Joannie's post on paparazzi

Kevin's post on twitter

Stephanie's post on public shaming

Elaine's post on commcericals

Rosemarie's post on AI

Mary-Anne's post on selfies

Let's start off this blog post with a rant, because this is something I am passionate about. 

Firstly, I want to start off by saying I am 100% pro-selfie. There are absolutely no reason why I think anyone should hate selfies. My number one reason why I am pro-selfie is because selfies take confidence to take and post. When I see a selfie of a person, I just remember that when they decided to post it, they were thinking, "yeah, I am good looking! Let's show the world with this selfie! What up world? I'm here to shine a little brightness on your day with how awesome I look right now!" Okay, well maybe that's an exaggeration but you get the idea. If you post a selfie, you most likely like the way that you look in that picture, which is an amazing thing. There is too much negativity in the media, saying that you have to look a certain way to be beautiful, which can bring people's self esteem down, but posting selfies I think can bring people self esteems up, which I am 100% here for.

In summary: selfies are great.

Anyways, let's talk about the selfie stick. If you don't know, it's a stick that helps you extend your range of your phone so you can take better selfies without having to stretch your arm. Pretty simple invention, and pretty useful, especially if you want to get a nice angle of the background behind you.

So this post has been very positive lately, but sadly here comes the negative. Some people think that selfie sticks should be banned. Why? I don't know either. 

The only reason why I would think selfie sticks are banned are because they can be seen as a weapon. Like come on, do you really think that a selfie stick is a potential threat? If you have ever seen or held one, you know that the stick is actually like a twig, and if you hit it against something it will easily bend or snap. So if you're banning selfie sticks because they're seen as weapons, might as well ban canes too.

If you're just banning selfie sticks because they're annoying, well sorry that your selfie won't look as good as theirs with that sick angle.

Love your selfie.

- Natalie

The future scares me. Like seriously, I get headaches just from looking at university websites and thinking about where I'm going to be in 10 years. So you'd think that such advancements in technology would scare me, which it does, but it mainly excites me.

Some people would disagree, but I think technology is a beautiful thing. Technology has given us the power to video call with loved ones from around the world, receive information and messages almost instantly, view videos from decades ago with a quick Google search and let us display our thoughts through sharing our artwork and blog posts in social media. Technology has also helped very much in the medical world. This video with 24 million YouTube hits shows a deaf woman getting to hear her own voice for the very first time. There are so many people out there with disabilities who can overcome them with certain types of technology. Technology has advanced so much and has made such a difference to people's lives.

So, yes, technology is beautiful. But advancements in technology can get scary. Maybe I've watched too many sci-fi shows and movies, but with the growth of technology, people can do things you can't even imagine. 

The Pixar movie, Wall-E, we see that the human race has become lazy and dependent on technology to do all the work for them. I know this is fictional, but it can't help me to ask, is this what we will become?

What I think will happen/what I already can see start to happen is that humans will start to depend on technology. I mean, if you have a machine that can do everything for you without failure, how could you not depend on it? My friends and I constantly get confused with directions or get lost downtown, so we always consult our phones and GPS apps to tell us where to go. If not for those devices telling us where to go, we'd still be lost downtown.

With things such as instant messaging, our face-to-face communication skills will fade. Take me for an example. If you were to talk to me online, I would have no problem typing out things I want to say to you, but if you talk to me in real life, I'm most likely shy or lost for words. It's bad, I know, but I grew up in this technological age, so talking through a computer is like another sense for me, plus through type you cant see me stutter of my words or be very awkward. It's more comfortable.

So artificial intelligence is going to grow, but face-to-face communication skills will most likely shrink. Am I scared? Yes. But am I excited? Absolutely. Bring on the technology of printing out food.

The future is now.

- Natalie

The sad reality is that many of us have probably faced stereotypes before and were affected by them. There are really no type of good stereotype, because you are categorizing people, usually based on factors of themselves that they cannot help, such as race or gender. Stereotypes also makes it seem as if you do not fit the stereotype that has been assigned to you, you are seen as weird and as an outcast.

So yes, stereotypes are harmful and shouldn't be used.

The commercial of the truck-man vs. car-man definitely uses stereotypes, where they assume different things about the man due to the car that he has. Was this done in good fun? Well, many would say that it did not really harm anyone, and that no one was really offended by this fun little commercial. Though I do believe this was rather harmless, I much rather not see a commercial using stereotypes aired. 

This commercial will be played over and over again to such a large audience, which could have a lot of impact on many people. If people are to see stereotyping used on television, and see it as harmless, they may be under the impression that stereotypes are not a bad thing. 

I've seen this happen with a swear word. I got upset at my brother for using a very derogatory word and he said that the cartoon show, the Simpsons, explains how, to the character who used the word, they do not use the word to be derogatory, but more as a synonym for being annoying. He used this as an example of why it wasn't bad to use the word.

