Television: The Plug-In Drug

Winn, Marie. "Television: The Plug-In Drug". Essays Second Edition. 2007. 457. Print.

Many households in the United States own more than one televesion. In the exerpt, Winn explains how the televesion has practically evolved into our families. Today, the television has had a big role in family togertherness and the impact of television. Some families have habits that are related to television views.

"'Television will take over your way of living and change your children's habits, but this change can be a wonderful improvement,' claimed another commentator.'No survey's needed, of course, to establish that television has brought the family together in one room,' wrote The New York Times's television critic in 1949."

I agree that television will change children’s habits but I don’t think it is a good one. A lot of the television shows from the past are no longer broadcasted on television shows today. Although the shows are far different from two dimensional cartoons, the messages are still the same. Young children are easily captivated by the shows that are shown on TV. For example, when I visit my younger cousins that are two and three the TV is always on. Even when they are not watching it, the show still plays. Whenever they pass by the TV at a given point they stop and watch until the show reaches a commercial break. Because they were so focused on the TV before the commercials, they sometimes do not realize the show is over until there is an advertisement on TV. I think TV shows do this on purpose so children ask their parents for a toy or crayon kit or something like that. In a way it is a smart business move for the advertisers, but children can become really transfixed on a particular item that they want. When the commentator stated that TV will change children’s habits, they were right.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Turkle, Sherry. "Can You Hear Me Now?" They Say I Say. Ed. Gerald Graff. Norton and Company 2009. 270-281. Print.

Technology seems to be improving every year. With the improvement of technology, people have also been changing every year. Today, many people are wired in with their electronics and this article explains that we are tied in with our devices. Nearly everyone who goes to CSUN owns a mobile device which they use to check email and Facebook.

"The plain represented themselves as glamorous; the introverted could try out being bold. People built the dream houses in the virtual that they could not afford in the real. They took online jobs of responsibility. They often had relationships, partners, and even 'marriages' of significant emotional importance. They had lots of virtual sex."

In the online world, it is very easy to become someone who you really are not. There are hundreds of online video games that allow you to create a character and become someone you really are not in real life. Sure it is what makes it a game, but sometimes a virtual character can reflect the real player behind the controller. When I was younger I used to play a video game called “Halo 3” on Xbox Live. Me and my friends used to always talk to each other with our headsets and kill the enemy players. A lot of times during the match, our teams would talk a lot of trash to each other. It did not matter what age you were, as long as you are playing, you are going to hear a thing or two. Although it was fun for us to talk trash to people across the country, many people took offensive of some of the language involved. Luckily though, the company invented an ignore button that would block all communication of a person with whom you did not want to communicate with. It is crazy to believe how far video games and communication has come since the Nintendo and I hope there are huge improvements in the future.

My Facebook, My Self

Helfand, Jessica. "My Facebook, My Self". 2011. Print.

The passage was about the real privacy of Facebook. Even though some people do not have a facebook of their own, they are still capable of being viewed on the web. Some feel Facebook is a very easy way to stalk people and get to be friends with anyone."

"Even if you are super-careful---ell, even if you don't have a Facebook account yourself-say you find yourself at some random party where there's someone brandishing a mobile phone. And that someone snaps your picture. Soon thereafter, somebody with a Facebook account "tags" you and there you are-whammo- your questionable behavior rendered spectacularly public."

This thought of Facebook can seem a little ridiculous. Although it is very possible to be involved on a picture and tagged, the chances are they aren't going to know the people you know. In addition it would be difficult to be in a picture taken by a mobile phone because the quality for most picture camaras aren't that good. Besides that however the possibilty of someone seeing your picture is very possible. Whenever I surf the web and login to my Facebook, there are usually a lot of posts by people i do not know very well. Sometimes I go to their page and look at their pictures and there are so many random people. There are millions of users on Facebook and it is interesting that nearly every person who has an account is searchable. With Facebook, it is very easy to see updates of everyone and anyone. It is also easy to see pictures of random people and videos people share with them. Facebook to me is a very interesting website. Nearly  anyone can keep in contact with people on in one website. With an account you are able to talk, send pictures and video, and even find people you don’t know.