I've been away from the blog for a while. But I really haven't had the inspiration to write lately, and I don't want to force anything because then the post isn't quality.
Anyways, today I saw two news reports that really didn't sit well with me. The first one is a young girl who got plastic surgery to avoid further bullying. The second one is a Fox News report that unfairly connected a GWU student's suicide with a visit from President Obama.
Honestly, what is wrong with our society today? Kids tease other kids. They don't understand differences. It's not a justification, I'm not saying it's okay. I'm just saying, it happens. But as the mom in the video mentioned, adults were even teasing the young girl. Adults! I'm glad the mom cared so much for her daughter that she took drastic action to protect her daughter; and like the Doctor said, develop normally (on a cognitive level).
The fact of the matter is that plastic surgery had to be used in order to stop the bullying and the teasing. No child should have to endure the physical toll from plastic surgery, and ideally shouldn't have to endure the emotional toll from bullying. But bullying happens in grade school, and my roommate said to me while watching it, it's only during grade school. Kids mature as they grow older. (well, most do) So I was taken aback by the action until I learned that adults were partaking in the teasing. That's just ridiculous, our society just sucks. Why should plastic surgery to fix a defect even an option? She doesn't have control over how her ears look! Honestly girl, there could never be a more beautiful you.
And then there's Fox News. They're always questionable. But to have the nerve to title your article "GWU student's suicide tragically coincides with Obama visit" is beyond ridiculous. First and foremost they are completely disrespecting the student and his family during the hardest time of their life! Suicide is tragic; I can't imagine a life so bad that the only way out is death. But it happens, and it's sooooo sad! Secondly, to say that it coincides with Obama's visit implies causation. I don't care if they didn't say it directly in the article. The fact that they grouped the two events together means they want the readers to connect the two events. Congratulations Fox News, you have officially dropped to a whole new level of low I never knew existed!
Besides complaining about how much our society sucks, I want to urge you who read this to not suck! We are a society full of ignorance, apathy and selfishness. To quote my college's slogan "Be the Difference." Don't be the person who teases someone on a deficiency they have no control over, instead, be the person to stop the idiot who does. As the saying goes, "don't judge a book by its cover." There is so much hate in this world. Let's fill it with love. As Bon Jovi asks: What do you got if you ain't got love? My answer- nothing.
Sorry for ranting.
"A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge." - Thomas Carlyle
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Hope - Our Eternal Desire
I was on the website "stumbleupon" today while waiting for my future roommate to get done with class so we could go sign our lease papers for our apartment. For those unfamiliar with stumbleupon, you go to this website, click the "stumble" button and this website will direct you to other websites based on your interests. It's really neat. While stumbling, I came across a page with a quote that struck me and made me think: "If you are struck between two options, just flip a coin in the air! It works. Not because it solves the problem, but because while the coin is in the air, you will get to know what your heart is really hoping for." The word that strikes me in this quote is hope.
I don't know why, but I just started thinking about that word. Hope obviously means to have a strong desire for something; to really want this situation to go my way. Is it, like the word love, overused to the point where it's lost its true meaning? For instance, the greeks had EROS or passionate, romantic love, PHILIA or love between friends and spouses. Then there's AGAPE with is the truest, most pure love. Love between Christ and mankind. There are more words the Greeks had for the different types of love. But we in the English language took all those different words and use one: Love. I love my dog, I love my spouse, I love my sibling, I love rock music, I love that book. The same word describing many different feelings to many different objects.
This is my own philosophical mind wandering (and I don't consider myself a good philosopher) but can the same hold true for hope or ELPIDA? Through my research of the Greek origin of hope I found only one word. But the problem I see with it is our usage of it. I hope I do well on my math test vs. I hope my cancer-stricken family member survives. Same verb, but vastly different contexts. I don't think that we mean hope in the math test sense the same as in the cancer one. Just like we don't mean love in the same way as a book vs our family.
