American Dream Journal

American Dream

 

The speech by Mauricio Garcia called the American Dream really helped open my eyes about my own life. I really enjoyed his speech. In my opinion, by him sharing his life story with made me very thankful I was born in the United States. I couldn’t imagine having to send any one of my children out of the country to live. To live in fear every day that my child would be shot could be very stressful. I’m sure it was very hard for his parents to make that ultimate decision and sacrifice.

 

In listening to Mo, life was difficult for him because he wanted to be stubborn. He chose the hard road because he really wanted to go back home. That would be normal coming from any child. He struggled every day in life because he didn’t know how to speak English. He had no warm home to go to, and no family to look after him.

 

Being hardheaded could only last for so long. He didn’t want to live on the streets or in a homeless shelter. I think it was five years later he finally woke up and decided he wanted something out of life. He put together a plan to go back to school and make something out of his life. He hit a brick wall when it came to organic chemistry, but didn’t give up. He tried the class again and failed it again. At that point and time, he changed his plan and his dream and looked forward to bettering his future. Today he is living his American dream.

No matter how bad things get in your life, someone around you may have been through a worse situation. Mo put his head on straight, made a plan and went after his dreams. He is living his dream day after day and loving every minute of it.

 

 

Digital Nation and Obesity

  Today’s world is better known as the digital nation. With all of today’s gadgets life has certainly become easier and harder all at the same time. In today’s society our children don’t play outside. They are becoming more and more addicted to the digital world. With these luxuries childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in America.

             According to American Obesity Association,” more than thirty percent of children ages 6-11 are overweight and over fifteen percent are obese.” (Obesity in Children & Video Games, Feb 8, 2011 | By Alexandra Momyer, http://www.livestrong.com/article/376383-obesity-in-children-video-games/) Children today seem to spend a lot of time playing video games and watching TV. By doing these “lazy” activities, children are not getting the physical activity that they need. In turn this causes children to eat unhealthy snacks and have poor eating habits. With minimal exercise, and lowered metabolisms, a person is more likely to gain weight.” Overweight children generally live more sedentary lifestyles and are socially less active. They have more idle time and since video games can be so addictive they find themselves playing games for entertainment. The implications of this are that playing video games could cause obesity rather than obesity being a cause of playing video games" (http://www.helpcurechildobesity.com/video-games-and- obesity.html) Children who are obese have an increased risk for developing serious health conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, sleep apnea and asthma.

            Not only does obesity cause physical ailments, but obese children are frequently ostracized by their peers. They tend to feel like social outcasts and often have low self-esteem and feelings of low self-worth.” This can be detrimental to their education and social skills.” (Livestrong) Children spending more time on games and less time with friends and family can affect their social behavior. Some obese children can suffer from lack of social skills, and anxiety. By lacking in social skills children react by misbehaving in school. Their grades drop because studying is not important anymore. They can also be disruptive or destructive. "Teasing that comes directly from teachers in some cases, certainly from peers and even sometimes from their families.” This gets internalized so overweight children feel inferior. They feel like there's something defective with them and therefore they tend not to aspire.  (Impact of Childhood Obesity Goes Beyond Health by Patti Neighmond July 28, 2010, 12:01 AM) Others can react by withdrawing and being anti-social. It causes them to have a low self-esteem and can cause depression.

                       

 The link between video games and obesity is that they both are a sedentary activity which does not require a lot of physical activity. In the old days kids spent a large part of their day outside playing with friends. Now they spend most of their free time playing video games and not burning any calories. It’s absorbing so once they start to play a video game it is hard to put it down and do something else. They just get so absorbed into the game that the time flies and before they know it they have spent several hours playing the game. This makes it difficult to focus on other activities. Games take a long time to complete. Games now days are in fact designed to last longer; be more challenging, so this means that the children are sitting for longer periods of time, and not exercising. (http://EzineArticles.com/4394793 )

Children in today’s society are growing up with one or both parents working. Parents are working long hours to try and make ends meet and can’t supervise their children while playing outdoors. To pass the time until the parents arrive home from work their options are computers or video games. Both of these are played alone. By being alone it can cause a child to become withdrawn from any interaction with people. They can develop anthropophobia which is a fear of human company.  Nintendo came out with a new game system called the Wii. This is an interactive and physical game to help children be competitive with other children and to help them become more active while playing games. This system has games like baseball, bowling, tennis and dance videos. Children can play with the computer, friends or their families.

