Blog #5

The essay by Danna Walker “The Longest Day” was very interesting and really grabbed my attention.  In this article Danna talked about her struggle of not using communication for one whole day (24 hours) She spoke about how it affected her and what her problems were when she faced this situation.  For one whole day I chose to not use the Internet or my computer.  I do really need to be on my computer all the time checking emails and just surfing the web so I thought this may be something that would be a problem.  My expectations of this assignment were that it would be no problem that I could not use the Internet for one day.  I thought it was actually to easy and I would not even falter.  I also thought that the Internet was not as demanding and not as needed and everyone thought it really was.  I found it almost troubling how much this affected me during the course of the day.  I really did not think it would be a problem but then I realized that it was.  I found myself wanting to go on facebook and want to check fantasy football frequently.  I felt that if I was not on AIM or facebook then I was out of the loop.  I also like to use the Internet to shop on EBAY or other online sites.  I really did not think that it would have such a huge affect on me like it did but I was honestly rattled about not being able to access the Internet.  Also the Internet is huge for school, everything is run through myumbc so when I could not access it I also felt like I was falling behind with my schoolwork.  I learned from this experience that I think people are more and more attached and almost dependent on the Internet.  Not just having it be a social way to connect with people but everything is mostly run through computers and the internet.  If you are working with a specific company and do not have access to the internet then you will defiantly be out of the loop and will have trouble keeping up with the workload.  I found it borderline disturbing that our society is so dependent on computers like we are but also I think it makes a lot of things easier.  This technology is essential because like I said before with businesses and schools now, the Internet is the way everything operates.  You now pay your bills online and you also check email, get in contact with teachers and even use it to find your way around campus.  I think that everything would be a huge hassle without the Internet; it makes everything so much easier.   I think that this experience shows that we have basically surrendered our lives over to the Internet because so many things are ran through it and it is essential in our society.  I also think that our society is so lazy that they want the easy way out of everything.  For example our society would rather shop online and have it delivered to their door rather than going to the store to buy it.  If everything was so easy and accessible online then I feel that people would never leave their houses.   I think that kids now a days in our society will become almost addicted to the internet and really will not be able to have a day or even a half a day without it. This is only the beginning to the obsession with the internet and I think that there will be more and better innovations that come out of it and before we know it, there I nothing we cant do on the internet.  

Blog #4

I think that Neil Postman won me over in the argument of two cultures.  This article talked about how the emotion that tv promotes every five minutes a different and incompatible emotions.  The reason I think that Neil Postman won me over in the argument is because his argument that reading is an ordered process requiring us to sit at a table and make judgments of truth and falsehood.   He also talks about how TV with its random unconnected images breaks the habit of logic thinking.  I agreed with his statement that his two most dangerous words of this century are now and this.  He says that because of TV anchors talk about one strange really important thing like a natural disaster and then try and swing you to buy something.  I think that it was a little strange when they started talking about the bible and how the bible readings and passages influence their decision on the topic.  Neil Postman claimed in one of his arguments that this was the reason why Moses chose writing because the Jews borrowed the phonetic alphabet from the Egyptians.  Although I agree with Postman and his arguments I still feel that the bible arguments are tough to prove and something that he struggled with towards the end.  Postmans argument that readers become less physically active and not as sensitive to movement to dance or to other symbolic moves.  Paglia then argues that she found out the people born after World War II are turned off by the modern media and they cant understand how we who were born after the war can read a book and watch TV at the same time. 

            I really think that Postmans arguments were good and so were Paglia but overall I feel that Postman had the edge in his argument.  I think that watching TV really does not hinder anything like your motor skills or what not.  I also think that too much of anything is eventually bad for you and if you watch TV to much or you read to much then eventually you may want to change up your routine.  But overall I think that coming from two different times in American History it is hard for different types of people to relate on a specifc topic.  I do feel like we have the same ideas and opinions but we also may have different styles and also different morals.  Sometimes in different systems or a different time period it is hard to relate to one another.  I think that overall Postman’s argument was something that many people should hear and think about but you also have to have an open mind to Paglia’s argument and how she phrased her words and discussed the topic.  I feel that both had very good points but overall I would give the edge to Postman.  I think that what won me over was when Postman was talking about Dan Rather saying that 5,000 children just died in a plane crash and then he would say, we will be right back after a word from our sponsors.  I feel that it is something may really affect the way we take in the news and how people may feel about it.  I know I always hear people say they never read the front cover of the newspaper because it is always depressing or exaggerated but in this case I think it is discussing how there is a change of mood and we as a culture and society buy right into it. 

Political blog #3

During election day on November 4th I sat back at watched CNN's media coverage of the election.  I noticed that the media coverage was extremely intense and also very informative.  It was not boring to watch at all and actually it was entertaining to sit in front of.  Not only did it grasp your attention because it is about our president but the way they had it set up, they had guest speakers and also they used humor and had images.  I liked how they had on the bottom line the set up of each state and they broke down the demographics of who voted for who and how the votes were processed.  I turned the channel and started watching MTV, there's is more geared towards grasping the youth of americas attention and not really on the older generation.  MTV had guest music and movie stars talking about the election and also they had games in between to gain the viewers attention.  Basically if you want the real up to date political scene then my vote is to stick to CNN.  CNN is no nonsense but also it keeps you interested to watch.  

I think that the media coverage of the election has really gone up and is more of entertainment now than it ever was.  It was usually just someone relaying the news and basically reading off a TelePrompTer but now it is more like a TV show and it is very entertaining.  They showed some reporters in Chicago at a Obama rally and it seemed almost like a party where they could not hear what the reporter was actually saying.  The huge rally seemed extremely energetic and wild.  I really think that CNN provided the best coverage of the election that i watched and i felt like it was very entertaining and kept you on your toes.  It was a good thing that it was not boring because the election is a very important time in American History and everyone should be interested and excited for it.