The New Living Translation of 1 Corinthians 13:13 tells us that "three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love." Hope will last forever. I agree. Athiest Friedrich Nietzsche says "Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torment of man." Hope is bad. I disagree with Nietzsche, but I understand his view. For example, a prisoner of war who hopes that he will one day be saved. But day after day he is tortured to give up information. He does not want to betray his country, but if he gives the information, he will no longer be tortured - just killed on the spot. So he hopes that his is soon saved. Hope is prolonging his torment and torture.
Another way I can understand Nietzsche's view is in free will. Do we truly have free will if God has a plan laid out for us? And if he does have a plan, are we just wasting our time hoping for what we desire, instead of having faith in our maker? These are questions that no one has the answer too. We just speculate and debate based on our views of religion.
But if your answer to the second question is "yes" then I think you would agree with Nietzsche's quote. But I disagree with Nietzsche because I think hope is good. Hope is optimism, it prevents us from giving up. Hope keeps us hanging on in the toughest of times; the hope for something better keeps pushing us. While fiction, the Shawshank Redemption is a great example of never giving up hope. If you haven't seen the movie, I suggest you watch it. There is a reason that hope exists; there is a reason for everything. It's our job to just accept that and have faith. I have a friend who's going through a rough patch right now. This rough patch is another drop in a super long roller coaster he's been riding all year.
It's not my place to speculate the causes of these feelings. But I'm there as a friend offering advice, to him and to all: Don't give up hope, EVER!
"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." - Andy Dufresne (The Shawshank Redemption)
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Technology: Depersonalizing Ourselves - Part 3
Google, texting, facebook, and multitasking has led us to this. The third and final post is this series about my take on the digital age. Our brains have been affected because we multitask. But the real question here is do we multitask in order to adapt to the change in our society, or has society changed in order to adapt to our multitasking? I think it's a little of both, leaning more towards society adapting to us because technology has increased.
We enjoy listening to music, and the invention of the MP3 players and iPods have made that activity much more convenient for us to do. Smaller devices than a portable CD players (remember those?) and they hold more music than CDs. Yes, they still exist, but for how long? No one knows. So we take these iPods, and we're on the go, distracted from the world around us in our own music universe. Blackberries, Droids, iPhones and other smart phones have allowed for email, facebook, and twitter apps, connecting us to the entire world with one device small enough to carry in our pocket. Work emails can be answered at home, on the train (if you're my dad) or while your out to dinner. ANYWHERE!
This increased technology has its advantages no doubt, but its still unhealthy for us, individually and as a society. Keep in mind that I do have a blackberry with all previously mentioned apps installed. But it's unhealthy and sometimes pointless. Is it necessary to take a picture of your dinner? Absolutely not, but we do it. I tweet a lot, and I realize that most of what I tweet is probably pointless. But I have twitter because it's a great way to connect with people all over the world. And being a broadcast major, is there a better way to get your work out there for people to notice? That's my justification. But we are constantly connected to everyone we want to be! There is absolutely no way for us to be "unavailable."
And this technology is going to continue to grow, and we're going to continue to adapt to it. It's inevitable, but I don't think it's for the best. The convenience of the text message refrains us from picking up the phone to chat or walking to the next room to ask the question. Technology has yet to be able to show emotion and personality. When we're texting people are we really "communicating"? No because a majority of our communication comes in a nonverbal fashion. Texting cannot pick up on our body language, looks, tone of voice, etc. By texting, we depersonalize ourselves. We don't connect; we just share thoughts in 160 characters or less.
As this technology grows, so will our use of it. I imagine there will come a time when we won't even have to pull out our phone for texting or updating facebook. That's right, bluetooth texting. And at that point, is it even worth it? Because that's just like a conversation. But that's the parity in our society. We talk but don't communicate. We live in an individualist society and increased technology will distance us even more. And the problem is that humans, by nature, need companionship. To seek friendship one of our five natural inclinations according to Aquinas. Luckily technology won't turn us into robots because one thing it cannot take away from us is emotion.
