Leif Erikson Day & Facebook Withdrawal & Ebola

Today commemorates another pointless holiday where some dude thinks he discovered America while other people were still living here. Isn’t Columbus Day enough?! Of course, the only reason I know about this ridiculous day is social media. I was like…

Mr. Erikson was a Norseman who stumbled upon this land around 500 years before Columbus, but historians claim he is not the first one to drunkenly steer their ship to this land o’ the free. Whatever. I just lost some brain capacity reading about him. Thanks, Twitter and Wikipedia.

Speaking of social media, I’ve been off of Facebook for like a month now. Maybe longer. I’ve lost count now after the initial withdrawal that included, sweating, heart palpitations and chronic phantom Facebook checks where I would frantically look for that unforgettable “F” icon on my phone to see who was posting about their latest food conquest. Luckily, Instagram has somewhat filled the void that was slowly eating away at my necessity to know useless facts about (for all intensive purposes) strangers. That initial few days though had me questioning my (inadequate) self-control.

I’m now content with not knowing what people are doing every second of every day. Read: I’ve found other modes of internet stalking that seem less intrusive but probably more creepy…

You know what’s been creeping me out, though? Ebola. That’s right, the zombie apocalypse-type disease that has the news all in a flurry as there is nothing else of importance going on in the world except for this one guy in Texas who got himself Ebola so now we’re all gonna die. It’s pandemonium everywhere you turn… on the TV. People are going crazy thinking about the implications of what this all means, according to reporters. There is a 10000% chance it’s going to spread everywhere, said no doctors. There’s some disease that shows itself every year that embarrassingly excites the media. I think if we’re going to talk about Ebola, we should talk about how to cure the people who are being plagued by the disease, not whine about it “REACHING THE USA!” Lest we forget, though we’re America-the-best-f*cking-country-in -the-world-yours-sucks, we’re not the ONLY country. How about we, I don’t know, HELP OTHERS?! Just a thought…

Happy Thursday,

"Another One Bites The Dust"

What I say when I delete people from my news feed on Facebook.

Why You So Lazy?

I have been battling with this ongoing idea in American culture about the apathetic nature of this generation and how that general consensus enrages me. On previous occasions I have stated how much it irritates me when anyone groups this generation together in this sweeping, offensive way that makes us seem like a bunch of mindless, drooling corporate drones, looking for handouts from our parents and connecting with each other on the most superficial levels, using the the internet against us like it’s a fatal flaw to know how to use Photoshop and enjoy interacting with each other on social media platforms. I know so many people my age who have passionate conversations about the state of this country and its seemingly unstoppable downward spiral unless there is some significant change not only within the government but in society. There are people I know and admire for participating in Occupy Wall St. because they genuinely felt this movement would change lives. My warring opinions about OWS aside, this passion is an argument against the apathy that the mainstream media and various professionals have been perpetuating about millennials. It’s true we haven’t rallied together in some uniformed, flagrant ef you to the government/state, but it is not true that none of us are thinking about it.

I had a conversation with a friend at a bar the other night after I proposed we work together on some sort of writing project to which he responded he would be down if it meant it would actually happen. He said he was tired of people always talking about things and not doing them. Although, I do want to be able to wholly defend this generation from harsh terms like, “selfish,” “insolent,” and “lazy” but when it comes to starting a solid, massive movement our generation has in fact failed.  

Where is that fire from the 50s and 60s? Where is that rage against inequality and unnecessary wars? Where is the refusal to be allayed by compromise? That “thing,” that fervent, radical desire to make this world better. I thought OWS was it, but it has failed me in so many ways, but that is an entirely different blog post. Anyway, that “thing” is buried deep within a lof of us, but it is absolutely gushing from others. Our generation as a whole is not completely useless is my argument, but that does not mean there is no room for improvement.

I for one am a prime example of someone who can be doing  and contributing so much more to society. My resolution this year was to get more involved, but somehow it dissipated once that champagne hit my lips at the start of the new year. America as a whole has so much potential and there are so many amazing ideas out there, but the thought of reforming our infrastructure, which I am convinced is the only way we will see any significant change seems so out of reach, not to mention an extremely tedious task.

I honestly think this rant was brought on by the fact that I just started watching The Newsroom and the horrible thought that what if all those articles are right and this generation is doomed to become batteries like in The Matrix.

What do you think?

An app sweeps Instagram

So, as I was casually perusing instagram I noticed a trend. These little cleverly made avatars were popping up everywhere. Naturally, I looked up this wondrous app that everyone seemed to download within seconds of its appearance. It’s called iMadeFace and for the life of me I still cannot figure out what it’s used for exactly. It’s just so amazing that it seemed to materialize out of the app store and met with this curious vigor. It makes me want to look up their social media strategy and figure out their researching tools. Anyway, being as dazzled as I am by its infectiousness, I must download it. Hopping on the bandwagon isn’t so bad when the app is free and it looks kind of fun… right? 

*Photos to (inevitably) follow*

petitetiaras:

In which China communicates only using Twitter. 

So. Good.