Blog 10

To me, the overall theme of this class was to challenge the students to think about where the culture and media are taking us as a nation, world, and era, and to evaluate how the technological advancements of the past will construct our furture, either positively or negatively.  I think that as a whole, it was a class that would benefit many students by forcing us to really understand what's going on in the world around us, and to step out of the fantasy worlds that we've created for ourselves, whether they be in online gaming, social networks, or simply our advanced (or devolved?) way of communication that is texting. Another sub-theme was the degeneration of intellectual thinking and general knowledge, and how we can and should stop that downward spiral.  Feed and Fahrenheit 451 were the books that supported this theme to me, because it showed what happens in a world where critical thinking and deep communication were frowned upon and even prohibited. 

This class showed me more than anything that I am nothing like the majority of the people in my generation.  I was often unable to understand the conflicts that were discussed in class because they never felt important to me as a person.  I enjoyed watching and listening to those people who finally understood what Thoreau and Emerson wanted us to do for ourselves - to seek environments that support our emotional and intellectual development and distance ourselves from the chaos which is our everyday lives.  But, I again didn't feel a personal connection to that topic because I didn't share the same interests in Facebook and texting and whatever else draws my generation into their world of technological living. 
The last discussion that we had about the ideas presented in Fahrenheit 451 was especially irritating to me because we were challenged to think about why we throw books to the side and opt to retrieve the ideas in literature from blogs, movies, and magazines.  I can't answer that question, because I read the books that people toss, I have used cliff notes maybe twice in my life, and I seeing a movie before I read the book that inspired it.

Blog 7

Basically, the viewers of reality tv are the supporters. Financially, because we highten the amount of viewers, and socially because we want to be entertained.  The 'characters' on the shows know that we, as viewers, are waiting for the next craziest thing to happen, so they try to be as dramatic and out of control as possible.  Basically, we fuel the fire.
I watched Say Yes to the Dress this weekend, a show based from New York City's most famous bridal boutique, Klienfeld's.  Brides-to-be and any number of her friends and family come to the store to find the 'perfect' wedding gown.  During this episode, the bride that stood out most was a model and pageant girl.  After modeling several different types of clothing, including wedding gowns, and constantly wearing pageat gowns, she couldn't find a wedding dress that made her feel like a bride rather than a contestant.  After tears and hugs and breakdowns, she left the boutique empty-handed.  The characters in this episode were the bride-to-be, her mother, her 'fashion-forward' uncle (who was paying for the gown), her stylist, and her wedding coordinator.  This was a different kind of episode because rather than bringing just an intimate group of family, she included business partners as if it was a business deal. 
Anyhow, I actually didn't like this episode because the bride annoyed me so much, but typically this is one of my favorite shows.  Every girl dreams at some point of finding her wedding gown. Watching the process over and over with the most gorgeous dresses New York has to offer is exciting for people, and I think that's what is alluring about this show. I think as viewers we help the show to keep running, bringing more and more brides to Klienfeld's.  I think the most influence we have in this show is keeping Klienfeld's on tv.  From a marketing standpoint, we are the base of their advertising. 

Blog 6

"Big Brother" in the novel is the totalitarian dictator.  I really don't have much to say in this blog because I had never heard of "Big Brother" before reading this book.  The only thing that I can really think of as far as 'losing our privacy' is Google Earth.  I think it's creepy that they can take all of those pictures of the entire earth at any given time.  Other than that, I am apparently unaware of a lot of other instances of our own loss of privacy because I really can't think of anything.  I don't know of any examples of where we have given up our basic freedoms to feel 'safe', as stated in the blog prompt on the class blog. 

Blog #5

I especially liked the selections we read this week from Henry David Thoreau's "Walden", because I think that can be easily applied to most peoples' lives. 

In class we discussed what he meant by saying that he wanted 'to live deliberatey'.  Although I agreed with the gist of the class discussion, I interpreted it differently when I read it.  I think this can also say that he wanted to be free of distractions from society and be able to focus on his own free will; what he would do if he was truly alone, without any influence.  He wanted to deliberately chose wether he would  buy the bag of Doritos, not be manipulated into buying it by advertisers. What could he learn and achieve from being so free?  I think that is a truly cool idea.  I don't think that in 2011 it is realistic to seclude yourself in an unsafe and unsanitary shack to figure out how you would live.  I do think that everyone should try to 'take pause' and really think for themselves.  When Thoreau lived for a year in seclusion, he had no time restraints, no expectations, and no limitations.  In 2011, our lives have become so fast paced that it's hard to really think through why we do what we do - that would seem like a total waste of our time! But I think it is really important to remember to sit and think critically about our decisions without any outside influence.

I also think that schools should take Thoreau's ideas to heart.  Our course outlines are online, our assignments are online, our readings are online, our activities are online, etc.  Our schools are desperately looking for funding from anywhere, going so far as to sell themselves to sponsors who will feed us unlimited amounts of advertising.  They want Smartboards, iPads, online libraries, and more.  These all cost money, and, although their purpose is to simplify, what they really do is complicate.  When the computers are down nobody can get their assignments done; when the smartboards malfunction the lesson is lost.  How can we be so blind?  Simplify, simplify, simplify.  These items can be useful, yes.  But I think that some teachers and students have started to use them as crutches.  Could this have anything to do with people saying that we are the 'dumbest generation'? Do you think that students learned more when they had to read a book and pull information that they saw as relevant, and then write it down on paper for their notes?  Some online libraries allow you to type in a 'key word', and they will search through thousands of sources for you, find the most relevant ones, and then highlight your chosen key word throughout the entire source.  In that sequence, we have learned nothing.  We don't retain information that is simply 'given' to us as well as we retain information that we dig up ourselves.  I think there is also a laptop now that can listen to the teacher's voice and convert it into text in a word document.  Now we don't even need to listen if we don't want to!  No wonder we are accused as being the dumbest generation. 

