Reading habits / E-books

Ebooks.pngUnfortunately, my reading habits have declined over the years. I used to read so much in elementary school up to high school and once I started working a lot more and had a heavier course load with college…I haven’t read as many books as I used to. I think a lot of it has to do with already having to read so much of the required textbooks and other books that are assigned to me. Also frequenting different blogs and reading numerous articles online has played a role in it. I usually like to read book series. I think I like them a lot, because of the character development. It’s nice getting attached to a relatable character. And you can really tell when an author took the time to really think out a character and that’s something that I commend, because that can make or break a book. I really enjoyed the Crank series by Ellen Hopkins, although it’s not the best example of a series with good character development. I know that Twilight gets a lot of hate, but at the time I enjoyed reading The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer. My favorite genre is fantasy. Anything fiction really. The last book I read was Witches of East End by Melissa De La Cruz, partly because I really enjoyed the T.V. show and wanted to compare the two. I think a lot of people enjoy that as well with books. Comparing the book to the T.V. show/movie adaptation. I’ve always liked reading paper books. I like having something in my hand. My eyes get really sore if I stare at a computer screen too long and I can’t imagine ever reading a book online.

Obviously the easy accessibility of getting digital books now is something that has grown and that a lot of people enjoy. Being able to buy a book with just a click and being able to read it right away, instead of having to search for it and pay for it at a store. As seen from the video, “A Simple Guide To Self-Publishing,” almost anyone can easily self-publish their own book, giving new authors a chance to get their stuff out there without the hassle of going through large publishing companies. You can have as many books as you want stored into one device – laptop/Kindle/iPad. A lot of e-books are super cheap. You can buy short stories and novellas, which is something that has been growing in popularity. There’s so many advantages with digital books.

I honestly prefer reading paper books, one of the main reasons being the discomfort of having to read something on a computer screen, but also because it feels more authentic to me. I know a lot of people that love to just go into book stores or find a random quant bookstore and just browse and find a new book. It’s an experience in itself to actually go into a bookstore and buy a book. Also a lot more digital books aren’t edited as well as a lot of paper books. Most paper books go through an extensive editing process before they’re actually published. A downside to a lot of people self-publishing. People also like building a collection. A lot of people take pride in having an original copy of a book.

Broods bio & the release of the their new single ‘Free’

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Broods is compromised of a sibling duo with older brother Caleb Nott – multi-instrumentalist, producer, and backup vocalist, accompanied by younger sister Georgia Nott on lead vocals.

They are both from New Zealand. Georgia studied popular music and Caleb studies industrial design at the University of Auckland. Both of them dropped out to pursue their dream of making music. They released their first single, “Bridges,” in 2013, that was No. 8 on the New Zealand single chart.

After the success of “Bridges,” they signed with Capitol and Polydor Records. Both of which are labels under Universal Music Group. They then released their album Evergreen, which was produced by Joel Little. The album Evergreen debuted at No. 1 on the New Zealand album chart. Their song “Mother and Father” was the lead single from the album. Other songs of theirs include: “Never Gonna Change”, “Four Walls”, “Sleep Baby Sleep”, Coattails, and “Taking You There.”

At the 2015 New Zealand Music Awards, they won ‘Artist of the Year,’ and at the 2015 New Zealand Music Awards, they won ‘Album of the Year,’ for Evergreen.

Check out their newest single, “Free,” which was released on March 31, 2016.

Endangered Languages

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A lot of countries are adopting a trade language such as English, which has been deemed to be a killer language because it is indeed wiping out a multitude of mother tongue languages. I might be biased, but I think I have a different opinion on the matter because I don’t have a native language that is on the brink of extinction. I grew up with English and have grown up learning Spanish. It seems that the languages that will effect us the most are the ones being taught in schools. I’ve already come into a couple situations where I was glad I knew some Spanish, because it is a language that has been growing in terms of speakers in the U.S. In fact, “[w]ith more than 37 million speakers, Spanish is by far the most spoken non-English language in the U.S. today among people ages 5 and older” (Lopez).  I especially noticed a difference after moving from Ohio to Florida, which I suspected would happen. Harrison says, “[p]eople of all ages, but especially children, can easily be bilingual” (Economist). It seems that a lack of interest is a big factor when discussing endangered languages. Children might be able to learn and assimilate languages much quicker than adults, but the problem is that a lot of children have little to no interest in learning their native language.

