I had a personal
connection to a presentation in my eSociety class today. This presentation was
about seeing an online therapist. A group member specifically stood out to me
when he mentioned that he has a friend who suffers from a rare disease that
requires him to travel to Portland at least four times per year. I can feel
some of what his friend is going through because I suffer from a pretty rare
disease myself. I have type one diabetes.
For those that do not know about diabetes, it is a disease that randomly causes
the pancreas to stop producing insulin. I have to go to the doctor’s four times
per year as well, and diabetes also gives me other problems such as skin issues
and risks to have other issues. Diseases really bug me on a personal level and I
wish they did not exist. Every time I eat, I am required to take insulin or
else I will have annoying symptoms that make me feel uncomfortable. In even
worse cases, if my blood sugar is too low, it can result in death or unconscious.
At the end of the day, the truth is that this disease sucks, but it is what it
is. I will not let a disease affect my goals and passions.
Image from stevepb via
Pixabay
I feel that I have
improved greatly over the course of this semester. I loved the blogging aspect
of this course because allows me to interpret some of the creative juices that
are constantly flowing through my head. My writing skills as well as critical
thinking have also begun to rapidly progress. At least in my case, I found this
blogging experience to be an entirely new freedom to explore my depths of
creativity. Writing a semester-long blog and responding to some of my
classmates has helped me generate an innovative approach on how to communicate
with others better. I also enjoy how blogging has opened new doors for me in
the sports industry that I could possibly use later on in my career. I feel
that my
best blog post is the one I wrote about for the decision-making process and
how it related to my class. Here is my second
best blog post. My two best replies were this one
and this
one.
Two students
that have influenced me in this class are Bria Gottlieb’s blog and Anika Sands’ blog. Both of these
girls have very positive and upbeat vibes, which often lightens the mood. They have
allowed me to become a better person as a result! Their writing has also
inspired me to think more creatively. I would nominate
Will Ellis for the best blog this semester. I love the design of his site and I
believe his writing skills genuinely illustrate a compelling story.
I have always been a fan working on projects outside of normal
class time. Although it might require some extra work, it is typically worth it
in my opinion. I am someone who typically struggles at taking tests, but that
does not mean I am not learning. I feel that projects are really a better way
to analyze true knowledge of a subject. A lot of test taking is done by
memorization. I like thinking back to when I worked in the city of Chicago this
past summer for a venture capitalist firm. A large part of my job was to make
compelling presentations and then reflect on what I learned to my bosses. I was able to learn valuable skills by doing this that has transferred into my school work. Feel free to check out more about the company here. I am
glad that more of my classes are incorporating more presentations and projects
instead of dreading a test. For whatever reason, I find myself a little bit
nervous for whatever reason. Presenting in front of the class on a project I am
confident in allows a better learning experience for me. Do you feel the same
way or do you enjoy taking tests?
Image by William R. Goodman via Wikipedia Commons
The
subjects of fake news and media are two ideas that often correlate with one
another. With social media making a drastic rise over the past decade, there
has been an increasing amount of pressure put on journalists and users to create
compelling, yet accurate, stories. In addition, social media plays a massive
role in the lives of adolescents. In my opinion, a lot of people do not create
an accurate representation of who they are as a person on social media. This is
partly because of human nature, but on the other hand, a lot of teens are
affected by peer pressure. A majority of people would like to be perceived
better than they actually are. I mean, who would not, right? Evidence shows this
to be prevalent in society because even our current President of the United
States uses Twitter as a platform to discuss
what he believes to be “fake news”. The media has been in an absolute frenzy
ever since Donald Trump decided he was going to run for president. Individuals started
to heavily engage on his presence through social media, and it could even be
argued that some began to respect his rather blunt honesty. I try to stay out
of politics, but I think it is important to note that Trump winning the past presidential
election was largely due to his efforts on social media. Here is an
interesting article that speaks more to Trump’s involvement on controversial
topics in social media.
Image by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jette Carr via Wikipedia Commons
After watching a movie
about memes this past Tuesday in class, I never realized how big of an impact
they had on me when I grew up. In fact, memes initially sparked my interest on
social media. I remember creating my Facebook
account when I was in sixth or seventh grade. At that point in time, I really
had no idea why I wanted to be active on social media at such a young age. I guess
I was jealous of my older siblings and peers around me. I just wanted to kind
of try to fit in if you catch my drift. As I began exploring more on Facebook, I
was extremely enticed by the number of pages that constantly posted funny and
compelling memes. To this day, I find memes across the internet multiple times
per day. Memes are a great way to laugh and enjoy the moment. However, it is
weird when I think about where I see memes now compared to ten years ago. Memes
can be sent over text or seen on just about every social media platform
available to the public. I tend to see memes primarily on Facebook, which is
funny because that is the place where it all started. I just might end up
looking for some funny meme accounts on Instagram after I type up this blog. Check
out the picture below for my favorite concept of a meme!
Image by Iain Heath via Flickr
