Smartphones

This is a post which goes hand-in-hand with yesterday's post and it is basically an expansion on one of the points I made in yesterday's post. If you have not read this post, click here. Yesterday I mentioned how socialising had updated to meet the current world standards of technology and how this has impacted us both negatively and positively. I made a point about smartphones and their impact on socialising and so today I am going to expand on this point as well as discuss some other areas of our lives that smartphones are affecting. As I said yesterday, they are limiting our face-to-face interactions while also stimulating our world-wide connectivity. Even on a local scale people text more to each other than they would talk about face-to-face as they do not have to face the social awkwardness that a topic or question would bring up.

Source: http://urbantimes.co/2013/09/this-restaurants-policy-put-your-phone-down-and-socialise/

Smartphones, in fact most phones, have made it easier for the rise of the global community. People are now easily able to instantly communicate to someone on the other side of the world and receive an instant reply. In this respect, smartphones have made great headway in this respect by making it even easier to communicate quickly through video-calling and texting which saves individual conversations. They have also limited our world-view. If you go to a concert today you will most likely be seeing the majority of people (probably including yourself) using their phones to record the concert, take photos/selfies, check Facebook and do everything but enjoy what they paid so much to see. It has become socially accepted and if you go to a concert, expect to be watching it through someone's smartphone camera. Even when on dates you see both people on their phones texting other people. Sometimes you even walk past a group of people texting each other! As I said yesterday, it can make for less socially awkward moments but it can also leave people with very little social skills and manners which you can only gain through experience. Even when you go out with family and friends you seem some people living on their phones. My brother is an annoying culprit for this. No matter where you go, be at a restaurant or someone's home, he is always on his phone for the majority of the night. Not only is it rude, it is incredibly annoying. Especially when you need to repeat yourself several times before he understands what you are going on about. It is really frustrating.

Smartphones are both an improvement and a hindrance in our modern society, see you tomorrow!

WATCH the video that sparked these posts:

Social Interactions 2.0

Before I begin I just want to take a moment to explain to you that this post goes hand-in-hand with tomorrow's post which I am also writing straight after this one. You may notice some points in here that will lead on to tomorrow's post but tomorrow's post is not going to be entirely the same as today as it will focus on just one aspect of what I am going to talk about and discuss the wider impacts it has. But, you will just have to wait until tomorrow night (at 6pm AEST) to see what I am talking about. Social Interaction has updated in our modern society. What was once considered social a few decades ago is completely different to the modern conception of the idea. Technology like smartphones and sites like Facebook and Twitter have been some of the main causes for this update. Social interaction is adapting and we have just got to get with the times.

Source: http://instagram.heroku.com/users/gekkolife#p535214164077054847_490341153

No longer is the nightly phone call to friends normal, in fact it is nearly unheard of. I know a few people who find it weird when their friends call them. They find it easier to talk on Facebook or texting using their smartphones. This new age of technology has created a generation of people with social anxiety. There are more people now than ever before who find it easier to talk to people using Facebook or texting as they do not have to deal with any social awkwardness that can come with a face-to-face conversation. Of course, I am not saying this is an entirely bad thing, in fact it is improving social interaction in some ways. For one, people find it easier than ever before to communicate with people from far away and receive near-instant responses. It has also made it easier for people with social anxiety to communicate with others. It has also made it so much easier to catch up with people as people's lives are basically on sites like Facebook and Twitter. One look at a person's "wall" on Facebook can tell you so much about them and what they have been doing recently. You can see their likes, statuses, friends, information and relationship status. Of course, with nearly every positive there is a negative and this is no exception. People are losing their ability to communicate with people in person and so when it comes to times where they need to talk to someone face-to-face they lack the basic manners that you gain from experience. They miss out on all the social cues as they spend their lives in the digital world where you need to say what you are feeling as, unless you are Face-Timing, you cannot see the other person's face. Social interactions have indeed changed over the years, we have updated to version 2.0.

Check out tomorrow's post for a further look at one of my points and the inspiration behind these posts. See you tomorrow!

You Know Something is Boring When...

