I've just watched a TV programme where the conversation started by saying "so are you on Twitter, MySpace, facebook and all that?", "yes", the man replied, "I went on Jonathan Ross' show yesterday and now I have 1500 followers [on his Twitter account].
Isn't there more to life than social networking? I think there is. These websites are so temporary, and fleeting. MySpace is replaced by facebook which is replaced by Twitter, which is replaced by Spotify, which follows in the steps of Last.fm. And soon there will be another website. Something else offering social networking, or music, a collection of the two.
I don't think these sites are all bad. I use most of them - indeed, I am using a blog now and that hadn't been heard of five years ago - but I know that it is not the be all and end all of life. And yet people seem to think it might be.
This show I just watched talked about the sites as common place. Not amazing, and out of the realms of possibility, like a Ferrari, or going to the moon, but normal, everyday, involving everyone. So if you're young - 15 say - then the peer pressure to be on all of these things is going to be massive. When I was growing up, it was football stickers and pogs, and yoyos, but now you need an internet connection, and a fast computer to keep up with the trend.
Other problems like privacy, and advertising are involved too, but the biggest problem is that we think without these sites, our lives become uninteresting.
This is not true.
I am a Christian, and my relationship with Jesus means I have a friend by my side the whole time.
Recently I was walking to Uni along a road I walk down most days. I was stressed about doing the newspaper, and an essay, and I felt a nudge to notice the bigger things around me - the blossom on the hedge, the smell of the freshly cut grass, the feel of the air on my face. These things were tangible, these things were real, and these things were what I could be pleased to experience. The other issues were important, but just to stop thinking about them for a moment, and focus on those things that are bigger in life was refreshing.
So, yes there is more to life than Twitter, facebook and spotify.
Got go now, I'm off to check out some music on a certain website beginning with s and ending with y...!
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Monday, 16 March 2009
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Seeds of hope (or doubt)
A thought, a decision, a missed tackle. Anything can be a seed of hope (or doubt).
Today, Liverpool FC made their seed of hope grow that little bigger, and Manchester Utd created a seed of doubt.
With a comprehensive victory against Real Madrid in the week, and a thumping defeat of Man U today, Liverpool may be starting to hope again.
A hope for the Premier League title, not the Champions League, that's old hat, but the PL, the big one, the best one.
4-1 will be the cry. A Gerrard, Torres victory once more. Vidic getting the blame for the 'other red' team losing. The penalty, Liverpool having better clear cut chances and other aspects of the game that will be the talking point.
But its the seed of hope that that winning gives which is the important thing.
A seed, which with more rain, good ground (and probably the deforestation of the trees around it) will lead to Liverpool once more being crowned Champions of England!
Today, Liverpool FC made their seed of hope grow that little bigger, and Manchester Utd created a seed of doubt.
With a comprehensive victory against Real Madrid in the week, and a thumping defeat of Man U today, Liverpool may be starting to hope again.
A hope for the Premier League title, not the Champions League, that's old hat, but the PL, the big one, the best one.
4-1 will be the cry. A Gerrard, Torres victory once more. Vidic getting the blame for the 'other red' team losing. The penalty, Liverpool having better clear cut chances and other aspects of the game that will be the talking point.
But its the seed of hope that that winning gives which is the important thing.
A seed, which with more rain, good ground (and probably the deforestation of the trees around it) will lead to Liverpool once more being crowned Champions of England!
Friday, 13 March 2009
Essential musings
The funny thing about working in a shop is you get to learn all about people's eating habits...
Today I served people around supper time: one guy bought a massive piece of steak, and someone else got 2 things of pot noodles and a can of red bull!
Earlier this week, I had something published in the Kentish Gazette, which I sent to them after writing the story for inQuire. I rang the KM group and asked them if they'd be interested in the stor, and they were. :-) So p18, and on the web with my name at the top.
The story was about Kent Union gaining Sunday Times best 100 companies recognition.
Elections are on the way here in the world of Kent: elections for the Student Union Vice President roles, as well as the President him/her self and part time positions. (Bored yet?)
Well, actually its not boring!
I think not enough people vote in these elections, and I think the outcome is very important. It will direct what happens to Kent Union over the next year, and as KU is currently one of the biggest in the country (in terms of people employed and activities undertaken) there is a lot that could go wrong!
There are a few people who are running under a similar banner, the socialist one, and they say they will give part of their earnings to a learning fund which doesn't have very much money.
I'm not sure about some of them though, do they have a trustworthy attitude, and the respectability to run the Union? Will people listen to them, and will they make a difference?
Today I served people around supper time: one guy bought a massive piece of steak, and someone else got 2 things of pot noodles and a can of red bull!
Earlier this week, I had something published in the Kentish Gazette, which I sent to them after writing the story for inQuire. I rang the KM group and asked them if they'd be interested in the stor, and they were. :-) So p18, and on the web with my name at the top.
The story was about Kent Union gaining Sunday Times best 100 companies recognition.