Today’s children have become very addicted to the digital nation. Obesity among our children is becoming more and more a problem in today’s society. Obesity can cause several different health issues. It can cause children to be bullied or made fun of at school or by their peers. This in turn can cause them to become depressed or have a lack of social behavior. Children become involved in the game and they lose track of time. Games are very challenging and seem to take longer today to complete those challenges. Children that are obese can lose weight and play video games if they would just become a little more active each day.

Film on the Digital Nation

            The film digital nation was very interesting. It is amazing how many people are addicted to the digital world. People today don’t know how to interact face to face because everything is done digitally.

            I grew up in the very beginning of the digital world when Atari came out. My mother and I used to play Mrs. Pacman till all hours of the night. I played a lot, but my mother was more addicted. Even though I played video games, I was still a normal child and played outside. Of course we didn’t have cell phones and computers, so I am not sure how I would be had those been around.

            I do evolve myself in the digital world today. I have a Face book, and I am addicted to one certain game on it. I play in the morning, at lunch and when I get home from work. In watching the movie I see myself also multitasking. I’m on Face book playing my game, talking on my cell phone, playing another game on my I PAD, and the TV is going in the background. I am supposed to be doing homework, but instead I’m on Face book to see what my friends are doing. I do love Face book because it allowed me to get back in touch with a lot of friends from school and old jobs.

            On the other hand I have twin boys that are 14 and are growing up in a completely different world that what I did. I have one son that lives for video games. They both got IPod's for Christmas and now that consumes their lives.

I’m not sure what this world is going to become. Everything is happening per say behind closed doors. I feel nothing will be face to face. Being involved in the digital world I see where it has changed the nation and its people.

Negative Effects of Reality Television

Reality TV shows have become more and more popular over the years. What are these shows about? They are common people who agree to film their lives on a day to day basis without the use of dialogues or scripts. Some Reality TV shows have put a negative effect on today’s society.

Television was introduced for the purpose of education and teaching. Over the years the writers and producers are finding more ways to attract an audience by producing these reality TV shows. These shows are a “choreographed illusion that celebrates distasteful and dysfunctional behavior, feeds our voyeuristic urges, and siphons intelligence, while enthusiasts celebrate it as a method of entertainment.” (http://mediabloodhound.com/effects-of-reality-tv-on-society.html  March 21, 2012) Viewers who watch these shows to long can start seeing different concepts of the world they live in. By watching them they might feel better about their own life. Gerbner’s cultivation theory seeks to explain the connection between the programming viewers watch and their perceived reality (O’ Guinn, Shrum, 1997). “The more people watch television, and hence are exposed to these distortions of reality, the more they will come to view the real world as similar to the world portrayed on television and thus perceive a greater real-world incidence of the over-represented entities.” (O’Guinn, Thomas C. & Shrum, L. J. (1997). The role of television in the construction of consumer reality. Journal of Consumer Research, 23, 278-294.)

There are many different types of reality TV shows that are being aired today. Some types are: Competitions, Dating, documentaries, hidden cameras, hoaxes, renovation, self improvement or make over’s, social experiments, supernatural or paranormal, and talk shows. Many of these shows give the wrong impressions to their viewers. For example Teen Mom is a show about young girls having babies. It basically is saying to the viewers that it is ok to get pregnant at a young age without being married. The show does have some good parts about it.  It shows that once the partner is told that he is going to be a dad, he leaves or doesn’t help. This is a part of life that is happening more and more. Another show that comes to mind is the Bachelor. Here is a single guy that has twenty women to choose from. He goes out on dates and all inclusive trips. In the real world this does not happen. What happened to the old days when you met someone through school, work, church or social activities and you dated and then fell in love? By watching these types of shows some people can be easily manipulated and this behavior can be applied at home, school, work or society in general.

Some reality TV shows do have a positive effect on society. Shows like The Biggest Loser, Americas Got Talent and Extreme Makeover Home Addition. All of these shows are inspirational and have positive outlooks. The Biggest Loser not only inspires the contestants but can also inspire the viewer if they are overweight. It proves to the viewers that losing weight is tough but it can be done with a lot of hard work and effort. Americas Got Talent lets people show that they are not afraid of showing their talent to the world. Some of the winners have gone on to make records and pursue their dreams. Extreme Makeover Home Addition is one of my favorites. The show builds new homes for people that are nominated from others in their community. Normally they are chosen because their homes are in very poor living conditions and can’t be salvaged. The family goes on a week’s vacation and comes back to a beautiful new house. All three of these shows have a positive effect.

Reality TV shows are distasteful and dysfunctional behavior that serves as a method of entertainment. They view the real world as similar to the world portrayed on television. Some people can be easily manipulated and can apply this behavior in today’s society. All reality shows are not bad. There are few that can have a positive outlook and are inspirational to the viewers.