TO THE FUTUREEE

Ah the good old days, when all you
needed was a phone to make calls and
texts... What a joke.

Now, I don’t know about any of you, but sometimes I sit and think about what the future will bring. Will I be obese? Will I be a spinster? Will I ever earn more than 15 dollars an hour? And the big question, the main query, the only one that really makes me wonder and sweat and drool thinking about it… Will there ever be a phone greater and more functional than the iPhone?


I have spoken before about how much my iPhone makes up a part of my life, and I’m sure that many people can relate. There isn’t much the iPhone can’t do, or any smart phone for that matter. 

The view from Google Maps.

You can now communicate verbally with your phone to complete tasks like send texts to people without using your fingers, or make up dates or finalise appointments in your calendar. And it’s not just smart phones; TVs can now think for themselves, you can record multiple television programs, you can Skype across the world by using the Internet, you can use social networking sites to track down your old High School boyfriend to see if he became attractive since you ended, medicine can cure almost any disease, dead people’s limbs are being sewn to live bodies so that people can walk again, you can inject chemicals into your skin to decrease the signs of aging, you can film and record anything, you can use Google Maps to track your journey and see your own house from a satellite, and so much more! 

The best game ever,
before you
knew better.

There are so many amazing things that are accessible and possible in this modern world.
Which poses the question, is there much more technology that can be invented? Can it get much more advanced than it already has? In my life time alone (I’ll be 20 on Bastille Day this year) there has been a major revolution of technology, one that can be compared to the Industrial Revolution, which completely changed and revamped the world. In this relatively short revolution, computers became common place, email and networking websites were created, the population of mobile phones grew and DVDs replaced VCR.  These few major creations gave birth to more necessary areas of development, and which have since continuously been growing. In the past two years, technology seems to have reached a peak. Is there much further to go? I feel as if there isn’t.
Technology wise, I wouldn’t mind if it just stopped. All I want is for my iPhone’s battery to last longer, and have a less likelihood of breaking, regardless of how many times it slips from my grasp.

Sometimes your First Life just isn't enough..

Second Life is an online game that is considered to be a virtual universe. People make themselves an avatar, often extremely attractive and extremely unrealistic to their own real life appearance, and interact with other people, own estates and make money, both real life dollars and ‘Linden’ dollars (Second Life money). The demographic of users of Second Life are typically adults, over 30 years of age, and the majority are American.
For some people, Second Life is exactly its own namesake. People conduct love affairs, make a profit by selling objects and properties, as well as get married and give birth to children.

I tried to play Second Life, and I didn’t enjoy it. I tried to interact with others, sending out messages such as “hey guys, who’s down for an intimate virtual hug?” No one responded to me. I was isolated, because I was obviously a NOOB. That is, similar to a newbie, but also because I wasn’t that interested to learn how to behave appropriately in Second Life.

Yes, you will be replaced.

I researched a lot about Second Life, and how some people take their addiction to the extreme and refuse to leave their computers and have ‘bathroom buckets’ so that they don’t miss out of anything.
There have been divorce cases because one partner has conducted a virtual affair, and the other partner considers it to be a serious betrayal, which in itself I find almost hilarious. Are people these days so hyper sensitive that if their real life partner chats seductively to a made up computer graphic creature via the internet, they consider it to be a treachery to their marriage vowels, or moral values?

This Second Life video is a graphic birthing video. I'd personally suggest that you watch this without the sound on, and maybe a bit of music that you prefer. I’d also like to recommend that you scan through the video than watch the whole 7 minutes. The break down is that this is a lead up video to the birth of the baby girl (Alicia), and it shows dancing and a celebration at the announcement of the baby, and all the Second Life friends of the Second Life parents coming together, almost exactly like a real life baby shower.


This video is a bit extreme, which is exactly why I’m using it as an example of how serious people play this game, as if it is their chance at a second existence.
YouTube is littered with videos like these, and wedding videos, sex videos, court case videos as well as documentaries that have been made about couples who had met through Second Life. 


I do find Second Life fascinating, how realistic it can be (just watch an intimate sexual encounter via YouTube, you’ll see what I mean), how much real money is invested into the game (watch Second Life real estate barons on YouTube) and how much time and effort is put into the game by regular and ordinary people who live an extraordinary virtual existence.

