What should hashtag look like ? #SLACKTIVISM or #ACTIVISM

    From when, “#” began to occupy our social media?
   

    The first time I contacted with hashtag was on Chinese “Twitter” (which we called it Weibo or micro-blog).

    At that time, I was a devotee of a singer madly.And as a fan, we all hoped that our idol can be known among more and more people, we began to add hashtags in our Weibo such as the name of the singer’s new song, or the date of the singer’s birthday in order to make publicity for the singer.And when the number of hashtags increases to some amount, that hashtags would be on hot topics.So the content of the hashtag can be noticed by more and more people.However, these hashtags could not last for a long time, no more than few days.And also, when a hashtag appears, pro & con arguments also come out.I like this idol, but others may not, they may abuse the idol.

    However, like the hashtag of the singer, most hashtags are slacktivism.We don’t do anything for real.The only thing we do is add the hashtag in our 140- character tweets.For example, after the assault in Paris, the hashtag #PRAYFORPARIS appeared.Although this hashtag was really effective, it was actually slacktivism.People did not do any substantial things, no parade, no demonstration.The only thing they did was just pray.This hashtag lasted about one month (maybe more than 1 month?). Because this was a current event, so after that period passed, people would forget that. But as a hashtag of current event, #PRAYFORPARIS was successful.In those days, this hastag occupied the home page of our social media and had been spread over the world.

    But there are still some activism hashtag.For example, #BLACKLIVESMATTER.This hashtag campaign actually had a lot of actions: The death of Michael Brown, the #BlackLivesMatter movement in Ferguson and so on. It accords with Tip #2 – Campaign Effectiveness.This hashtag campaign results in real world, so it would be more influential.

    Another good example for activism is #LOVEWIN .There was a long history and campaign before this hashtag.The pro & con argument are almost neck and neck.In 1969, a series of violence incidents against the persecution from the government happened; Harvey Bernard Milk ‘s death in 1978; from 1980 to 1990, because of “gay cancer”, gay community was suffered from biases, their rights and reputation were damaged.; in 1996, President Bill Clinton signed off Defense of Marriage Act.These only were some actions happened in 20th century.The actions in 21th century are countless.So for me, I will put #LOVEWIN on the very top of the activism-effective graph.

    So overall, activism hashtags often are more successful and last longer than slacktivism hashtags.Actions are stronger than words.However, both activism and slacktivism hashtag take an important role in the "hashtag world".We need activism hashtags for significant issues, and we also need slacktivism hashtags for our daily life.    

Slacktivism and Activism

Social Media plays an important role in spreading the news and its significance towards the communities. Especially Facebook or Twitter, and other social media, in only one minute, a post from someone living in nowhere can be passed on and on from this continent to another continent and eventually to all over the world. By utilizing the spreading speed on social media, some campaigns are made to spread awareness among people and sometimes to raise donations for charities. It seems like social media MAKES OUR WORLD A BETTER PLACE, but who knows exactly what behind the scene is! We may list some widespread campaigns that are most posted including #PrayForParis, #LoveWins, #IceBucketChallenge, etc. Honestly, those are the only 3 campaigns that I know. Other campaigns..."Nah, I don't care."

The very first campaign that I noticed was The Ice Bucket Challenge, hashtag: #IceBucketChallenge. What I knew about this campaign though was pouring icy water over your head. Done!
I was pretty sure that I would get an A if that was the answer to the question: "Outline the Ice Bucket Challenge campaign." Unfortunately, I just got back my test yesterday and found out that I got a D because I knew nothing about it. In fact, the first time I knew what ALS is was when I was writing this blog. Funny, hey! So I can say that the purpose of this campaign hasn't been carried with the "action of wasting water during the summer time". In my opinion, it's definitely slacktivist and it fails to communicate to the audience. I'm very surprised to the fact that I'm more ignorant than what I think I am!

The second campaign was known by the effect of changing RAINBOW avatar, hashtag: #LoveWins. Yes, I'm talking about the fight for a true love and equality for the LGBT community. I guess the reason why I didn't know that before because my Facebook was full of Vietnamese news, therefore, it lacked of the world famous news. Even though it came to my ears very late, I could still join to the pace of the campaign. I love when people talk about love, because it's a fun thing to discuss about and it is essential to our lives. Without love, people are disunited and hateful. So why don't we just accept the true meaning of love despite the misunderstanding of same-sex love, which is allegedly seen as" unnatural?" I'm very happy that people start to think differently about LGBT community. People are more open towards the Human Rights, which is what supposed to be our right, but not a governmental legislation. The campaign did a very good job in raising the awareness globally and certainly it's received and accepted. It is totally an activism.


