I read the article titled "Mark my words, maybe." For most of this article I was trying to figure out what the artists main argument was. She started out by saying that she needed to get a tattoo so that she could break away from mainstream society. She kept saying how she felt held down by the happenings of other peoples lives, and hence wanted to get a tattoo to help her break free. I became confused when she started to counteract her beginning argument by saying that she thought that her tattoo wasn't accomplishing what she had first wanted it to.
The author wanted her tattoo to help her break free from that which was holding her down in life and make her different, but instead it made her something that she wasn't comfortable with. She describes her tattoo experience as fun at first. It was a conversation starter and people were interested to hear why she wanted to get that specific tattoo. After a while though she began to feel drained of answering people over and over. She compares herself to being pregnant and everyone notices and asks you about it. Except in her case she says that the joy of being pregnant is gone, and she feels empty every time someone asks her about her tattoo.
This made me very interested, because it made me start to think about the effects that body modification might have on some people in a negative way. When I usually think about body modification I think of tattoos and piercings, which people are usually very excited to share with others and talk about why they got them and how it defines them. But what happens if you undergo a body modification like a tattoo and you don't like it, and you have to live with it. That's what seems to be happening in the author's case, because she isn't enjoying her tattoo anymore. It's a burden to her now and it didn't give her the outcome that she was hoping for.
This shows how body modifications, whether they are meant to be for good purposes, can sometimes not end up being what you thought they would be. A body modification can change the whole of what people think of you when they first see you. You may not have intended for that to happen when you got your body modification, but now you are paying the price. Everyone makes assumptions about people, whether it is a conscious decision or not. So before you get a tattoo or a piercing, think about how it is going to effect you. Are you gonna be ok with the new way that you are treated?
-Brandon Reilly
Saturday, May 17, 2014
What is the Internet doing to us?
I watched the "Short film on a computer screen" video, and I was glued to the screen the whole time. Besides the fact that it basically bashed my whole generation, it was such a good short film that I had to show it to some of my friends. I was in awe of what he did, and didn't start to think that maybe I was in his shoes at some points during my use of the internet and social media.
Through this video, we say the bad things which result from social media. There is a lack of communication and over generalization which then leads to hasty assumptions and peoples relationships become broken or feelings are hurt. I personally believe that this video holds true to how my generation actually acts. I think that the internet is used as an escape from your current activity when you start to lose concentration. So in my life, when I'm working on homework, it makes my attention span less because it gives me a reason to stop what I'm doing and go do something that will entertain me for a brief moment, like watch a you tube video. This makes it much harder for us to concentrate on one thing for a long period of time, so in short, the internet shortens our attention spans.
The video seemed to be mainly concentrating on the Internets effect on relationships between people. It gave the impression that the internet ruins relationships. When the boy in the video broke up with his girlfriend on Facebook, I think that was a little extreme. I'm sure something of that sort has happened before, but the internet isn't all that bad. It gives us a wealth of information, and actually improves the amount of connections we can make between people. Although I do believe it increases the amount of people we can connect with, I do not believe that it increases the relationships we already have. For example, from the viedo, the main character seemed to have a friend who he was always chatting with who would ask him to play games, but that seemed to be the extent of their relationship. There was no contact shown except for through facebook messages. There is no way that they could have been very close friends with that little contact. I know from personal experience that I have made hasty assumptions about people on facebook, and sometimes I get angry, but then I think about it and realize that I'm getting upset over nothing. So the internet isn't all that bad, but it does not help you create strong relationships with people like the good old days when everyone wrote letters.
Overall, this video is on the right track of representing our generation as a whole, but I think that it over generalizes too much. It definitely gets the point across that people don't make good choices while on facebook, but that's not true for everyone. I've been in similar situations, but I don't think that any were that extreme. I think that anyone that watches this video should get off their computers and go outside for an hour or two.
-Brandon Reilly
Through this video, we say the bad things which result from social media. There is a lack of communication and over generalization which then leads to hasty assumptions and peoples relationships become broken or feelings are hurt. I personally believe that this video holds true to how my generation actually acts. I think that the internet is used as an escape from your current activity when you start to lose concentration. So in my life, when I'm working on homework, it makes my attention span less because it gives me a reason to stop what I'm doing and go do something that will entertain me for a brief moment, like watch a you tube video. This makes it much harder for us to concentrate on one thing for a long period of time, so in short, the internet shortens our attention spans.
The video seemed to be mainly concentrating on the Internets effect on relationships between people. It gave the impression that the internet ruins relationships. When the boy in the video broke up with his girlfriend on Facebook, I think that was a little extreme. I'm sure something of that sort has happened before, but the internet isn't all that bad. It gives us a wealth of information, and actually improves the amount of connections we can make between people. Although I do believe it increases the amount of people we can connect with, I do not believe that it increases the relationships we already have. For example, from the viedo, the main character seemed to have a friend who he was always chatting with who would ask him to play games, but that seemed to be the extent of their relationship. There was no contact shown except for through facebook messages. There is no way that they could have been very close friends with that little contact. I know from personal experience that I have made hasty assumptions about people on facebook, and sometimes I get angry, but then I think about it and realize that I'm getting upset over nothing. So the internet isn't all that bad, but it does not help you create strong relationships with people like the good old days when everyone wrote letters.
Overall, this video is on the right track of representing our generation as a whole, but I think that it over generalizes too much. It definitely gets the point across that people don't make good choices while on facebook, but that's not true for everyone. I've been in similar situations, but I don't think that any were that extreme. I think that anyone that watches this video should get off their computers and go outside for an hour or two.
-Brandon Reilly
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