The Internet and Social Media

The Internet and Social Media

News, social media, has the internet really consumed our lives? In this era of digital media, who we are online, who we portray ourselves through Facebook, twitter, Instagram other social media is often not a true refection of who we are but who we want people to see us to be. Of course this is nothing new but we never really think about it, it is worth looking at society in the digital age and ask hard questions about our life style. Lets first take a look at the internet and human behaviour. Riley’s dad made a very important observation; he mentions that historians use hieroglyphics, papyrus scripts, books, journals, statues, tablets in order to determine how a society was in a given period of time. What will historians use in the future to reconstruct/analyse our society? The internet.  

Lucas: If people in the future use the Internet to figure out how we are then they will think we are pretty ridiculous.

Riley’s dad: Yeah, why so?

Lucas: Because the Internet makes us look like we are a society who only cares about a bunch of dancing cats.

Farkle: But we are more than that

Riley’s dad: We are. But no one knows that.

Take a look at most viral videos; accidents, pranks, memes, silliness take over the internet by storm. We all know the video of the kid adding up to 21, or the panda sneezing. Those videos of dancing cats the get millions of views but the discovery of a new planet only gets a couple thousand or hundred likes. Think about YouTube for a second, the most subscribed channels with millions of subscribers are gamers and vlogers but people who tackle real world issue or education such as Crash Course or John Oliver only have a couple thousand. We seem very plastic, shallow sometimes don’t we with our clicks, our likes our favourites. In fact, we seem like a society who don’t care about things very much. We don’t give real meaning or value to the things that matter. Anything, weather that would be the discovery of a new treatment for a disease, the discovery of new planets, a vlog or a first gameplay of the new Fifa game just seems to get replaced by something new tomorrow. An example, a long time ago Edward Snowden revealed documents belonging to the NSA and CIA about domestic surveillance and the collection of information without the consent of the American people. It was all over media, everyone was talking about it, it was important to understand the documents revealed and decide weather the government should still be allowed to collect everyone’s information. How many of you knew about that? How many of you know about the different programs that the government implements? How many of you recognize him or know who he is? How many of you know Piewdipie? How many of you know the Kardashian? How many of you know Taylor Swift broke up with Tom Hiddleston? How many of you know the panda sneezing? If things can get so easily replaced then they must have been not very important in the first place and we skip over, get over things that are really important. They get a lot of clicks, like and comments and then fade out when the next thing comes along. What is wrong with a little distraction? Nothing, if that is all it is. Its not a distraction at all, it is a lifestyle.

Maya: I’m just going to put whatever

Riley: (Slams the laptop shut) No, what we put on our profile is going to follow us into high school, and into college and into our careers and into my marriage and into your five.

Riley: I can’t think of my interest

Maya: You can think of your interest; you are just worried that your interests aren’t interesting and your profile will bore the whole school. Your favourite movie.

Riley: No. What if people don’t share my interest in farm animals who save the day.

Maya: Why do you care about why other people think?

Riley: That is all I do. What if no body likes me?

Maya: Just write down what you think and stop being so dramatic… You are just worried because your name is on it. Write down all your answers as Jexica and if nobody likes you, you are fine cause they won’t know who it is

Riley: Okay. This already feels easier.

Online we seem to be different than who we are in real life. We look for our perfect profile image with the best filters. Or for the perfect quote instead of thoughts of our own. Or maybe we post something in the hopes of getting attention. While it is true that sites such as Facebook and Twitter have allowed us to connect with people we never would have connected with in the first place, remain in contact over long distances, how many of the people in your friend’s list, followers do you actually know and talk to. I am not saying social media is a bad thing but maybe the way we approach is. We may upload something hoping that we get a lot of clicks and likes instead of just doing it because we believe that people need to hear our opinion, or we want to motivate others, or just show our friends the nice time we are having. Many times it is just about the fame. Riley with her Jexica profile became the most popular girl in school. Everyone wanted to know her, be her friend because she was so cool and real and relatable. Then, a video of an animal doing cute things went wild and she lost half her followers. This highlights the previous point made in the show, something popular today will get replaced by something else tomorrow. Was she ever important to these people in the first place? It has become a habit to have something new, exciting, maybe that is why this current generation has on average shorter relationship’s because we move from one thing to the next so quickly. It is repetitive I know but I can’t stress this point enough. People may say ah but it is just the internet. Well that is going to live after we are gone. It is our tablets, our manuscripts, the history of our age. Behaviour on the internet is a reflection of who we are as a person and the things it teaches us can affect our lives in a very real sense.    

