Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Monday, April 6, 2015
7 Reasons You Should Quit Facebook in 2015
Every once in a while, we come across news articles that really "speaks" to us. Following is one such article. It's from Men's Journals online site and written by contributor, Matthew Kitchen. Enjoy!
Ten years ago Facebook was just cresting as the cool new social media site that helped you keep in touch with the people you didn’t actually like in high school. We fed it our thoughts and feelings, shared our meals and locations and our top ten movie lists, kept it up-to-date on our relationship status, political views, favorite links, and personal information — all in the name of staying connected, and all without a thought to our security. But with a decade of questions regarding how Facebook makes money now answered, and a general understanding of how sharing information online can be dangerous (while the platform constantly updates its security protocol), we continue to use it anyway, even though many of us are just checking in as ritual and have threatened our exit from Facebook for years.
Of course, screen time in moderation is, for the most part, perfectly acceptable, and social media can offer a few genuinely beneficial uses. But before you log in or tap that app on your smartphone again, here are a few reasons to quit Facebook in 2015.
1. It Wastes Your Time
It's estimated that the average casual user (17 minutes per day on Facebook) who has been active on the site for 10 years has wasted upwards of 40 entire days of their lives scrolling and liking and commenting on pictures and posts. And more engaged users, who spend at least an hour a day on the site, have clocked 150 days feeding the Facebook beast during the same time. Think about how long you spend on the site each day, and what else could be a more productive use of your time.
2. Facebook Uses You to Sell Stuff...
In 2012, the site manipulated posts from 689,000 accounts without consent in an experiment that examined whether or not it could affect your emotions by making a few edits on your page. The study was done, according to Facebook, to "improve our services and to make the content people see on Facebook as relevant and engaging as possible." Skeptics think it was really used to discover the monetary benefit of a Like. COO Sheryl Sandberg later apologized, adding that they "never meant to upset you."
----------------------------
Ten years ago Facebook was just cresting as the cool new social media site that helped you keep in touch with the people you didn’t actually like in high school. We fed it our thoughts and feelings, shared our meals and locations and our top ten movie lists, kept it up-to-date on our relationship status, political views, favorite links, and personal information — all in the name of staying connected, and all without a thought to our security. But with a decade of questions regarding how Facebook makes money now answered, and a general understanding of how sharing information online can be dangerous (while the platform constantly updates its security protocol), we continue to use it anyway, even though many of us are just checking in as ritual and have threatened our exit from Facebook for years.
Of course, screen time in moderation is, for the most part, perfectly acceptable, and social media can offer a few genuinely beneficial uses. But before you log in or tap that app on your smartphone again, here are a few reasons to quit Facebook in 2015.
1. It Wastes Your Time
It's estimated that the average casual user (17 minutes per day on Facebook) who has been active on the site for 10 years has wasted upwards of 40 entire days of their lives scrolling and liking and commenting on pictures and posts. And more engaged users, who spend at least an hour a day on the site, have clocked 150 days feeding the Facebook beast during the same time. Think about how long you spend on the site each day, and what else could be a more productive use of your time.
2. Facebook Uses You to Sell Stuff...
In 2012, the site manipulated posts from 689,000 accounts without consent in an experiment that examined whether or not it could affect your emotions by making a few edits on your page. The study was done, according to Facebook, to "improve our services and to make the content people see on Facebook as relevant and engaging as possible." Skeptics think it was really used to discover the monetary benefit of a Like. COO Sheryl Sandberg later apologized, adding that they "never meant to upset you."
3. And
Targets You with Advertisements
One time you wanted to buy a thing, and then you searched for that thing, and six months later Facebook is still reminding you that you should think about buying that thing, even if you already bought the thing. Yes, most sites do this thanks to embedded cookies, but only Facebook seamlessly posts these ads in your timeline with enough regularity that you can only assume your friend has an odd obsession with the latest Norelco razor.
4. It's Bad for Your Health
Facebook isn't just a harmless website dedicated to cataloging your vacations, poor wardrobe choices, and myopic thoughts on sporting events (which can both define or destroy relationships), it can actually do you harm. Studies hint that it can impact your immune system and inhibit the release of growth hormones, impair digestion and vision, limit thinking and kill creativity, and affect sleep patterns and happiness.
5. "Who Are These People, Anyway?"
