It is quite obvious that within recent years technology has entrapped Americans in a thick, sticky web of social media networks, pop-culture styled news sites, and opinionated blogs. This section of technological advances adversely influences the American culture by poisoning the most private sectors of citizens daily lives. Most social media networkers blindly believe that this new trend of technology only enhances their lives through its instant-satisfactory style and the ability to create interpersonal relationships with a multitude of people. But for those who can see through the cracks in the media’s façade, it is obvious that this evolving technology can have devastating effects. Technology not only has the power to critically alter mental…
In his article, “Living in the Cult of Likability,” Bret Easton Ellis states his thoughts on today’s “reputation economy.” The basic premise of Ellis’ article was to point out that because “everyone” wants to be heard, it makes everyone’s voice less significant. Ellis also focuses on everyone’s desire to be relatable and liked to avoid being called a hater. I agree with the majority of Ellis’ premise; I believe people try too hard to be liked, therefore dulling themselves of personality and individuality. Ellis effectively used ethos, pathos, and logos in his presentation of today’s “cult of likability.”…
Kate Peterson’s lyrical essay To All Those Who Say Write What You Know, is a two page nonfiction memoir of her life in London. The title of Kate’s lyrical essay is significant because she is addressing an audience who demands that one should write of things they have knowledge or firsthand experiences. This is may sound simple and inspiring at first for writers, but attempting to write on what you know can be a challenging request because memories can be distorted. This was evident in Kate’s lyrical essay examining each paragraph. The arrangement of her paragraphs suggests that Petersen is authentic in her narrative voice because she is not restricted in her essay.…
In the essay “I Tweet, Therefore I Am,” New York Times author and essayist Peggy Orenstein observe how social networking sites have people connected online sites, as Twitter, Facebook and Myspace. Instantly posting the present moments of their daily life’s, instead of enjoying the moment. Orenstein also states how distracted, she gets from living the moment by turning to social networking to post about her day. Orenstein concur about how Twitter and other Social Networking sites have affect her and the society in general. Losing the capacity to experience our own lives, unable to feel that we exist without the reflection of ourselves through a social networking site.…
Commentators like Lam and to a lesser extent Turkle fail to see past the surface of new media usage. To them an individual who is engaged in social media is nothing more than a person captivated by a computer monitor, when in reality the individual is using the computer monitor to interact, communicate, and express themselves in ways that would have been impossible only a brief decade ago (Gopnik,2011). A quote from Alison Gopnik best summarizes the views held by Lam and others like him, “the year before you were born looks like Eden, the year after your children were born looks like Mad Max” (Gopnik,2011). The digital word is an amazing place, and the fact that it is distinct from the actual reality around us does not devalue its usefulness in making our…
“Lesson Learned: Tips for Adult Students” by Suzanne Jackson discusses the process of applying to college as a older person to most students in college Suzanne Jackson claims man things; For example, she claims that any new college students should have an advisor. Then, Ms. Jackson claims that night classes are “older students friendly”. In addition, tips are stated in the article, helping new students avoid common pitfalls, and assist people on saving time when it comes to the process of colleges. I agree, Ms. Jackson’s mindset was superb, as she was applying for college. Ms. Jackson was ahead of the game, during the process, and could teach a class on this kind of subject.…
In today’s era modernity, we can see hipster culture become popular day by day due to the uniqueness and diversity that attract people in Malaysia and also some of the other country. The definition of the word “Hipster” itself can be defined as “one who has tastes, social mentalities, and suppositions considered cool by the cool” (Lanham, 2003). Hipster culture is a part of subculture. Subculture means “a group of people who share a distinctive set of cultural beliefs and behaviors that differs in some significant way from the larger society” (Kendall, 2008). It shows that people who are follow hipster culture will have a different lifestyle from the dominant culture in their daily life.…
We all know those people that can not peel themselves from their technology, whether it’s the CEO of a major business or a teenage girl, they walk with their faces lit with the screaming brightness of a phone. In modern society, if a person is found on social media it is considered cool, while reading is not. Recent society has become caught up in the latest movies, fashion trends, and social media. Ray Bradbury wrote of this happening all the way back in the 1950s! He wrote science fiction where humans have become obsessed with technology, nowadays, that is called reality.…
Elizabeth Winkler writes about the exhibit, ‘American Cool’, at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery and its numerous examples of cool. She says, that it highlights the idea of Americanness “earned individuality” as opposed to inherited arrogance. Cool people know which rules can be broken for illegitimate and legitimate reasons. Research emphasizes that cool people break the rules, but the right rules (Winkler, 2014).…
The woman in the body by Emily Martin attempts to find truth about how women perceive themselves and particular life changes as well as how pervasive medical explanations are in our society. The author investigates women’s experience with puberty, childbirth, menstruation, and menopause through interviews with 165 white and black women of different socioeconomic classes and ages. The author also works with medical models. Emily Martin is successful in explaining how cultural assumptions underlie individual’s perception of the body. A result of this is that normal biological processes are often defined in negative terms.…
Social media has became a place where some people live a different life. They create lives where they’re someone they aren’t. For example, in the essay, Turkle talks about a girl that has a abusive alcoholic father. In a game called Sims, she creates the same situation, except in the game she is both physically and emotionally strong (Turkle 437). The shaping of lives happens a lot on sites like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.…
Understanding Hipness: ‘Subcultural Capital’ as a Feminist Tool by Sarah Thornton and Women and the Early British Rave Scene by Maria Pini, both discuss and analyze the social dance culture of the 1980’s. Thornton’s article focused primarily on the culture of clubbing while Pini’s article focused more on rave culture, however both did mention clubbing and raving at points in their article. Both articles carry validity in their arguments however it is important to take bias into account when analyzing their points. Throughout analyzing their articles, I’ve found my own personal criticisms of their writing choices and arguments. Sarah Thornton’s article, Understanding Hipness: ‘Subcultural Capital’ as a Feminist Tool, had three main points:…
In today’s society, where social media is part of everyday life, one can see the comparison to Plato’s allegory of the cave. The cave holds both the captives and the puppeteers as prisoners. Social media being the cave, holds both people posting on social media and people scrolling through social media captive. Have you been stuck in the cave or have you seen the true reality of life? People that post on social media are able to portray themselves in whatever way they please.…
The counterculture movement known as punk defies definition in any concrete terms. Beginning as a perverse fashion statement in the 1970s, punk quickly became something much more politically charged than many initially anticipated. It was a movement that defined itself through a series of negatives: it was more easily seen as what it wasn’t than what it was. Punk contrasted itself to the 1960s, the hippie movement, and the rock’n’roll scene that had established itself; it was opposed to the capitalist society that had grown in the postwar years, the materialism of the times, and of big corporations. Yet, for all of its contrasts, punk was full of contradictions and a multitude of identities, and for that reason it will be examined here in terms…
We can all admit that at one point in life we have caught ourselves following the latest trends. We assume the style is an idea that is in for the moment, that came randomly from someone or somewhere that does not concern us. When in actuality it derived from a culture far from where we are with a deeper and significant meaning. This is what is known as cultural appropriation. No matter if it is an accident or intentional, taking an idea or style that does not belong to our original culture is considered as cultural appropriation.…