25 Random Things I Didn’t Want to Know About You February 17, 2009
True, that.
Facebook annoys me severely. Other than being a convenient and easy way to keep in touch with friends and casual acquaintances, it serves me little purpose and proves to be a constant time-waster often used as a method of procrastination from homework. Nothing is more fun than feeling guilty after creeping your crush or enemy, wishing a “happy birthday” to that person you met from a friend-of-a-friend from that party last month, laughing at posted pictures of “LolCats” and RSVPing to events you’d prefer not to attend from people you barely know. Ah, yes, the joys of Facebook. We can all laugh at all the petty things that go on over Facebook or disregard it all together, but regardless of whether we like it or not, Facebook is one for the books.
Over the past few weeks, a growing fad that has made its way around Facebook profiles is the note titled “25 Random Things” where Facebook users post, well, 25 random things about themselves for the enjoyment of the public domain. I will admit, I’ve read several of these notes and smiled once or twice at a clever random fact or an inside joke, but other than that, what purpose does it serve?
Time magazine proposes that within the past week, 5 million Facebook users have bought into this fad with more than 125 million random facts floating around internetland. Claire Suddath writes:
Assuming it takes someone 10 minutes to come up with their list, this recent bout of viral narcissism has sent roughly 800,000 hours of worktime productivity down the drain.
I remember a few years ago before Facebook became popular amongst high school, college and university students, these notes came in the form of chain letters. A friend would send you an e-mail with fill-in-the-blank questions with their answers, then sending a mass e-mail to others demanding they do the same. These were popular for a while, but eventually faded and became scarce. What I’d like to know is where this note originated from and why it has become increasingly popular and widespread.
It’s no surprise how the “25 Random Things” note has circulated around Facebook with such popularity. The company review of Facebook states, “Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.“ This may be true, but we all know that the popularity of the note orginated because of the fascination with self-definition. Facebook users are able to work at creating the person that they want to be, so it makes perfect sense that a note in which people are ancouraged to describe themselves and flaunt their stuff would catch on. Sample “random facts” include various things like knowing the dance moves to the infamous “Crank That” song by Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em or having a spider phobia to more personal things like what makes them cry or how they feel doomed to never experience love.
It’s safe to say that this recent Facebook phenomenon won’t become a dying breed any time soon. With the growing number of people joining social networking websites, this fad is not only prevailent, it is unpredictable as well.
It’s the network effect that powers everything online: The more people are doing it, the more incentive their friends have to join in.
And because I’m so modest and I’m tempted, I’ve decided to include a few of my own random facts.
- I do occasionally look at myself in the mirror. When caught without one, I’ve settled for a shiny spoon.
- I’m not narcissistic, I’m just really, really, really, ridiculusly good looking…
- Oh, you get the idea.
Peace & love
Rach
Modesty at its finest
Source:
Suddath, Claire. “25 Random Things I Didn’t Want to Know About You”. TIME. 5 February, 2009
Tossel, Ivor. “A Facebook Fad of Epidemic Proportions”. The Globe and Mail. 12 February, 2009.
What a Doll! February 10, 2009
A typical couple, right?
Have you ever wondered whether the term “reality” is accurate at all? A dictionary definition would coin the term “real” as, “existing or occurring as fact; actual rather than imaginary, ideal, or fictitious” (Dictonary.com). It would be fit to assume that the media we accept and the products we consume are accurately representitive of reality, right? Some would agree, but this assumption doesn’t sit well with me. One excellent example of how our perception of reality is skewed is exemplified by the seemingly innocent childrens doll, Barbie. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, Barbie is guilty of giving a false sense of reality! Put her in cuffs and arrest her, I say!
This topic first sparked my interest in my Pop Culture and Communication class as well as my Introduction to Women’s Studies class. The relation between these two courses is what sparked my imagination of what Barbie is doing to my generation as well as to the individuals of younger generations.
From the moment one is born, the importance of gender is very apparent. A child growing up is given expectations of what they need to amount to and how they should act in certain situations. Parents and other peers typically buy pink and feminine things for girls and blue and masculine things for boys. These expectations stream into adulthood where we are taught to make friends, receive a good education, get a job with a good income so that you can get married, mass-produce spawn to eventually retire, enjoying the rest of your life in satisfaction and nostalgia. This is the typical idea of success, perfection even.
The idea of perfection trickles into the idea of physical beauty and attractiveness. Barbie is an excellent example of this. The tall blue-eyed blonde was introduced to the public in February 1959 as “a teaching tool for femininity” (Dembner, “35 and Still a Doll”). Barbie is the ideal Western type female with long blonde hair, blue eyes, long slender legs, a small waist and a full, round chest. As well as being endowed with a perfect body, Barbie lives the fancy suburban life of consumption, acquiring luxury items such as clothes, accessories and the newest cars. To top the list of a having a perfect life is Ken, the delightful and dreamy male companion to Barbie. When Ken first hit the shelf in 1961, the manufacturers proclaimed Ken with a sense of “innocence, cleanliness, extroverted playfulness, boyish masculinity, and a hint of shyness” (Barbie Her Life and Times, 1987).
Michael Weiss, author of the book “Toys Were Us” types Barbie as “a model of bubbly teenage innocence” who also “projected every little girl’s dream of the future” (Toys Were Us, 2000). Girls began dreaming of their own futures and how they could make their Barbie dreams a reality.