The average adult has 338 friends on Facebook and probably doesn't know more than 10 percent of them anymore, or at all. Many of them likely have new lives, some have new last names, new passions, new facial hair, and new humans they're now responsible for keeping alive (read: babies). These are not the friends you knew, and semi-casually keeping up with them is a waste of time that could be better spent with new, real friends. Or on Twitter.
6. "But I Don't Care About Privacy"
Fair. That's your right. But the problem is that we're setting precedent for the future without yet understanding how it will affect the free and open Web, and simultaneously creating an internet that relies on you having a Facebook account to access sites that are not Facebook. As one of nearly 1.2 billion users to date, odds are decent that your account won't be hacked by someone with ill-will toward your family. That doesn't mean that permitting easy access to your information goes without consequence, both immediately and decades from now.
7. Nothing You Post Actually Matters
Very few people care what you're doing, whom you're with, where you're eating, or what you just bought, and the people who do were probably right next to you when you did it. We all saw that funny Ice Bucket Challenge video, and if we didn’t see it, it's fine. We're all fine. You'll sleep well without knowing which childhood toys you owned are now worth a fortune, and you will absolutely "believe what happened next" on Upworthy, because someone took time to write about it. These articles only exist because you share them on Facebook, and you only share them because they exist. So, instead, just invite a friend over to talk about how much you both loved Save By the Bell. The internet can only take so much nostalgia.
If you're serious about quitting Facebook today, you can do it right now by clicking here.
Link to the original story on Men’s Journal online:
One time you wanted to buy a thing, and then you searched for that thing, and six months later Facebook is still reminding you that you should think about buying that thing, even if you already bought the thing. Yes, most sites do this thanks to embedded cookies, but only Facebook seamlessly posts these ads in your timeline with enough regularity that you can only assume your friend has an odd obsession with the latest Norelco razor.
4. It's Bad for Your Health
Facebook isn't just a harmless website dedicated to cataloging your vacations, poor wardrobe choices, and myopic thoughts on sporting events (which can both define or destroy relationships), it can actually do you harm. Studies hint that it can impact your immune system and inhibit the release of growth hormones, impair digestion and vision, limit thinking and kill creativity, and affect sleep patterns and happiness.
5. "Who Are These People, Anyway?"
The average adult has 338 friends on Facebook and probably doesn't know more than 10 percent of them anymore, or at all. Many of them likely have new lives, some have new last names, new passions, new facial hair, and new humans they're now responsible for keeping alive (read: babies). These are not the friends you knew, and semi-casually keeping up with them is a waste of time that could be better spent with new, real friends. Or on Twitter.
6. "But I Don't Care About Privacy"
Fair. That's your right. But the problem is that we're setting precedent for the future without yet understanding how it will affect the free and open Web, and simultaneously creating an internet that relies on you having a Facebook account to access sites that are not Facebook. As one of nearly 1.2 billion users to date, odds are decent that your account won't be hacked by someone with ill-will toward your family. That doesn't mean that permitting easy access to your information goes without consequence, both immediately and decades from now.
7. Nothing You Post Actually Matters
Very few people care what you're doing, whom you're with, where you're eating, or what you just bought, and the people who do were probably right next to you when you did it. We all saw that funny Ice Bucket Challenge video, and if we didn’t see it, it's fine. We're all fine. You'll sleep well without knowing which childhood toys you owned are now worth a fortune, and you will absolutely "believe what happened next" on Upworthy, because someone took time to write about it. These articles only exist because you share them on Facebook, and you only share them because they exist. So, instead, just invite a friend over to talk about how much you both loved Save By the Bell. The internet can only take so much nostalgia.
If you're serious about quitting Facebook today, you can do it right now by clicking here.
Link to the original story on Men’s Journal online:
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Sunday, February 8, 2015
In Defense of George Lucas
Before You Crucify and Condemn
Him Or Throw Him Any Further Under The Bus, Please Consider Where He Came From and What He’s Given
Us: Mr. George Lucas
A long time ago, in Modesto, California…
We’re all know about
George’s work in “a galaxy far, far away”, but very few people have looked for
or are familiar with his other endeavors in film and later TV series.
Indiana Jones? Recognize that name, perchance? That came from George.
