You've Got Mail

So I’m sure you’ve all heard of the networking websites known as Facebook, Myspace, or Twitter. In the last 5 years or so they have swept the nation, connecting millions all over the world. Starting out with teen and young adults, these websites have made their way to the fingertips of all adults, yes, even my mother has a Facebook. You would probably have to live under a rock to not know what these websites are but just for an overview, they are a place to update a personal profile with pictures and a “status” letting you’re friends know what you are currently doing. They have become a source of networking for businesses and colleagues. Teens have a tendency to be on their profile for hours, talking to friends, looking at pictures, and meeting new people. I can’t help but notice that society’s relationships with one another are becoming less and less real and tangible but more electronic with text messages, e-mail, and websites like Twitter and Facebook.

For instance, two days ago there was an earthquake and I happened to be on Facebook when it occurred. After earth stopped shaking, in a matter of 5 minutes I watched my “Online Friends” numbers go from around 75 people to 136. And within 2 minutes after that a ridiculous amount of people put up a status saying something about the earthquake, as if we didn’t feel the earth rumbling beneath us? The website even froze because there was so many people on at once trying to “Facebook Chat” with one another to discuss the events that just occurred. So what happens when face-to-face contact is eliminated and technology takes over as the main means of human communication? The intimacy is abolished is our day-to-day relationships.

Everyone has one, including myself, but it just amazes me how consumed we are by a website on the computer screen. In fact, I’m currently in the library and my friend next to me just said, “wow, I should be studying but I’m on Facebook instead, don’t you hate when that happens?” I have definitely been a victim of getting on Facebook and next thing I know its an hour later and I have gotten absolutely nothing done but view different friends’ profiles and pictures.

Music To My Ears

Music plays an enormous role in our society. Always has and most likely will continue to. Humans even tend to identify themselves with the interests and lifestyles of the type of music they commonly listen to. For instance, hip-hop has blown up in the past 25 years and has practically formed a culture of its own. Rock has had a dominant influence for numerous decades now and continues to act as a leading inspiration for America’s young and old. Any genre of music, no matter how popular on MTV, plays a significant role in someone’s life.

 Musicians have the talented ability to relate to their fans. Music brings a sense of comfort and motivation. Whether you’re mourning, celebrating, confused, frustrated, in need of encouragement, love, and acceptance, music is always there. That one song is always there. As I previously mentioned, music tends to morph into this sense of culture, which is constantly changing. For instance “pop culture” blew up in the 1990’s, with screaming teenage girls drooling over the Backstreet Boys and N’SYNC, and idolizing Britney Spears. But now, boy bands are a thing of the past and commonly mocked at. Artists such as Kanye West and P.Diddy are the new business moguls, influencing not just what we listen to but what clothing we wear, sports drink we drink, perfume or cologne we spray ourselves with, what television shows we watch, cars we buy, and so on. These “musicians” have used their fame to expand their networks into virtually everything possible. Organizations such as Rock the Vote, which is a very powerful and beneficial example of how artists are using their celebrity to engage and incite young people to register and vote in every election year.

Each celebrity exercises their notoriety in different ways, but the impact of music will always be alive throughout our culture and it will never sit idle, it will continue to transform, modify, and revolutionize. And while I may not favor what MTV has turned into, I can say that the culture that it promotes is without a doubt an influence on my life.

Flavor Fanatic

Our society’s obsession with beverages is alarming. Soft drinks, juices, energy drinks, even flavored water cover the shelves of the grocery store’s beverage aisle. Juice not only comes in every fruit flavor imaginable but now in combinations, like strawberry banana pineapple or orange mango passion. And, for consumer’s convenience, these juices come in the tradition big container or in an individual “juice boxes,” perfect for lunches and sports games. The aisle reserved solely for soda looks like a rainbow. From one end to the next you will find a liquid in every color, from red to purple to brown to yellow. Soda companies have also extended their flavor choices from the just the original Dr Pepper or Coke to an enhanced taste with vanilla or cherry. You will even find flavored water like Propel or Vitamin Water or Crystal Light packets, because I guess the bland taste of water just isn’t doing it for consumers anymore.

What do you think people would do if they went to a fast food place expecting to get a large Coke with their meal but instead found that the establishment only served water as a beverage? I think people would freak out, even leave and go to a place that did serve soda. Personally, I don’t drink a lot of soda at all. Juice, yes, but I’m not a fan of soda, so when I see people with one of those Big Gulps from 7-Eleven I’m dumbfounded by the fact that someone can actually drink that much soda in one day. Or I know someone that drinks Coke like its breathing, if he doesn’t have about 6 Cokes a day, he goes nuts, as if it were nicotine or something. I don’t think people realize just how bad soda is for our bodies, especially in the amounts that some are consuming. Energy drinks tend to use advertisements with the notion in mind that “sex sells.” A sexy commercial can send the message that hey, if I drink that product I will look like her and attract good-looking men. I see models, sports stars, or entertainers as spokespeople for certain energy drinks, which influences the audience because people look up to them.

Of course soda and energy drinks and multiple flavors of juice aren’t the most pressing issue surrounding our culture, but it does raise the issue of unhealthy choices at a maximum rate by America’s consumers today. 

