Facebook Depression

The adolescence is clearly the hardest stage of a person's life, other's opinion is fundamental and teenagers are very susceptible to what surrounds them, so it easy for them to be diagnosed with depression, but what happens if this one is triggered by using too much facebook? That is what researchers found out during an investigation about how the social networks changes our perception of the lives of friends and family members.

The study was conducted by two sociologist at Utah Valley University, this one consisted in asking to 425 students how identified they felt about the statements "life is fair" and "many of friend have better life than me", additionally, researchers collected information about how much time they spent on facebook, their number of friends of facebook, clarifying how many of these they met personally and how many they met just by the network.

The results showed that teenagers who spend more time on facebook, specially the ones that have more friends that they don't know in their real life, think that others were happier, so they agreed less that life is fair and more that others have a better life, so researchers came to the conclusion that there is a "facebook depression" which is caused by comparing your life with the other's.
It is easy to feel this way if you only see status telling you about how a good time your friends are having, but teenagers must be conscious that what is shown on facebook is not the complete picture of their friends' life, particularly with people of their same age because they try to project their best image possible.
Do you think that social networks can make you feel sad?
What would you do as a parent if you see that your child is suffering this condition?

Here is a video where you can see the main signs to identify this depression in teenagers and some advices for parents who are dealing with it.

Seeing What is Not There

Imagine yourself walking down the street, and as you advance many notifications pop up in front of your eyes. They tell you names of restaurants, how far away your friends are, or ask if you want to take a video recording of what is happening in front of you.

This may be reality in a couple of months as Google finishes work on “Project Glass”. The project is a set of glasses that has no lenses at all, just a camera and a screen. They described this product as an “augmented reality” or a “wearable computer”.

“Project Glass* sets up a small video screen set in front on the right eye, as well a a little speaker and microphone near the right ear. This device will probably work with a cellphone that will be connected by bluetooth and you can share all this information through the different social networks.

Technology is advancing quickly these days; maybe this new invention will depose Apple’s vice-grip on novel technology. However, there is more to consider than just the purchasing desires of virtual reality geeks around the world. While this kind of technology may be very useful, it also brings up the question Are we isolating ourselves too much? How much virtual reality and digitalization of life is too much? Are we destroying the real-life connections that hold our societies together?

I'd like you to watch this video, and tell me if you are willing to live in a society as the video shows.

Is religion losing power against technology?

Since the beginning of time the man has try to answer one of the biggest questions of all “Who created us?” Religion was the answer in which humanity had relied on for centuries, and for some people it still is. But, with the advances on technology and science, Religion seems to be losing power.

We perceive the world through our senses which allow us to create our own understanding of reality. With technology and the new devices we can increase the power of our senses; a microscope for example, helps us to see small particles that are not observable for the ordinary eye (this is sand under the microscope), or the assistive listening devices which improve our hearing. Along with the new perspectives of the world, a bunch of new theories about the creation of the universe have appeared and religion is every time less and less popular among people and even its foundations are at risk with the advance of technology. It appears that technology and science are the new religion, a religion that can be proved, but also that is subject to change.

I’m not part of any of the well-known religions and I’m not a big fan of science either, so this dispute for power does not affect me directly, but I want to ask you  who do you think is going to win? And in which way our society would change if technology displaces religion?

If you like you can watch this very interesting video about the same topic! 

Technology: a double-edged weapon

 Technology has become a very useful tool for education lately. It facilitates the practice of students, and it allows teachers to evaluate student’s skills inside the classroom as well as outside of it. Indeed, there are many important aspects that technology can promote in education; such as autonomous learning, problem-solving skills, balanced class development, etc. Nevertheless, technology in education can bring up a series of disadvantages for students and for education itself. For instance, technology emphasizes the social inequalities as not all the students have access to computers outside the educational institutions that is to say, schools or universities. This example leads us to another disadvantage which is the importance of previous knowledge on how to use technology; a student that doesn’t master the use of computers should learn to do it because the fact of noticing that gap could make him/her feel frustrated with the task, which might become useless. In my opinion, teachers should be careful with the use and over-use of technology, and they need to make sure that all or at least most of the students in the class have access to a computer. When this factor is taken into account, all the advantages can come about, thus successful learning may touch off.

