Michael Moore: Continued

After finishing watching  Michael Moore's satiric documentary, Where to Invade Next, it was clear to me that there are so many things the United States could improve on with the power of our government. Wether it be paid vacations, sex education classes, no standardized tests, free college, shorter work weeks, no death penalty, equal gender rights, or female leadership, Michael Moore's points that he makes in his film are only a handful of the tons of ways that America could improve.

Seeing how other countries followed through with their laws opened my eyes to worlds I never knew about or even imagined. What gets me the most, is that each of these laws that Moore introduced us to originated from ideas that were created in the United States. For example, in Portugal there are no laws against using drugs. It blows my mind that the idea to legalize the recreational use of all drugs came form America; I cannot even begin to imagine how that would effect Americans if it were to be in place now.

However, as we look back on the history of the United States and the reasoning as to why we even administered the laws on recreational drugs, we must keep in mind the effects these laws had on the lives of black Americans. Since the laws were originally created because the government felt that they needed to "catch" black Americans for doing something bad so that they could prosecute them. As a result of this law, black people have faced horrible punishments for their irrational acts and as Moore states in the movie, "one in every three black men is not allowed to vote in the United States". Today, these back lashes have started movements like Black Lives Matter. With this in mind, I think that this movement is a start to a way that the United States would be able to go back to legalizing the use of recreational drugs.

Michael Moore's Where to Invade Next

After watching a portion of Michael Moore's satiric documentary, Where to Invade Next, I was astounded by the incredible laws that the different countries have. In my opinion, the first segment of the documentary, when Michael Moore invades Italy, was the most important. In Italy, there is a law enforcing each company to give all of their employees eight weeks of paid vacation time, including five months of maternity leave.

As the Italian citizens discussed, eight weeks of paid vacation allows for employees to take breaks from the stressfulness of their work lives. I think that this law is important because vacations have been important to myself and my family as I have grown up. I believe this law should be implemented within businesses in the United States. Because my Dad is the owner of a furniture business, he has been able to make his own work schedule and incorporate his own time off. This has allowed our family to spend quality time together and for him to relax throughout many stressful years.

Here's a picture of my sisters and I when my family took a cross country road trip when we were younger!

In the United States we lack this law, which causes many employees to overwork themselves. After watching a portion of this documentary, I discussed this law with one of my friends. In response, she told me that her older sister was recently complaining about these laws because she is getting hounded for even taking a ten minute lunch. When she returns from lunch she is getting yelled at for leaving for ten minutes, while in Italy the employees are given two hours for lunch breaks to go home, relax, and eat with their families.

Donald Trump's Proposed EPA Budget Cut

Monday, April 10, 2017
The Honorable Bernie Sanders
1 Church St, 3rd Floor
United State Senate
Burlington, VT 05401


Dear Senator Bernie Sanders,

I am writing you a letter in regards to the Trump Administration's proposed budget cuts. Although I believe there are several issues that should be acknowledged, I would like to focus specifically on the decrease in funds for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As a resident of Enosburg Falls, Vermont and a current student of Saint Michael's College, I am concerned about what will happen to our state's natural resource protection without the EPA. I think our state's plans on making Burlington a city with renewable energy is very important to our state as a whole. Because Burlington is the largest city in Vermont, the change to renewable energy would significantly support Vermont's title as a leader in sustainably running a state.
One of the most important aspects of the EPA is their clean power plan. The contributions of the clean power plan do not only support Vermont, but all of the states too. The clean power plan will help states develop and deploy clean energy alternatives. If the proposed budget by the Trump Administration is passed, then people across the country would lose their jobs and the hard work that Vermonters have put forth in creating this environmental name for ourselves would be lost.
As you are a member of congress, I am asking you to vote in support of funds that will help the Environmental Protection Agency in sustaining our state and country as a whole.

Thank you for taking this letter into your consideration.

Sincerely,

Natalie Jackson
Saint Michael's College '19
SMC Box 2907
One Winooski Park
Colchester, VT 05439

What is "Too Much Technology"?

I recently watched an episode of the British television series Black Mirror. In the first episode of season three, Nosedive, I was overwhelmed by the profuse amount of technology and the effects that it had on every single character in the show. Lacie, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, played the lead role in the episode and, in my opinion, cared too much about what others thought of her. However, as the show continued, I began to realize that sometimes she had a good reason to care what people thought and "rated" her. For example, her cost of rent and status to get in line at different places were affected based upon the ratings that people gave her.

This concept of allowing others' opinions of who we are determine important aspect of our lives is completely mind-blowing to me. Although I think that this would never happen to our reality, it isn't exactly a wild thought to occur since most people today rely on technology for everything they do, just as the characters in the show did too. Because we're constantly using technology and posting pictures to gain the satisfaction that somebody "liked" our posts, I don't think this episode is completely irrelevant. 