I think having English as a global language would solve a lot of problems. On the plus side, it is one of the easiest languages to learn as well. I recently started a new job, and there are a lot of people from Haiti who work there. They all speak Haitian Creole. I couldn’t understand the person training me because he spoke English poorly and I had to keep asking him to repeat what he said a lot. Eventually I got the hang of things, but I was frustrated, which I know a lot of people trying to communicate that have different native languages feel all of the time.

I do however believe that the native languages like the Sora, Chulym, Chemehuevi, and the Kallawaya should at least be documented. The families have a close connection to these languages. It is part of their history and culture. But It’s difficult to even track down some of these languages, because there’s so many out there. We could all see that it was hard for Harrison and Anderson to even find remaining speakers, because a lot of them were so close to extinction. It seems like a race they can’t win. That’s why I believe it’s almost inevitable to have these changes occurring in the shift of languages because there’s not enough professionals to track down all of these different languages and make sure they are recorded and documented correctly. I’m sure it’s not easy for the people whose languages are already extinct to feel like they lost a sense of identity. Unfortunately, it happens when there’s such a large shift into urbanization. It’s easier to have people speak one language than a bunch of different ones. Having a language gap in an urban area makes it harder for people to go about their everyday life.

Lopez, Mark Hugo. “What Is the Future of Spanish in the United States?”Pewresearch. PewResearchCenter, 4 Feb. 2016. Web. 2 Feb. 2016.

“Seven Questions for K. David Harrison.” The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 23 Nov. 2010. Web. 06 Feb. 2016.

Makeover shows

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Reflexive self is when we see ourselves from the outside and make choices about how we want to transform our lives. The reoccurring theme we see with these makeover shows is how beauty on the inside is the same/matches the beauty we have on the outside. This idea that if you get a makeover that somehow your self-worth will improve as well. That after the makeover, your life will change and everything will be so much better, because you look great on the outside. That’s what these shows are trying to convey. The variety of shows including makeover and weight loss shows are trying to show us that there are different routes to obtain happiness.

The American Dream was really defined as a time where people could change their lives and a lot of it was a show. They really cared about appearances and how other people saw them and how they were living their lives. You had to live your lives a certain way and to a certain standard. A lot of which is tied to consumerism. Consumer products will somehow transform your life in a positive way. The American Dream from the 1930’s has foregone a change to today’s view of what the “American Dream” really is. Makeover shows ultimately try to tell us what we think should matter in life and that’s being beautiful on the outside.

In the surveillance and shame part of the video is where participants are asked to put themselves into a position where they have to look at themselves as others do. They are usually made to watch secret footage, while others also watch and are judged for their poor choices in style or food choices. These people usually feel ashamed when people view these things in a negative way. These shows try to humiliate people so that they will open up to the thought of “improving” themselves.

Most of the ways these shows advertise products is by product placement. They try to integrate them into the script someway and also by putting them into a natural setting.

I personally don’t mind reality makeover shows. I think they’re fun to watch and I like to see the transformations. A lot of the people that go into those shows end up being pretty funny as well. This is a big appeal of the shows. I just think that more people should know that it’s not all about what’s on the outside that matters. I think these shows are sending the wrong message to younger viewers watching. I don’t think it’s a bad thing when people want to look good and presentable, especially if they’re frequently in a professional setting. But a lot of these shows undermine people with all kinds of different jobs and I don’t think it’s right. Overall, I don’t like the idea that you can only achieve the American Dream with your looks and the consumption of products. I prefer the weight loss shows that at least show through hard work you can achieve your goals.