Not my iPhone, I beg of you

My first ever phone <3

I’m a girl in my late teens. I don’t have any children. I do however have a puppy and an iPhone. Anyone else that can relate to my position knows that these two variables in a person’s life are hugely important, and feed on each other. I love my puppy, I love my iPhone. I take photos of my puppy on my iPhone. I then obsess over the photos of my puppy on my iPhone.

I got my first phone when I was 11 or 12, and it was a classic Nokia brick. I went through Nokia’s and Samsung’s, until my Dad bought me an iPhone 3G when I was 17, at the start of year 12. It. Was. Bliss.

I can honestly say that I would not have made it through the hell of my final year of high school without my iPhone, and the distraction that it gave me.

It wouldn’t be far from the truth when someone says that their life is their iPhone. It very easily can be. An iPhone has everything; texts, calls, games, Facebook, the internet, calendar, and so much more. An iPhone is more than just a phone. It is a lifestyle.

What the screen of my 3G looked like :(

Since destroying my 3G on three separate occasions (by dropping it on tiles when sitting on the toilet or by angrily throwing it on the floor in a moment of passionate rage), I have upgraded to a 4S. I almost lost it forever in the backseat of a Taxi once, and I felt as if my parents had been kidnapped. My contacts, my photos, my music, my text message history, my notes and plans and diary, my bank details all gone; I cried. Outside Swanston street McDonalds in the city at 10 o’clock on a Saturday night, I hurt (almost) as much as a death in the family.

I don’t think I’m the only one that feels, and would feel this way. I’m sure almost everyone who owns an iPhone feel like their phone is their lifeline.

The mobile phone was essentially invented so that people were accessible in moments of emergency. I know that that’s why my parents gave me one of their spares; in case I needed a lift and it was late, or I was lost and scared.

What began as a black brick of a phone that only had the ability to call someone or play Snake, has morphed into an always available, constantly working and thinking smart phone that has almost every detail of anyone’s life implanted in it.

Is that a scary thought? That by taking someone’s phone, you have access to almost every aspect of their life. I think it is, but that doesn’t mean I can deny the ease and the need for a phone such as the iPhone. It was a brilliant idea, and it still is. iPhones will continue to evolve, and there will be Androids trying to keep up (let’s face it, they’ll never quite be as good). There will be a time when almost everyone in Western society will have an iPhone.

And I can’t wait.

The PoPolitics! I can't do me another nickel!

Politicians have always used social media as forms of propaganda. In the times of Ancient Rome and Greece, they would have their heads put onto coins or statues made of them in order to spread their face and their celebrity. The title of this post is reminiscent of that, as faces of politicians on coins changed a lot, and a nickel is a coin.
Nazi Germany in particular used poster propaganda, advertisements and films in order to enforce their message of anti-Semitism and patriotism. They had books, comics, magazines, films and radio broadcasts that when combined created an all-powerful message. This was extremely affective, and was one of the main reasons why the German people were almost completely brain washed to prevent them from acting out against the atrocities committed by the Hitler government.

This idea of propaganda has been updated and modified by the birth of modern social media. Politicians and potential candidates are using the Internet, mobile phones, television, and social networking sites etc, as convenient outlets to get their message across to their possible voters.

A very successful example of modern campaigning is that of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential crusade. He posted videos on YouTube and on his Facebook profile of speeches that he had made, along with interviews that he had done. This meant that even if someone was not able to go to one of Obama’s rallies, they can witness and support the movement through using the Internet. It was suggested that it was due to Obama being technologically savvy that gave him a massive advantage during the election. I believe that that would be completely true.

I’ve read articles stating that the youth of society show little to none interest in politics and elections. American youth in particular, where it isn’t mandatory that you vote, are a part of this ‘fact’. I think that by using social networking tools, politicians are more able to include young people, and provide them with an easy way to ‘get to know’ the politician. This helped to increase popularity within the voting population, regardless of age and social standing, as the internet is available to almost everyone.

Politicians have reached a new form of celebrity with the help of Twitter, where they are able to connect with their followers by posting Tweets just as other celebrities do, like Rihanna or Ashton Kutcher. Twitter is an effective way of making people instantly more likeable, as it makes them feel more human, and makes the followers feel as if they have a connection to the  celebrity because of what they tweet. Politics is traditionally known as a dry and ‘adult’ interest, but through the usage of social media websites and networks it is making politics more accessible and interesting.