The Un-TV Experiment

Staring at a blank TV screen is not fun. It's not exciting or enjoyable whatsoever. Sitting there staring at nothing was sadly one of the most difficult tasks I've had to do recently. It was hard to keep my eyes on the screen, since nothing was happening. It was also extremely difficult not to grab my computer or phone for relief. Just thirty minutes of silence. Sure, I got some peaceful thinking in. But that took all of five minutes. I was just counting down the minutes until I could stop looking at the TV and go to sleep. But staring at the TV made me realize that when we watch TV, we're essentially doing the exact same thing. There's just sound and movement in front of us. It's almost scary how much attention we give our televisions. They're our source for everything. They shape our culture by what we end up watching. We want to be like people on TV. It makes me wonder what we would be like without having grown up watching all these shows. We would have to come up with ways to act and dress all on our own. We would, in reality, be our own people, our true selves. Sure, there are always going to be influences. But there would be so much less pressure. Also, I just feel better when I don't turn on the TV for a day or two. It gives me time to do other things, like sleep, that are way more important. I truly believe our society would be greatly improved if we put so much less emphasis on the television. But seeing as there's another season of Jersey Shore, it won't happen anytime soon.

What makes us human?

This week when we talked about what qualities make humans unique, I found it somewhat difficult to think of examples. As humans, we really do have a lot in common with animals, probably more than most of us realize. What I find most interesting is the family aspect that most animals seem to have in one way or another. Some stick with their parents, who care for them, until they're old enough to be on their own, just like humans. In this way, we see the need for nurture exhibited, which is something that the isolated children we learned about didn't have. It was because they weren't cared for that they weren't able to function in society. We need people to guide us in our lives. They teach us things like morals, which is something I think is unique to humans. We have a sense of right and wrong, while for many animals it's about survival of the fittest. And although we have very complicated ways of thinking, we don't really know how many animals think. I think it's entirely possible that many animals are very smart. We just don't really know because we live in a totally different world.

Tuesdays With Morrie

Watching this movie in connection with what we've been learning about culture and values really brings everything closer to reality for me. The character Mitch exhibits all of the typical American values: he is consumed with his work, doesn't have time for the people he loves, and is afraid of expressing emotion. I can see that in a lot of people I know, and it makes me sad because there are more important things in life than work. It makes me question the true values of our society, especially at school. Every day we are work, work, work. Most people don't believe in taking time to just relax and hang out with their families, and enjoy life. When Mitch starts visiting Morrie, he begins to see that his priorities were out of whack, and makes a change in his life. It's almost too late for him, which really makes the viewer wonder if it's too late to change their own lives, and question whether what they've built their life on really matters. It makes you realize how precious life really is. Morrie is such a positive and inspiring person, but he doesn't know how much more time he has left. I believe that we should all live our lives just as Morrie does, appreciating everything good we have in our lives, and spending time with the people who matter most to us. I think that everyone should have to learn this lesson, in order to live full and happy lives.

Walk This Way

The norm I decided to break was walking on the right side of the hall. This was a very risky decision, as we all know walking through the halls of Stevenson is dangerous enough already, without going against the flow of traffic. One day when I was walking to lunch, I filled up my water bottle on the left side of the hall (already getting bumped into) and then just walked on my way to my table, still on the left side. Sooooo many people bumped into me. It varied from little nudges, from the people who tried to go around me, and actual pushes from backpacks, from people who saw me but didn't care enough to maneuver out of my path. It was very uncomfortable, physically and mentally, because in America we don't walk or drive on the left side. My Americanized mind felt that it was wrong to be doing this; I wouldn't have been surprised if a security guard had stopped me and told me to walk on the other side. It just made me wonder why us Americans ever deviated from the left side, which is what pretty much everyone else in the world uses. But we are so set in our ways that switching it up is completely out of the question. We do what we do because we like it that way and we're used to it, which is fine; every society has their norms. I'm just glad I made it to lunch in one piece.