So you know those movies or television shows you start to watch thinking they will be good and then ten minutes in you are bored as hell. Where did that phrase "bored as hell" actually come from anyway? So today I have compiled a list of things that I find I (and others) do when they are watching something and get bored. Sometimes you just have to sit through it though and fight through the boredom. Though if something is boring it probably means it is not that good so the best course of action is to stop watching it.

Source: http://omgtens.com/top-10-things-to-do-when-youre-bored-at-home/

Check Facebook every ten seconds. When I am bored I am constantly finding myself refreshing Facebook every ten seconds trying to find something to distract myself with. Sometimes I scroll through the same news feed ten times.

Play Candy Crush on your iPad/Phone. Okay, so this is something my Mum does a lot, personally I do not actually play Candy Crush (I used to but got out before I got addicted). In fact, Mum is actually on her iPad playing Candy Crush right now as we watch A Good Day to Die Hard. Yeah, it is a disappointing movie.

Write a blog post on your daily blog. Yeah, if this seems oddly specific it is because it is all about me. My boredom often equates to your reading. Imagine what I could have wasted hours of my life on over the past few months instead of writing for this blog. You got me, I am doing this right now.

Watch YouTube. That was actually something I was doing before I began writing this post. I was watching some old X-Factor performances on YouTube and the snippet of Lady Gaga's new song Venus set to be released with her new album Artpop.

Check Qooh.me or Ask.fm every two seconds to see if anyone has asked you a question. This way you will have something to distract you from the boredom that is your life at the moment. The amount of statuses I see of people asking others to ask them questions when they are "bored" is tremendous. Do not ask why I quoted that word in the previous sentence, even I do not know.

Read. One of the many things people do to avoid boredom is to read. I know a few people who do this a lot (myself included). Some people get more bored than others and so they read a book to keep themselves entertained.

Drawing is yet another of the major things that people do when they are bored. If you have a pen nearby and some paper your hands are going to be itching to do something. Drawing is going to be top of the agenda.

Remember, it is okay to be bored. Just be respectful of others when you are trying to fight your boredom. See you tomorrow!

Headphones

So before I begin this post I just have to warn you all about something. Despite the seemingly-innocent title this post is actually going to be a bit of a rant. Yeah, so if you do not want to read a rant about headphones then stop reading now because you are most likely not going to enjoy this. Wow, I really know how to sell a post. Anyway, moving on to the actual post. There are so many things that are annoying about headphones. Sometimes this can be painful in the figurative sense while at other times it needs to be taken more literally. I think I speak for everyone when I say that headphones can be really annoying. So yeah, the rest of this post is just going to be a bit of a rant as to why headphones are so annoying.

Source: http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/07/headphones-tangled-apple-has-a.html

The first thing, which you should have seen from the picture, is how tangled headphones get. I would seriously not be surprised if the manufacturer made them such that they automatically tangled. It is just really annoying when you put them down for two seconds untangled and then come back and they are a complete mess. Seriously, I put it under my pillow in a neat line and then when I go to use them they are completely mixed up. In the dark frantically trying to use them before the video stops buffering and makes a loud noise. It is like trying to tie up a lolly-snake with your tongue and your mouth closed. Have you ever actually tried that? Do you know how hard it actually is? Anyway, getting back on the subject of headphones. Headphones can also be very painful, especially when a certain someone who shall remain nameless (Dad) rips them out of your ears to tell you something. I mean, I do not have it on loud enough that I can not hear anything outside of the ear-buds. Sometimes you just need to think before you act. Then there are the times when you forget that they are plugged in to your laptop and you move away. From here either the laptop moves with you and you ending up breaking it (or nearly smashing it to pieces) or your ears just really begin to hurt. Is it just me or has this happened to any of you as well. Headphones are just very annoying at times and I really want to destroy them all and banish them from the face of the earth.

Headphones are just incredibly infuriating sometimes, see you tomorrow!

Technology

Technology has made our lives better in so many ways. For one, it keeps us entertained. Keeping people entertained is one hell of a good thing sometimes. Especially when you are somewhere like a restaurant and need to keep the kids entertained so they do not, as the phrase goes, "run a muck". Before I go on, can I just point out how weird "run a muck" sounds. I mean, it seems as though someone is actually managing a muck. I have no idea how that one came about but anyway, moving on. So yeah, in my life keeping people entertained so they do not get bored is a big plus and all these new technological advances in devices and applications makes life so much easier for us and for them.

