I wanted to start off this post by talking a little bit about how technology has kept me sane during this quarantine for the COVID-19 virus. To be honest I haven’t been on social media that often. Tik tok and Instagram is probably something I used more before the quarantine. I have been playing a whole lot of xbox with friends, especially friend whom I’ve quarantined do to vacation trips and stuff like that. This whole being stranded in my house has honestly put be off to technology and in the last couple days I’ve spent more time to myself listening to music than playing xbox or talking on my phone. I’ve also been watching a lot of YouTube. What I have done a lot more recently is gone outside! It’s healthy for the mind to get outside and get some fresh air and walk around. This exercise in my mind even though small is very beneficial in keeping a healthy immune system and a healthy mind. I do go on walks or go frolfing with friends but we stay a little far away from each other and I also make sure they haven’t done anything recently that could cause them to have any opportunity of a run in with the COVID-19 virus. Right now i think social media is important for people to stay in touch with one another with everything going on. I believe the social media is providing the social aspects of everyday life with out leaving your house. Which in some cases for people whole are very extroverted this could be beneficial right now for the mind.

Growing up I had a lot of technology in the house. I didn’t get my first iphone until middle school but I have a keyboard phone in elementary around fourth grade. In the house we had gaming counsels like the PS1, PS2, and the Xbox not to mention my brothers and I would play World of Warcraft on the computer. When I was younger I was outside a lot but overtime the friends I had in my neighborhood either moved to a different one or we fell out of touch. On occasions I would try to reconnct but they were usually hanging around with kids in the neighborhood who didn’t really like me because I was kind of weird. I wonder if the technology in my life has impacted the social aspect of my life, in real life person to person interactions. Which is something that I got a lot better with over time. I still remember when everyone started using snapchat and instagram and the start of twitter. Those were like apps to be on in high school and they were nice because I could be in contact with people everyone. I believe social media like this could help people be more social and make more friends. Social media give people control of what everyone gets to learn about you and growing up that could be really nice. It give someone a place in the world where as back in the day kids may not have had this opportunity. But something that’s important to know about social media is that not everyone is a nice person. A lot of people can be very negative just like a couple weeks ago when we talked about Call of Duty Game lobbies.

When it comes to social media and social platforms i’d like to highlight the negatives because to me in some cases the negatives out weigh the positives. I saw a whatever happened to video of a kid who was considered the most hated YouTuber. Me thinking to myself what did he do to be so hated within this community. I just want to say before I go on that yes social media gives people a place to become their own individual and share their opinions and be who they want to be. That’s awesome but this same opportunity can be taken to demoralize someone because they don’t agree, it can give someone a place to be a bully with out repercussions. So this YouTubers name was pruane2 and pruane2forever, and he was one of the first e-celebrities on the YouTube site. He was noticed by celebrities like 50 cent and he was on some talk shows. But his fame is rooted in negativity. Just to give you an idea of how viscous the YouTube community is, Pruane2 posted his first video when he was 12 years old in 2007 and he did a lot of reviews, rants, and vlogs. They would be criticisms of public figures, video games, films, and popular celebrities. From the start of his channel (keep in mind, 12 year old boy) he was getting bullied by comments talking about his appearance, saying he’s ugly and people making fun of his teeth and his voice. That age,12, 13 this is a time where teens struggle with self-esteem and their personal appearance. If i was ridiculed to this boys extent on how fat I was my self-esteem would be non existent. Words can cut like a hot knife through butter and this is something I feel like people don’t think about before they comment it. He earned the nickname jawsus because of the way his teeth and mouth looked. One of his most popular videos was called “Screw You Porn Addicts” and this was about people spamming porn ads in the comment section of YouTube videos. He said some things that the community didn’t agree with and because of this the video went viral and blew up in negativity. At the time as well on YouTube there was a separate side bar under the video that shows all of the response videos to his video. This was weaponized against Pruane2 with videos just making fun of using words like “virgin”, “faggot”, and overall making fun of his appearance and opinion on porn. Keep in mind he’s still 12 years old at this time. This video got on national television boosting his appearance. Following this the wave was too much for him and he ended up disabling his YouTube account. Just think about that for a second, an innocent 12 year old kid, bullied off of YouTube by society…After this though the executive producer of the show made a video for the negative people talking about how people don’t understand his and that he’s a genius (finally some positives). In 2008 Pruane came back as Pruane2forever. He talks a little about why he deleted his channel and it was because of all the hate mail and death threats…of a 12 year old boy. This channel got a lot a views but in the video he said that he became the YouTube everyone loved to hate so they would toon in because they had to see what he’s up to. Anyways on not going to give the whole summary of the video ill put a link at the end so you could see how it all ends.

