tech for an audience of Latinas in Tech. Those who like and comment on my LinkedIn posts will show there is a market that identifies with a real human having the same human experience.
I feel more confident about moving forward with this animated comedy because now there is a clear story arc of growth. Woot!!
Ugh. Social media has made us all so weird.
But it’s our way of life, now.
Maybe I’ll get slapped with a Scarlett Letter for being such an oversharing slag…but oh well.
It’s a risk to grow in this way, so it’s important to know what are the “correct” vulnerabilities to publicize, ie, the ones that elicit wisdom and knowledge for true growth and NOT the “awkward” cringe factor.
And that’s why…..
It’s Poll Dancing Time!
Either way, for those of you who are paid subscribers, the Javascript Workshop below is for you!!
Creating a New Memory File Called Javascript
The nature of the tech industry is that it requires constant learning. Heck, the nature of evolution requires constant learning. And the curve just keeps getting steeper, not just because the toys are more sophisticated — my brain is aging.
As I lift weights and run to keep my body in shape, I’m doing the same for my brain because Alzheimer’s (as I mentioned above) may run in my DNA.
Why do YOU want to learn Javascript through my specific POV?
How many Latina GenXers do you know working in tech? And for 27 years? I only know a handful, and they’re all like me — the unicorn on their respective teams. My memory files are full of cultural context from the last three decades in the tech industry….
What is a memory file?
In a computer, it’s data.
In your brain, it’s a moment, a feeling, a smell, an era, a story, a person, an economic cycle, a boom, a bust, and a boom-boom-boom. It just seemed right to turn that into a musical, a la Lin Manuel Miranda.
To keep my brain flexing, I’m learning Javascript. I will create new memory files filled with new concepts for designing virtual real estate properties while playing music that reminds me of my hijastra Belle: Oingo Boingo’s Gratitude and Murder on the Dance Floor. These songs elicit positive emotions inside of me. I remember when I used to study for school, I always listened to music. It’s probably one of the best mediums for creating a strong memory file. So let’s go backwards in time, to the early 1990s when I was in high school, learning Calculus. My operating system was open, flexible, and excited about learning a new way of thinking…
How many Javascripts are running on your Frankenstein website?
Forget about Javascript, first, what is a “Frankenstein Website?”
A "Frankenstein" website is a website that has been haphazardly assembled without regard to website design rules. There's no clear branding. Your audience is probably confused by the different appearances/voices on your website. If various pages on your site use different tones or have different color themes/graphics, it can really create confusion for the reader.
It’s the kind of website that features different designs and navigation when clicking through the pages. Example:
These are not three different organizations or companies. These are three different pages on the Orange County website.
The homepage features the logo in the place all users would expect to see it – on the upper left hand side – but the rest of the page is a hodgepodge of colors, fonts, and a header that offers too many options.
If you click on Animal Services, we lose the Orange County logo on the upper left hand side, the page orients horizontally, and the colors/navigation change completely.
If you scroll down the homepage to Events & Initiatives, and click on “Office of Innovation,” we get the OC logo on the upper left side, which is good and consistent, however, we’re presented with a completely different color scheme, navigation, and a horizontally oriented page.
And thus, we must ask ourselves: If Frankenstein looks like this on the outside, what does it look like on the inside??? We don’t want to make any assumption since judging a book by its cover is never recommended, so let’s look at the guts of these pages using Chrome’s developer tools:
There are 11 Javascripts running – at least that I could count.
According to “Calibre,” a web performance tool based in Australia, “minimizing the amount of Javascript in web pages is an essential step to ensure a speedy user experience.”
How do we find out if 11 Javascripts running on the homepage is negatively affecting user experience?
Google PageSpeed Insights
According to Google PageSpeed Insights, the mobile version of the OCFL.net homepage has a lower performance rate at 41 compared to the Desktop version at 85.
Turns out the Mayor’s Citizens Academy page is even worse on Mobile with a score of 36 and 57 on Desktop.
Since 58.2% of users are visiting the OCFL.net site on mobile, it’s worth redesigning the homepage to be more simple on both the front and backend.
Google’s recommendations for reducing mobile page load times:
Avoid large layout shifts. What the heck is a layout shift? According to web.dev, a “layout shift” is when visible elements are forced to move because another element was suddenly added to the page or resized. But isn’t this kind of flexibility important to responsive sites so they show correctly on a screen that has a width of 400 pixels vs. a screen on desktop with a screen width of 800 or 1200 pixels? Hmmm.
The most common causes of poor Cumulative Layout Shifts (CLS) are:
Images without dimensions
Ads, embeds, and iframes without dimensions
Dynamically injected content such as ads, embeds, and iframes without dimensions
Web fonts
The OC’s CLS score is .289.
A good CLS Score is .1 or less.
Apparently certain resources like JS and CSS are blocking the “first paint” of the page.
Consider delivering critical JS and CSS inline and deferring all non-critical JS/Styles. Potential savings 5,530 ms (miliseconds)
This makes me wonder: How does the OCFL.net site compare to other websites I manage?
MelFeliciano.com
33 Mobile - Bad!
45 Desktop - Bleh
.001 CLS – Good!
GeorgicMedia.com
41 Mobile - Bad!
67 Desktop – Good
.003 CLS – Good!
TheFemmebots.com
0 CLS - Good!
What if I test websites that are well-designed and popular?
Orlando.gov
39 Mobile - Bad! (that’s WAY lower than I expected)79 Desktop - Good!
Main recommendations for improvement:
Reduce JS execution time
Reduce time spent parsing, compiling, and executing JS
Nashp.org (my previous client)
36 Mobile - does everyone’s Mobile site suck??
82 DesktopAgain, too much Javascript!Calibreapp.com (the Australian company that says reducing Javascript is crucial to improving speed loading times)
67 Mobile – ah, the ones preaching about it are doing better than all the rest, but still not even close to 100.
97 Desktop – the highest on this list!Amazon.com
51 Mobile – OK
81 Desktop – Good!Main recommendation: Reduce Javascript execution time.
And there you have it. Looks like lots of websites are still trying to figure out how to improve the Mobile phone experience.
The Conclusion?
We gotta reduce the number of JavaScripts running through the website!
Coming next week:
July 22: What are your website visitors looking for and how can Javascript help?
I love all of your posts, and this one most of all so far ❤️