Oh The Smartphone's irony!

 It is certainly true that one of the most important things these days is to be well connected with your family and friends around the world, but do you also communicate with the people around you in your daily routine?

The Smartphone is undoubtedly a modern and amazing tool for communication and business . It is the new icon of today’s technology. It allows you to instantly send a message to your friends, even if they are from another country, and to upload photos to the web in few minutes, among other features that, according to Smartphone’s users, simplify your life. But are you really communicating? If you have a friend who’s a Smartphone user, or maybe you’re one yourself, you probably know what I’m referring to. For example, think about any person using a Smartphone: sitting around his friends at college, holding his Smartphone too close to his face, but vaguely talking; one could say that he’s not present at all. Or remember the last time you hung out with your friends at a pub, you may remember one of your friends that didn’t say anything at all sitting there staring his phone, but he WAS talking with other people that weren’t there or were about to arrive (and never did). (a complementary video explaining the same idea)

I think we need to redefine the meaning of communication. It makes no sense not to talk in person with other people, but through those phones. Maybe we are losing our ability to socialize, and it’s because of that amazing tool, who knows?

How do I look??

Thanks to mass media and science progress, every day we are becoming more acquaintance with how plastic surgery has become an alternative to make people feel happier with their bodies.

We are living in a time in which is common to hear that a celebrity have had a nose job, a liposuction done, or the breasts enlarged in the case of women. They go through these surgeries in order to fit into the celebrity world: runways, movies, magazines, etc. Whatever the reason might be, they have become fashion icons, and plastic surgery with cosmetic purposes has become trendy.

Now, imagine a situation in real life: a girl doesn’t realized that her lips are too thin until she has her nose fixed, then she realizes about some other “defect”, and here is where the vicious cycle starts. As you might notice, there is a narrow boundary between what can be normal and what can detonate the dependence to these procedures.

But, what is about plastic surgery that some people happen to be addicted to it?  Well, let us think! It gives people the opportunity to change almost any part of their body that is not pleasant for them; it is faster than doing exercise, letting alone the fact that there are some features that can’t be changed with any exercise or sport; and it completely can change a person’s life. Yet, can plastic surgery cannot change people’s feelings, manners, or personalities. Until what extent looking great has turned to be more important than being a great person from the inside out?

You should watch this video on how a celebrity has changed her face with plastic surgery

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhmFayIPLa4

 

Without it we are nothing.

   “A surface capable of reflecting sufficient undiffused light to form an image of an object placed in front of it”.This is a traditional definition of what we all may know about mirrors, but have you ever thought beyond  the real importance this object represent in our lives? The mirror is one of those inventions that has ingrained in most of societies around the globe.

 This invaluable object, at the beginning, was replaced by water, in which our ancestors reflected their faces and bodies in order to see themselves;because the idea of trying to appreciate our own appearance begun thousands of years ago. This is surprisingly early, but true. Unfortunately, we don’t pay attention to how useful a mirror can be,nevertheless there are some reasons why do we need it and use it.

Nowadays, every person tries to reflect through her or his body a stylish and sophisticated appearance when looking a mirror, and then showing it to the world. In this case, vanity is the main reason why we like it and need it all the time.Besides, to be in front of a mirror, observing the way we are is a superficial aspect no one can reject about, but it is an issue we are all involved in. Maybe, prejudges make us feel we need to be a beautiful or handsome person to fit in society. Other people, even the closest friends or relatives we have can describe us very well, although there is only a piece of work that does this job extraordinarily: The Mirror!

Definitely, without looking ourselves it would be impossible to recognize us. What else than a mirror could describe perfect and exactly what we are, physically, to the rest of the world? Nothing else but an incredible mirror we look at more than once per day. All of us want to be acknowledged but, how can we do it if a mirror would not tell us who we really are?