The last campaign that has the same "marketing" propaganda is that to colour your avatar with the Flag of France, hashtag: #PrayForParis. Paris was attacked by the terrorist on November 13th, 2015. It was then well-known not only in Europe and America, but also in Asia in just a few days after the incident; or I can say that it was known in all over the world! Everyone started talking about in on social media every single second. It's totally an activism, however, another situation arose from the incident. Much sooner than that, there were a lot of wars in the Middle East but there wasn't any form of protest significantly. In a positive way, the campaign was created as an example of "the world is hurt by persistent wars". However in a negative way, the campaign was thought to be created by a "white men" so it was noticed whereas the wars in Middle East were like "not as important as" this terrorism. #AllLivesMatter #PrayForTheWorld.

Hashtags

The Ice Bucket Challenge #IceBucketChallenge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C7AKkZ8DEQ (0:50)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G_J_c1BmiM (0:38)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5Lsphmj5T4 (4:02)

Because I don't follow Twitter (it's for the birds), my knowledge of the Ice Bucket Challenge came from these three YouTube channels that I follow. In order of listing there is Cthulhuigi, reynad27 and the Artix Entertainment Company.

On other social media platforms I have read common complaints that doing the Ice Bucket Challenge is just a publicity stunt and they aren't doing the thing they were supposed to do, which was donate and call out other people to raise awareness for ALS.

It's true that in Cthulhuigi's and reynad's video they linked the ALS website and called out other people but I'm not sure if they have donated any money, Artix Entertainment was more helpful with this as they have given information on ALS, talked about the challenge and donated money to the cause.

As can be read from the description in Cthulhuigi's video

If you feel compelled to complain about this superfluous use of water when others go thirsty, let me know! I'm something of an expert and can give you some resources dedicated to bringing clean water to others you can donate your time and money to. If that's too much, you'll be happy to know every time you opt out of eating an ounce of beef, you're saving at minimum 50 gallons of water! If you're doing all you can and you've found complaining about this is the most direct way you can bring water to those in need, drop me a line! I'd like to collaborate with you on some engineering projects, and I also have a bridge I have to let go of for a /song/.

I assume this is in response to Matt Damon's toilet water thing, something which I did not learn about until approximately three years later. His heavier counterpart Fatt Damon, who was called out by reynad, has not taken action.

I have very little feelings on this particular issue.

GamerGate #GamerGate #NotYourShield #ItsActuallyAboutEthicsInGamingJournalism #StopGamerGate #PizzaGate etc

Ugh... To be honest I'm not quite sure what this movement was all about. Again since I don't follow Twitter I get my drama from different sources of media, namely for this movement, Reddit. It was difficult to actually understand what was going on at the time, and still is even to this day. I'm still not sure which side were the ones tweeting with the hashtag GamerGate, as well as the name itself, there were no gates involved, everything involving scandals just has the suffix -gate added to it because of the Watergate scandal, which happened in the WATERGATE hotel. 

Clarity isn't for everyone. Some people are more than glad to just blindly wave their pitchforks and flashlights at whatever problem that gets brought up.  ---€ <- pitchfork

There were apparently two sides to this controversy, a side that intended on harassing women related to video games because "gamers hate women" versus the people who defended them. Or a side that was unhappy about the current state of gaming journalism versus the people who perceived everything that they did as a slight upon gender equality. 

Confused? So am I! Like most wars, both sides thought that they were right and that the other side is full of hate mongering idiots who attacked them without cause.

 Personally, this was the single worst thing that has ever happened on the internet.

BlackLivesMatter #BlackLivesMatter

Unlike a lot of other hashtags that were on the list, I have actually heard of this one, not much but I have heard of it. I first learned about this trendy hashtag after learning about Black Lives Matters protesters protesting a Bernie Sanders rally in Seattle way back then, according to someone who was there:"I was at the event today. I really wish that someone would post the entirety of the disruption. It was worse than you think.

• The women accosting and shouting down organizers, even when they are attempting to communicate with them.
• Immediately once the mic was ceded to her, she starts with "I'll wait until this crowd is completely silent before I begin."
• Calls the crowd "liberal white supremacists".
• After initial rant, demands 4 and a half minutes of silence for Mike Brown. Does not start keeping track of time until she is satisfied with the level of quiet.