This relates to the commercial because people will see how stereotyping is used in the commercial and was not as harmful, therefore thinking it would be okay to stereotype, when in reality, it is not. 

In conclusion; the commercial was generally harmless, but it could get into peoples heads that stereotyping is fine. 

Let's try to keep that "this stereotype was out of good fun, take a joke!" mindset out of everyone. Stereotyping is not okay.

- Natalie

Bad hair days, pimples, those days where you realize that you've worn your clothes the wrong way or inside out- we've all seen them. And we've all understood how embarrassing those days were, especially when looking back at those days through photos.

Sometimes, even, other people notice our imperfections and are not afraid to point it out to us. We feel humiliated and embarrassed through this. Sometimes they could even step it up a bit farther and it turns into bullying, which, we all know is unacceptable.

This article shows how a barber gives a little boy an embarrassing haircut to make him look like he has a bald spot. Anyone with any shred of empathy would understand how embarrassing it must be for that little boy have people around the internet laugh at him for his haircut. Unless this boy is a trooper that can take any situation into a good one, this is a haircut that will haunt him for a very long time.

So do I think that this haircut is a good way to discipline your kids? Absolutely not! Embarrassing your kid like this, especially on such a large audience platform can definitely give your child self-esteem issues. 

If you want to discipline your kid, try lecturing them, or turning off their WiFi, or hiding their phone chargers. Anything but embarrassment, please.

- Natalie

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Mean tweets. Why? Well, let's start at the basics.

Twitter, one of the top social networks on the internet is used as a place where users can tweet out anything that comes to their mind; this includes life updates and random thoughts. Users are also able to interact with one another by tweeting at each other.

Humans, as many already know, are a very complex race. Our emotions range from positive feelings such as joy and happiness to negative feelings such as sadness and rage. When we are emotional, we try to find a type of outlet to let out our emotions.

So, social network where you can post anything that's on your mind, and angry people looking for a place to let out their emotional thoughts ended up becoming the horrible thing that is mean tweets.

Is it a concern? Absolutely. Some people refuse to believe that cyber-bullying is real, since you could just "turn off your computer and walk away", but seeing stories like Amanda Todd's, cyber-bullying is a very real thing. Verbally, in a tweet, or even on a paper tied to the leg of a pigeon, words can affect a person deeply.

Okay, so yes, mean tweets are a concern. Is there anything we can do about it? Well, that's were it gets complicated.

If we were to set rules on what you say on the internet, it would be limiting someone's right of speech. By censoring what people say, you are also somewhat creating the illusion that everything is positive, which, as we have seen is so many utopian movies and novels, is not a good thing.

Instead of creating an ILLUSION of positivity, we should just create it ourselves. How? Easy: Education. From an early age, we should be drilling into everyone's minds that words are hurtful and you should just be kind to everyone. Will it make a difference? Maybe, but we can try.

Let's get together and feel alright!

- Natalie

There are many types of poses that celebrities do when encountered with the paparazzi. They tend to hide their face with their hands and arms or anything they have around them in order to avoid getting their picture taken.

There are many opinions on these freelance photographers, usually involving on how they tend to intentionally anger celebrities. In any case of imputing my opinion on something, I try to list everything I can understand about the topic.

For the paparazzi, I understand that this is they job, and that in order to get certain pictures that the public wants, they have to dabble into the personal lives of a few celebrities. I also understand that these celebrities have chosen to be put into the public eye, and they were aware of the amount of attention they would be getting we put into this position.

For the celebrities, I understand that everyone deserves the right to a private life, and the paparazzi can be ignorant of this notion. I also understand that though they willingly made their life public, there are unnecessary and inappropriate times that the paparazzi have interfered with their lives.

There are many good points on both sides of the argument, but if I'm being completely honest, I believe that the rights of the celebrities outweigh the needs of the media. Like, let's be real, magazines don't need a picture of Beyonce reading a book in her house. Though, because I say this, I don't mean that I would completely want to rid of all the paparazzi of the world; I mean, I do love some Nick Jonas pictures. There's just a line that I believe all the paparazzi shouldn't cross. A freelance photographer is one thing, but harassment and abuse is another. It's sad to say that there have been multiple celebrity and paparazzi feuds where paparazzi crossed the line, one notable one was ongoing battle that Britney Spears faced in 2007. 

I myself have never really been interested on whatever Britney got up to, but after researching and hearing about what the paparazzi have done, I feel the need to defend her. In this case, paparazzi have taken inappropriate shots of her and when she pleaded for them to stop, they still continued. This later resulted in Britney having to physically protect herself with an umbrella. This case further proves the point that paparazzi tend to take things to an extreme, up to the point where celebrities have to resort to violence in order to get a bit of privacy.

So, to any of these paparazzi's that may stumble across this post, I hope you see that the rights to a private life out weight the needs of a few gossip magazine companies. Learn to respect people and understand where your photographs become harassment.

"Respect existence or expect resistance."

- Natalie