Comments on other blogs

My Comments:

Liam K. - Using social media for shaming

Rosemarie B. - Thoughts on artificial intelligence

Tracy Z. - Selfie sticks gone wrong

Amanda L - Dangers of a selfie stick

Mary-Anne B. - Tech-No-Logy

Elkan D. - Role reversal

Blog Post #6 Selfie Stick to the Basics

Ah selfies, a way to share pictures of yourself or just keep them to admire. I personally didn't know the number of selfies being taken per day beforehand, but it actually surprises me how many are being taken. Per day roughly just, I dunno 1 million are taken, no biggie, just a little bit of selfies taken,... just a little bit.

I don't take selfies very often, mainly because I don't like having to stretch my arm out to take a picture of myself I'm never gonna show anyone. But of course you can take selfies in public, where everyone can see take them. While you're at it might as well use that selfie stick! Oh wait, according to the Pizza Hut video it's a hazard, so let's not use it.

I don't know if you can tell, but i am using quite the bit of sarcasm in the last part of my last paragraph towards my views of selfies and selfie sticks. I don't know why anyone would extend their stick to the point where it would be a hazard to anyone, I don't really care if they are banned or not, but I think for a small thing where it would only be dangerous in a crowd, banning selfie sticks would be ridiculous. But there are some reasons why they should be banned in certain places, such as how they were banned in many museums. BBC covers some reasons why there were banned here. A main reason I see it being banned in museums and art galleries, would be it seems to be distractions from the art, but I don't see anything wrong with using a selfie stick, other than the fact in itself that you are using a selfie stick.

Blog Post #5 Prodigies with Technology

With the recent achievements that are known as modern technology, as a digital communicator it gives me great joy to learn about the new things that have been made. I love the idea that new technology will always be coming out to entertain and help us with our everyday tasks. I can see with new AI technology things like new ways of communication, and new forms of art we could never create with the technology we have now. There are endless possibilities for what the future may bring, but hopefully sentient AI's like Ultron will not pop up anytime soon.

Even so, you have to appreciate how far modern technology has gotten in the past 50 years, we went from giant bricks for phones, to phones that are thinner than your finger. We don't even need to have a wire for internet connection or even charging a device as we now have wireless charging which I find pretty cool. We use these new technologies to communicate, and connect with one another, so by creating new technology, we just expand our horizon for human communication.

A repercussion that bothers me about new technology will always be the price. Right now i use a 7 year old laptop for everything I do on the computer, from creating digital artwork, to playing video games, to even blogging such as this. I don't have a job, so I don't have the money to purchase the new technology to come out. This is a problem for some people who cannot get a job or are just too lazy to do so, but this doesn't apply to all of the current population.

Blog Post #4 Control the Hype for Stereotypes

Personally I enjoy watching ads such as this, because it gives little humor with my sort of taste. Even if it shows a little bit of a stereotype, it's done in good spirit. They didn't have any intention to make it offensive or harmful in any way, as it just advertised their product and showed how a change could completely change how someone looks. So what if it showed that "if you drive a truck you're a badass." this isn't really a stereotype that is bad, it just really isn't for the tastes of some. The commercial was generally he male version of all commercials for women, where they are portrayed to have perfect bodies, face with no blemishes and generally unobtainable. To be honest it's even slimmed down because the man only changed his car, and wasn't a Chris Evans.

There are many other commercials that are sure to be a lot worse, but i feel that most have very minor stereotypes that only if you pay attention you will notice. Such is the case with this Mio commercial.

It isnt really noticable, but there is a general stereotype that black people like grape flavored drinks and only if someone was really nitpicky about it they would point this out, fort he 3 seconds it was in this commercial.

But there are some people who believe we should own up to our stereotypes like myself, and the youtuber Nigahiga. He created a video based on Asian stereotypes and even creates a pun at the end using a Filipino stereotypes which i found hilarious. you can watch his video here.

Overall I believe stereotypes are things that should be generally accepted unless they are plain straight rude.

Blog Post #3 When parenting goes wrong

Many different parents have many different ways in disciplining their children. This is just one of them. As degrading as it may be, depending on the child, this sort of punishment will have different effects. Compared to some punishments like beating the children, I'd say this is a much better choice, given that the child is still young. If they are older like maybe 11+, they will be more prone to being made fun of at school by their peers, and this is the age where they care a lot more about their social status.

Talking from experience, I'd probably much rather have had my head shaved than my butt beaten with a slipper or belt. Even if it is mean, this may work wonders for some kids who need to learn discipline because they are not doing anything in school, and letting their grades drop. personally, I saw this before in a tweet on Twitter, back then I did not know the back story for it, and did not know it was a trend to be done by parents. Personally I do not find this to be the meanest thing ever, as parents can do much worse things to their children for misbehaving.

The mention of disciplining children reminds me of a video I once saw, where the father ran over his son's video games with a lawnmower, destroying hundreds of dollars worth of video games. 

Here is a screenshot of the parent shredding the video games

This is an example of a parenting method that should not be used. There is almost nothing to gain from that, other than the anger from your child. You can watch the video here. In this situation, the father could easily have brought out the "you live under my roof, you obey my rules" logic. But he decided to go to the extreme destroying the property of his son, all to only teach a lesson. This is the sort of thing that parenting should never get to, along with physical abuse, or definitely sexual abuse.

Blog Post #2 - How far can mean posts go?