Ewoks, the little teddy-bear
aliens from Star Wars Episode 6, Return
of the Jedi, he created and executive produced an entire live action and animated TV series around these
creatures. More on the Star Wars saga
later on.
The World War II film about a
group of African-American pilots, Red
Tails, the Tuskegee
Airmen… George’s handiwork, too!
How many times have you watched Harrison Ford, as Indiana Jones, try to outrun that massive boulder at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark? Me? A bazillion, I’m sure. And I don’t know if it was for effect or not, but when Indy stumbles and you’re sure he’ll get crushed, he gets right back up and high tails it out of that cave! “It’s not the years, it’s the mileage.”
Hold up, here! Steven Spielberg directed that movie. Yes, you’re right, but it was George who created the Indy character, based on early
film serials from his youth.
Does this ring a bell with you? The
Adventures of Young Indiana
Jones.
George Lucas. The one and only. He changed how Science Fiction movies were
made and in the process created a world class Special Effects company, and gave it a really cool name: Industrial
Light and Magic. ILM. Next time you’re watching the credits of a film, look
closely and I’m pretty sure you’ll see it there on the big screen.
It all began for young George
back in 1971, with his first major motion picture, “THX 1138”. Although it was not a commercial success for
George, it did give him the confidence to push forward and make, “American
Graffiti”, in 1973. Graffiti, by the way, helped to spawn the hit TV show, “Happy Days”,
which coincidentally starred Ron Howard; also in Graffiti, future Indiana Jones star, Harrison Ford.
George worked on the script for
his next project, “Star Wars” for nearly two years. Given the green light by Fox Studios’ head,
Alan Ladd, George then made a very lucrative deal, unheard of at the time. Instead of accepting huge pay raise for
directing his new project, George went to the heads of Fox with a small
proposal, to keep his salary at $150,000 in exchange for two seemingly
insignificant requests: 1) That he retain all merchandising rights, and 2) that
he would retain the rights to any sequels. At the time this was actually a
fantastic deal for the studio. As for sequel rights, these were also not an
important factor for Fox considering the fact that no executive thought the
movie had any chance of making money the first time around. So off George went
to finalize his script with $150,000 and what must have seemed like an
incredibly naive contract in his pocket in 1973.
The rest, well, is history. His current net worth is right around $7.5 billion. Not bad
for a kid from Modesto. But, hey, remember… it’s just money.
Now, wait a minute. What about the Star Wars prequels? And specifically that annoying, racist, and
offensive character, Jar Jar Binks? Yeah, you’re right. And even his ears look like dread-locks. His walk?
Eh.
More time, actually, much more time could have been spent on
a species that was much less offensive and much more endearing than the Gungans. Almost anything would have been better. I can let that part go, because, well, for me
I kept trying to imagine what the technology would have looked like if it had truly been older and more dumbed-down than
the original trilogy.
Yes, of course, Jar Jar was
annoying and incredibly offensive (and
stepping in that feces?? Yikes.) But
that aside, George and his team really should have made the overall look and
feel of those three movies older, since they were supposed to be a prequels. Would-a,
could-a, should-a, right?
In the end, for me, I have only
good things to say about George. His
first movie that I saw was American
Graffiti. It came out in the summer
of 1973, I was to start high school in the fall and my friends and I hung
around blasting the soundtrack on the radio, laughing to Wolfman Jack, humming,
singing a few bars of Why Do Fools Fall in
Love?, and, Chantilly
Lace. It was a magical time for me,
and of course, I thank George for that.
I remember in 1977, opening night
of Star Wars at the Westgate Theatre in Beaverton,
Oregon. It was amazing. Incredible!
We’d never seen anything like it before, but we knew we had to see this
thing again and again and again. That’s
how cool it was.
Mr. Lucas. George. Thank you from
the bottom of my heart for all of the wonderful movies, TV shows, and the funny
and amazing characters you’ve created.
For me, you’re still the best, and May The Force Be With You... Always!
Saturday, January 10, 2015
The Outside World
Outer Space
Offline
Real/Non-virtual reality
Unplugged/dead battery
Real issues
What happens when the power goes away?
Well, the short answer is that
you’ll have to actually deal with
others. In person. Face-to-face.
For most young people, that’s an incredibly scary thought because they
are so plugged into technology
devices that they don’t know how to carry on a conversation when it involves
making eye contact and speaking in more than 140 character sound bites.