Geek Heresy, a book written by Kentaro Toyama, discusses the affects that technology can have on our lives. Kentaro states in the book that he worked at Microsoft for 12 years. After being around technology so immensely, to the point where everything you do, all day long, is focused upon and driven by technology, Kentaro said he "unconsciously embraced a peculiar paradox". When you work in a technology industry, you're more apt to spend your days being consumed in the technological world. 

Upon leaving Microsoft, Kentaro realized how much his life revolved around technology. In fact, he even said, "I am a recovering technoholic. I was once addicted to a technological way of solving problems," (xiii, Toyama). After reading this bit, my immediate reaction was to go back and think about the episode of Black Mirror. If the people in our society continue to use technology as frequently and consumingly as they are right now, then I'm worried that it won't be long before everyone will soon be a "technoholic".

A Reflection on Black Lives Matter

On Thursday, February 23, 2017 I went to a rally at UVM's Davis Center. Black Lives Matter in the Era of Trump was a segment of the Will Miller Social Justice Lecture Series that UVM hosts in remembrance of Will Miller, a loved professor that empowered many students throughout UVM's campus in his 35 years of teaching there.

Miller's body passed away in 2005, but his strive for equality and social justice lives on through his soul and the people he left a mark on. The slogan for Miller's website reads, "He will always be remembered as a clear voice in a world of false words and disinformation." After attending the talk at UVM, it was clear that this idea and Miller's expressions were still alive in the opinions of the speaker, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.

Taylor is currently a professor at Princeton University in the Department of African American Studies. She is also the profound author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation. Throughout her speech, Taylor referenced the issues that have been going on throughout America, not only in this most recent era of Donald Trump's reign, but in previous years as well. As Taylor was clearly outraged and concerned about the racism that surrounds us, she supported her emotions with facts that moved me. Taylor said Trump is not focusing on this issue at hand, and instead is leading up farther away and changing the topic to hide what really matters.
According to Taylor's research, there are rising shootings throughout the United States. Specifically in Chicago, 4,379 people were shot last year. Of those people, 797 of them were killed. Does this number have anything to do with the fact that the majority of those people were African American, and that 25% of African Americans in Chicago are unemployed? Chicago seems to be the most segregated city in the United States, and instead of doing anything about it, Trump is making the situation worse.
There are 400 billionaires in the United States and 45 million people in poverty. Taylor said, "We are told black criminals are the reason to poverty," but this is only because the 400 billionaires are running our country and are only being innocent bystanders.
Although I agreed with Taylor on the majority of her opinions throughout her speech, there were a few bits that triggered my opposing opinion. Yes, I think it is unfortunate that we have a president that seems to be racist and sexist amongst a bunch of other horrible things, but I do not believe that police officers are not helping the country like Taylor stated. She said, "Police are racist agents of the state; they don't help." I understand that with police shootings becoming increasingly newsworthy, there is controversy over this topic. However, I don't think they are to blame for this issue. I think that police are trying their hardest to help our country. It is their duty to keep us safe, so why would they try to hurt us? I think that police officers are doing their job, and therefore, I disagreed on this one bit that Taylor proclaimed.
Overall, I thought the speech was empowering and helped our society by gathering hundreds of people together to discuss one of many issues we are all facing together.

Four Theoretical Frameworks to Mass Media

Four Theoretical Frameworks

In Nancy Baym's book, Personal Connections in the Digital Age, she discusses how media affects our everyday lives both individually and as society in its entirety. In the second chapter of the book, she breaks down four theoretical frameworks that she uses to discuss the affect that mass media has on us and the affect that we have on mass media. Technological determinism, social construction of technology, social shaping of technology, and domestication of technology are the frameworks that she mentions. For me personally, the social shaping of technology has been the most prominent and influential of the frameworks.

Diving into Social Shaping

The social shaping of technology is a combination of technological determinism and social construction of technology, which is why I think it is the most influential. In class we compared the social shaping of technology to be similar to centrist beliefs. With that being said, it is important to think both short-term and long-term with the way that mass media shapes our social lives. The social shaping of technology not only refers to mass media shapes and affects us, but also how we shape and affect mass media. For example, mass media obviously affects our daily lives. Whether we're listening to the radio on the way to work, or watching the news before going to bed, the news that the media supplies us with is affecting our daily routine and outlook on life. In reverse, we are also affecting the media, the more we use it in different varieties of ways, causes the mass media to change; cellphones are always being updated in order to compete with other forms of media, and new technology is always arriving in order to give us something new to fathom over.

Mass Media's Affect on Us

Mass media feeds us everyday. As I like to think, there are now six main food groups: Fruits/Vegetables, Breads, Dairy Products, Meat/Fish/Alternatives, Fats/Sugars, and Social Media. 

