Final Blog!

This class really taught me how to think critically. I liked that it was based on issues that are actually happening in our world, society, and life. This class gave me the opportunity to take the time to think about these issues, and what really is happening in our world. For example, in Culture Jam I learned how powerful technology really is and how much power it has over us. I also got a more in depth look at the negatives of consumerism and plentitude. Studying these things made me realize how unimportant material items are and how unappreciative our generation is. When reading Bauerlein’s article, I felt like he was really cutting on our generation and how lazy we are because of our heavy reliance of technology. It does have some truthfulness to it though. Out of all the novels that we read I liked Feed, and Hunger Games the most. I liked Feed because it is a prediction of what our future will be like. Computers built into our brains, and cars that fly, It’s crazy to think about how our future could come to that. Hunger Games was interesting because it was action packed. Also I liked it because Katniss likes to hunt, and I like to hunt with my dad. I could relate to Thoreau’s experiment because my family still goes camping, not in a tent or anything, but we don’t really use technology when were camping except to cook. It’s relaxing not having the internet/Facebook because then you’re not concerned with what everyone else is doing. I really think that Facebook has ruined communication skills in general. Facebook also ruins relationships. Social networking sites make it easy to cheat on each other. If you’re married, then you shouldn’t be talking to people on social networking sites, or even have one. If they’re a real “friend” then they will keep in contact with you no matter what. The movie Second Skin really opened my eyes to how addicting video games are. I never thought that people could lose their house or job because they played a video game too much. I used to think that video games were gay, but after seeing how the less fortunate can express themselves through games without getting judged, it was eye opening. In the end, I think the thing that I learned most from this class is that our world has changed so much. Our values, priorities, motivation, opinions, and ideas have come a far distance from what our grandparents were. In fact, I wish I would have grown up in an older day in age because our world is so messed up now. I can’t even begin to imagine how reliant my children will be on technology. The truth of the matter is that change is the only thing that’s constant, if it’s for better or worse.

Violence & Drama

Americans crave violence and drama. The more the better. TV shows, movies, and video games are all loaded with graphics that stimulate us. It takes a lot of action to keep us entertained. That is why our TV shows, movies, and video games keep getting more and more violent and less conservative. I think that we crave violence and drama because it’s not something that happens in our everyday lives. We see a fight out in public and it’s so entertaining. Everyone who is around just stops what they’re doing and watches. Same with drama. If girls get into a mouth battle at school, everyone watches to see what will happen, and it’s not only until a little after they have started ripping each other’s hair out that anyone will stop it. It’s like an adrenaline rush to see a fight in person. It’s thrilling, but no one wants it to happen to them. While watching TV, most people see violence and stop flipping through the channels. The stimulating aspects of the media can catch anyone’s attention at any given time. The Hunger Games shows violence and tragedy, so the people of the town want to watch it. It’s especially interesting to them because they personally know the people participating in the games. It’s kind of different because the people of Panem are forced to watch the games. Even though it is mandatory to watch the games, I still think that the people would watch even if it wasn’t mandatory. If things like this happened in my town, I wouldn’t want to watch my neighbors fight til their death.

Reality TV

Keeping up with the Kardashians - An episode about Chloe dating.

Chloe, Kim, & Kourtney are all sisters. Chloe is the youngest and she looks different than her sisters. She’s taller and bigger. Kim and Kourtney both have boyfriends and they want Chloe to have one too. Kim and Kourtney get on a dating website and make a profile for Chloe. The next day they get on and she had 99 “winks,” which is like a poke on facebook, meaning that the person is interested. Chloe’s sisters set her up on blind dates and none of them were successful. Chloe thinks that her sisters are annoying so to get them off her case she says that she’s going out with one of the guys, but really Chloe just goes out to dinner with her girlfriends. She gets satisfaction out of lying to her sisters. Us as viewers, watch the show because it would be nice if we were Kim Kardashian. We could be drop dead gorgeous, own range rovers, and have a dream wedding. Kim Kardashian’s dream wedding episode got sky high ratings, even though her marriage only lasted 72 days. Some say the wedding was just a joke. However, it is intriguing for girls to watch this show because we can keep up on the latest fashions. Also every girl dreams of their wedding day, so we all loved watching Kim’s wedding. We support these programs and play in “the games” by simply viewing the show and giving it ratings that keep it on the air. We also support them by buying the products such as perfume, clothes, and jewelry that they come out with. I enjoyed watching this show because it was filled with drama. I think that’s why we are so interested in reality TV. We can watch the drama nationwide, and then talk about it with our friends. We don’t like drama when it is involved with our lives though. That’s what makes it addicting to watch, drama happening to other people.