There's a Drug For That

It seems every time that I turn on the television I am bound to see a commercial advertising some sort prescription or over-the-counter medicine. It doesn't matter what time of the day, what channel, or what show is currently broadcasting, one will typically watch a commercial promoting a drug wether it be for depression, poor bladders, the flu (regular or children's), the common cold (regular or children's), back pain, arthritis, high cholesterol, heart problems, birth control, allergies, foot fungus, dandruff, hair loss, and the list goes on and on. Basically, if you have some sort of discomfort or problem, your local drugstore is guaranteed to have the solution. Television commercials, along with magazines are an effective way to advertise these medications to the public, which the drug companies hope and assume will prompt viewers to ask his or her doctor about that particular product and/or go out and buy it.

In the past 50 years or so there has been much controversy regarding the advertisement of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. They have been deemed as being misleading and lacking adequate information, which has lead to the regulation of advertising prescription drugs by the Federal Drug Association (FDA). So all of these circulating ads pose one outstanding question, are they benefitting or harming the public? By promoting their pills and creams and syrupy liquids, are the drug companies keeping the public's safety and health the number one priority? Or is it making money and having top sales? 

While the advertisements may get excessive and monotonous, with ambiguous facts, their overall results are successful and effective. When struggling with say a bladder problem, and one has run out of options until they see a commercial on the television for a new kind of medication to relieve their problem, leading them to talk to their doctor in further detail and possibly finding that anticipated solution. With the field of pharmaceuticals so booming as it is right now, with new and approved drugs proving to cure numerous infections, colds, and discomforts, their advertisements should aim to reach each and every member of society possible.

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The Bagel Shop

So I'm pretty much obsessed with bagels. To say the least. On the weekends when I wake up all I really want is a nice warm bagel toasted to a light golden brown lightly lathered with cream cheese. Honestly I don't really have a favorite type of bagel or cream cheese but have you ever observed the selection. Every time I go to Noah's or a corner cafe I study the baskets of different bagels behind the warm glass and try to make a decision. This takes me a couple of minutes. There's the plain bagel, which I am a fan of but it is kind of plain, there's onion, asiago cheese, chocolate chip, blueberry, cinnamon sugar, sun-dried tomato, sesame, egg, poppy seed, garlic, whole grain, and of the everything bagel. Now how am I supposed to make a decision with so many inviting choices. Usually I'll go with the everything, or the poppy seed, or the onion bagel, now and then I will be boring and get the plain bagel but I usually spice it up with a zesty cream cheese. Which brings me to my next dilemma, which cream should I top my bagel with?? Obviously there's plain, then there's blueberry, garden veggie, garlic herb (a personal favorite), honey almond, jalapeno salsa, maple raisin walnut, onion & chive, strawberry, sun dried tomato basil, and smoked salmon. Now I like to think of myself as an adventurous person but I can't say that I branched out to try each on of these shmears. Plain, sun-dried tomato basil, garlic herb, and onion & chive are the ones I stick to.

So what sparked this bagel craze? Bagels have been around for decades and with the years and as we as a society became more cultured, acquiring new and different tastes, the simple and plain bagel revolutionized with innovative flavors along with the shmears. Not to mention the other breakfast bagels, which is much like a sandwich or breakfast on a bagel. The breakfast bagel contains egg, sausage, and any other breakfast entity that you desire. There's pizza bagels, bagel dogs, and sandwich bagels which is practically a sandwich but on a bagel rather than your usual bread. 

With this wide selection and tasty options it is a wonder of mine that there are people out there who dislike bagels. 

Fast Food Nation With A Diet Addiction

Have you ever been watching TV and then actually payed attention when the commercials come on? Other than the car advertisements every other one is for an affordable diet plan or the new value menu at Wendy's or the improved Bowflex or this season's sundae at Sonic. Conflicting messages?...I'd say so.

I find it almost comical that the media along with the fashion industry disperse the message that beauty is being frail thin and the current in look is a skeleton. Yet the fast food and restaurant industries are constantly advertising their products and inviting you in with low cost deals and of course the apparent notion that people are obsessed with fried, fatty foods. Fast food industries thrive off of society's lower class and people who cannot afford to shop at Trader Joe's therefore resort to the McDonald's drive thru for a double-double and a 16 oz. cup full of thick sugary liquid. Fast food is convenient, it tastes amazing, and it is everywhere. Driving around I can spot a Jack in the Box and then drive three blocks only to come across another one, of course in between those three blocks was a Taco Bell, Burger King, and Carl's Jr. 

So how is that the people on TV, the glamorous celebrities, and the gorgeous models of our time are covering the magazine covers with stories of eating disorders and pictures of protruding spines, collar bones, and hips?? How does a young girl who begs her mother for a McDonald's happy meal, look up to and idolize a celebrity who is in rehab for starving herself? We are constantly surrounded with pizza-any and every topping, french fries, mozzarella sticks, bacon burgers, chalupas, buffalo wings, chicken strips, etc etc etc...and then told to look like a certain way, look like Jessica Alba look like Matthew McConaughey because that's what is attractive, but what they don't tell you is that they're not in that drive thru for that double-double. Which results in people turning to all these diets- Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, SlimFast, and Weight Watchers. There's an outbreak of obesity throughout America and then there's teens suffering from eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. How can we continue in a world where the size double zero is the new four, fasting is a trend, but fast food establishments overwhelm our streets, televisions, and minds?