Thursday, January 27, 2011

FB

Facebook & Myspace Essay !
Facebook is an online social network in which was designed for communication and to get "in-touch" with out of state relatives, friends, or plainly for fun.   However, Facebook is also an easy way to replace the outside world with spending all day surfing other peoples profiles. Facebook is a social networking website that was originally designed for college students, but is now open to anyone 13 years of age or older. Facebook users can create and customize their own profiles with photos, videos, and other information about themselves. Also, friends can browse the profiles of other friend’s pages and comment on their updated status or just write on the wall of the person.   Facebook is a great website for finding old friends and connecting to new ones. Facebook has become one of the largest social networking sites on the web, behind Myspace. Although originally Facebook was initially only towards college kids, it is now a online site to all people ranged in age from school kids to seniors in old people homes. As a result, this means almost everyone has a Facebook which brings danger and as well as good communication world wide.

Facebook launched in as a Harvard University only site. It began in February 2004, having being created by Mark Zuckerburg, a former Harvard student, and was intended as a way of prep school students and college students to get to know one another on campus. It slowly expanded to welcome people with .edu accounts from a variety of different universities. Facebook opened its doors to high school students, but it wasn't that easy to get an account because you needed to be invited. As a result, those who were in college tended to invite those high school students that they liked. Facebook was strongly framed as the "cool" thing that college students did. So, if you want to go to college, you wanted to get on Facebook badly. Even before high school networks were possible, the moment seniors were accepted to a college, they started hounding the college students for their .edu account. The message was clear, college was about Facebook. MySpace was the cool thing for high school teens and Facebook was the cool thing for college students. This is not to say that MySpace was only for high school or Facebook only for college, but students used to lie about their age in order to get a Facebook. When Facebook opened to everyone, it became relatively easy for any high school student to join. This meant that many more high school teens did join. Still, even with the rise of high school students, Facebook was framed as being about college. The danger began when students of different ages started to talk to others whom where older.

In addition to the college students chatting with adolescent "good" kids, Facebook seemed to cause some harm to students all ages. However parents weren't nearly as terrified of Facebook because it seemed "safe" thanks to the network-driven structure. But the truth was beneath the internet or in the photos that the student post online. One of the reason there is stalkers that harm younger students; because of the things they post online. "Students post pictures of themselves holding cans of beer and bottles; sometimes small clothing or nothing; smoking marijuana in bongs or joints even holding fire arms" page 167
Despite what people think, this social networking website can be disadvantageous because it has eliminated other forms of communication such as phone calls, has proven to invade privacy, has been known to be time consuming and has been on many problems due to limited communications. "but to adults thses sites are places where kids are naively putting their reputation and futures at risk". page 168 Teenagers chat about everything from school, to sports, to what they were doing last night. It all seems like innocent fun, and it can be. But many teens are unaware there are hidden dangers of social networking sites. Many teenagers had got in to series of problems and deaths because of cyber bullying. " our job is to point out some dangers and also the incivility" page 168 Many people may say that cyber-bullies cannot actually cause suicides but there have been remarkable stories of teens and even some adults killing themselves. This social network enables persons to state things that they often would not say face to face. Another factor that leads to self-destruction is the fact that anyone can upload pictures and often times they poke fun at other individuals. The whole Facebook community can then see the picture and make fun of the individual as well. For some, the embarrassment and humiliation becomes too much and the easiest thing to do is commit suicide. No Web site should ever make someone feel bad enough to take his or her own life. Enough said Facebook allows too much and people with no self-discipline take it further than they should leading others up to his or her own death. Facebook is a social network that has become the lives of many individuals. This simple site is actually very complex. People tend to think that it is a wonderful way to make friends and connect with old ones, but it is a way of causing stress in one’s life. It provokes a significant amount of drama and conflict. Often times people use it to initiate a problem or to get under another individual’s skin.   The problem with Facebook is that it puts numerous people into bad problems often leading one to suicide, being harmed by a predator, or the failure of being hired by company. Facebook essentially allows the freedom of speech to everyone. Many individuals take advantage of this right and push others beyond their own boundaries. Facebook allows bullies to say vulgar things to anyone with a little consequences.