The reason why I wanted to talk about his YouTuber is because it’s a perfect example of an extreme negative to putting yourself out onto social media or social media platforms. For some it’s an amazing experience and for other it’s a nightmare. This Show someone who was initially defeated by this hate but turns this around and pushes through that hate because it’s something he loves to do. This video also I think shows just how ruthless people can be and the boundaries that no one seems to have. This was a 12 year old boy at the peak of his hate and continues to receive hate until his videos came to an end in the year 2016 i believe. If you do the math that’s a nine year run of hateful comments.

the link the the Pruane2/Pruane2forever video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gYfSaHpLFs

Now i’d like to answer the questions from the presentation in class

1.) I do believe that teens for self sensor especially on more open social media platforms like youtube. Before moving forward with what they want to do they should learn the dangers of putting themselves and their opinions out there before decide if they want to censor themselves or not. After all the online is an open place therefore people should do what they want to do but they should know what they could possibly get themselves into. I’m sure Pruane didn’t know he was going to get a storm of hate when making his account.

2.) I feel like social media platforms can help people find a sense of belonging in the place where they don’t have it in the real world. For example online forums for hobbies people love they might not otherwise find in the real world. Or for people who tend to be more anti-social, in game like World of Warcraft you can become a part of a guild that could give you a sense of belonging. To give you a sense of how powerful this connection through a game can be often times the more hardcore guild members could end up meeting in real life and become great friends, some guilds do raffles and give out t-shirts. Believe it or not my aunt left her husband for a guy she met over World of Warcraft…talk about powerful.

3.) As a very social person who gets lonely fairly easily I can say that social media and xbox has helped me a lot during this quarantine but I can’t stress enough that staying inside on your phone or xbox all day for people like me at least is semi damaging to the mind. Sometimes I feel the need to leave my house and going for walks is a perfectly safe way to go outside. Just don’t get close to people and don’t touch your face. I feel like both sides (people who have prominent social media accounts and people who have more prominent in person social lives) are both dealing with the quarantine in healthy ways. It’s just the way the two groups go about it is different.

A article on Apple working with the CDC to make an app that screens for COVID-19: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/27/tech/apple-coronavirus-website/index.html

I wanted to start off this post by talking a little bit about how technology has kept me sane during this quarantine for the COVID-19 virus. To be honest I haven’t been on social media that often. Tik tok and Instagram is probably something I used more before the quarantine. I have been playing a whole lot of xbox with friends, especially friend whom I’ve quarantined do to vacation trips and stuff like that. This whole being stranded in my house has honestly put be off to technology and in the last couple days I’ve spent more time to myself listening to music than playing xbox or talking on my phone. I’ve also been watching a lot of YouTube. What I have done a lot more recently is gone outside! It’s healthy for the mind to get outside and get some fresh air and walk around. This exercise in my mind even though small is very beneficial in keeping a healthy immune system and a healthy mind. I do go on walks or go frolfing with friends but we stay a little far away from each other and I also make sure they haven’t done anything recently that could cause them to have any opportunity of a run in with the COVID-19 virus. Right now i think social media is important for people to stay in touch with one another with everything going on. I believe the social media is providing the social aspects of everyday life with out leaving your house. Which in some cases for people whole are very extroverted this could be beneficial right now for the mind.

Growing up I had a lot of technology in the house. I didn’t get my first iphone until middle school but I have a keyboard phone in elementary around fourth grade. In the house we had gaming counsels like the PS1, PS2, and the Xbox not to mention my brothers and I woukd play World of Warcraft on the computer. When I was younger I was outside a lot but overtime the friends I had in my neighborhood either moved to a different one or we fell out of touch. On occasions I would try to reconnct but they were usually hanging around with kids in the neighborhood who didn’t really like me because I was kind of weird. I wonder if the technology in my life has impacted the social aspect of my life, in real life person to person interactions. Which is something that I got a lot better with over time. I still remember when everyone started using snapchat and instagram and the start of twitter. Those were like apps to be on in high school and they were nice because I could be in contact with people everyone. I believe social media like this could help people be more social and make more friends. Social media give people control of what everyone gets to learn about you and growing up that could be really nice. It give someone a place in the world where as back in the day kids may not have had this opportunity. But something that’s important to know about social media is that not everyone is a nice person. A lot of people can be very negative just like a couple weeks ago when we talked about Call of Duty Game lobbies.