 In addition to wanting to be popular Riley shows what many people go through with the internet. Afraid to show our interests, our favourite movies, books, dislikes, likes, etc. because of online hatred or harassment. Online harassment is one of the biggest problems in our modern society. Violence, anger, hatred spread quicker and more vigorously. Go through the twitter, Youtube page of any female gamer or female personality for that matter they get a lot of hate, death threats, rape threats. Why? Because anonymity encourages people to go negative and we are afraid to be ourselves because we don’t want to be on the receiving end of that hate. I have said it before, in fact I have a whole piece dedicated on why you should be true to yourself first without worrying so much about what other people think about you but it is especially true on the internet. She has an incredible group of friends who like her for who she is. But wanting to be liked by everyone has become her priority?

         

When did we forget?

When did we forget?

Lucas: “Seems like once we have seen the worst there can be, somebody comes up with something worst.”

Good and Evil has never been black and white, but there are clearly things that are wrong. All the tragedy that I have seen in this past few weeks has made me ask myself a lot of questions. It appears that humanity at some level is fascinated with evil but shouldn’t good always win at the end. I mean that is what we are thought since we are kids. A sort of universal law exists in TV shows, movies, books, comics, stories where no matter how horrifying and powerful evil may seem, good always prevails. This message is aimed at kids, young children, teenagers and even adults. As we grow up we learn from the same media that while good may still prevail it comes at a price, there is a sacrifice. Just take a look at any comic book, superhero movie, good always wins even if it is at a cost. We are taught to be good, to uphold good, to be heroes, to fight evil and to avoid falling into darkness. We aspire to be the hero form these stories. When did we forget to be the good guy and maintain right? When did we forget to keep away from the hands of darkness and to live by a set of morals? When did we become the villains?  Good and evil aren’t so distinguishable sometimes, but we still know what is wrong. It continues to confuse me how we can forget about such basic human rules and ethics, how we can lose ourselves in anger, fear. It should be a reminder that while we may be in an area of grey we can still be right, just need to avoid the wrong. When right and wrong is difficult to identify, when it is a struggle between right and wrong, it is when the real hero fights hardest.

I was watching as always Girl Meets World and well the school principal comes into the classroom and dismisses the new English teacher because she decides to teach the class the graphic novel/comic book “The Dark Knight Returns”. He believes it is not real literature, that nothing valuable can be learned from them. He fires her without letting her explain her lesson plan. He is wrong isn’t he? He is making assumptions about comic books without getting to know the content within them or listening to counter arguments.  

Principal: “You think there are heroes and villains, there aren’t. Just kids that come and go.  You really think that you have affected anybody?”

Take a look at any history book there are always heroes and villains through out. Take a look at your class, at your school, at your office, at your work, there are heroes and villains. The villains will always cause trouble, but there will always be a hero to fight back. When did we forget that to be a hero we need to be fair and avoid becoming a villain? Revenge shootings, murder sprees, bombing, that’s not a hero. We need heroes now. Nightwing, the Atom, Ant-man, Batman what do they all have in common? They are just regular people like you and me who refuse to stand by and let more evil take over the world. They fight to keep us safe, they fight for what they believe is good and stand up when they see injustice. It is time we do the same. They also refuse to become villains in their search for being heroes. What makes the teacher in this episode a hero is that she fights to stay in the school and show that her teachings are valuable, that people can learn from comic books. She fights oppression and stereotyping with determination to prove she is right. At no point does she insult, or attack the principle.  We have every right to be angry against the people who caused so much death and harm but to wish them death or to take violent revenge action like what happened with the shooting against the police who have nothing to do with what happened before does not make us any better than them. Doing something like raise awareness about stereotyping, racism, trying to stop by informing people that is is wrong, by calling for action from the police to improve their training of cops, donations, that makes a difference. To stand against stereotyping, racism it makes a difference. I want to remind people that we can be heroes, that we can stand for what is right. In these times of anger, hatred, sadness and tragedy a light of hope still can shine, we need to be reminded of why we looked up to our role models.

 

Of course one of the main arguments for you reading this is probably that heroes resort to violence to stop villains, that the people who commit these horrifying acts are, from their point of view fighting for what they believe to be right. You would be right; some believe that what they are doing is the right thing which is why I ask when did we forget basic human values. Regardless of where we are raised we should all know that there are some clear lines in the sand, murder is never an option. A hero doesn’t cross the line to prove that they are fighting the good fight.   

I want to leave you with this conversation from the show because it made me think about the world we live in. How some things aren’t fair or they may seem that way, but fighting the good fight is still worth it even if we think we may never win.

Mathew: “We live in a different world today where heroes and villains aren’t so easily distinguished/recognised. She can help them learn this lesson.”

Topanga: “The World isn’t so different that the principal doesn’t get to make the final decision on the new teacher.”