Facebook is one of the most websites that affect the student academically. In my case when i come home i have the tendency in checking the facebook. It's not that I have an addiction toward Facebook, but just the fact that I want to see what happened in school and what's up with everyone. But I do have to admit that once I log in Facebook I stay on my iPhone for hours and hours because the user actually gets too focused on Facebook and just wants to stay communicating with that person. However it's bad in the deal of time or homework. I have missed certain assignments because of the cases of me staying in facbook for a long time. Students preferably want to stay chatting with their friends and forget about studying for tomorrows test or to finish up their work or homework. Students normally log in facebook to check up on their messages but results as being on there for hours and hours. Researchers have discovered how students who spend their time accumulating friends, chatting and “poking” others on the site may devote as little as one hour a week to their academic work. Many spend most of their day browsing other teen’s profiles and updating their own. After all, having a cool profile page and lots of friends is very important in showing off your cyber social status. Facebook is the interference of face to face conversations. People seek no reason to leave their home when they can simply send a message online. While this may be an easier method for some, it could also be posed as a problem. For instance, one cannot express exactly how they feel through a message, chat box, or on someone's “wall.” Someone could misinterpret a message and that misinterpretation could lead to an argument. Some may say that Facebook helps those that are shy and cannot make friends as easy as others . If those people  are constantly on Facebook, how will they ever learn to make friends in person? Will they always have to add people online before they can have a face to face conversation with someone? Facebook may not be the only source when it comes to this social impairment, but it is the main source. Yes, texting also isn't a face to face conversation, but because Facebook is free and accessible which causes anyone to have communications without the risk of getting caught if done harm.

Facebook is in a type of dilemma in the point where it's both pro and con because of the resources and help it gives the user such as communication and time to spend free time one.  Individuals who have an account in Facebook are now using more of their time to socialize with other people not minding the distance and lack of time. And even if a community like Facebook serves numerous advantages, it also proves to have certain disadvantages as well. Surely, the disadvantages don't pose a threat to you just by merely looking at it. Someone else has to prove that what users do with their profile is directly in proportion with what can happen to them. A user must understand what he is trying to give out otherwise things might get messy and people will mistook them as someone else. It is quite obvious that a trade off is happening between the advantages and disadvantages of Facebook. While it increases the communication and connection between friends and the online community it also increases the risk of danger and makes it easier for others to stalk a user. Worse, some are actually punished for what they put on their profile and would claim that it was there only for fun. All these topics of long distance relationship, meeting, making new friends, being stalked, and suicide led to a huge dilemma Upon facebook. Of course in my opinion, Facebook should not be the culprit in the situation because it's the users fault for not being cautious. All this led to making teenagers and parents more focus on school and for parents on their children. Facebook has been a phenomenon throughout these years and the way it's still going it will certainly make history !

Monday, January 24, 2011

The Crucible

            
           

        The era in which the puritans lived in was a time where the settlers based their daily basis with religion. The puritans were a group of people that accepted different type of peoples into their religion. They believed that their religion was the purist that is where their name comes from; based word of puritans. They as well had a series of blue laws to follow within. They as well were from the Anglican Church from England. Some of them escape to the new world for religious freedom but did not make that excuse, they said that they were going to the new world to spread their religion when settled in. The movie and act The Crucible consists on witchery that happened in Salem during the famous witch trails. It shows how people actually fell in the lies of injustice. Since all of the people living in Salem were puritans they follow religion and they never realized the harm they created in the people’s everyday life. All the dilemmas that were created in Salem mostly took part because of their belief in religion.