Be conscious of this. Stay true to yourself. I realize that this opinion of my is extreme. But I believe that true friendship is vital in growing as a person. And true friendship cannot be achieved through texting or facebook, only through face to face encounters. I'm not saying avoid and boycott this increased technology, because there's really no hiding from it. But step away from it every once in a while. Enjoy the company your with and don't worry about the world. Live in the moment.
"Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons." - R. Buckminster Fuller
As promised, here are links to articles and the documentary that helped formulate my opinion on this topic:
Newsweek: The Dumbest Generation: Don't Be Dumb
The Atlantic: Is Google Making Us Stupid?
The Impact of the Internet on Thinking
PBS Frontline's Digital Nation
We enjoy listening to music, and the invention of the MP3 players and iPods have made that activity much more convenient for us to do. Smaller devices than a portable CD players (remember those?) and they hold more music than CDs. Yes, they still exist, but for how long? No one knows. So we take these iPods, and we're on the go, distracted from the world around us in our own music universe. Blackberries, Droids, iPhones and other smart phones have allowed for email, facebook, and twitter apps, connecting us to the entire world with one device small enough to carry in our pocket. Work emails can be answered at home, on the train (if you're my dad) or while your out to dinner. ANYWHERE!
This increased technology has its advantages no doubt, but its still unhealthy for us, individually and as a society. Keep in mind that I do have a blackberry with all previously mentioned apps installed. But it's unhealthy and sometimes pointless. Is it necessary to take a picture of your dinner? Absolutely not, but we do it. I tweet a lot, and I realize that most of what I tweet is probably pointless. But I have twitter because it's a great way to connect with people all over the world. And being a broadcast major, is there a better way to get your work out there for people to notice? That's my justification. But we are constantly connected to everyone we want to be! There is absolutely no way for us to be "unavailable."
And this technology is going to continue to grow, and we're going to continue to adapt to it. It's inevitable, but I don't think it's for the best. The convenience of the text message refrains us from picking up the phone to chat or walking to the next room to ask the question. Technology has yet to be able to show emotion and personality. When we're texting people are we really "communicating"? No because a majority of our communication comes in a nonverbal fashion. Texting cannot pick up on our body language, looks, tone of voice, etc. By texting, we depersonalize ourselves. We don't connect; we just share thoughts in 160 characters or less.
As this technology grows, so will our use of it. I imagine there will come a time when we won't even have to pull out our phone for texting or updating facebook. That's right, bluetooth texting. And at that point, is it even worth it? Because that's just like a conversation. But that's the parity in our society. We talk but don't communicate. We live in an individualist society and increased technology will distance us even more. And the problem is that humans, by nature, need companionship. To seek friendship one of our five natural inclinations according to Aquinas. Luckily technology won't turn us into robots because one thing it cannot take away from us is emotion.
Be conscious of this. Stay true to yourself. I realize that this opinion of my is extreme. But I believe that true friendship is vital in growing as a person. And true friendship cannot be achieved through texting or facebook, only through face to face encounters. I'm not saying avoid and boycott this increased technology, because there's really no hiding from it. But step away from it every once in a while. Enjoy the company your with and don't worry about the world. Live in the moment.
"Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons." - R. Buckminster Fuller
As promised, here are links to articles and the documentary that helped formulate my opinion on this topic:
Newsweek: The Dumbest Generation: Don't Be Dumb
The Atlantic: Is Google Making Us Stupid?
The Impact of the Internet on Thinking
PBS Frontline's Digital Nation
Friday, April 1, 2011
Multitasking Changed the Way we Process - Part 2
So yesterday I talked about how we appear dumb because of our inability to recall the information we find on google. But that's incomplete. More of the reason why we appear dumb is because we don't retain a lot of the information we learn. Whether it's in school, on google, etc. Why? Because we multitask. We all do it, especially in college. Work on a paper, text my friend, check facebook, and listen to my Lady Gaga pandora station (no I don't have a Lady Gaga station. Mine is movie scores). We do this all at the same time! We make a deal to ourselves. After I finish this paragraph, I'll check facebook, as sort of a reward.
