This TED talk helped me to be aware of just how much I personally am relying on its services rather than talking with someone face-to-face, in-person.

I had no idea how scarily true Sherry Turkle's words were.

Facebook is a social media site that I use on a daily basis for varied lengths of time, and I use it to stay updated on what my friends and acquaintances are doing. It's marvellous for keeping just a minimal amount of contact with others, just enough to keep them in our lives.

But how close are we to each and every Facebook friend we have?

My best friend from elementary school and I are friends on Facebook.

I haven't contacted him in months.

I connected with almost my whole grade all through high school.

I haven't called a single one of them in years.

Facebook and other similar social media sites are not truly ways of connecting with others.

There's a difference between being connected with someone, and connecting with someone. Technology can give us the illusion of connecting with someone, but until we're in front of the person we're talking/tweeting/messaging to, we can't connect. We can only type.

Typing is not connecting. Connecting is connecting.

Evernote: Sandbox #3

I have come across Evernote periodically over the years, but I have never looked into until now. I had an idea that it was related to document creation (hence, Evernote), but more details emerged as I researched it.

Evernote is a note creation service that allows its users to share their notes with other Evernote users, and they can be accessed from any internet-enabled device (smartphone, tablet, desktop/laptop computer).

Evernote, when using a computer operating using Mac OS X or Windows, can be downloaded from the Evernote website (or the App Store on Mac OS X). If a user has an iOS or Android device, the user can download Evernote from their respective app marketplaces (i.e. Google Play or App Store).

When first opening the application, the user is prompted to create an Evernote account. Evernote requests a number of user information: a username, email, contact preferences, name, avatar, geographic location, devices using Evernote, phone number, and payment info if the user is willing to pay for more features.

All payment levels allow the user to screenshot anywhere on the web, share and discuss in Evernote, and sync across all devices using Evernote. Plus membership allows the user slightly more benefits, also allowing offline access and passcode locking on mobile applications, and saving emails into Evernote. Premium membership allows the user all the benefits of having a Basic and Plus account, but also allowing searching in Office docs and attachments, turning notes into presentations, creating annotations within PDF files, scanning/digitizing business cards, viewing previous versions of notes, and seeing content related to the user’s created notes. There is also a Business membership that allows the user access to Premium benefits alongside more sharing and collaboration opportunities within Evernote, and sharing and giving feedback on created notes.

Even though this application is geared mainly towards those in the business sector, this can also be used within the education sector for the same aforementioned reasons. The main reason why this application may be used among those in the business and education sectors is because of how simple it is to share notes among a common platform.

In the education sector specifically, this application can be used in Language Arts, possibly for procedural writing, short story creation, or poetry, though it can be used for more. Educational staff can also use it to share their ideas with each other to better their collective teaching.

As for if I would use it personally, although it provides a very simplistic, clean, crisp interface comparable to Pages (Mac OS X’s version of Microsoft Word), I don’t think I would use it right now. Pages and Apple’s native Notes application have been serving me very well, and they can be shared to other users, regardless of whether the recipient(s) use(s) an Apple device or not since it allows for documents to be exported in a variety of formats (PDF, Word, Pages, ePub, text). If I were suggested to in a future workplace, then I would certainly try it out, but right now, I don’t see any reason to be using yet another app for services that I have perfectly usable apps for anyways.

I’m sure that Evernote is a lovely application, but I would have to see if I would use it down the road. User setup is very straightforward and simple, but it’s not enough to have me migrate all of my files onto Evernote. I’d like to give it a try, though.

PSA - Save our Black Cats!

For our Media Literacy Class, we created a Public Service Announcement about black cats, since we wanted to create something in the spirit of Halloween. Almost our entire group loves cats, so it was a perfect fit.

Keep your black cats indoors throughout October!

How to slay your day in six steps!

You may be wondering why your day may have been a not-so-good one. Maybe it was that person behind the Tim Horton's counter messing up your order. Maybe it was that assignment you got back that received a less-than-fabulous grade. Or maybe you came to the realization that your crush plays for another team. If life is giving you too many curveballs for you to handle and you've now lost your confidence in baseball, then stop. Actually stop. Look up at this chart. Read each step carefully. Follow through each step tomorrow and watch the magic happen.

It's okay, I'll wait…

All done? Great. Now, when you're all done that awesome day you just had, and you're ready to hermit until sleep pays a visit (or once you're all finished that episode of Scandal or *insert extremely popular show here*), when you wake up from the world's best sleep, repeat all those steps again. Do it. You did it once, so I know you can do it again!

The Advertising Machine

It's a scary feeling for me to have my face on even a fake magazine, let alone a real one. If I were to be in a public media outlet like a magazine, I would immediately be worried about the comments and feedback that I would be subjected to. For example, GQ is usually about good-looking, handsome men, which is obviously quite wonderful. The only problem is that if there are men within the section pertaining to the handsome men, they're immediately placed under the public's microscope. Are they really as hot as the magazine says? Who is on the list? What standards does the magazine use when curating a list of men for the final draft?

Although women do receive an awful lot of scrutiny within the media about body image and self-esteem, men also receive a substantial amount of criticisms about their image. Whether people comment on a man's body hair or lack thereof, his weight, his face, his facial features, his fitness level, or even his ethnicity, the moral of the story is that, within advertising and other media, all individuals receive their fair share of criticisms on a daily basis already, and when this is compounded with media influence, it's no wonder eating disorders and mental illness have become more relevant over the years. Are media messages really who we should be answering to, or are we smarter than the machine?

How does this media machine work?

Honestly…how does the media work? What sorts of questions are posed behind the scenes of your favourite show? What exactly are those different strokes used in your favourite art pieces, and what conversations do they create? Do the most popular songs on the radio hit high notes with you, or do their messages, or lack thereof, leave you singin' the blues?

These questions and more point towards what are called media literacy skills. These critical-thinking skills will help to identify holes and/or questionable content in various media. Asking questions such as, "Why are these particular people in this commercial?" or, "What image is my favourite singer creating with their brand new album, and what do their songs say about themselves?" or even, "Why is this actor such an inferno of red-hot heart-throbbing unfair attractiveness?" show that critical media literacy skills are taking place. Even observations/opinions such as "TV producers will usually choose attractive people for their roles to boost ratings and increase total viewers," show that there is critical thinking taking place.

How does one become media literate, and what sorts of questions and statements will help aid in media literacy? This TED Talk by Andrea Quijada shows her first steps to becoming media literate, and her concepts of what it means to decode media can be applied to other mediums, as well, not just the advertisements, TV shows, and movies referenced in her talk.

Still interested? Stay tuned to this blog for more information about media literacy and how to sharpen your critical eye!