-After the crowd gives them the silence addition to listening to her first rant Bernie is started to be welcomed back on stage. At this point while off the mic they continue yelling while he is being reintroduced; thus keeping him from even beginning.

Here is a video that I haven't seen in the media/comments much. It's when they actually started the whole thing. You be the judge.

http://youtu.be/Ooe_n7K_P_s 

Since then I haven't heard much about the movement but if they wanted to lose all public sympathy for their cause then they have succeeded.

Confessions of a SAHS

I could never be a SAHM (Stay-at-Home-Mom).  Maybe I don't like my kids enough.  Maybe it's because I'm an introvert and get overstimulated by constant human contact ("Mummy, I'm hungwy."  "Mummy, I want a tweat."  "Mummy, I pooped my pants."  Seriously, dude, you're like five already!!!).  Maybe it's because I get enough grief in my day job that the last thing I want is more of it - or PERMANENT of it - when I get home :)

But I will confess to being a Stay-at-Home-Slacktivist.  I'm selective about what I post on social media, always aware of my audience.  But I'll 'like' the heck out of everything I possibly can on FB, as a passive-aggressive means of getting to some sort of audience.  Surely a friend of a friend of a friend will see what I've liked - through the magic of Facebook's algorithms - and be motivated to think, act, do.  I sure as heck don't have time for much more than thinking...and even that I suck at after 8 straight years of being woken up in the dead of night by thirsty, scared, lonely, needy little munchkins.

Been there...

Wait.  DO I really only have time for thinking...not doing? not acting on things I feel passionately need to be changed in my world?  Let's see, shall we...

The time is there, it would seem.  I mean I spent 2 hours on Facebook yesterday - ON A WORK DAY.  My Facebook is 90% news sites (I know - no chill for this 38-yo teacher of yours).  But what if I even cut my exposure to what was happening in the world down by, like, an hour a day, and actually experienced what is freakin' happening in the real world instead?!!

The question I suppose we left unanswered Wednesday in class:  what DOING - what participation in activism - is going to make a difference from our comfy little spots in white bread Langley?  Where's the revolution, and how am I supposed to show up?  Am I even supposed to show up, or is my privilege showing if I do?

When Jason and I spent most of our evenings in the Downtown Eastside, there were lots of different Langley-types who showed up.  Some showed up to give us money, then take off.  (Cool, we needed the money more than we needed your fake smile anyways, thank you very much.)  Some showed up to clean or paint.  (Umm, have you ever cleaned or painted before, because seriously dude, you're making a mess!)  Some showed up to hand out gospel tracks or pray with people - people who, from my experience, had more knowledge of scriptures and church and love and grace and grief and reality and spiritual things than anyone I grew up with in the Christian church.

You know who didn't show up?  Someone willing to hang out with Freddie in the lobby and play cribbage with him for an hour.  No one came to fill in the paperwork that Kitty needed to be eligible for government disability.  No one came to set up the karaoke machine on Wednesday nights, or boil the eggs for the daily breakfasts, or to walk with Zee in Stanley Park so that her legs didn't feel the permanent effects of Type One diabetes.  

I think people were hiding behind their computer screens, clicking 'like' and sharing hashtags instead of actually investing in the PEOPLE behind the social movements and societal needs.  I think that from our computers and hand held devices, we think we have reached the higher ground of empathy, but, as Dr Robert Berezin relates, this is just evidence of our narcissism. 

Showing up is uncomfortable.  I mean, how do you talk with a Freddie, or a Kitty, or a Zee?  How do you maintain a relationship with people so unlike you, or so not connected to your typical group?  Berezin addresses that too.  We don't show up to fix anyone:  "All of our problems are human problems that reflect our human story" and we're not going to erase all the bad things that happen in life and in society as a whole.  

But the responsiveness that Berezin claims surpasses empathy, that's showing up for Freddie's loneliness, Kitty's need, Zee's health, but so importantly, it's showing up for our own learning: "We are all cut from the same cloth and the human story is one story.  And we all can imagine and identify with anything, once you get past that no one is better or worse than someone else."

We're the ones who need the revolution.

Is WALL-E the future of humans and technology?...

Wait so we could become fat humans, with our eyes glues to the screen 24/7 waiting for some robot garbage man to come save us?  HA HA k.

