TV addiction (my part for our presentation - poster)

What is TV addiction?
   - when you are spending an unusually large amount of time watching it
   -  using it more often than intended
   -  cannot go more than one day without watching it
   - thinking about reducing the use, and still unsuccessful
   -  giving up social activities


What are the effects?
   - obesity (weight gain)
   - risk for disease (heart attacks, arteriosclerosis)
   - lack of social skills, can not communicate easily with family, friends
   - poor academic results (no time for studying, or just simply reading)\
   - some psychologist believe that too much TV time can have a major effect in the psychology of the
     child
   - lost productivity at the workplace
   - "People no longer know information that's vital to sustain life " (126) (how to...)
   - "because of this "information deficit," we are out of touch with reality and are also standing on a dangerous shelf of oil-dependent, corporate-induced information starvation." (126)

 

"TV is the most powerfully addictive drug ever developed"(129)

TV is taking one of the most precious things we have: time


things you can do:
- Don't turn on your TV as soon as you get home
- Choose what shows you will watch
- Don't turn on the TV when eating
- Go out
- Find a hobby

There are TV addiction rehab treatments

notes on interview with Naomi Klein

Here are few things I found interesting.
Media should make this information more available and talk about it over and over, so the people would start to think about our earth planet's problems, and not live in their own little world, not knowing what's going on around them.


"we are all metaphorically passengers on that flight"

 It’s not that we’re broke. It’s that the money is in the wrong places, and we’re not willing to go get it.

the fossil fuel companies are planning to dig up five times more carbon than that. So they’ve essentially declared war on life on Earth, and they’re also saying, "We don’t believe these politicians are serious when they set that two-degree target." So, that’s where the fossil fuel divestment movement comes in, which is, it’s clear that, left to their own devices, you know, they will bring us towards this catastrophic warming.

it took a while for the world to talk back. And now it’s roaring. And that is climate change.

"solar radiation management." Solar radiation management, managing the sun.
 spray sulfur aerosols into the stratosphere, then they would reflect some of the sun’s rays back to space and dim the sun and cool the Earth
 the solution to that pollution is pollution in the stratosphere

 rather than try to change the laws of nature, try to change what we actually can, which is the laws of economics

What first needs to happen?
need to have bold national policies, like you need to have feed-in tariffs. You need to have clear goals—how much of your grid is going to switch to renewable energy, by what time.
no drilling in the Arctic, no new tar sands, and wind down the tar sands

climate change was playing out in the natural world is also often as a fertility crisis, that we were making the world less fertile, whether we’re making the soil less fertile, whether we’re deliberately making seeds less fertile

HW for Wednesday 9/17. Drig TV/Media Control.

                       
                               Drug TV/Media Control


   What do we choose to store in our personal computer - brain, maybe better to say - memory, is up to us. We are living in the 21st century, where everything is electronical. If someone would decide to live without computer equipment, it would be almost impossible (if he/she is living in the city). Almost. There are so many benefits from using computer, cell phone, TV, or radio. There is a world of knowledge at the fingertips. Just Google any question and you will get the answer(it doesn't necessary mean that it's all correct and true information), but still it is a fact that you can find much more stuff then you can imagine.  Even to write this page I used internet to get the knowledge I needed to start with.
    Here are some things, for example,  that are proving the point that social media is a good sores of information. 1.Increased criminal prosecution because of social media. Some people are stupid enough to brag about their crimes.  2. Social networking creates new social connections. People get new friends. 3.Social media as a source of employment. (More info in my previous post)
   And here are the negative side of social media. 1.Too much misinformation. 2.Pupils spending too much time on social media sites have lower academic grades. 3. Social media sites to blame for lost productivity. 4. It's very addictive
http://www.toptensocialmedia.com/social-media-social-buzz/10-pros-and-cons-of-social-media/
  Many people understand that the number one drug in the world is television, it's destroying our society! Since all there is on TV is controlled by 5 or 6 corporations, we will never get the whole truth about our real situation. People are "eating" mostly garbage: shows, gossip about movie stars. And, as Thom Hartmann point out in his book, "Few of us could survive two months if the supermarkets suddenly closed" (127). "People no longer know information that's vital to sustain life..." (126). Men and Women would rather set in the front of the screen and not worry about what is going on around them. It's easier, they don't have to strain their brain, someone else is thinking for them - TV, and entertains them. After a work day, people come home, they want to relax and forget about their problems, they turn on TV, or get on internet, and problem is solved. It's so addictive that if it's taken from them, they could go crazy. I have seen one video on YouTube where one teenager started screaming and banging his head on the bed, going totally crazy, just because his sibling deleted his account on some sort of internet game! He looked like possessed by demons. What I am trying to say is that TV/internet/cell phones are getting into our life not by force , but by our own will. And if we don't control it, it will control us, as we all ready see it all around us.

Now they even have a medical center for internet addiction, where people can get help to get back to the real world from virtual world, they created for themselves.
 
 

  

Drug TV/Media Control

Pros and cons of TV

 

http://thegreentimes.co.za/the-last-hours-of-ancient-sunlight-by-thom-hartmann/

He feels that the number one drug in the world – television – is destroying our society. Hartmann says watching too much TV arrests one’s mental development and encloses individuals in a ‘me’ mindset, where only the individual is important. This is how society has broken down its ties and the security and support that goes with it. He feels that people fail to mature properly when addicted to TV and lose touch with reality. This is of course true of all addictions.  I wonder what Hartmann would say about all the time youngsters now spend playing on computers?