           
            The Crucible starts of with Act I in which Tituba and the girls are out in the forest “contacting with the devil”. They begin to start dancing naked around in the forest until they get by the Reverend Parris, one of the Salem’s minister. His daughter gets sick and the people began to think it’s because of witchcraft. However Abigail denies that she was not involved in the witchcraft, but admits that they were dancing in the forest. “But we never conjured spirits” (page 170). The Reverend Parris’s daughter Betty starts to act in an odd way by just laying on her bed without moving. That causes people to worry more than usual because something like this has not been happening throughout Salem. Abigail is not a relative of Reverend Parris or his daughter, she just moved in with them because her parents are dead and she got kicked out of John and Elizabeth Proctors house for some mysterious reason. John Proctor goes and visits Betty to see what is wrong with her and confront Abigail. As they have the conversation it is clear that they had an affair before. When Abigail lived in the Proctors home Elizabeth got ill and Abigail flirted with proctor. When they met up that day he clearly states that its over within them and he is going to be loyal to Elizabeth. Abigail in anger tells him that is is Elizabeths fault because they can not be together. “she is blackening my name in the village” (page 177). Moments later Abigail says that Tituba did indeed contact with the devil. When they go and interrogate Tituba they began to whip her and until she says a lie and confesses that she did contact with the devil. That shows that people lie so they won’t get hanged. Something that later in the play continues to happen often.

           
            Act II open with Elizabeth and John Proctor in their home. Their household helper Mary Warren is beneath the accusations and Elizabeth is scared because she knows that Abigail is beneath this accusation as well. Mary Warren later gives a poppet that is stiched and made for her during the witch trails in court. “I made a gift for you today Goody Proctor” (page 194). Mary also tells her that her name cameup but she saved her life in the court. Elizabeth knew that sooner or later her name was going to come up in the witch trails so she tells Proctor that he needs to settle stuff with Abigail. So they go on a search for Elizabeth’s guilt and find the poppet with the needle stuck in the poppet’s stomach.  In the day Abigail arrives to the court with her stomach stabbed with a needle and accuses Elizabeth of being a culprit in the witchcraft. “Abigail were stabbed tonight a needle were found stuck into her belly” (page 203). Mary Warren swears that she kept the needle in the poppet for safe keeping but they take Elizabeth.

           
            Act III opens up in the court room and John bring his household girl Mary Warren to confess that she had never seen the devil and the other girls were as well just pretending in seeing anything odd. When Mary Warren says that the other girls following Abigail William accuse Mary of witchcraft as well. She as well couldn’t faint in the courtroom which was an extra point for Abigail because she began to turn cold as ice. John Proctor soon screams out that Abigail is a whore and that he committed adultery with Abigail who is a liar and adulteress; this proves that she can not be trusted. To prove this they bring out Elizabeth to tell the truth sice proctor says that she does not lie at all. Danford which is the main judge orders both Abigail and proctor to turn around to avoid tension on Elizabeth and so their facial expression does not affect Elizabeth truth. Since Elizabeth does not want to condemn her husband she says that it is not true so therefore Danford sends Elizabeth back to the prison and claims it to be untrue. “Elizabeth I have confessed it” (page 223). All of a sudden Abigail Williams and the girls start to act weirdly and say that Mary warrens spirit is attacking them as a yellow bird and that it was on top of the courthouse. “why do you come yellow bird” (page 224). So they leave out of the courtroom screaming making a chaos and people began to huddle around and see what is happening. Mary lies and says that Proctor is after her at night and made her sign the Devils book. Proctor says the god is dead so he is taken away and arrested. “I say-I say God is dead!” (page 226)

           
            Act IV opens with proctor about to be hanged. They want john to confess to save his life but john does not want to lie because he knows confessing would be a lie. Abigail goes and rescues proctor so they could flee together but proctor refuses and tells her to go to hell. However Abigail fled but takes all of reverends money. Elizabeths ask the judges if she can see her husband for the last time and they allow each other to see themselves. As they talk Elizabeth tells proctor that she will not judge him on the actions he does and affirms that he is a good man no matter what. Although Elizabeth would not judge proctor she says that she herself can not confess about witchcraft because then that would be a lie. When the time comes for proctor to confess he can not and crumbles the paper. He says that he can not confess on his name. So he is taken away and they pled Elizabeth to make him confess but she says that she can not stop him. “he haves his goodness now God forbid I take it from him” (page 240). As he goes to his death they do a prayer that would stay within them for the afterlife.