Why? Why are we unable to focus for long periods of time before our mind wanders elsewhere? Because our brains have been negatively effected by the constant multitasking we do. And because we are unable to focus and feel the need to check facebook after each paragraph of our paper, "Digital Nation" says we don't string thoughts together. Instead we tend to write paragraphs of similar nature, completely independent of each other. (again, the link to that and several other articles will be posted after tomorrow's post) The thought process has been interrupted, thus our paper is affected.
While we think multitasking is effective, I believe it is not. What's the phrase? We only use 20% of our brain? If that's true, divide that up evenly among paper, facebook, texting and music. 5% to each. Not to mention any other distractions surrounding us like that cute girl (or guy for my female readers) studying at the next table. Our brain is still working as much as it usually does, there's just so much more activity it's processing that it focuses on usually one thing at a time. And if it's homework, I doubt that's our top focus. Have you ever been listening to music while typing or reading and just gotten so engulfed in that activity that you drown the music out for a bit? It's pretty trippy when your song ends have you have little recollection of listening to it because of your focus on the other activity.
Well that same processing happens while multitasking, but rarely is our main focus on the true activity we are avoiding with said distractions. And as I've said, it affects our brains. And those effects stick. Because of our constant distractions, we need change, we need multiple things to focus on. We have shorter attention spans. Scenes are shorter in music videos. The average clip in a music video lasts around 3 seconds on average. (Don't quote me on that number, but I'm confident that it's under 5 seconds) If you ever watch the news and the anchor is reading a series of stories over a 3 minute span, clips of what your watching on screen change every 4-7 seconds. (again, don't quote me)
And this affected brain is why, I believe, most movies are shorter then before. Over last summer and this past semester, I watched several older movies such as The Godfather and Casablanca. It is so interesting to see how scenes in these movies last for so long. Story's are rather simple and are built through dialogue and character development. For the first 20 minutes of the Casablanca, we're in the club seeing all the characters and how Humphrey Bogart's character interacts with them all. The first half hour of the Godfather is spent switching between Don Corleone's meetings with his clients and the wedding outside. First watching these movies, I found myself complaining, "Come on, we get the picture, let's move on already." But that's the point! These are all plot elements that are important to the story. We learn about the characters and it sets up the plot. But we are so used to the fast moving, high action movies of Christopher Nolan and Michael Bay with loud noises, short scenes, and a lot to different elements to focus on, rather then one or two. (Don't get me wrong, I love Christopher Nolan)
We have the inability to focus for a long time. This is why we find ourselves skimming or reading the first 2 or 3 paragraphs of articles before moving on. And news organizations know this, so they put all the necessary information in those first couple paragraphs. This all correlates to how our society and culture nowadays is fast moving and demanding. (an issue I will expound upon tomorrow)
Tomorrow I will wrap this up, talking about the society and how I think it will move forward. Please remember that these are my own thoughts and theories, based on articles I've read, documentaries I've watched and observations.
"Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal." - Arthur Schopenhauer
Why? Why are we unable to focus for long periods of time before our mind wanders elsewhere? Because our brains have been negatively effected by the constant multitasking we do. And because we are unable to focus and feel the need to check facebook after each paragraph of our paper, "Digital Nation" says we don't string thoughts together. Instead we tend to write paragraphs of similar nature, completely independent of each other. (again, the link to that and several other articles will be posted after tomorrow's post) The thought process has been interrupted, thus our paper is affected.