Sexism in video games

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Christina Hoff Sommers, known as the ‘Factual Feminist’ on YouTube, gives her reasoning on why she ultimately thinks that the debate on video games being sexist should be dropped. She says that, female gender activists want, “the male video game culture to die.” Gender activists or feminists have been criticizing video games for years now saying that they’re non-inclusive to women, but Sommers argues that they cherry-pick and haven’t looked at the fact that now there are many more video games that include women. She also argues that a distinction should be made between casual gamers and hardcore gamers. Adult women are not the key demographic in competitive video games. Ratio of boys to girls who play 20 hours of video games a week is 7:1. And the competitive video games are where we are seeing the most misogynistic content. These games that are created mostly by men and played by mostly by men. So what if men did the same thing? Sommers says in the video, “now imagine if a group of gender critics attacked women centered shows like Oprah or The View, or women’s magazines for privileging the female perspective and marginalizing men…treating them as “the other.”’ She makes a good point here. Men have never criticized these shows or magazines, because these shows and magazines are watched and read mostly by women.

No one has actually been able to establish a clear correlation between people playing violent video games that turn into actual violent actions in real life. In a study done in the Review of General Psychology, found that for the vast majority of players, “violent video games have no adverse effects,” and that “personality traits of certain types of players should be of greater concern than the violence of video games” (Campbell 95). There is truly no evidence that these video games are making males misogynist, racist, or homophobic. Studies also shows that, “[g]ender is indeed a factor in game addiction: A 2013 study found that males are much more susceptible to game addiction” (Campbell 94). A lot of these games include multiplayer games like World of Warcraft, Halo, Call of Duty, Gears of War, etc.

A lot of game narratives are seen as misogynist, but that is because most of these narratives are made up by men, who make up the majority in the IT field. According to the National Center for Women & Information Technology, “[w]omen hold 56% of all professional occupations in the U.S. workforce, but only 25% of IT occupations” (Campbell 95). Now this would make sense when dealing with the debate on the misogyny happening in video games, and that’s because most of the writers are mostly male. If more woman were involved in the video game development process, then they could hold more of a say of what goes into them.

To that one special friend,

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We go through our lives making tons of friends whether it’s through school, sports, or work. But then that one special person comes along and changes everything. That person who understands you. That person who never judges you. That person who listens. I find it harder and harder to be away from that one person who truly gets me.

It’s hard for me, because I forgot a long time ago what is was liked to be judged by people and that’s because I was constantly with you. You know everything about me. I’m unknown here. It’s kind of nice, but also really scary.

It’s funny because we weren’t even that close through most of high school and then BAM! There we were in our drug rugs watching Gossip Girl for hours. We talked about anything that came to our minds and it was never weird, because honestly…who could be weirder than us. And that’s when the inside jokes came. Those inside jokes that I miss so much.

Today we’re on different paths, but there’s always tomorrow. When I get that text or phone call it’s like nothing has changed. I haven’t even been away that long, but without my best friend it feels like a lifetime has passed.

It’s funny because we would always have our deep talks in the car, which was so weird but that’s just what we did. Probably because we were happiest when we were on our way to get food. You really showed me what a true friend is. I just needed to write this to you because I needed to thank you. There is no one else like you.

Thank you for always being there. Thank you for being that one special friend that everyone needs. I’m so lucky to have you.

The Peacock Generation

lotsOfFeathersReferred to as the Gen Y or Millennial generation, I would like to re-name our group something I see more fitting…The Peacock Generation. Because I’m “entitled” and I can. Majority of the people in The Peacock Generation who frequent social media everyday are saying, “HEY! LOOK AT ME!.” Why? We are a social species and want to be loved even if that love is coming from complete strangers. We crave constant attention and we want the instant gratification. What some people don’t understand is that our generation is used to instant gratification. This is how we’ve been raised. Our parents have always given us praise. We have grown up using Google where you can type in any question and get the answer instantly. We also want our friends and family to see that our lives are going great when in all actuality could be a total mess. But pictures can be deceiving and sometimes there’s a lot more to the story. It seems as though we are numbing ourselves. Should we really feel like we need gratification from people who aren’t even in our lives to feel good about ourselves? I’m not so sure. I am a victim and have been an advocate of this new plague.

