The first video that we watch "How does the brain work?" was about how our brain works in different situations. The part in the video that talked about how our brain controls what we pay attention to was really interesting to me. Our brain first detects motion then it suppresses the background so we can focus on that specific thing. While watching this it made me think about kids with ADD or ADHD. Is this the same information that doctors and scientists use to study these disorders? The video made a point that when a magician is doing his trick and you are able to see his face a person is distracted from the trick and is paying most of there attention to the magicians face. This works to the magicians advantage so the secret to there trick is concealed. But when you are only shown the hands of the magician you can see more clearly how the trick is done. Going back to my thought on how this would relate to people with ADD/ADHD, what is going on though the brains of the people that can't focus and see the secrets of the trick? That i think would be interesting to find out.
I found this picture to by very interesting to answer my question about the differences in brain activity!
Another thought that got my mind rolling was from the "Re visualizing composition Mapping the Writing Lives of First- Year College Students". I wasn't to surprised by the information given, but it was interesting to see the statistics and charts that diagramed the study's different findings. What really got me thinking was when Jennifer Williams said "Clearly, in the long run, the use of academic language is what matters, but I am a little fearful that the youth of today will not be able to competently do this in the future". I stated my thought on this statement by responding with "Although Jennifer you say that you are fearful for the youth today and them not being able to use correct grammar. I wouldn't be afraid, I'm more excited to see how we are going to evolve from this. Think about the different decades and how differently we communicate and write now compared to the people in the renaissance era. "She then went on to say that back in the day we used the same words just in different context and now kids are replacing the original words with the new slang words. Yes, I understand what she is saying but why can't we change? Why can't we veer away from the norm? I personally think that with this generations rapid technology change we are bound to see changes in our dialect. I don't think by using slang words it is making us 'dumber', I think that it is just the beginning of what change is going to happen in our future.
I had never really heard the term social capital until I read the article "The Benefits of Facebook 'Friends':Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network Sites". Social capital has many different definitions but from what I gathered it is the friendships formed by social networking sites. Researchers hypothesize that SNSs can increase the weak ties one could form and maintain. Which I completely agree with. Its so easy to write a little comment on a persons wall which can stimulate conversation and creating a relationship that otherwise would not have been formed. Likewise, SNSs are brilliant when it comes to situations where you might have to change geographic location and you can no long stay in contact, physically, with friends as much as you would like. What I wonder sometimes is what it would be like if all these SNSs didn't exist?
Like I said earlier, I think that it is fascinating to learn about the different effects facebook has on an individual and our whole world. I did a power point on the business aspects of facebook and it is not just the United States that is consumed by this technology but the whole world. In 2011 Russia alone will increase its facebook users by 322% in the next 12 months. These social networking sites are literally changing our world and I am very interested to learned more about them.
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