Facebook!

Okay, let's talk about my Facebook page, Ceaseless Celebrations.



The plan was to post every day about unique holidays like National Toilet Day, Nut Day, and Comic Book Day. I picked this topic to make a age with because I thought it would be fun, and maybe I would come across something I could use on the Dixie State University Student Association page.



This is the type of post I generally made. I look up holidays on the internet, and post about them on my page. As often as possible, I ask a question to see if I can get anybody to respond on the post.

These are the types of people I planned to target:

Ashley:
Millennial
Lives at home
Uncommitted
Limited attention span

Jennifer:
Middle aged
Empty nester
Self focused

Jim:
Procrastinator
Stoner
Impulsive

The page started out with 0 likes. I got a huge spike in likes right out of the gate because I got all my classmates, and family to  like it. It fell way off from there... probably because I didn't post very often OR consistently.

I wanted to boost the whole page, and not just one post. None of my posts are meant to have any reason to promote themselves individually.

Looks like this is the end. Wish me luck on presenting this to the class.

On the Media

Let's talk about Playboy Magazine. No more nudes!

Physical: We're talking about a magazine, which is interesting, because people think that print is dying. 

Psychological: I think playboy is doing this because sex has become such a big deal that they are making a smart business move getting sidestepping the controversy. Don't get me wrong. There have always been people upset about Playboy, and pornography, and the like. What I'm saying is that the big gay revolution is happening right now, and it's making people fight back more. Playboy is likely lumped in with all the other sex hungry, fetish mongers.

Cultural: I think that back when playboy started (1953) the cultural eye glared a little less intensely at sex related magazines, and now that people are becoming more polarized, Playboy is cooling it's jets.

Social: EVERYBODY is talking about this, and EVERYONE has an opinion, and EVERYBODY'S opinion will be reflected somewhere on the internet.

Temporal: I think people are looking at this the wrong way. Playboy isn't trying to "clean up" their magazine, or "coming to the light". They're trying to maintain their income.

My Comments: I think Playboy might have made a really smart, and daring move. They can sell the magazine in more places. It's more socially acceptable to buy it. This is a huge PR move. People are going to buy so many issues of this magazine that Playboy can sit back and relax while people decide how they feel about it.

Last note as always: I never claim to KNOW very many things, especially when we're talking about places I've never been, people I've never known, theories I've never tested, and experiences I've never had.

Climate Change 2.0

Let's talk about Climate Change.

I'm not sure I can remember a time when climate change wasn't an issue, and I'm a little tired of it. I realize that this is important, and I should be taking it seriously. There are people in the world who are trying to make sure that the world is still healthy for their children and grandchildren, and for generations to come. I think the biggest problem then becomes getting everybody else on board. It's a near impossible task to get enough people to care enough to make a difference. There is such a stigma attached to the type of person who fights to save the planes. They are either all hippies and tree huggers, or they are crazy lunatics. Think about the last time you saw a meme on the internet about climate change.

I think whoever figures out a way to make enough people care about climate change should get some kind of award.... or a high five... or a hug.

Last note as always: I never claim to KNOW very many things, especially when we're talking about places I've never been, people I've never known, theories I've never tested, and experiences I've never had.

Religion 2.0

First, let me start this post by saying that I'm upset we picked this short week to talk about religion. We could TOTALLY talk about this for two class periods. That being said... here we go.

Religion has always been a fundamental part of humanity. Every culture has it's own way of fulfilling the needs of its people, namely through different types of religion.

ALL PEOPLE have some basic needs:
1. Explain the unknowable
2. Facing mortality
3. Infuse hope
4. Calm anxiety about everyday adversities

When we are suffering, and we feel alone, it helps to have a tender maternal figure there to help us feel like we are being cared for. This is why most major religions have figures like this. Ex: Mary, Durga, Khadija, Hecate.

Religion is also important for social moderation.

This is not the part where I go into a long, drawn out rant about how religion is to control people! And this is a CULT! And Y'all are sheep!!

This is the part where I say that we need to come to know, and understand the purpose in religion, because these needs are important. Even in these times where there are fewer and fewer people who believe in religion, "we still have to die. We still need to be comforted. We still need to be reminded, in conditions of aggressive capitalism, of our duties to the community and to the poor. And we still need somewhere to take our disappointed ambitions, frustrations, and sorrows." People like to feel like there's something or someone looking out for them.

