Technology’s Effect on our World

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’ve been busy working and writing this week and I’m making progress on my WIP. I’m seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

But enough about that. Today, I’d like to talk about technology and it’s impact on our society. I had a class reunion this weekend and I got to see friends I haven’t seen in a long time. It was nice to catch up and walk down memory lane with them. Some of them, I’ve been able to connect with on social media and chat via messenger with them. It’s a great way to reestablish old connections.

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With social media it’s easy to stay connected and catch up via chats, but there’s nothing like face-to-face interaction. I worry about our future generations where most communication will take place via the computer. I’m worried because I feel they won’t have the ability to read facial cues when talking with their peers because they won’t have enough practice with real life communication.

https://allthefreestock.com/

I’m also worried because I feel our young people don’t get enough physical activity. I see my kids and their friends spending so much time in front of a computer that they’re not getting enough exercise. Childhood obesity is on the rise and I feel the main reasons are the added sugars in our processed foods and the fact they’re not physically active.

So, even though technology has given us the ability to make connections over many thousands of miles, it has had a negative effect on our health, and it has also made our in real life connections more fragile because social media’s main goal is to keep us engaged.

They don’t want us to leave their site. So, they place items in our feeds to keep us there. Different articles on things we’ve liked. For example, if I like a random picture of an elephant, I’ll find more elephant pictures and articles showing up in my feed. There’s a documentary on this phenomenon called “The Social Dilemma.” If you haven’t seen it, you need to watch it. It’s on Netflix and it explains this whole process.

How about you? Do you feel technology has had a negative impact on our physical and mental health? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

My Thoughts on “Talking to Strangers” by Malcolm Gladwell

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back and I’ve been busy working on my stories. I’m close to finishing some edits on my first one and I must say the story is coming along. I’m excited about both of these stories and like a fine wine they can’t be rushed. 😉

But enough about that. Today I’d like to talk about Malcolm Gladwell’s book ‘Talking to Strangers.’ It was eye-opening to say the least. I’ve always wondered how Hitler could fool so many people for so long during World War II. Well, this book explains that. It delves deep into the human psyche and explains how when talking to people we don’t know we default to what “our” truth is and not necessarily what the stranger’s truth is. We ignore all the signs that would normally He called this ‘default to truth.’

It explains the concept of ‘coupling’ and how ‘place’ can be a factor as well. It takes us step by step through the process of how after all these factors add up it explains how at the end of the day, we as a society end up blaming…

I won’t spoil the end for you, but I’ve got to say if you’re looking to facilitate change in our society, this book is a must read. Especially after the year we just had. Even if you’re not, you should still read it. It might change your mind.

Technology and Its Effects on our Lives

 

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you! I’m back today and I’m excited because I’ve finished my latest WIP. 🙂 Now the editing begins. My favorite part of writing. I love making my story stronger and better. I’ll share more details as I go through the process.

Today, I want to talk about technology. What an amazing thing it is. When I compare my childhood to that of my children, things are totally different, and I must say, I’m not that old! 😉

It’s incredible the changes that have occurred in the last thirty years (cough). Back in the day, we only had a landline phone, cell phones didn’t exist. Now, we’ve got phones that we can send texts, take pictures, and search the web with. It is truly amazing how far we’ve come.

And let’s not forget Social Media. Today, we can chat with someone from another country via the internet for the cost of an internet connection. I remember my days in college when we had to wait until after eleven pm to make long distance calls because the rates were lower, and I wasn’t even chatting with someone from another country. Those phone calls were expensive!

Photo courtesy of Flicker Creative Commons and

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It’s remarkable how far we’ve come and it makes me wonder how far we’ll go. What new technology awaits us over the horizon? What will social media evolve into and what effect will it have on our kids?