The alternative is a much healthier  picture – a lot like the one many of us had as children. Family meals around the table, growing your own vegetables, helping your neighbours and being part of a spiritual group which extends to caring for the community as a whole. Hartmann offers solutions that have been there all along, something most of us know deep down is right. We should never take more than we need.

http://debate.yukozimo.com/pros-and-cons-of-television/

Unsupervised children spending too much of their time in front of a TV can have a big impact on their life. Obesity, lack of social skills and poor academic results are just some of the effects TV have on children. Some psychologist believe that too much TV time can have a major effect in the psychology of the child. Children are suppose to interact and play, not sit and watch.

Poor parenting and weight gain

It is also evident that many people spend too much time watching television, so that parents don’t bother to spend any time playing or talking with their children. It is far easier to stick them in front of the television, rather than taking them to the park. It can’t be a coincidence that so many people are now overweight when they spend much more time watching television than they would have done years ago. People used to be a lot more active, but now television is the most convenient way for individuals to keep themselves occupied. Thus, they burn hardly any calories while most probably consuming an excessive amount of calories.

It’s addictive

Even though there are many negative aspects associated with watching television, many people enjoy television far too much to reduce the amount they watch or to avoid watching television altogether. People enjoy not having to think for themselves and to be able to sit down and watch something that helps them to relax, so why would they change?

10 pros and cons of social media

http://www.toptensocialmedia.com/social-media-social-buzz/10-pros-and-cons-of-social-media/

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Pros and cons of social media

           

Because of the way the internet has changed the way we communicate and interact with one another on so many levels; it’s become necessary to explore the pros and cons of social media and its effects on our society.

The Pros

1-Increased criminal prosecution because of social media

The NYC police department began using Twitter back in 2011 to track criminals foolish enough to brag about their crimes online. When the Vancouver Canucks lost the Stanley Cup in 2011, their Vancouver fans took to the streets and rioted, but local authorities used social media to track and tag the people involved, and they caught people who were stealing during the riot.

2-Social networking creates new social connections

Statistics show that 70% of adults have used social media sites to connect with relatives in other states, and 57% of teens have reported making new friendships on social media sites.

3-Students are doing better in school

This is an interesting statistic about the pros and cons of social media and its effect on students doing well in school. Students with internet access at a rate of 50% have reported using social networking sites to discuss school work, and another 59% talk about instructive topics.

4-Better quality of life

If you want to talk about the pros and cons of social media, take a close look at all the support groups on Facebook. Members of these groups discuss their health conditions, share important information, and resources relevant to their conditions while creating strong support networks.

5-Social media as a source of employment

Job sourcing has gone modern thanks to social media. Sites such as LinkedIn are a major resource that 89% of job recruiters take advantage of when looking to hire potential employees.

Now let’s take a look at the Cons of social media.

1-Social media and the news

Much of the news information that people read about comes from social media websites, and that figure estimate is around 27.8 %. This figure ranks just under print newspapers at 28.8%, greater than radio’s figure of 18.8% and far outpaces the figure for other print publications at just 6%.

2-Too much misinformation

With the advent of the web, people started to create their own websites and blogs. While many of those blogs were just basic diaries, a few of them were about topics like health and politics while others were how to blogs.

Many blogs have turned into rumor mills, spreading misinformation that people tend to believe just because it’s on the web.

Rumors about hurricane Sandy and gunfights in other countries like Mexico have been picked up by reliable news services, and this misinformation has been shared without the proper vetting of the sources providing the information.

3-Pupils spending too much time on social media sites have lower academic grades

Here is another argument about the pros and cons of social media as it pertains to students. Statistics show that pupils using social media too often tend to have GPA’s of 3.06 compared to GPA’s of 3.82 for pupils who don’t use social media.

An even scarier fact is that students who use social media tend to score 20 % lower on their test scores then their counterparts.

4-Social media sites to blame for lost productivity

Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are a direct cause for lost productivity at the workplace. In a survey 36 % of people said that social networking was the biggest waste of time in comparison to activities like fantasy football, shopping, and watching television.

5-Social media is the cause for less face to face communication

One last discussion about the pros and cons of social media is a lack of one on one communication. In a 2012 study families who reported spending less time with one another rose from a level of 8% in 2000 to 32% in 2011.

The study also reported that 32 % of the people in the survey either were texting or were on social media sites instead of communicating with each other during family gatherings.

Media censorship/views of past as compared to today

Pop culture references and views of the world (specify) as depicted in television, film, or radio, have varied throughout the decades. What may be deemed mainstays of their time and common in society back then may not necessarily be deemed appropriate in today

These 6 Corporations Control 90% Of The Media In America

http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6

Homework for 9/8

"The Last Hours Of Ancient Sunlight"

3 topics...
1. last hours of cheap, clean water (+bottled water)
       pg 91-105
2. we are easy to manage and easy to control (drug-tv)
       pg 125-....
    modern-day slaves(credit cards, mortgage,....)
       pg 184
3. toxin waste disposal, "clean" fertilizers