I think religion is a valuable, and important way that human beings can fulfill these needs. The thing is... that it's not the only way. And I think that's an important concept too.

On The Media

Contexts:

First of all, I feel I would be remiss in refusing to mention the extent to which I hated the background noises in this On the Media post.

Physical: Working with computers, and putting your information on them is dangerous. People get their information stolen all the time, and it's not always as obvious as in Ina's story.

Psychological:
Innocent people are being victimized, and this makes people afraid. Because of the nature of their crimes, these hackers do not have to look the people they are hurting right in the eye, and this means that the hackers don't have to deal with that and the victims are even for terrified of internet security issues.

On the other hand, I think many people think they are impervious to hackers because they have never had anything bad happen to them or anybody they know. I think I way be one of those people because I have never really bothered to protect myself agains things like that.

Social:
How interesting that hackers have a social system set up so that they can get more work... I guess it just goes to show that even criminals have to be organized.

Temporal:
I worry that because these are computer files, and therefore not physical items being stolen or ransomed there is no really sure fire way to make sure that things like this can never happen again.

Cultural:
This is where we wonder about how much digital crime we will put up with before we move away from online culture, and toward something new. I also wonder if we will choose to ignore all the issues with computer crimes simply because we've learned to just deal with the cons.

I think the normal way of the world is to hobble along with the times, and do our best but ultimately forge ahead. I also happen to believe that hackers can not be stopped. That's like fighting a war on terrorism. How do you know when you've won?

Last note as always: I never claim to KNOW very many things, especially when we're talking about places I've never been, people I've never known, theories I've never tested, and experiences I've never had.

Privacy 2.0

Let's talk about internet privacy. How much privacy can we expect to have in an online world where we share everything about ourselves for the public to see, and social media sites sell your information to third party companies who want to directly advertise to you?
I feel like the whole point of social media has become an opportunity to share intimate details about our lives with other people on the internet. Now people are complaining that people on the internet have too much information about us. People either say that privacy is an obsolete idea, or that there's not enough being done to protect us from those who would use our information with malicious intentions.
Back in the day, when we all had Myspace accounts, people weren't very worried about who was viewing our information. Now that our lives are lived largely online, and we hear stories every day about people's information being used dishonestly, people losing their jobs, and cyberbullied, and people are scared. People are starting to smarten up and not put so much out there on the internet.
There is hope, though. Younger social media users are being way more careful about what kinds of information they post online. Who do you know that still posts their personal phone number online? Probably no one... Because people are getting wise.
Not only are there people trolling your social media accounts for information about you, there are also third party companies who are buying your information from social media sites like Facebook. Their goal is to directly advertise to you based on your browsing history, or your "likes" on Facebook posts, and people are freakin' out about it.
Personally, I'm not that worried about it. Perhaps because I've not had a personal AM they type of person who will buy something based purely on the marketing prowess of a company because great marketing schemes are something that I can appreciate.

On the Media

Let's talk about abortion... again.

Contexts:

 Physical:
This is about abortion opinion polling. The problem is that the polling for this topic are not very accurate

Temporal:
The funding for Planned Parenthood may be reduced very soon, and it's "let's talk about politics" season so people are talking about abortion.

Psychological:
Abortion is a very serious, sensitive topic, and how we feel about it almost always has to do with our own experiences with it, or with people we know who have dealt with it. I think it's interesting that some people care about how strangers experience abortion separately from what their religious/political beliefs are.

Cultural:
People just have no idea what's going on. No one has enough information to make judgements about abortion, and people are bored talking about it because it's such an old argument.

Conclusion:
This podcast is about how opinion polling works when it comes to abortion, and I am very glad that someone is talking about this. I have always thought that peoples opinions about abortion had to be more complicated than they have been portrayed in the media ether, and that is EXACTLY what we're talking about here. People don't only believe one way or another. It's much more complicated than that.

Last note as always: I never claim to KNOW very many things, especially when we're talking about places I've never been, people I've never known, theories I've never tested, and experiences I've never had.