I wouldn't say that the internet is completely controlling us or vice versa but we do allow it to dominate a majority of our lives.

I feel like due to such an abundance in technology surrounding our daily lives were always plugged in somewhere somehow.

The internet has so many amazing uses but we need to use to carefully.

Every now and then take the time to unplug, enjoy nature (and yes I'm aware i sound like a parent dragging their teenage kid out on a camping trip but its the truth).

Check out my Blendspace to see some crazy facts about our use of the internet, over half our lifetime is spent in front of a screen.

Its quite ironic how we use the internet to talk about our over use of it but what to do haah we gotta express our selves somehow. And sadly text is becoming old fashioned now a days. We just tend to look online for any answer because its quick and easy. I'm all for modern technology but we cannot forget about what we started with, sometimes the purist info is simply in a paperback book.

Another thing i've noticed is people young and old have started living relationships and friendships through the internet... while its a great thing to keep in touch or talk long distance it shouldn't be the go to source of communication. The same effort isnt put into maintaining a friendship or relationship when its online.

So put down them damn phones pls and look someone in the eye and have a conversation. IKR ASTONISHING

BUT WE CANT BECOME FAT AND LAZY AND TECHNOLOGY OBSESSED.

"Logout", the hardest button to click

According to this video there are around 2, 756, 198, 420 internet users around the world and the majority of them use it on a daily basis.

The fact that the UN has declared it a human right to have wifi access just goes to show how essential it has become to our lives but a line has to be drawn when it comes to the usage within our lives.



Our modern day minds revolve around technology which is incredible, so many inventions and discoveries are being made which would have been dreams just a couple years back BUT ITS ALSO making us lazy af. and i take full responsibility for this in my life. In fact everything I do can be explained in this one video by superwoman (aka lilly singh).

Mhmm go ahead watch it i'll wait, you're gonna facepalm so many time i promise.

See i told you, even day to day tasks we need our phone or "just google it duhh".

I wouldnt say I'm personally addicted to technology, ive gone days without wifi and my phone and ive lived, but i know of many people who would have panic attacks without wifi. I belive this is a cause of not being able to control yourself, which is virtually where all addictions start.

Self control is very important in every aspect of life from eating (lets be honest no one has control over that) to using our laptops. By over using the internet we can destroy so many aspects of our life like relationships, friendships academics and our health. Im not saying its poison but every now and then we all need a reality check into the real world. With real people and 3D objects.

A boy in year 8 (12 to 13) gave this researchers this gem of wisdom on the benefits and risks:

"The internet is like the world; it can be horrible, it can be amazing, but you choose which way or path you take. Sometimes you make new friends, but sometimes friends are no longer friends. People need to choose how they use it and look at it: for games; for social use; they choose." 

- taken from buzzfeed

So are you addicted to the internet well specifically facebook, WAIT LETS CHECK USING THE INTERNET (the irony) but yeah take this QUIZ lolol.

Don't lock the phone

    I acknowledge that I focused on my phone all the time during the lock down.When the announcement said that this was a red code lock down and it was not a drill, I did not feel afraid (I don’t know why because usually I am really timid).And I remembered that the last thing I did before I hid under the table was grabbing my phone which was on the table.In the beginning, I dared not looked at my phone because I was afraid if somebody looked from the window, the phone would give out light.And then, I found many people were chatting on the Messenger already.So, I text my mom, but at that time China was in the wee hours, and she did not wake up....I text my friend in Burnaby, she was doing her test...I text around seven people in China, but only one replied me because she stayed up watching a movie.At that time, people in the IB GIRLS’ group on Messenger was chatting so hot that there were three or four messages per second.The people who were near the accident directly broadcast the last situation.

    The second time lock down made me feel afraid.The phone was the only tool that we can connect with outsides.So I think, we need to grab our phones with us, this is the first step.And then the second step turn the light down and turn the sound off.The third step, hide the light of the phone to the greatest extent by using clothes wrap the phone.And then text our parents, told them what happened, and the most important thing is telling them do not spread this message (tell them calm down is almost impossible...but I think telling them is necessary).

    That is what I think: we can use our phone during the lock down, but we need to use it appropriate.However, listen to teachers' command.If they don't want us to use our phones, just put them away.

    Anyway, I hope this was the last time.I fear after the event now.

Spring-a Break

Hello, my little ones, it's Moi again



Guess What?!?!?!

It's spring break bitchez!


Keeping up with the traditional spring break culture, it means parties, drinking and fun.