While we think multitasking is effective, I believe it is not. What's the phrase? We only use 20% of our brain? If that's true, divide that up evenly among paper, facebook, texting and music. 5% to each. Not to mention any other distractions surrounding us like that cute girl (or guy for my female readers) studying at the next table. Our brain is still working as much as it usually does, there's just so much more activity it's processing that it focuses on usually one thing at a time. And if it's homework, I doubt that's our top focus. Have you ever been listening to music while typing or reading and just gotten so engulfed in that activity that you drown the music out for a bit? It's pretty trippy when your song ends have you have little recollection of listening to it because of your focus on the other activity.
Well that same processing happens while multitasking, but rarely is our main focus on the true activity we are avoiding with said distractions. And as I've said, it affects our brains. And those effects stick. Because of our constant distractions, we need change, we need multiple things to focus on. We have shorter attention spans. Scenes are shorter in music videos. The average clip in a music video lasts around 3 seconds on average. (Don't quote me on that number, but I'm confident that it's under 5 seconds) If you ever watch the news and the anchor is reading a series of stories over a 3 minute span, clips of what your watching on screen change every 4-7 seconds. (again, don't quote me)
And this affected brain is why, I believe, most movies are shorter then before. Over last summer and this past semester, I watched several older movies such as The Godfather and Casablanca. It is so interesting to see how scenes in these movies last for so long. Story's are rather simple and are built through dialogue and character development. For the first 20 minutes of the Casablanca, we're in the club seeing all the characters and how Humphrey Bogart's character interacts with them all. The first half hour of the Godfather is spent switching between Don Corleone's meetings with his clients and the wedding outside. First watching these movies, I found myself complaining, "Come on, we get the picture, let's move on already." But that's the point! These are all plot elements that are important to the story. We learn about the characters and it sets up the plot. But we are so used to the fast moving, high action movies of Christopher Nolan and Michael Bay with loud noises, short scenes, and a lot to different elements to focus on, rather then one or two. (Don't get me wrong, I love Christopher Nolan)
We have the inability to focus for a long time. This is why we find ourselves skimming or reading the first 2 or 3 paragraphs of articles before moving on. And news organizations know this, so they put all the necessary information in those first couple paragraphs. This all correlates to how our society and culture nowadays is fast moving and demanding. (an issue I will expound upon tomorrow)
Tomorrow I will wrap this up, talking about the society and how I think it will move forward. Please remember that these are my own thoughts and theories, based on articles I've read, documentaries I've watched and observations.
"Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal." - Arthur Schopenhauer
How We Appear Dumb - Part 1
In this three-part post series, I will look at life in the world today and analyze how it effects us. How increased technology has changed the way we think and communicate. How these effects from technology has completely changed our mindset and the way we need to be entertained and how I think our future will further be affected.
One could classify Google as the greatest invention of our time, or possibly the worst. As a college student, Google is great. Research for papers and presentations can essentially be centralized and prioritized on my computer, and I have access to so many journals and articles available online that I don't necessarily have to be in a library to do said research. And for the procrastinator in all of us, it allows us to put off that project until the night before. That way, with a computer and a couple red bulls, we can do our entire term paper complete with seven to ten scholarly sources in one night. Convenient? Yes. Effective? Most likely not. Hindering? Absolutely.
Be honest, how much of your History paper about immigrants do you truly remember? After all, you were hyped up on unhealthy amounts of sugar and caffeine; and you most likely copy and pasted and paraphrased a bunch of what you read in those articles in your paper without retaining much of the information. That's the beauty of Google. I don't actually have to learn it, I can just look up the information whenever I need it. But does that make us dumb?
No, we aren't dumb. We know a lot of information. A lot of the video games played today are intellectually demanding. It takes military strategy to succeed in Call of Duty or Halo. Some games like Star-craft or other online games take strategy to learn how to successfully build your army and destroy the enemy. Even games on miniclip or addicting games require some basic strategy and knowledge with physics or economics in order to win. But the problem is we aren't using this information appropriately. The kid who plays SimCity religiously knows how to run a good city. He is aware of the effects that high taxes has on a community. As time goes by, he will eventually learn the best decisions to make in order for his city to prosper. But will this kid become an economist or political leader who makes those same decisions in real life? Most likely not. But we need a kid with that type of knowledge, the one who knows how to make a city prosper, today. Our economy is not in good shape. (Granted politics is another obstacle in this whole ordeal, but that's a different topic).