But this goes beyond just young
people not knowing how to communicate politely and appropriately to older
people. It’s about how they were raised,
and apparently, there was little or no connection to older people as they were
growing up, during their childhood.
Further, it truly seems as though
that lack of interaction with adults has lead to a major distrust between the
generations. Has that always existed? In
some form, yes. (“Never trust anyone
over 30,” was made popular in the 1960s.)
Many things need to happen, and
it’s not about regulating how or where devices are used. It’s about taking time to educate young
people about talking to adults that aren’t
their parents. Yes, you should still talk to your children about “Stranger
Danger.” But you should also talk to
them about acting appropriately around adults… in the real world, the offline,
unplugged world.
Now, I know you’re thinking, “You
old people can’t tell me what to do!”
And, you’re right. We can’t. And
shouldn’t… but, you kids, you young people, really do need to learn when to put
down and turn off your smart phones,
iPhones, iPods, etc. Oh, and news flash: adults are just as guilty here, too!
The point(s) I’m making is that
when you’re in the presence of an adult, recognize it, put your device away (or
take out the earbuds), and acknowledge him/her.
Smile. Say, “Hi. How’s your day going?”
Just anything to show that you see him/her.
I’m not talking about the old
adage: Respect your elders. No, respect has to be earned, just like
trust.
Hey, who knows? You just might be surprised by the
interaction and make a new friend.
Saturday, January 3, 2015
End Of An Era
I don't know exactly when it ended, but I think it was right around Thanksgiving 2013. We'd known each other since 1998, when we met up in my home, had a few beers and became fast friends.
Then, less than 2 years later, I did something horrible, unspeakable, not directly to my new friend and not to my family, but nonetheless it was something that would forever change my life and those in my little universe.
Now, 17 years later, it was over with.
I understood completely why, too. I'd gone from being very outgoing, fun-loving, full-of-life to this sad, pathetic, shell of a man, suffering every day from depression.
I'm not a victim; far from it. I absolutely take full responsibility for that which I caused, that thing that now kept people away.
I wish things were different; I really do. *sigh*
Nobody wanted to be around. Hell, I didn't want to be around me; that's how bad it is.
I hate where I'm living, so, I am doing what I can to save money in order to make a down payment on a house later this year... hopefully. This place has gone from being very safe and nurturing to one filled with drug abusers, liars, enablers and psychopaths.
Every day I look at my neighbors and wonder, "Who the hell are these people???"
I'm not perfect; far from it, but I also don't enable, use drugs or lie.
Depression is my issue and mine alone. Do others out there also live with it? Absolutely, but it's not a badge-of-honor, it's a sentence.
I know why my one-time friend doesn't want to spend time with me: Because I'm not the person I was when we first met. And it's not about changing. It's about that I didn't change for the better, just older and worse.
I guess if someone doesn't answer your email after a couple of weeks or take your phone calls after a few days it's probably time to wash your hands of them and move on.
Perhaps?
Then, less than 2 years later, I did something horrible, unspeakable, not directly to my new friend and not to my family, but nonetheless it was something that would forever change my life and those in my little universe.
Now, 17 years later, it was over with.
I understood completely why, too. I'd gone from being very outgoing, fun-loving, full-of-life to this sad, pathetic, shell of a man, suffering every day from depression.
I'm not a victim; far from it. I absolutely take full responsibility for that which I caused, that thing that now kept people away.
I wish things were different; I really do. *sigh*
Nobody wanted to be around. Hell, I didn't want to be around me; that's how bad it is.
I hate where I'm living, so, I am doing what I can to save money in order to make a down payment on a house later this year... hopefully. This place has gone from being very safe and nurturing to one filled with drug abusers, liars, enablers and psychopaths.
Every day I look at my neighbors and wonder, "Who the hell are these people???"
I'm not perfect; far from it, but I also don't enable, use drugs or lie.
Depression is my issue and mine alone. Do others out there also live with it? Absolutely, but it's not a badge-of-honor, it's a sentence.
I know why my one-time friend doesn't want to spend time with me: Because I'm not the person I was when we first met. And it's not about changing. It's about that I didn't change for the better, just older and worse.
I guess if someone doesn't answer your email after a couple of weeks or take your phone calls after a few days it's probably time to wash your hands of them and move on.
Perhaps?
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