When it comes to social media and social platforms i’d like to highlight the negatives because to me in some cases the negatives out weigh the positives. I saw a whatever happened to video of a kid who was considered the most hated YouTuber. Me thinking to myself what did he do to be so hated within this community. I just want to say before I go on that yes social media gives people a place to become their own individual and share their opinions and be who they want to be. That’s awesome but this same opportunity can be taken to demoralize someone because they don’t agree, it can give someone a place to be a bully with out repercussions. So this YouTubers name was pruane2 and pruane2forever, and he was one of the first e-celebrities on the YouTube site. He was noticed by celebrities like 50 cent and he was on some talk shows. But his fame is rooted in negativity. Just to give you an idea of how viscous the YouTube community is, Pruane2 posted his first video when he was 12 years old in 2007 and he did a lot of reviews, rants, and vlogs. They would be criticisms of public figures, video games, films, and popular celebrities. From the start of his channel (keep in mind, 12 year old boy) he was getting bullied by comments talking about his appearance, saying he’s ugly and people making fun of his teeth and his voice. That age,12, 13 this is a time where teens struggle with self-esteem and their personal appearance. If i was ridiculed to this boys extent on how fat I was my self-esteem would be non existent. Words can cut like a hot knife through butter and this is something I feel like people don’t think about before they comment it. He earned the nickname jawsus because of the way his teeth and mouth looked. One of his most popular videos was called “Screw You Porn Addicts” and this was about people spamming porn ads in the comment section of YouTube videos. He said some things that the community didn’t agree with and because of this the video went viral and blew up in negativity. At the time as well on YouTube there was a separate side bar under the video that shows all of the response videos to his video. This was weaponized against Pruane2 with videos just making fun of using words like “virgin”, “faggot”, and overall making fun of his appearance and opinion on porn. Keep in mind he’s still 12 years old at this time. This video got on national television boosting his appearance. Following this the wave was too much for him and he ended up disabling his YouTube account. Just think about that for a second, an innocent 12 year old kid, bullied off of YouTube by society…After this though the executive producer of the show made a video for the negative people talking about how people don’t understand his and that he’s a genius (finally some positives). In 2008 Pruane came back as Pruane2forever. He talks a little about why he deleted his channel and it was because of all the hate mail and death threats…of a 12 year old boy. This channel got a lot a views but in the video he said that he became the YouTube everyone loved to hate so they would toon in because they had to see what he’s up to. Anyways on not going to give the whole summary of the video ill put a link at the end so you could see how it all ends.

The reason why I wanted to talk about his YouTuber is because it’s a perfect example of an extreme negative to putting yourself out onto social media or social media platforms. For some it’s an amazing experience and for other it’s a nightmare. This Show someone who was initially defeated by this hate but turns this around and pushes through that hate because it’s something he loves to do. This video also I think shows just how ruthless people can be and the boundaries that no one seems to have. This was a 12 year old boy at the peak of his hate and continues to receive hate until his videos came to an end in the year 2016 i believe. If you do the math that’s a nine year run of hateful comments.

the link the the Pruane2/Pruane2forever video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gYfSaHpLFs

Now i’d like to answer the questions from the presentation in class

1.) I do believe that teens for self sensor especially on more open social media platforms like youtube. Before moving forward with what they want to do they should learn the dangers of putting themselves and their opinions out there before decide if they want to censor themselves or not. After all the online is an open place therefore people should do what they want to do but they should know what they could possibly get themselves into. I’m sure Pruane didn’t know he was going to get a storm of hate when making his account.

2.) I feel like social media platforms can help people find a sense of belonging in the place where they don’t have it in the real world. For example online forums for hobbies people love they might not otherwise find in the real world. Or for people who tend to be more anti-social, in game like World of Warcraft you can become a part of a guild that could give you a sense of belonging. To give you a sense of how powerful this connection through a game can be often times the more hardcore guild members could end up meeting in real life and become great friends, some guilds do raffles and give out t-shirts. Believe it or not my aunt left her husband for a guy she met over World of Warcraft…talk about powerful.

3.) As a very social person who gets lonely fairly easily I can say that social media and xbox has helped me a lot during this quarantine but I can’t stress enough that staying inside on your phone or xbox all day for people like me at least is semi damaging to the mind. Sometimes I feel the need to leave my house and going for walks is a perfectly safe way to go outside. Just don’t get close to people and don’t touch your face. I feel like both sides (people who have prominent social media accounts and people who have more prominent in person social lives) are both dealing with the quarantine in healthy ways. It’s just the way the two groups go about it is different.

A article on Apple working with the CDC to make an app that screens for COVID-19: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/27/tech/apple-coronavirus-website/index.html

When it comes TV or anything with a fan base really. Some people may have to deal with fans who have a strong attachment to the character the actor plays and not the actor themselves. This may cause a discrepancy for the fan because if they ever meet their favorite character, their view of that person might be crushed when they find out they may be nothing like the actor within the show. Some of these people may develop a very deep connection to an actor and because of this they might act out in some way. Like when John Lennon was shot by a fan. This isn’t just the only instance, there are other cases in which fans fall in love with this person whether they are a singer or an actor it is all the same. People fall in love with the idea of that person and act very irrationally.

