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.

October 7, 2009

1. On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being no problem and 10 being absolute catastrophe), how do you rate the fact that only a handful of corporations dominate production of the bulk of all the newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, books, and movies? Why? I rate it a ten because we have the absolute right to know what is going on around us. How do we ever know what the truth is if it is not available for us. I think it is our rights as Americans to know what is going on around us.



2a) What is the most important issue presented in the first three articles you've read for this class? I think the most important issue is just trying to figure out a plan to where everyone has health insurance of some kind that works. I think if other countries can do it than so can we. I think that it will cost a whole lot at first. But if everyone gets preventative health then there will not be as much of a buildup of medical cotastraphies.



2b) What IS the population health-oriented perspective on this issue (the perspective that will create the most good for the most people) - the "right" side?* I am not sure what the right side is. I think that it is possible that we are going to have to try to different options if one fails, but I do not think that we should give up on medical for American citizeans at all.




2c) What are the chances that health reform legislation will get it "right" on this issue? Why?
I think that if they truely work hard at it then they can get it right. I think there are always a precentage of people that want to see things fail and that would be one reasone that it wont be able to work. We would all need to be patient and work coopertively.

A little insight

QUESTION #1.) What makes an opinion different from a "fact"? Are all opinions equally valid? If so, why? If not, why not? What impact do opinions and "facts" have on individual consumer health and on the health of a whole population of consumers?
An opinion is not generally backed up by empirical evidence. It is more or less ones intuitive thought. I think that all opinions that are clearly thought out are valid. Opinions are the beginnings of hypothesis. It is where one begins to explore their point of view. Opinions should never be hushed and neither should facts. If someone does not truly dig into their own mind and truly try to think things through then that person is not trying to understand their surroundings; instead, they are allowing everyone else to decide what is true information and what is not.
Facts can always be proven and answered. Some facts generate from opinions, but with proper assessment a fact has credentials that can be looked up. However, sometimes there are no right or wrong and both sides can prove their side. It is important for individuals to keep an open mind and to explore all aspects of the information that they are trying to reveal.


QUESTION #2.) In our Public Health Code of Ethics, an underlying value is that "Humans have a right to the resources necessary for health" (Public Health Leadership Society, 2002, p. 2). How does this underlying value add to our basic three ethics to help explain why the majority of public health professionals do not encourage using the free market perspective as a base for health care systems?

In our code of ethics everyone is supposed to get the proper health. There have been many people in the US that had terminal illnesses, and their insurance agency dropped them. If you go to a hospital and you have no insurance you may be turned down or you may not get as much help as you really need. We are not all treated equally. If you have great health insurance that is fabulous, but if you don’t you can expect that you will be treated differently. I personally think that everyone that is a citizen should have health great medical care. Nobody should be in fear of dying because they do not have the means to pay their medical bill.
The majority of health professionals do not encourage using the free market perspective because they think that it is going to cost them and the country more. I think that we should be focused on preventative health. If we focused on preventative health then a lot of the health epidemics would go down in size. There would be less people suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure.
QUESTION #3.) When looking at the "new media" out there - the grassroots groups on the web, Twitters that seem to get a lot of attention, talk radio, 24-hour news channels, etc - do you see more of the market perspective or more that appears to be based on a Public Health ethics perspective? What does the general public need to know? What are the barriers to them knowing it?

I listen to a fair share of talk radio. I hear mostly a perspective that is coming from individuals. I hear a lot about how Obama wants medical for everyone. I hear a lot of people that are weary of that idea. It seems like especially the senior citizens are apprehensive because they think that their medical will not be as good. I defiantly do not think that I hear all sides of the story when I listen. I think it is important to seek out both sides and see what is relevant and what is not.