SmartPhones

So, call me old-fashioned (cu'z I probably am) but I think having a computer for a phone is a little odd.

Don't get me wrong; it's great to have GoogleMaps or be able to access email if you suddenly need to and you're not near a computer, but overall, does one really need an iphone, a tablet, and a laptop? This is like information overload. That's a lot of computers (for I would argue that smartphones are mini-computers). I myself don't have a smartphone; I can't quite decide if I want or need to make that plunge yet. So I'm kind of talking from a blind spot here; I don't have first-hand experience, so I'm probably pretty prejudiced, haha. But please! Educate me. :)

The struggle is whether I really need this thing with all of the conveniences it offers, or if this convenient thing is going to take up even more of my time in giving me useless information and distracting my attention away from more important things. I dunno.

What do you think?

I just sort of loved this...

My Aunt posted this on my FB wall as well as a bunch of my siblings walls; there are 8 of us and most of us love to dance. I thought this was super creative and fun, and totally worth watching. :)

http://www.wimp.com/coupledances/

Sexy You

Aight. So I was perusing Facebook the other day and someone had posted this article,and I clicked on it, and so I read it, and I really liked it. I really like what the company is trying to portray in regards of body image; no photoshopping, no supermodels, and you, as yourself, are sexy and beautiful.

This is a subject near and dear to my heart. I know many many women who are not happy with their bodies, or who don't think they're beautiful, and it drives me NUTS because they ARE beautiful. It also makes me really mad at American media, because they're giving us this standard that isn't actually attainable in real life. You can't photoshop yourself and then go walking around. Nope; it's great to have curves, or to be skinny or round or hippy or lippy or whatever. So I really dig this push to alter the media view of women's beauty. Thus, I am blogging about it! Take a look.

http://mashable.com/2014/01/21/aerie-lingerie-ads/

Baby monitor; Yes or No?

So, I don't know how many of you have seen these (I'm usually behind in the technology department), but last week my husband and 5-month baby girl and I were out and about at Target and I saw these baby monitors. Let me see if I can plug in a picture...

Ta-da! That's the first time I've done that. Exciting. :) Anywho, now you can Watch your baby sleep OR be awake. I'm sorry, to me that's just dorky. Why would you watch your child be awake? Go get the baby and hang out together. I'm still trying to think of a reason why you would want to Watch the baby sleep on your screen; maybe SIDS? If you can think of a good reason, let me know, because I'm still trying to figure out if screens are an absolute necessary step-up from just the sound monitors or not. Cu'z this could be a really good use of media or an unnecessary one. Still reasoning it out, but I'm leaning towards unnecessary... What say you?

Media!

So, I'm taking a Media class at school. Really it's how media affects human and family development. It's wildly interesting; it also requires that I write at least twice a week about the media in my life. This will be a learning experience, haha. I figured I'd start out kind of general like, with some thoughts about media.

It seems media is everywhere. Books, internet, film, tv, video games, music, advertising; someone asked in class "when do we NOT use media?" the answer to that question is "when we sleep." I thought about that a lot. I come from a family with a mother who doesn't particularly care fore media (other than books and music; she really digs those). But video games are of the devil, and a computer is not a huge mainstay in her life, and we've never really had ipads or anything. What I grew up with, then, is that books are the best and the rest is kinda whatever, if not damaging. So I thought that would be my attitude as well. But maybe it won't be.

It occurred to me that the medium of media, in general, is a neutral entity. It is not fundamentally good or evil. It just is. It's how it is used that pushes to one side or the other of the fence. What's published, what it's agenda is, how often it's used (which is now a consideration in our electronic world).

 I think something can be good (like Facebook) but even a good thing can become an issue if used too much (like if one is on Facebook so much homework never gets done, or you're neglecting spouse/kids/friends/whoever). Moderation in all things, right? I think there's a media addiction problem, though, because media is so easy to consume and it gives us a sense of importance. "Oh, somebody dinged me; it must be important, because it's to me." Or how often are you're going through your day, and you're not getting any texts, and finally you get one and you announce, "Somebody loves me!" and you seize your phone with gladness, happy that your existence was verified for the day? I've experienced this before. It's an interesting phenomenon.

I'm intrigued and my curiosity is piqued. Media is so much a part of our world now I realize it would be wise to understand how it works, what's out there, and it's effects. Even though I may not care for a lot of it very much, it will still affect me and my family, and so really I ought to learn about it. Let's rock n' roll.