Response on articles

I found the articles that I read on the iphone, very interesting. The commercial was very true. In a matter of seconds you can locate you point of interest. The iPhone has made life much easier in some ways.

I'm not understanding one thing from the article, "After China ships out iPhones, smugglers make it a return trip." If the people in China are the ones creating them, why can't they just keep one for themselves before shipping them out, rather then going through all the trouble of smuggling them back to China? I guess it is because they are not aloud. HA. But seriously, I know they can not because it violates a purchase agreement. It is just amusing to me that the people who are manufacturing the iPhone have to actually smuggle them to have one for themselves.

The Geekpedia article by Clayton Christensin, changed my way of thinking about new technology. It never really occurred to me that these new and cool products that are created, are actually just transformations of other products. At first, I thought all products were revolutionary. But apparently I see that I am wrong. All products come from other products, basically.

The article, "The Untold Story: How the iPhone blew up the wireless Industry" by Fred Vogelstein was a very interesting article. I never realized how much work and effort goes into making a new product. It takes many years of hard and perfection to create something so technologically advanced. I have to say I honestly laughed out loud when I read the part that the women was so frustrated and slammed her door so hard that she locked herself inside her office. HAHA, she must have been pretty upset!

I think the people described in the article, "The Cell Refuseniks, an Ever-Shrinking Club" are crazy for not having cell phones. Our world is EVOLVING into one such that it is not possible to be without a cell phone. It has become expected that everyone has a cell phone and should be able to be reached at any time of the day. Even though I find this a little scary, it is the way we have all make this world to be. Although sometimes I wish I could just throw my phone into the ocean and never see it again, I can not imagine living without it. My cell phone is with me every second of every day. It is never in my pocketbook, I might miss a call or a text message. It is sickening but I am attached. These people who do not have cell phones, really need to catch up to the rest of the world!!!

I have not yet read the one by David Carr on Twitter. I will do that tomorrow. Right now I am a little Winston and "media-ed" out. Plus, my friend is on her way so that we can have a much needed girls night, to go see Valentines Day and eat Red Mango!

Ta-Ta, Alissa

Digital Nation

In class on thursday, we watched a report titled, "Digital nation". This was about how technology has effected everyone in the world, both positively and negatively. When technology first came about, it was a very positive addition to the world. Even though it still is today, it is slowly changing into a negative effect to many. This film looks to find a change to technologies negative effects.

I have to say that this film was very interesting. It is amazing how much technology has taken over the world. Yet, I can relate to this very much. Technology has definitely taken over my life. I am attached to my blackberry, so much that, I did not even consider giving it up for my media deprivation weekend. I do not know what I would do without a television and all my favorite tv shows. As a result of my media deprivation weekend, I concluded just how attached I am to Facebook. Lastly, my computer, which is also another addiction and my number one distraction when I am home. Anyway, this film stated that all teenagers think they are good at multi-tasking. Before watching the film, I assumed I was a good multi-tasker because simply, I can do more than one thing at once. It never really occurred to me that I could not do it. But after watching the part of the film where they tested teenagers on multi-tasking, I wondered, Am I really that good at multi-tasking? How does multi-tasking really effect my work in school? The results of the experiment in the video said that teenagers are actually bad multi-taskers. They put in less effort toward what they are doing when they multi-task because there whole mind is not thinking about what subject. Which makes a lot of sense. If you are doing two things at one, your mind needs to split and think about two separate things, so all your effort is not going into your important work.

Another part of the film that I wanted to comment on was the video gaming. I think it is crazy just how addicted people in Japan are to video games. I was shocked when the film said that two people actually died in the video game place from playing too long without proper food and water. I was truly amazed.

Overall, I enjoyed the film, Digital Nation. It opened my eyes to how the world of technology is effecting people and the world itself.

the end of my weekend without facebook.

So...yesterday was the last day without facebook. I went back on it this afternoon for the first time since thursday night. I have never ever had so many notifications before in my history of facebook. It was extremely overwhelming. Part of the fact was because saturday was my birthday! (yay!) So, everyone commented me on that day and i had millions of "happy birthdays." It was really hard that day to not go on, because I was so curious to see who commented me for my birthday! As if I had nothing better to worry about. I truly never knew how addicted I was to facebook. It is actually pathetic and embarrassing. I realized this while at my boyfriends hockey tournament yesterday. I was at the rink all day with him and his mom and every second that I was bored, I picked up my phone to go on facebook. Ofcourse, i did not go on.. I stopped myself. But it was amazing how many times I picked up my phone with a desire to go on facebook. Since I wasnt browsing the latest updates on facebook on my phone, I was conversing more with the people around me, making conversation...and even watching the hockey game. (you know, the whole reason I was there in the first place.) Don't get me wrong I absolutely love hockey and watching the games whenever I go, but sometimes facebook takes my interest. Anyway, I also noticed other things. The time that I spend on facebook the most is right before I go to bed. I am always on the computer chatting with other people, shopping online, listening to music...all while on facebook, right before I go to bed. I had less to do before I go to bed. So, I found myself getting off the computer quicker & going to bed earlier. This was a good thing because I was a little more rested in the morning.

So my whole point in this blog is that stopping myself from not going on facebook for 3 days was a true eye opener. However I hate to say it, but, I don't think I will stop me from going on facebook so often. BUT, it does make me conscious of how many times a day I do go on facebook and how pathetic I really am. LOL. This was definitely an experience that made me realize how connected I have to be to other people at all times. It was interesting!

I just wanted to add- can you believe that its snowing again! UGHHH. I am so sick of the snow and I really just want it to be summer time outside already. I dont know if its just me, but I feel like this winter is taking FOREVER to pass!!! Anyway, back to reality tomorrow.

Goodnight everyone!!

day 1-no facebook.

Hi everyone, it's friday night and I am waiting to go to my boyfriend's hockey game, so I figured I would tell everyone how my first day without facebook went. I have to say it was a lot harder then I expected. I never realized how attached to it that I was. I think it is because it is so easy accessible. I have facebook saved to my bookmarks on my blackberry, so it takes two seconds for me to check it. I am hoping that tomorrow will be a little better. I actually think it is kind of amazing how physically attached myself and almost everyone else in the world is to a silly website. Anyway, I will be back tomorrow to update everyone on facebook-less life.

All about me!

My name is Alissa Longo. I am currently a freshman here at post. I am a math education major, I want to become a middle school math teacher. I live in oceanside and I commute to school everyday. I really want to dorm though, so I hope i can next semester. My birthday is this weekend, the 13th! yay 19! Anyway, i was a gymnast for my whole life, until two years ago when i messed up my knees. Now, i do no physical activity at all. I work at a childrens clothing store, Denny's Childrenswear, as a cashier. I live live live to shop!!! I really think i have a problem though. I have a little pup named Diesel, he is a yorky. He wakes me up every morning with his annoying bark, sometimes i want to hurt him. Just a weird tidbit, my boyfriend has a yorky also, and guess what? his name is diesel too. (no we didnt do it on purpose, they were named before we even met) Strange, huh? So anyway, although this blog thing seems like fun now, i have a feeling its going to be a lot of work in a few weeks. Okay, im going to go now...class is over. bye!

My first blog post!

My first blog post! yay!