Brutally Honest

I probably hate social media more than I like it. I love that you can keep in touch with family and friends across the world. I love that you can “frivolously” find information—recipes, news, pictures of baby goats. I love seeing what other people are doing, where they are traveling, engagements, and baby announcements. I love seeing memes and sending them to my sister who lives far away.   But there are a lot of things I hate. I hate how mean people are on social media. I hate how much time it takes up in my daily life. I hate how distracted I get. I hate how I am required to use social media—academically, professionally, socially. I hate how we willingly give up personal information. We think it is going to another person and no one else will see it, but that is not the case. I hate that Instagram thinks I am getting engaged and keeps showing me shiny rings and pretty white dresses. I feel like people think what they are saying is the most important thi...

I love Wikipedia. Where else can you find the Top 50 Most Influential British People and information about Kiera Knightley within the same website? I don't usually feel like the information I find is biased, or fabricated, or false. Actually, I find it to be generally easy to understand and interesting to read. I get more lost reading Wikipedia pages on past popes than I do scrolling Instagram. With the information we learned in class, I think teachers and professors should reevaluate their opposition to Wikipedia when writing research papers.  Students are usually encouraged to use encyclopedias, even online ones, so why is Wikipedia different?  There is a stigma around the information hotspot that anyone can edit anything, but this just does not coincide with the fact that the majority of information is fact-checked by bots anyway.  I'm more inclined to believe the information I receive from Wikipedia than the majority of all political speeches, w...

"Let him without sin cast the first stone." This is what Jesus says to the group of men who want to stone the woman who is found guilty of adultery. If Jesus was on Twitter it would probably be something like this... "If you are perfect, tweet nasty things at someone you disagree with." I bet Twitter would be silent. But it's not. No, people drag others down and think they somehow deserve it. I know a girl who unknowingly had screenshots taken of her in a charcoal facemask. A guy whom she refused to sleep with sent those pictures of her around to his friends. They were posted on Twitter with the caption of where she would be attending college and her name. The caption also said, "Twitter, do your thing." These self-proclaimed Social Justice Warriors gave their verdict and condemned a minor who didn't even know what was happening. She had a panic attack for four hours. Is that justice? Is that how we as a society handle disag...

I remember when Edward Snowden revealed himself as the “whistleblower” who said the NSA was taking information on United States citizens. I was babysitting my neighbors and watching the news. At first, I didn’t see what the problem was. What could they possibly get from me? But that is not the issue. It is the invasion of privacy, regardless of who is doing the invading. The US government defended itself by saying it was for the protection of its citizens—especially after 9/11. But they never notified its citizens. And they didn’t limit their information grabbing to just people they suspect of criminal or terrorist activity. Last time I checked, the majority of Americans aren’t terrorists. The role of the government is to promote the well-being of its citizens, including its defense. But gathering data on the daily spousal phone call, or text between friends is not defending the nation. No, it is a violation of the very basic rights of humans listed in the Constitution....

I will never go viral. I am too boring. And that’s okay! There are some people who want fifteen minutes of fame. I am not one of those people and would prefer to be outside the spotlight—actually very far from the spotlight. I am better at supporting those people who are in the spotlight, kinda like a good bra. What is my aversion to fame? Well, my friend, it isn’t fame. It is a fleeting moment where people feel important for a brief amount of time. Is it genuine? No. Is it sustainable? Nope. Does it serve a purpose? Not really.  I sound like a grumpy old man who sits on his porch and complains about those “crazy kids,” and “back in my day we found fame going to ‘Nam.” A Malaysian goat (named Sia) that went  viral for being handsome. I was watching cable TV (which I rarely do—because I am old) and I saw two different commercials reference “viral”. What is the obsession? I guess there are pros and cons. Pros: famous, people are talking about you, you ...