http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/

Here is a link to a fabulous interent timeline

What am I thankful for that has to do with the internet

Yea....It is thanksgiving in two days. I can't wait. Since my blogging theme has been the internet I would like to write about four things that I am thankful for.
1. I am thankful for the accessabilities of computers and internet. When I was a child nobody had a computer in their classroom. Now there are computers everywhere. You can go to the library, or if you are a college student like myself there is one inside of each classroom and there are even computer labs.
2.Computers have become a household appliance. It is just as common to own a refridgerator as it is to own a computer.
3. You can sit in one spot and do research. You do not have to look in a card cadaloge to see if there is a certain book that you need. You can do all of your research via internet.
4. It is easy to email someone, verses if you were to send a letter by snail mail it would take them a couple days to get it.
Well that concludes what I am thankful for
Happy Tanksgiving Y'all

Hypochondriacts Using the Internet

My sister is a hypochondriact. She has been one since she was about 8 years old. I don't think the internet even existed back then, but now that there is internet she can look up and pretend to have any disease that she can reasearch. This is a serious psychological issue that many people have. Since illness becomes a part of a hypochondriacts identity they need to allways find something that is wrong with them. They read up on the information and pretty soon they are bought into the idea that they have this horrible ailment. One thing that people need to be careful of when searching the internet for information is that not all sites on the internet are valid. If you truely think something is wrong instead of sitting down infront of your computer, you should go to the doctor. Remember just because you can read does not mean you are as educated as a doctor. http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/internet-makes-hypochondria-worse
Alot of people may use the internet just to look up simple issues that they think are going on, but then they get scared when they read information that may be misleading or false for their particular case. This could cause a lot of anxiety in someone. "About 6 million Americans go online everyday for medical advice every day!"
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/2002/06/24/cyberchondria.htm
The message that I want to get across to people is to be carefull when using the internet to look up symptoms or to even try to refrain from using the internet in replace of a doctor.

Facebook a horrible addiction

So how much can internet really affect us? I am one of the millions that is addicted to face book. It is as if I can't get enough of it. As a college student and a mother of three, I try to ground myself from it so that I can study for exams or spend time with the kids. But I find myself signing into facebook sometimes more than 20 times a day just to see what people are saying. This is rediculous. I think that there is no way that this is healthy and there are of course better things that I can be doing. Maybe if I am able to completly get off of face book then I would get an A on some of my tests or I could spend another 5 or ten minutes shooting the breeze with the ones that really care about me ( my family). It is like facebook is a drug and I have to have it, but yet I know better.
Some people are able to use facebooks without becomeing obssessed with it. But for me, it is like a way of escaping from the real world and that is where the problem lies.
So why did I even start using facebook? Because I thought it would be a great way to keep in touch with family after moving away. I think yea I do get to communicate with them easier. I just post what I want to be known and then everyone replies. That is easier than calling up everyone individually. But facebook has made family impersonal. Nobody calls anymore and everyone knows everything. Sometimes it is just a big soap opera. Maybe it would be better to escape facebook and go back to life.
Today, I had one hour inbetween classes. The kids were all at school. Me and my husband were home and he was fixing lunch. Instead of being in the kitchen helping, I was on the computer. It is ridiculous. I found this article that stated the 5 signs of a face book addiction. http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/23/ep.facebook.addict/index.html
1. You lose sleep over Facebook
I don't loose sleep over it but it is one of the first things I do in the morning. I have even burnt my families breakfast because I was on facebook. This is pittiful.
2. You spend more than an hour a day on Facebook
I haven't actually calculated the hours, but it is way too many!
3. You become obsessed with old loves
This one I am not a victim of, but I can imagine that facebook has killed many marriges.
4. You ignore work in favor of Facebook
It is easier for me to be on facebook then to do the dishes or to look up some information for my research assignment.
5. The thought of getting off Facebook leaves you in a cold sweat
It seems like everytime I try to restrict myself from facebook, I am on it more than I was before.
It is nice to know that I am not alone in this addiction.....here are more articles.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tara-stiles/help-im-addicted-to-faceb_b_166726.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/256114/my_name_is_lori_i_am_addicted_to_facebook.html
http://www.experienceproject.com/groups/Am-Addicted-To-Facebook/45835
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23576325-the-women-addicted-to-facebook-friendships.do
http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091021033933AAxBc4y
http://www.techzoomin.com/how-to-know-you-are-addicted-to-facebook/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztO-EoU-uGM

freedom of speech/ internet/ our daily lives

So, do we really have freedom of speech? Can we share information that we are thinking or feeling without ever being critisized or shamed. We are all human and have human emotions,but I think sometimes it seems as if society wants to place a layer or two of invisible duct tape over our mouths, so that we can not share how we really feel as people. .....I know, compared to my last blog intrance this is really a mixed bag of nuts.
We see censurship all the time when it comes to items that are allowed to be in the main stage of the news. Sometimes I turn on the news to notice that nothing incredibley awesome is being displayed for us to watch. No, instead its usually something violent. Why is that...because it catches our interest. People thrive on the negative and that is how these news giants make their living.
Even in our own life we see censorship. We are not allowed to say anything thay might offend someone. We need to to be tactful in how we verbally communicate our opinion. As a consumer I want to be able to tern on the news and here a variety of things that are going on around the world.
http://hubpages.com/hub/CENSORSHIPUSA

So what is going on....on the internet of course

It seems like the news only wants to show what it wants to show. I was up late the other night watching the The daily show on hulu. They were talking about how the gays were protesting by the white house. None of the news stations showed this huge I mean HUGE protest. Was it because the protest was about gay rights. Now I am thinking...people are going to say how does this pertain to health. Well it pertains to their mental health. I think that we all deserve someone to love us and we all deserve to be treated fairly. That is all that the gay public wants. And who is to say that family is only between men and women and children. Family can mean many different things. http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&rlz=1W1GGLL_en&q=gay+protests+washington+dc&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=benfSpDmL4H8tAPxsPXrCA&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CBkQqwQwAw#
According to this online video president Obama promised to cancelle the don't ask dont tell policy.
There are many individuals who believe if gay people get maried then "true" marriage will not be presereved.
http://www.protectmarriage.com/tell
I personally do not think that the news media should ignore gay protests or even the anti gay protests. I think what we all want though is freedom and equal rights.

What is going on on the internet

The internet is a meshpot full of some usefull information and some somewhat not usefull information. It is important for us consumers to know what is creditable and what is not creditable information. Sometimes it is so simple just to fall into the category of wanting to believe what we read is true. One of the best things we can do is to become critics. We should even be critics of things like newspapers. We need to watch out for biased articles. Although, it seems as if most information is opinion based in one way or another. As readers we need to look at who is writting the information and we need to wonder...where did they get their information. Are they making this up or are they creditable.