Source: http://www.apple.com/au/support/ipodtouch/

Before any of these technologies came about people, especially children, would just get bored. Even if they bought a book they would still get bored. Let's face it, for children, books are only interesting for a little while and soon they just become boring and the child moves on. When the Nintendo DS came around this all changed. Suddenly the kids were bringing their portable game consoles and playing through games that would keep them entertained for the whole time. However, they soon became bored of playing alone so then came the multi-player. Not just any multi-player, wireless multi-player. Yeah, I went there. This would keep them entertained for even longer as all they would want to do is beat each other and just keep playing until they had 'won'. Soon though the DS was left uncharged and forgotten so when they came to play it there was nothing to play for it was flat. Even if they got passed this hurdle they began to get bored. Then Apple came out with the 'new' iPod Touch which kept people entertained for hours with the number of new applications coming out daily growing exponentially. Yeah, we just finished the exponential and logarithm chapter in Methods. Finally the kids remained entertained for a long time as once they got bored of a game, they would simply move onto the next one. If they ever ran out of new games to play they would just download a new one. Luckily these are still working today and it makes our lives heaps easier. Without them they would get bored and basically "run a muck". Technology, you have done wonders in our lives.

Technology helps in more ways than one, see you tomorrow!

Let the Games Begin

It's that time of the year again! The Language Perfect World Championships are less than 50 minutes away from beginning. What? You thought I was going to talk about The Hunger Games? Well not today. Today is all about Language Perfect and the world championships. I started with Language Perfect last year and so in today's post I just want to discuss why I enjoy it so much and why it is such a great resource. This is also a great way to pass the time before it starts (just 48 minutes now).

Image Source: http://www.languageperfect.com

Language Perfect is a great resource for any LOTE study that you may have. It is a fun and interactive way to learn new vocabulary as well as revise some old ones. I have been using it for a year and have found that what I have learnt has stayed with me so much more then it used to. I started learning French last year and have learnt so much more so far than I ever learnt in Italian (all up I had learnt this for 3 years). The good thing with Language Perfect too is that when you get the answer incorrect it tells you the correct way of spelling it and if you're only one or two letters off the correct word or your accent is in the wrong place then it gives you a warning which means you can change it and then submit it. I know I would not be getting some of the marks I am in French if it wasn't for Language Perfect.

Image Source: http://www.languageperfect.com

I enjoy Language Perfect because it reminds me of flash cards except that it is online. The good thing about this is you cannot tell what the word/translation actually is until you guess it which means you have to actually think rather than just giving up really quickly. It is also a great resource as it is available on the Apple App Store (I wish it was on Google Play) for free which means you can play it on the go. I myself have it downloaded onto my father's iPad so that I can play it in the car on the way home from school or when I am somewhere I can't use my laptop. My friends also like to get involved, often just to beat me (wow, that sounded conceited), and it really provides a motivation to go and learn some new vocabulary just so I can get the points to come up front in my group. It also helps when they have milestones for which you are awarded certificates (participation= 500, Bronze=1000, Silver=2000, Gold=3000 and Elite=10000). Language Perfect really is a great resource and I wish those competing luck in the 2013 World Championships!

Image Source: http://www.languageperfect.com

May the odds be ever in your favour, see you tomorrow!

Faith

Faith, it is what makes us hope for a brighter future. Faith is what makes people get out of bed every morning. Faith is believing in something even when you can't see it. Faith is believing in the good of something. It keeps us sane. Faith doesn't have to mean religion it can just be the belief in something that might happen (it could even be something bad). We all have faith within us it is just the person who decides whether to bring it out or not. When everything looks bleak, faith is what can pull us through.

