Everything bad is good for you

For the first time in high school history, I actually enjoyed an excerpt that we had to read! Partly because i really agreed what they were saying, but i had trouble understanding the main ideas. I wasn't sure if it was saying that today's TV shows are getting us smarter because of the interweaving plots and how you have to figure shit out, or if we're getting smarter in order to understand the more complicated plot lines. But basically the excerpt was saying that Television is not as bad as people think it is for them. It's actually working our brain out and possibly making us smarter.

 I don't watch that much TV but I always thought that it couldn't be that bad for you. With all the thinking you have to do. Not only that but say someone's dream is to play basketball, and they don't have enough money to go see their favorite players in person. They get a lot of joy out of watching basketball on TV. Some shows take thinking, and figuring out. Like the article said, there are interwoven themes and plots you need to remember. It definitely makes you think. But at the same time there are some shows that just do everything for you. The show CSI Miami, has a lot of complicated plot lines, and different characters, and different options for solving the mystery, but sometimes you don't meet the person who actually did it until they figure it out. You really don't need to think they just give you the answer in the end. It's for pure vegging out, and more shows on television these days are more like that, than something like the Sopranos. 

Paralells

I finished reading "Feed" last night. I was up at 2 in the morning laying in bed when I finished it. I was thinking a lot about how the book is an allegory or modern teenage life. I kept making these parallels and connections that was getting me depressed. The feed is the internet, M-chat was texting/iming. Up-cars were GPS's. Everything that the characters in Feed had, we had less extreme versions of. These thoughts were getting me depressed because I really do not want to live in a world where people can sense when I'm there, they can know what I'm thinking, they can just get into my head on command. But the problem is I can't picture a world without a phone; without the internet. I tried to stop thinking about it, so I wouldn't be so depressed, but then I remembered what M.T. Anderson said. That "We can only become responsible citizens of the world once we start to acknowledge that there's a complex world out there that's not easy to assimilate.". Meaning that we can't just avoid the topics we don't want to think about our whole lives, we need to access them, and really think about how we can change it; If not for the world, then at least for ourselves.

In Feed there are many tragedy's going on. Some of them collide with each other making them even more tragic, but some are just tragic on their own. We talked in class about the tragedy of Violet dying, and of Titus and his "crew" not even knowing about the Feed taking over their minds, but I think the tragedy goes deeper than that. The only person who tried to resist the"feed", ended up getting killed by it. Does that not say something about our society?

Double Digital

Jesus F***** Christ!!!!! I just watched 8 straight episodes of The Office. It's 10:30 and I'm usually not tired at this time but I feel so lazy and tired. I feel like a complete bum. I can't hold a thought and it takes me about 3 tries to complete a sentence. I honestly don't know what I'm thinking. I have a huge head ache and feel like eating a lot for some reason. My brain hurts.

Research

First of all let me start by saying that I don't appreciate how Andy says that cell phones cause radiation tumors. About 99% of people over the age of 13 in the United States cell phones so he's basically telling us that we're all going to have tumors. People know what is said about cell phone usage, and it's their choice if they want to use it. On wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phone_radiation_and_health),
scientists say there is no real health risks from using mobile phones. There have been tests as recent as 2007, saying that the radiation coming through the phone, is not nearly enough to really have a significant effect on your health. People say that cancer takes about 10 years to develop, so some say the 2007 test is not viable, but over 4 other national tests have been done and 10 years later, no cancerous effects have been found.

I find this interesting because so many people just go along with people when they say the Cell Phones give you brain tumors, but no one has actually stopped to do the research and find out for themselves. I am still skeptical about mobile phones and cancer, but for now i have to trust the scientists. It's their job to find out.

A kids relationship to their parents is one of the most fundamental but important thing in a persons life. They are the closest people to you. You're supposed to be able to talk to them, and tell them things. They should know about your life -- they created it! So when things like Myspace, and Facebook came out, you can see how our generation went to the shitter. Kids stopped talking to their parents, and started social networking as a way of therapy. Telling basically complete strangers (people you have met maybe once) about all of your problems. Seeing what people have to say about it.

In an April article of Globe and Mail
(http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article763859.ece),
Patrick White interviews 3 parents whose kids all have Facebook. Three of the three families said that their relationships with their kids have changed. Two of the Three families said that their relationships are worse. One mother even says She thinks that her daughter's generation is losing the ability to socialize in person. I couldn't agree more.

Video Project GHIJK

Hannah,

I appreciate you taking the time out to write a long and thought out response to my video. I like how you made it personal by calling me "Mr. Ego", and also telling me about parts of my post that was similar to your. What you said about how both of our brothers are addicted to digitalization hit home because so many of our younger siblings are really gravitating towards these stimulating digital things, and its taking a toll on their well being. I have seen your brother and though digitalization is not physically having the affect on him that it's having on my brother, I'm sure it is still affecting his, and probably your life.

What you said about me being in the gym all the time also made me think. Am I in the gym all the time trying to be somebody? Or steer away from somebody? Am I doing it purely to stay in good shape? Or are there other reasons that I'm not thinking of, like staying away from someone I don't want to be...

As funny as my video was, and I'll admit a little bit fake, it is still a reoccurring thing in my life. Digitalization is taking all of us away from things that we need to be doing at this point in our life, like homework. I think our videos are different though. For me, digitalization is taking me away from something I need to get done, for you, you are using something digital to do something good. In the fucked up world that we live in, finding something as pure as acoustic guitar playing is hard, and whatever it takes to do something like that is good. So using an electric tuner is fine in my eyes.

I'm not saying that all Digital things are bad, but at this point in our lives, I think we need to focus on the things we need to get done in order to be better adults, and anything that stands in our way is evil. Lets not let distractions get in the way of our future. Thank you for your comment and I look forward to your next praise, advice, or criticism.