Here’s a link to the episode that I watched: http://youtu.be/hbSvy0qnvDU

This link shows why the Kardashian family fascinates so many people: http://youtu.be/cM8U6Txc6nc

1984

In the beginning of the novel 1984, Winston keeps seeing posters that say “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.” In the novel “Big Brother” is representing the government. Big Brother himself is the party leader. I think that big brother watches the people through the “telescreen” and tries to control society. Winston says that the police patrols were snooping in people’s windows however, only the thought police matter. I don’t really understand what the thought police do? But i think that they get inside of people’s heads and monitor their thoughts. I think that big brother exists in our government today, but it’s not as severe as in this novel. I don’t think that we have lost our right to privacy. Each person can make their life as private, or as open as they want.  The only time you loose your right to privacy is if someone would break into your house. Everyone on the ADT commercials talk about how they feel so violated after a burgulary. I think that privacy still exists because when I’m at my house I can do whatever I want pretty much without anyone saying anything about it. I don’t have any neighbors because I live in the country and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I don’t think anyone would stand to have a telescreen put in their house so that higher authority could watch them. I wouldn’t want to give up my basic freedoms just to feel safe. I like having my own thoughts and private conversations with people. I also like being able to do whatever I want, whenever I want to do it.

I think it’s crazy how Orwell predicted in 1949, that our society would be like this in 1984 and now here we are in 2011 and our world is nothing like that. In “Feed”, M.T. Anderson predicts what the world will be like in the future. For example, we will have flying cars and computers installed into our brains. I really don’t think that our future will ever amount to that though, because no one is going to be willing to be the guinea pig for that experiment.

Blog 5

I think that I could refrain from using technology for a long period of time, as long as I was with the people that I value most. The only reason I text is to text my boyfriend, who I don’t see all week long, but when I’m with him, I don’t use my phone at all. I get on Facebook for something to do, but if it didn’t exist it’s not like my life would collapse. I went on a cruise for 9 days and couldn’t use a phone or computer but I had more fun with my family then I could ever have browsing the web. Now I don’t know about the whole not showering thing. I couldn’t go without a shower for probably more than 3 days. I couldn’t stay in a cabin for a year by myself anyway. It would be too lonely. If I had to do this I would probably learn a lot about myself because I wouldn’t really have to do anything except sit there and think. I might find out how dependent I really am on our modern day technology, and I would probably find out things about myself that I never knew. Maybe I would reach self-actualization. 

Thoreau, Emerson, Lasn, and Anderson all have the same ideas and feelings about technology. Thoreau and Emerson are all about nature. Lasn believes that our society is doomed and we are all fixed on plentitude, consumerism, media, etc. Anderson kind of makes a far-fetched assumption of how close our society is to craziness. I hope that our culture and society never has computers built into people. There would be no point in going to school, having a job, or living if you weren’t trying to work towards a goal in life. I wouldn’t want to have all the information in my head already. I enjoy learning. All of these authors are trying to say is our society has changed so much in many ways, and is still changing. And they think for the worse.

Dumb Generation?