Elections are on the way here in the world of Kent: elections for the Student Union Vice President roles, as well as the President him/her self and part time positions. (Bored yet?)
Well, actually its not boring!
I think not enough people vote in these elections, and I think the outcome is very important. It will direct what happens to Kent Union over the next year, and as KU is currently one of the biggest in the country (in terms of people employed and activities undertaken) there is a lot that could go wrong!
There are a few people who are running under a similar banner, the socialist one, and they say they will give part of their earnings to a learning fund which doesn't have very much money.
I'm not sure about some of them though, do they have a trustworthy attitude, and the respectability to run the Union? Will people listen to them, and will they make a difference?
Monday, 9 March 2009
There's a lot I don't know (part 2)
We started the journey in an eventful fashion. I was trying to finish the inQuire news section together and it was taking a while.
The sun was shining brightly outside and my two companions were waiting to go.
When I finished in the office, I walked downstairs and set the alarm off because everyone else had gone, and put the alarm on without realising that I was still in there!
We had a real laugh on the way up - stopping at a Burger King somewhere between Canterbury and Durham, I asked for a large burger meal of some description. It was TINY!!!
But, not to be deterred, in full Wylie and Harvey fashion I picked myself up, and said "I'm not satisfied with this, please can I have another burger and some more chips?". They tried to take the burger away and give me a replacement one, but that would have been the same TINY size, so I had both, and some more chips, and felt thoroughly happy with my British complaint.
We thought about saying the Burger King people that we'd travelled five hours just to get to this Burger King and were there for a special 18th birthday meal...
The sun was shining brightly outside and my two companions were waiting to go.
When I finished in the office, I walked downstairs and set the alarm off because everyone else had gone, and put the alarm on without realising that I was still in there!
We had a real laugh on the way up - stopping at a Burger King somewhere between Canterbury and Durham, I asked for a large burger meal of some description. It was TINY!!!
But, not to be deterred, in full Wylie and Harvey fashion I picked myself up, and said "I'm not satisfied with this, please can I have another burger and some more chips?". They tried to take the burger away and give me a replacement one, but that would have been the same TINY size, so I had both, and some more chips, and felt thoroughly happy with my British complaint.
We thought about saying the Burger King people that we'd travelled five hours just to get to this Burger King and were there for a special 18th birthday meal...
There's a lot I don't know
Travelling up to Durham on Friday I realised a lot about the things I don't know.
We were in the car driving for 7 and a half hours following many signs to 'the north'. We went past lots of places I'd heard of, but didn't really know where they were.
By travelling over 300 miles from Canterbury to Durham, we'd nearly gone further than France, and the things I'd discovered felt almost as great.
I would have liked to updated this blog during the weekend, but I couldn't find a computer (partly because I wasn't looking for one) and I couldn't work out how to do it on my phone.
So I'm sitting in Whitstable now trying to rememeber some of the things I was thinking about then to write down now.
We were in the car driving for 7 and a half hours following many signs to 'the north'. We went past lots of places I'd heard of, but didn't really know where they were.
By travelling over 300 miles from Canterbury to Durham, we'd nearly gone further than France, and the things I'd discovered felt almost as great.
I would have liked to updated this blog during the weekend, but I couldn't find a computer (partly because I wasn't looking for one) and I couldn't work out how to do it on my phone.
So I'm sitting in Whitstable now trying to rememeber some of the things I was thinking about then to write down now.
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
My new phone arrived in the post yesterday!
The Samsung Tocco - its pretty cool - with a touch screen and something called smile recognition! It knows when people are smiling and only takes a picture then. :-) picture :-( no picture.
And I have just filled in the National Student Survey. This is the survey of final year students in the UK about what we think of our course. Last year a lot of people did it - about 200,000 - but it was open to abuse, abuse which was documented in some cases. This year my university was offering a £5 reward to people who completed it.
Why? Well, so we would spend five minutes of our lives answering questions about the last three years of our lives.
The questions were slightly odd, well the answers really. I was given the choice of strongly agree, agree, neither agree or disagree, disagree and strongly disagree. Now - the results last year were portrayed as "students love our degree and our university". Is that because lots of people wrote strongly agree? But for which questions? And what about all those people - and I'm sure there were lots that answered "neither agree or disagree"?
The Samsung Tocco - its pretty cool - with a touch screen and something called smile recognition! It knows when people are smiling and only takes a picture then. :-) picture :-( no picture.
And I have just filled in the National Student Survey. This is the survey of final year students in the UK about what we think of our course. Last year a lot of people did it - about 200,000 - but it was open to abuse, abuse which was documented in some cases. This year my university was offering a £5 reward to people who completed it.
Why? Well, so we would spend five minutes of our lives answering questions about the last three years of our lives.
The questions were slightly odd, well the answers really. I was given the choice of strongly agree, agree, neither agree or disagree, disagree and strongly disagree. Now - the results last year were portrayed as "students love our degree and our university". Is that because lots of people wrote strongly agree? But for which questions? And what about all those people - and I'm sure there were lots that answered "neither agree or disagree"?
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