Since this class consisted mostly of blogging, I felt that it was necessary for my technology-focused blog, to include a little bit of information about them. Where did the term blog even come from? It is a portmanteau, which is a combination of two words, combining "web and "log" together.
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Blogger.com is the first blog that I used since this class was my first introduction to blogging in general. But I felt that the different layouts to choose from were great and all of the features that it included. It was nice to see how many page views and even the specific number of views for certain posts as well. There are numerous sites to use for blogging though, including home made websites which are made into personal blogs.
Blogs are nice because they can be informative, persuasive or just fun to read. But they are not only all of those things, but blogs also give you a different point of view besides your own, which sometimes sways your own opinion in an opposite direction. Although they are usually written by "regular people" they can sometimes be very helpful in learning more about a certain topic. Completing many of blog posts for this class helped me to improve my skills as a blogger and also learn to see other points of view. By reading other classmates blogs, I learned a ton of information about several interesting topics. Many of the blogs included really helpful information and were written pretty well. This blog has been extremely helpful in learning how to write for the web and maintain a website. I also found out how to optimize the site so it is found on search engines. All in all, blogging may only be for certain people who really like to write and can keep up with daily or weekly posts. Although I would not consider myself to be one of those types of people, it was still good to get some experience with them.
How do you feel about the blogging process?
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Working in the retail industry during my high school and college careers, this was always a big topic of discussion. Since the large majority of the population today owns a cell phone, a lot of people use them to multi-task. In my opinion I think that people need to be more considerate when using their phones in public. This has happened to me numerous times while working at the cash register. The big problem with this issue is that there is no universal way to handle it or any sort of law against it. It is not quite a big enough issue to take the time out to enforce a law against this sort of thing.
There have been times at work where I just want to yell at customers or even try to politely ask them to get off of their cell phones. But especially at my work, PetSmart, which is very large retailer, none of the employees are allowed to ask any customer to get off of their cell phones while shopping or checking out. I actually looked through a few articles and blogs on this topic and there are mixed opinions. One of the sites said things that were more "politically correct" in terms of large retailers, where it should be all about the customer. At many retailers, the employees are told that the customer must always come first. Therefore, if someone is talking on their phone they should not be told to get off of their phone, but instead they should let it go. In this article it is said to assume that it might be a very important call and try to be understanding with the customer. This is probably the best thing for large retailers, at least in terms of good customer service.
On the other hand, I know first hand that the majority of employees working in retail or even food services would love to post signs like the one at the top of this post. It would be great to refuse to provide any services for a customer until they hang up the phone. I have gone through an entire sale with several different customers and did not say one word to the person because they were too busy chatting. Although I do not actually know for sure the importance or urgency of the conversation going on, every time someone has been on their phone while checking out it never sounds like it cannot wait a few seconds. I have personally been to places that refuse to wait on customers using cell phones, or have signs posted about it.
What do you think is an acceptable way to handle this issue?
Within the past 20 years obesity in the United States has increased rapidly, especially in children and teenagers. On average, kids in the range from eight to eighteen spend more than seven and a half hours using technology everyday. If all that time was being spent to complete research projects or homework assignments for school that wouldn't sound quite as bad. But that consists mostly of using things such as cell phones, tablets, and video games. If that same amount of time is spent using these devices every day of the week it accumulates to 53 hours per week. Therefore for all of the parents out there; your children might be spending more time on their cell phone or playing video games than you go to work in one week! To add onto what already seems like a ridiculous amount of time, this same study said that since many of them multitask (such as listen to music on their i-pod while surfing the 'net) they actually pack almost eleven hours into that seven or eight hour range.
Most of this information was found from a study done by Kaiser Family Foundation and an article on NYtimes.
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Although there are have been many studies done proving that many kids these days spend a lot more time using technology than they used to, it is still not proved to be a major cause of childhood obesity. Even though it is not actually proven in most studies, there are a ton of people that believe that there is a direct link between the two. But I think that more needs to be done. When I see young kids texting and playing on their i-pods, it makes me realize how much times have changed since I was a kid (and I'm only 20!!). Children are being way to reliant and attached to technology at a young age these days. I even know a few kids under the age of 13 who are using Facebook. It is important for the future to get kids outside and off of their computers more often.
Do you think parents should be giving into their children and buying them cell phones and i-pods before or at the age of 10-12?
What is the appropriate age that kids should be allowed to have their own such devices?
Do you believe that there is a direct connection between technology and childhood obesity?
DON'T TEXT & DRIVE.
So many of us are guilty of it, but we never think about the consequences.
Pennsylvania has just recently passed the new law banning texting while driving, making it fully illegal for all drivers to use hand-held devices to send text messages while driving their vehicle. There has yet to be a law passed banning all cell phone use in our state, but it could be following shortly.
Since this law has been in effect (March 8, 2012) there have not been a large numbers of fines issued. A lot of cops have stated that it is incredibly hard to really catch someone texting while driving. On a recent news report it was stated that many people are now trying to send text messages from a lower position, towards the bottom of their steering wheel, rather than closer to their face. This actually makes it even more dangerous because they are making their visibility window more narrow and the chance of causing an accident much larger.
Although the number of $50 fines issued in our state is still low, the majority of the tickets were given to teenagers and young adults from 16-25. There were a few "older" citizens that had to gather up the $50, too though. I'm sure this isn't surprising to many of us, that the majority of the tickets were given to younger citizens, being that most of them are incredibly reliant on technology.
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As like most other laws, each state has different rules for cell phone and hand held device usage while driving. To read more about each states' law against these types of things, you can reference wikipedia or also the GHSA (Governors Highway Safety Association) here.
The image above is of course from a few months ago. Since the info-graphic was created, there have been a few more states added to the picture, Pennsylvania being one of them. But the image does show a few statistics describing how often certain age groups text while driving and also how much more likely you are to cause an accident while using your cell phone.
Are you guilty of texting while driving, even if it is on a rare occasion?
Do you think that this new law will actually stop people from doing it?