Lezberealz we've all watched the movie with Selena Gomez, the one of the Franco bros and them other kids no one ever remembers.


Disney star gone wrong again... yup we get it. *rolls eyes*


But you know, tradition says that spring break is that finally party time you got pre-studying for finals.



But then the IB life has chosen us all and we spend our spring break doing work.


Same Riri same....

except your work is fun and ours... Thank you to all you teachers who assigned homework.













What is spring break homework? Well apart from the infamous EE that we all (diploma) children need to write, there is the IAs, the catching up with chem and bio and math and English and french and tok, whatever tok is cuz I don't even think IB knows what tok is...

Then there is the procrastinating, the watching the bachelor finally, the comics, and the netflix marathons because we all know we are two seasons behind on our fav show.



As soon as we get all that done, then comes the family life, the friends, the relaxation, sleep and food... lots of food. 

There is also the few lucky ones that travel and visit the world while the rest of us stay in Canada watching their snapchat stories and crying in our bedroom.

Ahhh. the real life where you spend your day lying on different surfaces, this comes from the child that spent her day lying on the kitchen island when no one was home, don't worry it wasn't uncomfortable I brought blankets and pillows with me. :)


The thing is, by the time spring break comes along and you've done all those months of ib and have cried over two report cards, your literally so tired and done with physically, mentally and socially that all you want to do is have a day of nothing.

Like bless you internet for being created and having all your IB memes because it is great knowing other children have the same problems as me.


The best part of spring break tho, is when you're relaxing and suddenly you remember another thing you need to catch up on #CAS. -.-



It's good to know that we actually have the internet for those moments in spring break where we want to do nothing but relax and enter the weird parts of youtube


seems legit...


But then the question arises that is scrolling on the internet, or as my mom calls it, "going tik tik tik on my phone," really a form a relaxation?

Hit me up with your thoughts.



Bow down to your Queen.

Peace out Little ones.

Internet: the risk within

https://www.tes.com/lessons/DyD9KHQPsJuLxA/edit

The internet grants numerous opportunity for us to gain information about the people in this world.  Centuries ago, when people had to go miles to deliver a mail, it was hard to think of a faster and easier way to get the job done. However, with the birth of the internet, deliver mail or other information to each other is effortless and instantaneous.


Now you may think the internet is sweet and awesome and everything is cool, BUT, the truth is, it's not! Internet is like life. It can be rough and scary. And there's a lot of bad people on the internet!


 By accessing internet, these bad guys can receive your personal information, like your bank account number, your telephone number, or your health care data. Everything you put into the internet is there for them to steal! There are estimated two million hackers in the world and four hundred thousand active hackers each day.

 

Are you afraid yet? Wait until you hear what's next.
All those surveillance camera that are placed on the street, which record everything you do, the government has access to it. And now the government has access to every single piece of information on the internet, which means the government has control of your personal information.

 So are we using the internet or it's the internet using us? I would say YES, we are using the internet, and YES the internet is using us. If you look at the internet as the hackers and the government, they're using the internet as a tool to gain control over us. Unlike them, we use the internet for entertainment, exploration and communicate.

The Internet

What even is it?  A big network we use to buy and sell products?  A place to connect with people around the world?  A platform for us to create and innovate?  Or is it a big data collecting monster that uses our own weaknesses and information against us?

I think it's a little bit of both.

We use the internet to make our lives more convenient, to find new opportunities and to create new ideas.  But while we are doing these things the internet is collecting all sorts of data and information from us.  Then the internet uses that information to sell us products and services.

We use the internet as a massive resource.  For school, for news, even for sports.  There are programs out there that allow you to analyze video, pick apart technique and compare to other footage of yourself or someone with better technique than you.  In this way you can use the internet as a tool to better yourself as an athlete.

Look at education.  We TOTALLY use the internet to our biggest advantage.  There is so much information right at our fingertips.  We have access to a database and collection of knowledge, but not just the knowledge of people like you.  You get to see viewpoints and arguments from people all over the world, with completely different values, systems and beliefs.  Think about how much more of a global understanding and appreciation we gain from this.
Also, online learning!  Adults with busy lives and little extra income can now go to an online university and earn their degree instead of spending over 4 years and tens of thousands of dollars to do it in person.

Language is another thing people learn off the internet every day.  It can be interactive and it can help you for work, travel or just general interest.  Say you're taking a trip to Brazil.  Why not learn a bit of Portuguese before you go?  That way you can communicate, understand and appreciate the culture and the experience way better.

