Technology Addictions

This day in age is consumed with the connectedness that we are actually more connected to our devices than we are to people.  As I've said in earlier posts, we use technology over face to face interactions.  This connection to a device rather than people is what is corrupting this generation to the point of 80% of us checking our phones before we brush our teeth in the morning.  I'm also willing to bet that the percentage is higher than that when looking at people on their phones before they go to bed at night.  What is it that makes it so we crave this artificial connection to the lives of other people?  What is so important about our lives that we have to share it with the world and not just our friends face to face?  This generation is the most connected, but also seems to be the most distant.  This is a call I make to challenge all members of my generation, its time we take a step away from our phones and social media, its time we take a week and disconnect ourselves, and instead have real conversations.  Why not try that for a week, see where it takes you.  Instead of checking your phone play an instrument, go outside (before we freeze and are buried in snow).  Its all a process, why don't we start it now.  Facebook is on the downturn.  What if other social media was too? This is an intervention to the addiction our world has to technology.  Its time for change.

99%??

Well as the audience to this film I was amazed at how biased it was, but I guess that's a given with any documentary.  Some of the things being said were straight up absurd, and more often than not there were tons of logical fallacies, which had you immersed yourself into the film you would never notice, but looking at it analytically its a very different story than watching it just to watch it.  Though it made strong points that made me want to side with them, their overall views seem absurd as well as illegal...  "The 99%" isn't an accurate representation as the 1% are just outliers in the range of economics which span from those who are actually impoverished and those you are getting along just fine and have more.

The film tried to use emotional appeals to sway the audience, but though they were sometimes effective they went too far in portraying the militaristic police, and the bankers who foreclose on houses.  For me at first it was very effective, but then it quickly become absurd (a word I've used many times already but does describe its use), which made it absolutely impossible to see past the obvious rhetorical strategies employed thus making them ineffective for me.

Creativity: What is it?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Creativity as:

(noun) the ability to make new things or think of new ideas.

But I think that creativity is much more abstract than that.  Is it every truly possible to synthesize completely new ideas?  The human brain is constantly processing everything that happens both consciously and subconsciously, so what if we are only subconsciously combining the previous ideas of others?  Obviously the definition of Creativity cannot solely be dumb-ed down to a single sentence, and as such I think this is more of a philosophical discussion rather than solely an educated response as it is more than solely what goes on inside the human brain.  

Creativity is how we express the chaos that exists within our brains, which in and of itself is sometimes chaos.

Life of a High Schooler

Weekends are far too short... especially when you get no days to sleep in.... I had to wake up early both Saturday and Sunday, after staying up late all three nights between the football game Friday, and homework both Saturday and Sunday.  For me the High School Life boils down to 4 things: school, homework, eating, and of course sleeping in between (or lack there of).

School: The 7 hours of sitting around "learning".  Learning on seems to truly be done in AP classes, as everything else is extremely busy work based, which just annoys me as there is no reason to put real effort into busy work as it boils down to being a waste of time.

Homework: The 2+ Hours spent after school working.  Sometimes once again busy work, which isn't beneficial.  And makes anything outside of school (and extra curriculars) very difficult.

Eating:  We're High Schoolers... it just has to be done.

Sleeping:  The amount of sleep some high Schoolers get is just pathetic, to say the least...  Sleep is necessary for keeping brain functioning and absorbing new information, learning is inhibited without the appropriate amount of sleep.

Sounds like a very bland and repetitive life to me, sometimes on that makes me wish college would be here sooner.

The Technology Anomaly

The anomalies which have been created by technology have both helped and hurt communication.  Face to face conversations have almost become obsolete to texting, messaging and the like.  Even calling someone on the phone is second to trying to communicate via texts.  As such the margin for error in interpretations of what is trying to be said exponentially increases as the actual words we say only make up about 7% of our communications.  55% being non-verbal gestures (posture, expressions) and 38% vocal (pitch, tone, intonations, etc).  The full potential of communication is not being met solely through text.  Humans habitually take the route which will require the least effort, in this case a text rather than a call.  Sure texts are good for short exchanges, but there are definitely things which should be verbalized instead.

How much time could be saved by just putting your phone down while doing homework and not getting distracted by social mediums.  Even for just a day abstaining from unnecessary technology could yield greater productivity in everything you do, giving it your full attention.  It's the individual initiative that will change the way our world communicates, and make that communication all the more effective.

Christopher

This Video is a short by Olan Rogers called, "Heart of the Sea"

I still haven't quite figured out what exactly it is about this video, and any Olan Rogers video for that matter, that appeals to me so much.  No matter how many times I watch them they are still just as funny as when I first watched them.  It may be the accents, the scripting, the terrible CGI's (not to mention the acting).  But for some reason, the humor of complete randomness seems to really apeal to me.  Everyone knows Rogers's "Ghost in the Stalls" but I thought it only fitting to talk about one of his less know works.

Rainy Days

Storms are awesome!  Watching storms come in, the sun shining on the clouds.  The sight of rain between the horizon and the clouds blurring the sun.   The power of nature is staggering as water erodes at the dirt and clouds blot out the sun.  As lightning becomes the main source of light.

























The best is when you watch a tornado form from afar! Its mesmerizing.



So yes I enjoy storms