The Final Best Post

The school year is just about over, and it is time for one last best post of the quarter award. Fourth Quarters award goes to Technology in the World we Live in. This post wins the award because it combines a number of issues into one central theme. The ideas from American Studies Day, my Junior Theme, a previous post of mine, and a new phenomenon, The Konrath Effect, all have to do with how technology effects our world. In fact, this issue has become a new found interest of mine. Everywhere we look around us we see different forms of technology, and when I see a certain technologies I think to myself, what would the world be like if that did not exist? Overall, it has been a good year of blogging. My blogging from fourth quarter was not as productive as the third quarter, but it is nothing I am ashamed of.

New Facebook Privacy Settings

After repeated requests from users, Facebook has changed its privacy settings. To make the system more simple, now the user has three options of who to share their profile with: friends only, friends of friends, or with everyone. More information about the changes can be found by clicking on this link. This urge to change the settings came from concerns that information on Facebook was too easily accessible.

A total stranger can find out a great deal about someone by simply searching their name and clicking on their Facebook page. This ease of access is dangerous, there are people in the world who could do numerous horrible things with this information, one could only imagine what those things are. Facebook's new policy helps the problem, but does not completely get rid of it. To view someone's profile, they simply have to be added as a friend. Many people do not think whether they know the person or not before accepting a friend request.

This problem is not entirely Facebook's fault. The amount of information put out on a Facebook page is decided by the user. Personally, I no longer use Facebook, but almost everyone I know does. The advice I have for users is: be careful what you put on the internet because you never know who is looking at it.

Technology in the World we Live in

In light of the speakers at our recent American Studies day and the topic of my junior theme (social isolation), I have taken a new found interest in the effects of modern technology on our society. In this article, the Konrath effect is explained and analyzed. The Konrath effect is the negative effect of online publishing on talented authors. Now authors can directly publish their works online without editors or publishing companies, on sites such as Amazon. The traditional process of selling a book to an editor and publisher is becoming lost, and supposedly this process is what finds the true talented writers. Authors have to face rejection from companies, and perfect their work until it is ready to be published. Although this is true, this process, along with almost technologies, has both negative and positive effects. Authors that never before had a chance to publish their works because they were rejected now can reach audiences. On the other hand, as a reader it is hard to find talented authors on an online publishing site because there are so many authors, and many of the authors publish poor quality works that are not sent to an editor.

All across the country, technology is having negative side effects. I wrote my Junior Theme about how technology in America has increased the amount of people who are socially isolated. In my previous post, Oil Still Spilling, new oil rig technologies resulted in an oil spill that is destroying the environment. But without oil rigs such as the Deepwater Horizon there would not be enough oil to fuel our cars and our world. This is the way things work, most things do not have only positive or only negative effects. The question I have then is: How much technology is too much? What effects do technology have on our world?

Oil Still Spilling

34 days ago, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Rig owned by BP in the Gulf of Mexico caused oil to spill out of
The Deepwater Horizon Explosion

the ground. The oil is still continuously pouring out of the ground, causing damage to the ecosystem and killing animals. This video tracks the area the oil has covered. Around the clock efforts have not been able to stop the gushing oil or effectively clean up the large amount of oil already in the gulf. The incident is creating controversy across the nation and world.


An interesting quote i found in a CNN article about the oil spill:

"Either the Coast Guard has to side with its American citizens and protect its communities, or it has to side with a major world corporation named BP and betray American citizens in that process," St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro told reporters.

The issue has now become a matter of loyalty to the United States. In an effort to clean up the oil spill, either the coast guard can work with the innocent American citizens, or it can side with the enemy BP, the fourth largest company in the world. Personally, I see this controversy as an example of what is happening all over America in different ways. Large and powerful corporations are now often the enemy. For example, many small towns are against having a Wal-mart built in them because the towns small family owned businesses are destroyed. After all, many large corporations goal is to make money, not make the world a better place. How do you feel about large corporations in America?

An Answer to the Big Question

Today something happened that I thought would never happen. That is, I now have an idea of how I am going to answer my why question. I would not quite call it a thesis yet, but it is getting there. It focuses on Americans becoming more socially isolated because they are becoming spectators instead of doers due to advancing technology. For example, less Americans have been voting and would rather simply observe what is going on in politics. Another example is that Americans would rather watch sports on TV than actually play them. Television is now so entertaining and easy that Americans constantly and mindlessly sit on the couch. The problem is that people are missing out on social opportunities, and America is losing social capital. Internet sites such as facebook and myspace create a false sense of social connectivity. Humans are losing face to face contact and hiding behind their computers. Even though you may not think so, this topic relates to everyone, including high school students. What do you think? How is this issue a part of your life?

Finally a Topic

After a long time of research and frustration, I can finally announce that I have decided on a topic and why question. The question I chose to answer is: Why are Americans becoming more socially isolated?

What I am trying to figure out is why the average American is becoming more lonely. People now do things by themselves more often than doing things in groups of people. As a result people have fewer good friends and the sense of the community as whole is becoming lost. For example, adults spend most of their time working, and have no time for dinner parties with friends or family but instead eat fast food. Instead of spending family time, kids spend their time in their rooms playing video games alone.

What do you think about this topic? Any answers to the question or personal experiences would be great to share.

The Best Post

The award of the best post of the Third quarter goes to Obesity in America, which was published earlier this March. The reason it won the award is because it was a well rounded post. It covered a pressing topic, obesity, that relates to discussions we have had in class. An interesting graphic is displayed at the top of the page, and is explained in the post. Also, I used information and discuss an article from the New York Times. Then to finish it off I ask the readers a question. Disappointingly there were no comments.