Another major way we use the internet is to raise awareness and money.  Online campaigns are a great way to get a message out into the world quickly, and relatively easily.  Look at the ALS ice bucket challenge.  It became the thing to do over the summer, turning a disease that barely anyone knew about into something everyone was talking about.  And as a bonus they raised a whack ton of money for research.

Tons of celebrities joined the campaign, which led to more people finding out about the challenge, and then participating in it, and then tagging their friends to do it too.  A vicious, yet productive cycle.


Okay, now the not so good stuff...

We use the internet as a gigantic marketplace.  You can buy and sell anything you want from a t-shirt to a car.  As convenient as this is, in order to do it you have to give up tons of information about yourself.  Not just all the personal information about yourself like your name, age, gender, birthday, address, phone number, etc.  They also know what websites you visit, what ads you click on, what you search for, even where you hanging out.

*****THIS IS SUPER CREEPY!!!!!*****

It is next level stalking, yet somehow since it's just the "internet" tracking you not your creepy balding middle aged always wearing too much cologne and never enough clothing neighbour it is somehow more acceptable.

Side note: my neighbours are all actually super nice people, but hey lets make this seem dramatic.

The saddest part about all this is that people are so addicted to the internet that they (in some cases) physically can not stop themselves from using it all hours of the day for every aspect of their life.  It's like they thing it's their lifeline, and without it they'd be nothing.

***Reality Check***

Life consists of more than just what is online.

Lets be real, the internet isn't going anywhere.  There are SO many ways that we can - and do - use the internet.  You can't hide from the internet, it already knows basically everything about you.  We just have to learn how to keep our private information private, and not let it control our being.

There is a balance to everything in life.  If you eat a lot of ice cream, you have to go do some exercise.  But if you do a lot of exercise, you can eat some ice cream.  See...Balance!!

The balance between how much we use the internet and the internet uses us is something we need to learn to control.  The internet is a great tool as long and it's not being used against us.

We need to make sure the USE outweighs the USED.

Internet Addiction

PIU? A New Disease?

Do you ever feel extremely tired in the morning, even without doing any physical work? 

Did you stay up until 3 AM browsing the internet?

If so, you ARE addicted to the internet. To be honest, I think 90% of the new generation are addicted to some form of the internet. As a society, ever since the internet was released to us, we've fed this infection into a full pledged disease. 

Be honest, how many hours do you spend on the internet in a week?

I, sadly, spend around 27-29 hours on the internet. 

This is how today's generation of kids spend their weekends and holidays.. I remember, even though internet was around when I was born, I used to play outside more often then use the internet when I was younger.

The internet now a days is how we talk to one another, it has come to the moment where we talk to the person in the same room though the internet. It isn't totally bad, it helps you keep in touch with people far away from you, and with internet apps like skype you can video call them.

BUT!

Using the internet as a way to pass time, that is what feeds the disease more and more, which in turn ruins your lives. Takes up all of you time, makes you want to not do anything other that browse and watch videos.

I believe that we need to change the way we use the internet, from day today pleasures to a tool we use to aid humanity, other wise the internet will be the death of real life interactions and social lives.

Internet Market

https://www.tes.com/lessons/M1YWjd2p2Qm5nQ/edit



Are we using the Internet or is the Internet using us?

I think that when we are online everyone has his role: we are the costumers and the big companies are the sellers.

But like in a supermarket the owners record what kind of food you like and the brands that you prefer, in the internet the big companies record what you are interested in.  

I'm not saying that this isn't scaring or dangerous, i just think that this is normal and we should have expected it.

On one side there is us: thanks to internet we have informations, news, chats with our friends and other million resources.  

On the other side, the big companies have the interest to sell us the most amount of products that they can, even if it means stealing our personal info.

I think that one of the problems is that people don't know that on the internet there is no privacy and this leads to wrong use of social media and internet in general.

Moreover people think that internet takes our informations to "save" our privacy or just to protect us. In fact they think that they will use them just for criminals, but the reality is that with those information they can really control us. 

I think that untill nothing really bad happens it will be us using the internet mainly, but if something will ever happen it will be difficult for us changing the reality and be completely free.

Internet VS. "Us"

Blendspace

We use the internet daily, but we don't really think about how the internet could be using us.

In my opinion, the internet uses us when we use the internet. 