These are the questions I think about as I watch my children interact with their friends. I wonder how relationships will evolve. Will most of them be carried out over the internet? Will text messaging/instant messaging be the way our kids communicate with their friends and families? After all this type of communication is on the rise. Just take a look at these statistics. http://attentiv.com/we-dont-speak/

The reality is that our texting may be a detriment to face to face communication. According to this article, http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/texting-teens-adults-communication-0726126

Text messaging/instant messaging is a form of instant gratification, cultivating impatience in our teens which could lead to aggression. When I think of this, I think of road rage and the fact that it’s on the rise. To me, road rage is a person’s frustration when they can’t get to their destination fast enough or they’re frustrated by another driver. Could the instant gratification of text messaging be a contributing factor to road rage? In my opinion yes.

This is one of the negatives of our technological advancement. Just like everything in life, moderation is the key. I believe we need to set limits on cell phone usage especially while driving. Did you know that texting while driving is now a worse public hazard than drunk driving? Check out this article, http://www.alertdriving.com/home/fleet-alert-magazine/north-america/Texting-while-driving-now-a-worse-public-hazard-than-drunk-drivers

Right now, the responsibility resides with the individuals to monitor their own cell phone usage while driving. I believe, we’ll soon have laws that prohibit the use of cell phones while on the road, but how do we police it? As a parent, I say absolutely no texting while driving for teens. They’ve just learned how to drive, they don’t need the distraction of trying to text at the same time.

Our technological advancements have created some problems for our society. In my opinion, moderation is key. We’ll have to monitor and set limits for social media interaction and text messaging for our kids. After all, we don’t want them to lose the ability to communicate face to face. They’d lose the art of reading body language and emotional intelligence will decrease. These are vital skills they’ll need as adults, wouldn’t you agree?

Thanks for stopping by and reading my post today, I appreciate it! Leave a comment, I’d love to read your thoughts! 🙂

 

 

Why Don’t Schools have Relationship Classes?

Hello Everyone! I hope all is well with you today! I’m back after being extremely ill for the last week.  Boo! My whole family had this cold/flu bug that’s been going around, but we’re on the mend this week. Well…enough about that. Today I wanted to talk about teen relationships.

During the teen years there are a lot of firsts. First feelings…first dances…first kisses…etc.  Since this is a period of a lot of first times, there are many new emotions that teens haven’t felt before and therefore are inexperienced in handling.

Because of that inexperience some teens may use controlling or manipulative behavior to try and avoid the painful feelings of rejection.  This is unfortunate but true. This kind of behavior can take teens down a destructive path both for the controller and the teen that’s the object of control.

Now, keep in mind the person who’s attempting to control the situation is not trying to be manipulative in any way…they are trying to avoid the pain of rejection. However, his/her controlling behavior does have a detrimental effect. If the teen who doesn’t want to be in the relationship can’t break out of that controller’s grip, he/she’s in a relationship that is no longer working for them. This is where, in my humble opinion, the relationship becomes unhealthy and could even become abusive.

Unfortunately, I see this in many young adult relationships and as a result there’s decreased self-esteem for both parties involved. So what is the answer? I have one…but you knew that didn’t you? 🙂

I think all teens should have to take “Relationship Classes” or “Relationship Workshops.” That’s right; in my opinion these classes should be a requirement of the school curriculum…just like sex education. 🙂

In these classes we can teach teens what an unhealthy relationship is. We can show them what negative behaviors should not be tolerated.  I feel this is important for our kids. These classes will help them maintain healthy self-esteem; and what better place to learn about relationships than in school next to their peers. 🙂 The same peers they are having relationships with.

We can give them tools to cope with unhealthy situations. One that comes to mind is what can a young girl do when she wants to end a relationship with a young man and he threatens suicide? Or the other way around? These situations have spun out of control and are too much for any teen to handle. An adult has to be involved…but how many teens talk to their parents at this stage of the game? Very few.  I say let’s give them the tools they need, so  they can recognize these unhealthy situations. We could even take it a step further and teach them healthy communication skills. They will be better adults in the long run.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. As always, I’m sharing my personal opinion and would love to hear some of your ideas! Please leave a comment; I’d love to hear from you!