I’m sorry, but after looking through all of this information, I completely disregard the term “reality”. If reality is in the form of something unreasonably idealistic, it certainly fails to live up to its definition. It makes me uneasy to think of how younger generations are currently being affected by these dolls, especially with the introduction of the Bratz dolls with a proclaimed “passion for fashion”. Although there has been a lawsuit over the Bratz dolls under Barbie and Mattel, the American Psychological Association expressed concern over the Bratz dolls saying that:
Bratz dolls come dressed in sexualized clothing such as miniskirts, fishnet stockings, and feather boas. Although these dolls may present no more sexualization of girls or women than is seen in MTV videos, it is worrisome when dolls designed specifically for 4- to 8-year-olds are associated with an objectified adult sexuality.
Barbie has existed with amazing popularity for almost half of a century and continues to affect our culture considerably. I think it’s safe to say that she won’t be leaving the spotlight anytime soon. I can only hope that Barbie starts to show her age eventually becoming less and less popular. If not, charge her with crime against society and culture! Now there’s an idea, jailbird Barbie!
Bank Robbin' Barbies
Peace & love
Rach
Source:
American Psychological Association, Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls (2007).
BillyBoy. Barbie Her Life and Times. New York: Crown Publishers, 1987.
Dembner, Alice. “35 and Still a Doll.” The Boston Globe. 9 March 1994. (23 April 2000).
Weiss, Michael. Toys Were Us. (7 March 2000)
Say whaaat!?! February 4, 2009
Imagine that you’re watching your favourite primetime television show at 8pm on a Wednesday night and the events unfolding onscreen are so ridiculous and interesting that you’re sitting on the edge of your couch clinging onto each word of dialogue. As soon as the plot is about to unfold or a character is about to reveal a secret detremental to the future of the show: COMMERCIAL BREAK. Everyone can let out a universal sigh or grunt of frusteration as we’ve all experienced the woes of inconvenient and pesky advertisements. We can almost make the assumption that we find commercials a waste of time and that we’d much prefer to watch our primetime shows in peace without disturbance of “As Seen on TV” products, fast food commercials, old people acting overly happy and the like.
Going off topic for a little bit, my favourite commercials to hate on would have to be:
- The “Oxi Clean” commercial- Seriously, what is the guy’s deal? He yells too much and he could pass as a model on a men’s beard dye box.
- The “My Little Reminder” commercial- “Oh, no. Where did I park my car?” Instead of using their hard earned money on a crappy audio recorder, those sad little people could have invested their money in acting lessons.
- The “Proactive” commercial- Z-list celebrities rambling on about their clear skin baffles me. Shouldn’t they be more worried about why their career is in the mud?
Back on topic. Like I mentioned before, we can all assume that advertisements are not only annoying, but pointless, right? Wrong. Researchers at the NYU Stern School of Business have determined in a new study that viewers find television programs more enjoyable when they are watched with commercials. That’s right. Researchers Leif D. Nelson at the University of California- Rady School of Management as well as Tom Meyvis and Jeff Galak at the NYU Stern School of Business have confirmed this. Their study found that although viewers prefer to avoid commercial advertisements, that their experience in watching a television show was higher when commercials were included.
The study found that:
People often adapt to the experience of watching television such that each successive minute is slightly less enjoyable than the previous one. Advertisements, although independently aversive, disrupt this adaptation process and can therefore make the overall experience more enjoyable.
Now I know what you might be thinking. “I hate commercials, how could this be true?” The study said:
A disruption in a suspenseful plotline might heighten anticipation and intensify its subsequent resolution. Similarly, commercials may offer opportunities to elaborate on what viewers have watched so far or to savor what is still to come.
I’m not sure what this means to all of you, but I can relate to this. When watching an intense television show with friends, during the commercial break we catch each other up and talk about what has just happened. It also heightens the excitement when the commercials are over and the show is back on.
It is important to point out though, that it’s not the content of the commercials that heighten enjoyment, it is the fact that they are present during the time slot.
It’s certainly interesting to think that commercial advertisements, not only do they push you to buy a certain product, they also happen to heighten the enjoyment of the television program. I’ll take this into consideration the next time I’m watching LOST (which happens to be airing tonight!). No matter how unbearable the commercial breaks might be, I’ll be appreciative of the show (as well as equally confused, as LOST does to everyone). I’ll keep you posted.
Peace & love
Rach
Source: Nelson, Leif D., Meyvis, Tom and Galak, Jeff,Enhancing the Television-Viewing Experience through Commercial Interruptions(2009). Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 36, August 2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1007767
Broadcast Yourself February 2, 2009
Happy February everyone! This February 1st 2009 has brought to my mind the happenings in recent years that have made a huge impact on our society and culture. I might have a slight obsession with the growing of YouTube and all the interesting content it contains submitted by people from around the globe.
This month marks the 4th anniversary of YouTube since it hit the internet in February 2005 by Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, the first members of the YouTube management team who currently work as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer. On YouTube’s Company History, it describes the website as:
The leader in online video, and the premier destination to watch and share original videos worldwide through a Web experience. YouTube allows people to easily upload and share video clips onwww.YouTube.com and across the Internet through websites, mobile devices, blogs, and email.
Everyone can watch videos on YouTube. People can see first-hand accounts of current events, find videos about their hobbies and interests, and discover the quirky and unusual. As more people capture special moments on video, YouTube is empowering them to become the broadcasters of tomorrow.
As part of the YouTube experience, users are encouraged to dig out their own niche by uploading and favouriting videos that reflect their personality and talents that might range from music to blogging, film or how-to’s about health, beauty and cooking. Almost anyone can find something on YouTube that appeals to them.
What I find interesting is the growing number of talented musicians part of the YouTube generation who use the website to attract fans and popularity through uploading their musical content. This ranges from personal work to song covers of other popular artists. YouTube is certainly a driving force in the rise of the information and technology age where the general public is in more control over the media. In fact, YouTube’s demographic is evenly divided between males and females with an age range between 18-55. This has certainly contributed to the website’s success.
Who would have thought!
Peace & love
Rach