Blog #4

This whole topic is completely irritating to me.  I don't feel that I should need to defend my intelligence, but here goes nothin'.

I do not disagree with this man that my generation has taken advantage of the internet.  I think that we need to think of our 'plentitude' disorders.  Everybody wants more friends, more wall posts, more comments, etc.  How is having 1,549 facebook friends that you may be aquainted with better than having 20 very close friends?  It's not.  Plentitude has struck again. 

I think that the real issue is the change into the fast-paced and busy technological era, and the changes in values of American citizens.  But, I don't think that we can point fingers at any one person, gender, culture, or generation.  My parents' and grandparents' generations valued hard work and well rounded-ness.  They grew up learning practical skills and knowledge in high school, and then they started to specialize in college.  I think that part of being well-rounded, to them, was understanding the government, being familiar with current world events, and having background knowledge about a little bit of everything.  These of course aren't all of the characteristics that people valued in those times, and they certainly are not true for everybody - I am not going to make the mistake of generalizing an entire generation.  But, for this time period, having those characteristics were practical.  When there was the option of having a military draft, people would want to keep up with the news to know if there was potential for that in the near future.  And, I think that having background knowledge in many areas made people feel connected and gave everybody the ability to have something in common with others. 

My generation values social status, being current in pop culture trends, and having a great amount of knowledge in one particular area of study.  There is no evident need for a draft at this moment, and, along with various other opinions about the US government today, I think that some of our generation has a hard time taking it seriously.  I think we do take seriously things that we feel we can personally change, and feeling a connectedness within our age group.  This is where facebook comes in, along with Entertainment TV, and reality tv.  Instead of reading common American classics, we 'unite' and connect using social networking sites, and also be experiencing other people's lives.  Keeping Up With The Kardashians and 16 and Pregnant are good examples, I think.  My mom and I watch the Kardashians' show, and we think it's hilarious.  We can relate (on less luxurious levels) with the realtionships and hobbies of the people on the show.  I think that many teen girls can also relate to 16 and Pregnant, because many of us know or are teen moms.  These are the things that make our generation feel connected.  I think that we value having a vast amount of knowledge in one particular area because of the concept of having a 'major' in college.  Students now seem to have tunnel vision.  But, this is what American society has demanded of us.  Putting on a resume 'well-rounded, practical person with experience' means nothing beside the one that says 'Degree in Da da da with a certification in da da da da da'.  So, it is more meaningful to my generation to be the best you can be in one area, and Google everything else.

I don't think that there is a right and wrong as far as behavior according to different generations.  I think that it IS wrong to generalize an entire generation based on the negative characteristics of a part of that generation.

Blog #3

Lasn argues that our emotions have become 'emoticons', and that by having different identities in different 'worlds', we risk losing sense of our 'authentic self'.  I agree with this statement; however, I think that we have to look first at the reason WHY our emotions have become emoticons.  With the rise of instant messaging, texting, and e-mailing, we have had to adapt to interpreting messages using only written launguage.  In these communication mediums, we completely lose sometimes the most important parts of communication: nonverbals.  Using sarcams, making jokes, keeping or losing eye contact, shrugging our shoulders, or shedding a tear can't be physically shown in the online world. However, since so much communication is lost, we need to find ways for our text to become more flexible, thus the invention of emoticons, "lol", "jk", and whatever acronyms we find the need for.
So, since for so many of our sentences need some kind of 'disclaimer'- something that says 'I wanted to make a statement, but just picture me rolling my eyes now", we tend to use a smiley or 'lol' after every other sentence.  But are we really smiling?  Laughing out Loud? No.  We just need to make sure the person on the recieving end knows to take what we've written in a more lighthearted or figurative way.  It doesn't seem so bad at first, but soon we can't remember how to really laugh out loud.  We don't even SPEAK outloud! This is when it becomes a problem.  And this is where we risk losing sense of our authentic self.  We USED to call up a friend and laugh out loud.  We USED to talk over lunch and roll our eyes.  But now, in this fantasy world, we are forced to put our emotions in 'writing'.  How can this be authentic? Laughter is a sort of reflex.  Nobody thinks to themselves, "If this person says something funny, I'm going to have to laugh and smile."  So when we have to specify "I'm laughing out loud", it becomes more of the 'disclaimer' we need to make sure that our written text is understood instead of an enjoyable laugh. 
My question is, do we have a 'real world' self AND an 'online' self? Or, does the world we live in most often just take on different characteristics when stepping into that 'other' world?  For example:  Was Dan, who lived in his computer for 18 hours a day on 'Second Skin', able to extract himself completely from the game in order to interact with real life?  Or did he become a permanent character in the game who was simply forced to live in the 'real world' on occasion when he had to eat, sleep and use the restroom?  I think that is debatable, depending on how much time is spent in each world, and what priorities come first: paying the electric bill or trading your gold for a sword.  I believe that until Dan went to that halfway house, he was a permanent character of World of Warcraft (is that what it was called?) who was forced to sleep and eat on Earth.

HELP!

I just wrote a huge comment on someone's blog, and I tried to submit it, and it said my account doesn't have access to posting a comment.  AND I lost everything I wrote  :(  What am I doing wrong when I try to comment?