We know a lot of information, but is that information useful in life? Is this information something that can help society? No. The common belief among older people is "don't trust young people." That's an extreme statement, and I think the reason why the older generations say that is because the lifestyles are drastically different. Our parents and grandparents didn't grow up with texting and facebook; it wasn't a social norm for them. And all this increased technology, texting friends all day, checking facebook during studying, and the constant use of google all hinder our ability to retain information. Which, by affect, make us, our generation, appear dumb.
So we continue to explore the digital age. In my next post I'll look more into how I think our brain is affected from this increased technology and the residual effects it has on us. Also keep in mind that everything you read is my personal opinion based on a few articles I've read and one documentary I've watched all based on this same topic. Links to which I will post at the end this series. These are not in any way facts about the digital age or scientific facts; but rather they are my educated guesses. I ask you to keep an open mind and stick with me as I walk you through a topic I feel rather strongly about.
"Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is, not a preparation for life; education is life itself." - John Dewey
One could classify Google as the greatest invention of our time, or possibly the worst. As a college student, Google is great. Research for papers and presentations can essentially be centralized and prioritized on my computer, and I have access to so many journals and articles available online that I don't necessarily have to be in a library to do said research. And for the procrastinator in all of us, it allows us to put off that project until the night before. That way, with a computer and a couple red bulls, we can do our entire term paper complete with seven to ten scholarly sources in one night. Convenient? Yes. Effective? Most likely not. Hindering? Absolutely.
Be honest, how much of your History paper about immigrants do you truly remember? After all, you were hyped up on unhealthy amounts of sugar and caffeine; and you most likely copy and pasted and paraphrased a bunch of what you read in those articles in your paper without retaining much of the information. That's the beauty of Google. I don't actually have to learn it, I can just look up the information whenever I need it. But does that make us dumb?
No, we aren't dumb. We know a lot of information. A lot of the video games played today are intellectually demanding. It takes military strategy to succeed in Call of Duty or Halo. Some games like Star-craft or other online games take strategy to learn how to successfully build your army and destroy the enemy. Even games on miniclip or addicting games require some basic strategy and knowledge with physics or economics in order to win. But the problem is we aren't using this information appropriately. The kid who plays SimCity religiously knows how to run a good city. He is aware of the effects that high taxes has on a community. As time goes by, he will eventually learn the best decisions to make in order for his city to prosper. But will this kid become an economist or political leader who makes those same decisions in real life? Most likely not. But we need a kid with that type of knowledge, the one who knows how to make a city prosper, today. Our economy is not in good shape. (Granted politics is another obstacle in this whole ordeal, but that's a different topic).
We know a lot of information, but is that information useful in life? Is this information something that can help society? No. The common belief among older people is "don't trust young people." That's an extreme statement, and I think the reason why the older generations say that is because the lifestyles are drastically different. Our parents and grandparents didn't grow up with texting and facebook; it wasn't a social norm for them. And all this increased technology, texting friends all day, checking facebook during studying, and the constant use of google all hinder our ability to retain information. Which, by affect, make us, our generation, appear dumb.
So we continue to explore the digital age. In my next post I'll look more into how I think our brain is affected from this increased technology and the residual effects it has on us. Also keep in mind that everything you read is my personal opinion based on a few articles I've read and one documentary I've watched all based on this same topic. Links to which I will post at the end this series. These are not in any way facts about the digital age or scientific facts; but rather they are my educated guesses. I ask you to keep an open mind and stick with me as I walk you through a topic I feel rather strongly about.
"Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is, not a preparation for life; education is life itself." - John Dewey
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