I don’t think Bauerlein’s view of our generation is accurate. He thinks that we are lazy and ignorant, and we might be, in the sense that we don’t want to learn about things that we don’t care for. However I do not think that we are that lazy. Many of us go to school, which is like a full time job in itself, and then we have regular jobs on top of that. As students we have busy lives, so what doesn’t he understand about that? I think he was just making a generalized statement about our generation because I know plenty of determined, hard-working kids. In Bauerlein’s interview, he said that kids spend less than an hour studying each week. I find that hard to believe because if that were true then a lot more people would not make it through college. I study a lot in order to do well. I do not think that our generation is dumb in any way. We are more advanced with technology and we know how to use it and take advantage of it. I think Bauerlein’s just jealous that he didn’t get to grow up in our generation where it is easier to access information, rather than look up facts in the encyclopedia all day long. And I’m sure that the next generations after our’s will continue to advance and advance and be considered even more dumb than we are. As for Miss South Carolina, she’s just an idiot and should have paid more attention in history class, but in our society if your pretty, you don’t need brains. 

Bauerlein also condones our use of social networking. Now I agree with him somewhat about Facebook. I think that some people’s Facebook/social networking usage is ridiculous. You should be able to control the amount of time that you spend on these sites. I also question what is so addicting about knowing what is going on in other people’s lives? It seems like we can’t wait to log into Facebook so that we can find out what is going on, and what everyone is doing. But why do we even care? Why are we so nosey? We should only be worried about our own business and stay out of everyone else's. I always wonder why I can’t go more than a day without logging onto Facebook, even though when I get on I’m only on for like 10 minutes at a time or else I get bored. I think that it is just a different day in age because Bauerlein probably went to dances and rollerblading as social events. We don’t do that now, we just get on the internet instead. I think as time goes on the opinion on what knowledge is important changes. In the article it said that IQ scores have been increasing. We have been getting smarter but in a different way. Our generation has a different “genre” of knowledge compared to past generations.

Facebook Addiction article: http://socialtimes.com/facebook-addiction-disorder-the-6-symptoms-of-f-a-d_b60403 

Technology

I feel like technology has molded our society in many ways. It definitely effects our relationships. My parents talked about how they first got together and it was so different back then. Back then, my dad asked my mom out on their first date through a note, and he asked her to prom face to face. I mean most of my boyfriends that I ever had asked me out face to face but how they got to build the courage up to do that was different. In junior high, after school everyone would go home straight to their computers log onto a social networking site called Xanga, which is pretty much like this blogging site and talk to each other. Not only were we just on Xanga, we were also on instant messenger at the same time. Then Myspace evolved through 8th and 9th grade and that was popular for awhile. Then about my sophomore year of high school Facebook came about and it is used more than ever today. Another popular thing that people use are dating sites. The thing about all of these websites is that everyone isn’t who they seem. You can lie about ANYTHING on the internet. You can put anything in your about me section, and put any random girls/guys picture as your profile picture. I don’t see how anyone could fall in love over a social networking or dating website. You’re supposed to fall in love with someone as you get to know them and their personality better, as you spend more and more time with them etc., but if you live in Florida and they live in California and you never meet the person, then how do you know if that is really the person that you’re chatting with online? Even if it is the real person you will never find out how they really are through typing words to them. You have to actually hang out with them to feel any emotion in my opinion. For example, Heather and Kevin from Second Skin documentary chatted and played a virtual game together, called World of Warcraft. First of all this game makes no sense? What adult finds slaying dragons with medieval weapons interesting? If you even play this game you should get a second job or something because you have too much time on your hands. Second, how did Heather and Kevin know each others personality through how they played in a game? You can’t tell how someone is really like through this game. Slaying dragons isn’t even real, it doesn’t exist. And Heather got jealous when Kevin would flirt other virtual girl characters. That just seems a bit ridiculous when she has never even met him in her life. It’s like they’re living in a fantasy world because in the fantasy world Kevin might seem strong and mighty because he slays dragons, but when you seem him in real life he is a skinny nerd. So if anything, expressing your personality through this game makes you seem like someone you’re not.