Faith in a better tomorrow gives people the motivation to get out of bed or to exercise or help people out. Faith can help people who are sick, it can fill in the days for those who are lonely. Faith in a brighter future can pull people from the brink of despair and can change a person's life. Faith in a religion, in a god or in one another can change a person. It can make them see differently as if someone has given them new eyes or a new lease on life. Faith can change you, it can make you into someone entirely different. It can give you the confidence to stand up for what you believe in and do what you view as right and just. Faith is what causes people to persist and to keep fighting. Without it, what is there to fight for?

Things don't change without faith. Did Martin Luther King Junior have faith in the end of the Apartheid? Did Nelson Mandela have faith in an equal South Africa? Did NASA have faith in space travel? Of course they did, why else would they strive so hard and spend so much time on something? If you don't have faith in something happening then why do it? If Nelson Mandela couldn't envision an equal South Africa how could he expect anyone else to? Faith and action are closely linked and without Faith, action would be very limited and our world would be centuries behind what it is today. Steve Jobs may not have had Faith in Apple. Walt Disney may not have had Faith in Walt Disney Studios. Bill Gates may not have had Faith in Windows. If they hadn't we wouldn't have all the technology and entertainment around us today. Faith plays a big role in everything we do and without it we are lost.

May the odds be ever in your favour, see you tomorrow!

Daily Update

So today is just going to be a daily update. Whoa, contain your excitement please.

So today I started off with my Piano Lesson at 9:30 which would have been okay if my brother had not kept me up to past 3am the night before because he was on his phone and iPod doing what all boys do at night, watch anime. Plus he watched some House and he was just full of energy because he had had a Ribena drink he had bought from work (Woolworths). Just so you know, my brother always gets very energetic when he has one of those type of drinks, I think it is some preservative or something in it that increases his energy levels. It can be embarrassing at times.

Anyway, so back to Piano Lessons. I was a little worried at first because I hadn't practiced much over the holidays (by which I mean I practiced for 20 minutes before the lesson). So I got there and when I went in she was all like "Hey, how was your holidays?" and the rest. So then it came time to start practicing and she was like "Hey, I found a cool new song you might like to learn." I was secretly thinking "Yes, she won't know I didn't practice much!". It was even better when she started playing the song from YouTube as she was finding the music for it and it turned out to be Skyfall by Adele and I was so excited, not that I let it show. I love Adele's Skyfall and I really wanted to learn it and so I was really happy and so we practiced that the whole time and it was really a great lesson, I can't wait to learn more and to practice it.

When we got back I continued on with my homework while we waited for Dad to take Joshua (my middle brother) to work. When he got back we took Sandy for a walk into the main street which he loves because it is 45 minutes one way and he gets to see all the people around (I think he believes they are there for him) and he is a real chick magnet. Chicks of the senior ages who find him the cutest little dog around. While we were in town Mum spent some time looking for clothes for my cousins Confirmation (of which I am her sponsor, not money-wise but as a provider of Spiritual Guidance [she chose me]) and also got me a new pair of shoes because, as she put it, the soles 'were flapping about as if they were talking to you' [great metaphor Mum]. So that was fun and when we returned I spent some more time doing homework and then reading my friend Xavier's two blogs (Daily Xavier, Views on Current Affairs) and also went on Facebook to ask my friend some questions. Great resource Facebook, allowing us to communicate with each other for three over long distances via the internet. A great idea.

Then, as it is my eldest brother's birthday on the 15th April we went out with my Mum's family tonight to the Templestowe Hotel (in Templestowe) which is sort of a Buffet set up which is good and it was great fun to catch up with everyone (granted we had just seen them all on Thursday but anyway). So that was fun and Matthew (my eldest Brother) brought his Girlfriend with him and so on the way there we had a three-way (wait for the end of the sentence before making any presumptions) Mario Kart contest on our Nintendo DS consoles which passed the time. It was a close match with Matt's Girlfriend winning most of the time but towards the end I just kept beating her and eventually bet her entirely. I came first, so proud. Anyway  so now I am home writing this post before going to bed because unlike Xavier I don't stay up all night watching X-Files or Fringe. So that is all for today, probably one of the busier days these holidays. Last day of holidays tomorrow and then School on Monday which I am looking forward to (wait until the end of the sentence again) so I can catch up with friends and fix up any last-minute questions for stuff.

May the odds be ever in your favour, see you tomorrow!