My Immortal Tattoo

I do not have any tattoos.  I truly never plan on getting one, as I am a baby when it comes to needles. 

However, when Juan Enriquez began his TedTalk by talking about online tattoos, I began to think differently about my own life.  Had I really had a tattoo this whole time without knowing it?

However, his TedTalk did not make me really reflect on my own online decisions, but of the actions of a girl who had online bullied me for a whole summer.  As long as that will live with me emotionally, that is a part of her online immortal tattoo, and I wonder if she will regret it later in life, as some people do when they reflect on tattoos they got when they were younger. 

 

The TedTalk on revenge porn, or what Darieth Chisolm now calls “digital domestic violence”, almost did not shock me at all.  I have heard many stories of this happening to friends, or friends of friends, and it makes me sick to think someone would be willing to ruin someone else’s life just because they were rejected.  “When they can’t physically put their hands on you, they use different weapons,” Chisolm goes on to explain. After watching this, I really reevaluated the type of information I share with new people in my life, because you really never know how they might turn out.  

HPU Panthers: Sport Culture, or the Lack Thereof

   The High Point University Panthers have 16 teams that compete in the Big South Conference.

   The men's lacrosse program is the only one that does not, as they compete in the Southern Conference.  Just this past weekend, they won that conference.

   How many students paid attention to this big feat? The sport culture inside of High Point University slowly grows as the years pass. Trying to get more involvement of fans in the school sports is a hard tasks.  At the end of the 2017-2018 school year, a survey was sent school wide on the students' opinions on the school sports and how they can get more involvement. Many more sports fans come from outside of the gated walls. 

   "The team is ranked so it definitely brings more involvement. But the sports culture here is still not as good as it could be.  Tailgates before games have brought a lot more attention to some of the sports games which helps," comments Mason Kearns, a color broadcaster for the men's lacrosse program.

   The men's lacrosse teams success this past year has increasingly brought more fans to light, as many of the students have posted more about the results of the games than ever before.  Ever since the Panthers beat the Blue Devils, fans have kept their eye out for more opportunities to see how one of their best ranked teams of all time is doing.

   Success ultimately brings increased interest and viewers.  If all goes well, the men's lacrosse games can begin to set a precedent for student involvement in supporting their peers in sports. 

"Cancelled" Culture - When Will it Stop?

Over the past 10 years or so, social media has taken over people's lives.  It is routine now to wake up and immediately go to your socials to find out what is going on in the world, whether that be politically or the recent scandal of your favorite celebrity or online influencer.  On the internet, everything you post or connect with is documented.  As we have talked about extensively in my Media Law class, our online footprint can define what type of person we are to others, such as a potential significant other, an employer, or even if a person maintains a fan base.  

In the last couple of years, people have dug up old posts from celebrities or influencers that may contain homophobic language, racial slurs, or otHer types of hateful language. This has ultimately brought about the action of many people "cancelling" these celebrities or influencers over these old posts. This means that the person who made the mistake could be seen as one of many things: a bad role model, a hateful person, a racist, homophobic, etc. An apology in the form of a video or post usually follows these outcries; however, many do not accept their apologies to be genuine.

I personally dislike this "cancel culture" our society has adopted.  I see this as prohibiting people from making mistakes, and also does not allow them to grow and learn from mistakes that are made.  I despise the way people now think that they are perfect beings compared to others just because they never posted something stupid online.  Every single person makes mistakes, and everyone should be given the same opportunity to learn and move on from those mistakes.  If not, we will all eventually get stuck living in the past and become even more sensitive than we are now.  With the growing acceptance and rejection of many things in our culture, these platforms have allowed for our society to become overly sensitive.  This, in my opinion, is why cancel culture is so popular right now. As more people talk about it and the problems surrounding cancel culture, I believe it will start to decline.  People will be able to live, learn, grow, and move on from their mistakes without losing their whole career and reputation. 

My Group Topic: Sherman Anti-Trust Act

In my Media Law and Literacy class, this week we were assigned groups for a group presentation on a certain subject.  Our group’s theme was policy.  After breaking off into groups, we all decided what we would research for the presentation.  I chose the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890.  

The Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 was the first Federal act passed by Congress that prohibited trusts, outlawed monopolistic business practices, and outlawed any group that restricted trade between states and/or foreign nations. Furthermore, a trust is a group of stockholders come together and share their individual shares to a set of trustees.  These stockholders then receive an agreed upon amount of earnings from the trust.  Congress viewed these trusts as ruining competition in the economy and wanted to regulate trade.

This affects my generation with the internet and also phone companies. Cases have been brought up against AT&T and Microsoft in the last 20 years.  Big companies like Disney and Google, who own almost all of what we see and use on the internet, have most recently been examples of huge monopolies in our society today.  Disney alone has a market capitalization of $171.70 billion, making it absolutely impossible for other companies to compete with them.

How much do we need competition for our economy to grow?

Should the government step in when they think these companies are hurting our economy? Do they say nothing when it is helping?

My Social Media Presence

My online presence spans across many different websites that include: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and VSCO.  These are all social media cites in which you can connect with other people in a multitude of ways, including posting and direct messaging.  Although I have accounts with all of these social media platforms, I do not believe my online footprint is that large.  I do not believe this because I rarely ever post content of my own, only ever interacting with other accounts from mine. 

On most of my social media accounts, such as Facebook and Instagram, I post only a couple times a year.  Most people can find more updates about me through my friends and their accounts, as they post more than I do.  I never found that I liked posting, as it always gave me a sort of anxiety about the amount of engagement I had compared to my friends.  

There are many cons to social media.

Social media does put a lot of pressure on an individual to look and act perfectly.  Any simple mistake will be called out, and people will hate on you, or you in general, for no reason. A person that makes their job around social media has to have the toughest skin.  

Social media can definitely make a person feel the loneliest or depressed.  On one hand, you can feel lonely because a person can have a lot of online friends, and none in real life.  They count on the other people behind the screens, but have no one to rely on in person.  On another hand, many become depressed because they do not have the same lifestyle or look the same as another person online.  Girls often compare themselves, wanting the perfect features that are shown online, even though most of them are fake.  

I have personally learned that social media and the standards set on them should not determine how you view your life. Everyone has grown up in different circumstances, and comparing yourself to another person will only hurt your confidence in the end. 

The Rise of YouTube and Online Influencers

Every day, new technology is being created, introduced, and/or advanced.  People are finding new ways to connect around the world, whether it be through video or messaging.  In YouTube's case, both are happening and advancing every day.

YouTube was created in February of 2005 by three men: Chad Hurley, Steven Chen, and Jawed Karim. Fourteen years later and YouTube now holds the title for the 2nd largest search engine at 1.8 billion registered on the site to watch 5 billion videos uploaded daily. More than 1 billion hours of footage is watched daily, according to YouTube. 

Because of this, many video creators have gained a huge following, or subscribers, with PewDiePie holding the crown of the most at almost 83 million. These creators are set aside from celebrities, having their own genre of fame referred to as "Online Influencers.'"

These influencers gain sponsorships, get sent free clothes, makeup, and other items from brands that want to get their name noticed by the audience of the influencers.  YouTube has given anyone a platform to share their passions, opinions, music, etc.

The downside to all of this is the increase in bullying and hate this platform allows.  Comment sections become brutal, leading to many of the influencers to need to take a break from their channels, which has basically become some of their full time jobs, because their mental health has depleted tremendously despite having a large following.

This site has allowed for the idea of "celebrity" in our time to change.
To read more about YouTube, I am linking a Forbes article that touches more on YouTube's influence on today's youth.