Most website operators are interested in making $$$, and in order for that to happen, their interest is in designing websites that we would like. 

We can use the internet in many ways like:

 When we are studying for an exam and we don't understand a single concept,

we can go on youtube or khan academy for help.

Then when we get hungry, we can look up recipes, and then make this or attempt to make this delicious chicken <3

We could also shop at home, without having to get out of your bed, research,  or just jot down your thoughts to share on your blog. The edmodo site also saves the IB students all over the world from collapsing due to their gimongous textbooks in our backpacks We can just easily access the website for online texts instead of carrying everything.

In these ways, we can say that "we" (common people) are using the internet for us. 
BUTTT,

When you use the internet for these benefits, you encounter numerous ads and the internet collects information about us. If you exclude the rich companies and the few minority from the meaning of "we" and include them as "the internet", the internet's using us as they are selling products through targeted advertising and making a profit with the information collected. 

Even when I was looking for websites for my blendspace, I saw more than 15 ads (I lost count)...including the exact watch I was looking at to gift my mom. -->

So I think that we can benefit from the internet, but the internet also benefits from us at the same time.

A Million Reasons Why the Internet is Beneficial

Blendspace: Are we using the Internet, or is the Internet using us?

If you have used the Internet before, there should be at least one reason why such medium has changed our lives for the better.

The Internet IS our new source of knowledge and WE are using the Internet!

Most of us - including students, teachers, and parents - are almost completely dependent on the Internet; we are able to accomplish anything online and find anything we need. The Internet is like an idea bank that can freely be used 24-hours a day.

Although in the modern study not the entire population of the globe can access the Internet, if you are one of those people are can, then you must acknowledge and be aware of the fact that the Internet brings forth great accomplishments and better improves our standards of living.

1. The Internet can help overcome health issues!

A lot of the Internet users, especially teenagers and young adults are able to grasp a lot of information about topics that they feel uneasy and awkward talking about in person with either friends or family members.

These topics may include, depression, sexuality, pregnancy, smoking, and drug uses.

For example, the website above is a database for in which students experiencing depression or other emotional disturbances could visit in order to get physical or mental advice. Health websites such as Students Against Depression could ultimately lead in creating a more healthier environment, especially at school communities.

2. The Internet can help people learn!

Access to the Internet can vastly increase the number of educated population. The Internet is the resource that has always been open to most people in urban areas of the world. The usage of Internet can increase the number of university graduates.

Through research, it has been proven that those students who have access to the Internet at home is 8% more likely to graduate than those students who do not.

In addition, whether we are attending high-school or university, a great number of online courses are available to allow students to  pursue more suitable learning in faraway places or for other reasons, as well. For university students, taking online courses could allow students to study through distance learning or it could also allow students to take courses that are not supported by the university institutions near their residency.

According to statistics, in the previous years, the number of students taking online courses has increased about 96%.

This statistics proves that when we use the Internet in the "right" form, our possibility of benefiting from it is beyond infinity!!! More people can learn and bring good to the world!!

Secondly, the availability of the Internet allows people to learn various things for free; it is not always free but we can find uncountable number of non-paying resources online. For example, we can look for piano scores for certain music online, we can ask for tutorials on musical instruments online, and in addition, we can help others learn more easily by posting tutorials like the one shown above.

Through the use of Internet, we are able to grasp what we need very quickly and for FREE!!!

3. The Internet can help people communicate!

 People use Skype as a method to communicate with people worldwide. According to the Skype webpage, "Skype has connected more than 300 million people." I personally use Skype to work on group projects with friends. This application allows us to communicate more easily with less effort.

Turning on Skype does not even take 30 seconds, however, trying to meet together to discuss about the project might seem more time and effort consuming. Skype has always been the medium when discussing about how to get together, and so far it has worked very well in my opinion.

Twitter is another great source for us to find how the society is responding to worldwide issues. Twitter is able to create #hashtags to allow a subject or an idea to go viral in the Internet community. 

For example, last September, a Syrian boy was washed up on beach while trying to flee to Canada. In order to publicize the desperate need and help for refugees, a Twitter #hashtag was set forth, which became widely known as #KiyiyaVuranInsanlik. If there was no help of Twitter, I would not have known about such reality of Syria.

For these reasons, I strongly believe that if our Internet is used at the right time with the right content, we can definitely make use of it! Also, I would bet that almost anyone in the world can find their own reason why the Internet is good for us.

Am I right?