“Side Effects” the Movie that inspired this Post on Human Drug Testing

Hello Everyone! I hope all is well with you! I’m taking a break from discussing teen issues today and talking about a movie I saw. I went to see “Side Effects” a couple of weeks ago. It was a great movie with an awesome twist toward the end. I enjoyed it and the movie started me thinking about the new drugs that deal with psychological issues that are available on the market today.

Now, I’ve never taken a drug for depression or anxiety so I have no first-hand knowledge of what some of these drugs can do. But this movie raised some concerns for me. I asked the question, how do we know what the side effects of these drugs are? How do we test for them?

So, of course, I did some research and this is what I found:  A new drug has to go through three phases of testing before it is considered safe for the market and all drugs have to be approved by the FDA.

Phase One: This is where the drug is tested on animals. After the company does this type of testing they must fill out a “New Drug Application.”  This application is then reviewed by the FDA and a local Institutional Review Board. If the application is approved, the review board (made up of scientists and non-scientists in hospitals and research institutions) moves forward and sets up a clinical trial protocol. This protocol describes the type of people who can participate in the human testing of the drug.  The people tested in this stage are healthy humans and they are paid for their participation. The emphasis in this stage is safety. Researchers are looking for any negative effects the drug has on healthy individuals. If no major health concerns appear they move on to Phase Two. The number of participants for this phase range from twenty to eighty people.

Phase Two: This is the phase where they test the effectiveness of a drug while still keeping an eye on safety. They want to see if the drug actually works on the conditions or diseases it’s designed to help. The number of participants for this phase range between a few dozen to about three hundred.  If there is evidence that there is a positive effect from the drug the researchers move on to Phase Three.

Phase Three:  In this phase they gather more information on effectiveness and safety; testing the drug on different populations and different dosages. They also combine the test drug with other medications to see if there’s any negative reaction. The number of people tested in this phase range from several hundred to three thousand.

After this phase the sponsor of the new drug must fill out a New Drug Application. This is the formal step needed to seek approval from the FDA to market any drug in the United States.  If approved that Clinical Trials are set up and these trials are what take so long. They can take several years to complete. For more information on the New Drug Review Process please click this link.  http://www.fda.gov/drugs/resourcesforyou/consumers/ucm143534.htm

It takes several years for a drug to appear on the market. As I researched this I grew concerned.  Who are these companies testing the drugs on?

Since these companies are paying individuals to be human guinea pigs there isn’t any criteria to become a test subject. Therefore, I concluded that the test subjects are usually the poor or uneducated or young people who need the money, like college students.

What happens when drug testing goes horribly wrong? As parents we need to teach our young people to value their health and not take it for granted. I know that drug testing is essential and I don’t fault modern medicine for finding new cures, but testing a new drug can be very dangerous for the volunteers. The risks are too great in my opinion. So, what are we to do?

I have an answer. 🙂 But you knew I would didn’t you?  Where can we find human volunteers? My answer is why don’t we look for volunteers in our prison system? We’ve got a number of individuals who are either serving life sentences or on death row. They would be benefiting society and drug companies wouldn’t have to pay them. Maybe that would also bring the cost of the drugs down, which could ultimately bring down insurance rates for health insurance. Hmmm….makes you think doesn’t it?

One may argue that prisoners don’t fit the criteria of a healthy individual. Well…that is a point but my response to this arguement is…most prisoners eat better than our poor and uneducated. Sadly…they are probably healthier than many of our current volunteers.

Is it considered cruel and unusual punishment? I think not…because it is on a volunteer basis. In my opinion, doctors would be able to monitor the subjects in a controlled environment, which would make monitoring the side effects of the drug easier and more accurate. 🙂 This would protect our college bound youngsters, the poor, and uneducated who have done nothing against society.

What do you think? I know this sounds a little extreme…but then you’d have to see the movie to understand my concerns.  I’d love to hear your thoughts on my opinions. 🙂 Do you think this would be feasible?

***I want to thank www.fda.gov for some of the information provided in this post.