Mathew: “Yeah, that is interesting isn’t it.”

New place, New you, New Me

New place, New you, New Me

Are you scared that in this new place you can't protect everyone like you used to?

Face to face with all these changes, what is it all about? Life is crazy but I know I can work it out. There is nothing scarier that starting a new phase in life, moving to a new place, discovering an unknown environment and with it the challenges that come to us. I have said that I identify with Farkle but this episode reminded me why my friends tell me I am more like Lucas. Nothing can put more pressure on friendships and our morale than a new chapter in our life. When we have spent a long time in one place like Riley and her friends we can feel invincible, we can feel like kings but kingdoms fall, massacres occur, everyone who thinks they are strong comes up against someone stronger. But the war has just begun. Riley and her friends enter high school; it is their first day fresh from middle school and as their luck has it they encounter the seniors. They send them to the “hole” and tell them that they need to stay there, they can’t explore the school until they are told so by them. Lucas is not having any of it, they tell him that his friends are nothing in this new place. The two senior girls give the nickname spunky to Maya, they tell them that the hallway is for people who have earned it, the senior football player tells him that when his friends tell them to do something they should do it. Lucas stands up to defend his friends like he always has, he can’t walk anywhere he wants because they say so, that is not okay.

Lucas: sorry guys

Farkle: it is not your fault, you can’t protect us

Lucas: I used to  

I know what that is like. I went to the same school for most of my life and when I got to high school I made a name for myself in it like everyone else. I was confident, I had grown as a person. I made my name in sports, in academics, I was king. I could protect my friends from anyone that wanted to hurt them, I stood up for the people that were different or for my friends who needed help, who were picked on. I stood up to raise my opinion, to question people who were wrong, to praise those who were right. I was Lucas, taking the responsibility of the world in my shoulders because I knew I could, I could protect myself and my friends or anyone. Then half way through 11^th grade I changed school. Change can be intimidating, all the power (more like the confidence to stand up for yourself and other gone). I was no longer first choice player in the football team, in the swimming team, in the classroom to answer questions. Lucas is no longer top athlete, there are people bigger, stronger than him. There are people smarter than Farkle. Certain people, like the seniors, feel the need to make us feel unwelcome in these new places. Some go as far as to cause great suffering in our lives through bullying telling us that we are nothing. They feel the need to “bring us down from our cloud”. In a way they are right, we must make a name for ourselves in this new place. Past successes won’t drive our future in these new places but they have taught us lessons and given us the tools to overcome these new obstacles. We may not be kings now, but we will. Farkle may not be the smartest kid in the school anymore and Lucas may not be the strongest so what we do is get stronger, get smarter, never let them discourage us because they are not better than us. One aspect of our lives does not define us. I was good at swimming, at football, at academics but it is the accumulation of these things and your values that make you great, that made you kings. Lucas is a great football player, strong but what made him great and respected was his loyalty, determination, kindness, fairness. We are something and we will teach them that we are something like Lucas did.

Riley: the seniors are older and more experience than us. They are trying to help us. (it is the wrong view that people in higher positions or that are older know more than us. Sometimes we know best and people that abuse their power should not be able to, we cannot let them.)

Lucas: They are making fun of us and we are letting them do it. We don’t even know our way around the school yet, why would we just let ourselves be parked in a hole

Riley: Ok so you just want us to throw ourselves into whatever is going on in this place and just see what happens?

Lucas: Yes, because you know what I call that, normal

These people that bully us feel the need to be recognised as superiors because no one else does, they are threatened, jealous of what we bring, don’t let words get to you. There is a reason why they pick on us and not someone else. You can’t let the change and the people who pick on you because you are new break you. They only win if they can manage to convince you that you are nothing. Remember what makes you great and work towards improving. Like Lucas stand up to them, defy them, show them that maybe they are kings now and you are not, but that will change. In these periods of change if you are bullied, if you are told you are not good enough, if you are told you have no place, never let it bring you down. Make a place like you have done in the past. Stand up like Lucas because there may be people stronger than you in one aspect of your life they are not better than you. Lucas confronts the seniors to protect his friends to protect himself to tell them that he has a place. If he is knocked down he will get right back up, confidence can’t be destroyed because then is when they win. Unlike them I didn’t learn my lesson until I came to university so I feel like it is important to say it.

Lucas: this is not going to be how I live my life in high school.

Riley makes a point that maybe they are trying to teach us something and as Maya puts it, she may have too much faith in people. It is alright to have faith in people but we know when we are being taken advantage of, or bullied or put down. In this new period if you are moving with your friends only together can you face the challenges and remind yourselves how great you are.