People call our generation “narcissists”, and that we are “entitled,” and maybe that’s true. But there’s a lot more to us. We have the freedom to say what we want and we take full advantage of that. Most of our lives our parents have censored things from us and maybe that is a part of it. We only want the truth and seek out the truth. We want to know what is going on in the world. Saying that our generation doesn’t care about current news is not true at all. We have access to all different news sources and are bombarded with multiple different news stories on Facebook everyday. Being able to say what’s on our mind anytime of the day about any subject gives us a sense of accomplishment. We want to change the world into a place that we deem suitable.

Studies have also shown that we may be rewiring our brains because of how much multitasking we do during the day. Most of us can use three to four electronic devices at a time. Our brains are evolving. I was always told that multitasking doesn’t work and it might actually be true that it can.Think about it. We are constantly connected with people. People from around the world posting and sharing their stories that we can see and share and also interact with the people who wrote it. We interact with people from around the world which already gives us insight into different cultures and what problems they may face. There is so much that we can do online. Things that past generations couldn’t do.

Many positives have come from the emergence of the rapid growth of social media. More awareness has been raised about issues like bullying and cyberbullying alike, body image, animal cruelty, police brutality,the war against ISIS, racism, LGBT issues, politics, etc. Websites like BuzzFeed, which I’m sure we are all familiar with, do a great job with this. Snapchat allows us to stay in touch and send pictures our friends. It also has stories of events that are happening around the world with snapchatters snapchatting from different countries, which is pretty neat in retrospect. Facebook and Twitter allow us to share what’s on our mind. Regular everyday people have been given able to gain large followings and become celebrities in their own right, whether that’s through the website YouTube, or through apps like Vine, Instagram, Twitter, and Musical.ly. Companies with large brand recognition have contacted these people and they actually post ads for them through their accounts. A lot of them are like mini-commercials. Some companies for example that have done this are Target, IKEA, and Coca-Cola. This is another thing that past generations can’t say that they did. There are so many good things that have come from social media, but there are also some negatives.

A negative is that social media and dating apps have potentially killed the dating game. I don’t know how many times I’ve swept left on the dating app Tinder based solely on looks and I have recently thought to myself…”how can I be so judgmental?” It seems impossible now that someone can start a relationship through Tinder. But it’s easy if you want a quick lay. The phrase, “Netflix and Chill” has become a phrase that is commonplace among our generation. In a recent article done by Vanity Fair, they are calling it the “Dating Apocalypse.” We have become a hookup culture with no interest in building a strong relationship. This might be because it is so easy nowadays. We are so fast-paced in everything we do. Social media also has an affect on people already in relationships. Another negative is that most of us fail to live in the moment. We want everyone to know what we’re up to so we are always on Snapchat and posting to Instagram. I know we are all guilty of being somewhere and constantly being on our phones. Watching other people made me realize that we are missing out on so much.

Maybe it’s just how our generation is. Every generation is different. Is it bad that most of us are more worried about self-improvement than having to get married and having kids? I don’t think so. The difference is that we know we can choose. If you weren’t married and already having kids back then straight out of college then what were you doing with your life? This generation is bent on getting a good career. Most of us have an entrepreneurial state of mind and that’s not a bad thing. We are on a journey of self-improvement. That’s why so many of us want to travel the world. We want to see the world and become more cultured. I don’t know how many friends I’ve had who have already studied abroad or have went on mission trips to help the less fortunate. We are a more open generation. I constantly say “we” in this article because that’s how we think. It’s a “we” generation because we are a bunch of collaborators, and open-minded individuals. Each generation is different and I’m proud to be a part of what I call The Peacock Generation, because the positives outweigh the negatives. There are  endless possibilities for what we can do.