In today's society we are built to feel as though we need social media just as we need food and water. At the end of the day when you look back on how everything went you think, Did I eat all of my fruits and vegetables today? How many glasses of water did I drink? Is another person in my graduating class really pregnant? Did I remember to write on Kristen's Facebook wall to say Happy Birthday?

In today's society, we live off of social media.

Although it is possible to get by without using social media, many people can't imagine a day without it. Technology has had so much of an affect on us today, that there have even been support groups that help people that are addicted to social media. As children today grow up, one of the biggest issues people are worried about, is the amount of time a child spends on technology each day because they are worried this problem will on get worse as they age.

Our Affect on Mass Media

We feed off of mass media. With this, mass media and the technology industry grows. Whether it's new filters on Snapchat, Twitter updates, or reactions to Facebook posts, mass media is changing based upon our feedback. The cycle of using mass media and mass media using us is continuous. The more we use social media platforms, the more we become familiar with them, the more we find things we want changed about them, and the more our feedback is used to better enhance the site, to get more users, that will then repeat the process. Mass media is constantly changing in order to fulfill our needs. 

I NEED to stream this basketball game live to my Facebook so that all of my friends can watch it and see how great my court side seats are. 

But do you actually NEED to do that? You're just going to end up watching the entire game through the screen on your phone instead of enjoying the opportunity that is right in front of you.

But how can we resist this urge? When the iPhone 7 just came out and has a better camera than we've ever owned in our entire life? With two lenses you can't go wrong now. Our use of technology 24/7 and desire to show everyone what we're doing, when we're doing it (including a snapchat picture of us going to the bathroom) has forced mass media to keep up with us.

Personal Connections in the Digital Age: Chapter 1

Social Media's Impact on Me

After reading the first chapter of Personal Connections in the Digital Age by Nancy K. Maym, I began to realize different bits and pieces of how social media has personally affected myself.
My use of social media began when I was in 6th grade, after my middle school purchased mini laptops for each student, and I received an iPod Touch for my birthday. With the access to internet at my fingertips, social media began to captivate my life and relationships with everyone. Personally, phone calls, FaceTime, and text messages, and other social media websites/applications like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat.

https://www.sott.net/image/s12/245097/full/screens_kids_and_technology.jpg 

Seven Key Concepts

The reading discusses seven that help to identify the different media platforms and how people interact with one another. 

In my history of using social media through different forms of technology, I have found that my social interactivity with others has increased tremendously. I have been able to reconnect with friends from elementary and middle school, as well as family members that live out of state. 

In terms of temporal structure, I have found that communication via instantaneous formats like phone calls and instant messages are what I use the most. I think that synchronous communication is more common than asynchronous communication for the younger generation because we have the habit of communicating with each other all day everyday. Because we are scared to be left out and have a desire to know what people are doing, we must need a response instantaneously.

http://a57.foxnews.com/images.foxnews.com/content/fox-news/health/2016/10/28/screen-time-phone-use-linked-to-less-sleep-for-teens/_jcr_content/par/featured_image/media-0.img.jpg/0/0/1477654318085.jpg?ve=1 

The back fall of using social media in forms of communicating like this have harmed many people's ability to communicate with others in person. As a student studying media studies, business, and Spanish, I feel that interpersonal communication is most important in the business industries. In order to sell a product at a store, you must know how to persuade people and pick up on their social cues when doing so.

As a college student hoping to get a job upon graduation, I am well aware of how storage and replicability can help make or break landing a career. I think that it is very important to think about everything you post before posting them because future employers have every right to not hire you based on something immature or irresponsible that you may have posted in your past.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/b7/ca/47/b7ca4718c49d6e8347341fc40066f0cd.jpg

Lastly, mobility of social medias, which I briefly mentioned, has caused society to almost become obsessed with the availability to contact others. Because it is so accessible to talk to others, you feel you must know what people are doing and where they are at all times.

Who Uses?

I came from a small town; in fact, there are more cows in my town than people and the nearest stoplight is 17 miles away. According to the text, Nancy Baym writes, "People living in urban and suburban communities were 10-12 percent more likely to use the internet than people living in rural areas," (Baym, 19). Although I may be bias because I have never lived in a rural area, I think this is completely accurate because there is a lack of social activities like movie theaters, bowling alleys, sports, gyms, or other things to do. Therefore, people turn to electronics and social media to feed up time.

https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/2d/15/ed/enosburg-falls.jpg

For me, I am unsure how I feel about the extreme increasing use of social media in our daily lives. Because there are so many pros and cons, I see both sides of the conflict. Although I think the amount of time people spend on social media is excessive today, I also can see the positives of being able to get ahold of people when it is necessary.