TWITTER, FACEBOOK, TUMBLR, MYSPACE

As far as social media goes, its basically a do whatever you want sort of place. Many people often use it to give an update to their followers or friends what they're doing, or even just post how they feel at the moment. But like most things, there is an ugly side to it. People saying mean things about each other, swearing, and even going as far as to threaten other people online. Seeing as you are free to express your opinion on the internet, should it be banned to do such things? Should it concern anyone that these sort of things are happening? In my opinion, no. I don't think so.

Personally I don't see it as a concern unless you find yourself doing things such as threatening people online, with comments like: I'll kill you! like just... no. Not only is it cyber-bullying to say that to someone, its breaking the law. As well as posting mean things about one another, that's just rude. If you wont say it to their face don't bother posting it online, keep it to yourself. As long as you're not doing stuff like that with the privilege you have with free speech on the internet, it should be perfectly fine to express your opinions and feelings, especially if you're a teenager or young adult.

The reason I think this is that being a teenager myself, we have all sorts of stress on our shoulders; having to do work, chores at home, social life, and even love life. All these things may be petty individually, but they rarely do come at you one at a time. I would know, I myself have a twitter and have expressed my feeling through it, whether appropriate or not, I felt i had to let my feelings out otherwise I wouldn't be able to take it.. When you're a teenager these things like social status matter to you a lot more than most people think they should, it reflects on how you feel upon yourself. This is one of the main points of stress, and social media can actually help alleviate the stress. It isn't good to keep your emotions bottled up inside, eventually the jar won't be able to hold it, and all the bottled up emotions may just burst open all at once.

If it's directed at someone, I would recommend that you refrain from posting it for everyone to see. Not only does it show people how you really feel about them, potentially hurting your relationships with friends, it also may affect the other person it is directed at. BUT if you feel you have to do it, do it on a private account that no one can see, it minimizes the amount of people seeing it to one- you, and also stops it from hurting anyone's feelings. Some people may think "Oh it's just a comment on a social network, it won't do any harm." such as Tyler the Creator with one of his most well-known tweets:






This doesn't apply to everyone. Some people may be more sensitive than others, cyber bullying is a very real thing, and something that strikes deep as well. Not only can it hurt you emotionally, it can hurt your social life which can be equally as painful. In VSauce's recent videos, Michael talks about the science of Awkwardness. He elaborates on how most people think about how other people see them, and how they stress on whether they see them in a positive or negative manner.

you can watch his video here

Overall, I don't particularly think that Twitter should be checked/governed. But I do think that their policies on particular posts should. Most people only do this behind a screen because it makes them feel more powerful on how they can say things anonymously, but people need to learn that there are things you should and shouldn't say online, or anywhere for that matter. But the bottom line is, people need to learn restriction on their actions online, as it can have an adverse effect on many different people, just learn your place, and stay in it. You don't have a right to tell people how to live their lives, leave them be, and as long as you keep yourself within appropriate boundaries, feel free to express yourself how you want on social media.

Blog Post #1 - Is being a Celebrity full of Perks? or full of Jerks?

With all the perks of being a celebrity, there must be no downside; the fame, the fortune, the adoring fans... or is there? Many of us have always dreamed of being a celebrity walking on the red carpet in LA, but the thing we never thought about too much was: that there are also downsides to being a celebrity. Celebrities constantly have a camera and microphone in their face, and hardy ever get any private time to themselves. We always treat celebrities like almighty gods, but the fact of the matter is that they are regular people just like us. This is present in the video i just watched, it showed an argument between the celebrity Iggy Azalea and a member of the paparazzi.

What seems to have happened is Iggy was out shopping for some eggs in a grocery store, a photographer apparently had been bothering her and pestering her while invading her personal space while she is just trying to do her groceries shopping. Most people think nothing of this, even the photographer was using the excuse "you're a celebrity! you're famous!" but they always seem to forget that she is just another human being who is out to buy sustenance for herself. The person taking the video stated that Iggy assaulted the photographer by spitting on him, and I am not saying what Iggy did was okay, but try to take pictures of anyone on the street and you'll find yourself with someone yelling at you or even a slap on the face. I don't like Iggy but I hate people who don't leave you alone even more, I have personal experience in this matter.

Everyone always seems to blame the celebrity in these matters, and always seem to be like "the paparazzi are just doing their job!" even if they are doing their job they are freelance photographers, and what they do, is try to take pictures of people while invading their privacy and personal life. Personally I would have to side with the celebrities in the point that the paparazzi can be a pain in the neck. Think about going to work, doing what you do then leaving work just to have cameras and microphones in your face all day, yeah not fun.

But not only Iggy is affected by the paparazzi, not by a long shot. In fact, many other celebrities are affected by the paparazzi much more than Iggy. Jennifer Lawrence, Rihanna, and even Daniel Radcliffe. In fact, one time Daniel got so irritated with the paparazzi trying to take pictures of him, he decided to pull a little prank on them. Along with being a movie actor, Daniel also starred in theatre plays, which he was occasionally naked, fondling horses... don't ask. But, when he left, of course there would be paparazzi waiting for him to take pictures, so what he did was wear the same outfit   
for 5 months. Because if you take pictures and it looks like the same picture every day because of the clothing, they can't sell. So Daniel would wear a his outfit underneath the same jacket and pants everyday for 5 months and of course it pissed off the paparazzi.

You can read the article about Daniel here.