Fans can be vastly important to a company, and this could go for shows, movies, games, and singers, and they can have pretty good incite on what consumers might want from the company. Consumers know what they want and this is why it might be important for a company to take their advice on future content that might increase sales. It is important to note that fan advice might be important but at the end of the day the content being created is under someone else’s view of how it should be. What’s being created should be what the owner intended it to be and not what the fans want it to be. It is important to take the criticisms of the fan base and run with it but it is also important to know that not everyone is going to be satisfied with the content the creator puts out, and that’s ok. What isn’t ok is to let the fan base run the show of the content you’re creating because then it wouldn’t be the piece of art you intended it to be.

There was a time in America where the news people were receiving was reliable and didn’t really have a lot of political bias like the modern day FOX news or MSNBC. There was a time where news Anchors had a lot of power because over many years of working within that industry they had built up trust with the people who watch it. Now people need to be educated on media because there is a heavy bias in certain media outlets. Words are twisted and the same story can be used as positive on one side but on the other negative. It is this reason why I have stopped watching cable news myself because a majority of the news is a lot people yelling at each other over different opinions. I also believe that this divide in news coverage has created a divide within our country. Republicans and democrats fight with each other day in and day out about what’s “right” and watching this from the outside has caused me to not really want to be a part of either side. Not to mention that what the news covers causes people to live in fear of how violent they think our society has become. When in fact our crime rates in America has been the lowest they’ve ever been. The news in the modern day society isn’t here to bring us the truth and they aren’t here exposing companies and letting the people in on important problems that need the nations attention. The news is now out for money and views and that means to broadcast anything that’s going to maximize their views. With our current president in place, Trump has called out the media for being “fake news” and this has caused a lot of news outlets to clean up their act. Why this is so relevant is because the News is supposed to be for the people and not for themselves, on top of that this could cause a lot of general distrust for the news anchors we used to know and trust. A lot of times they have no power over it either because if they want to report on something very relevant that isn’t all that interesting and their views drop a significant amount. Well then it looks like that news anchor is out of a job. Isn’t that something? The people in America need to be more educated on the news and fact check the news because everything people hear today are topics they fight about with friends and family members because they are always reinforced by a news outlet that only lines up with someones views. A great example of news outlets and anchors reporting on what matters and what doesn’t is a show called The News Room. These episodes show people what it’s like to have to deal with reporting on the truth or reporting on a topic that will get you more views. It will also show the consequences of what happens when your views tank and the stress of it all. In my opinion I don’t think everything within America should be treated like a business to fill your pockets with money. There are certain things like the news that should be taken very seriously and shouldn’t be used to manipulate an audience.

So, why do people blindly follow authority with out questioning orders even when they know it’s wrong? Why is it that when someone needs help people stand around and kind of watch rather than help that poor soul? Well I hope to answer both of these questions with the use of some stone cold facts! Lets start with authority. One thing that installed in all of us as children is to respect your elders, or when you go to school your parents always tell you to listen and do what your teachers tell you to. You’re told to comply with officers and if not aggressive force may be used. There was an experiment that was called the Stanford Prison experiment and basically what happened was that people were randomly assigned to one of two groups. You were either a prison guard or a prisoner. To save you the details what they found was that these people ended up assuming the roles they were assigned, including the man who was in charge of it all Phillip Zimbardo. These prisoners were humiliated by the guards and they all did as they were told after the rebellion on day two. Even though this was an experiment these prisoners would comply until they had mental breakdowns and Zimbardo ended the experiment. Another experiment was when someone in a lab coat would tell people to give someone in a different room a shock if they had answer a question wrong. The volts would increase with every question answered wrong. The catch was the person receiving the shock was not a real person and no one was given shocks. With encouragement from the man in the lab coat 60 to 65% of all volunteers ended up reaching the highest voltage level they could administer, which would be lethal if anyone had been there.

The bystander effect is when people see some who needs help and doesn’t help them, because they are waiting for someone else to do so. For example someone being bullied and no one sticking up for him, or someone getting stabbed in the street and no one calls the police. In an experiment where one person had to help someone having a seizure they called the police. But, they did the same experiment with three people and no one did anything because they were all waiting for someone else to step up to the plate. This was all under question after a lady was stabbed in the streets of NYC and murdered in front of a building. Over 30 people watched this transpire but no one called the police when it was happening. When someone actually did call the police it was sadly too late and she had died. Or when 4 frat brothers saw one of their friends die. They thought he was ok and they had just put him to bed right when someone was about to call the police. They thought he was ok even though he had died from drinking too much water. People become bystanders because they’re waiting for someone else to do something about it. People also blindly follow authority because it was installed in us as children to follow authority. In my opinion i believe that people need to start asking questions when someone asks them to do something they don’t agree with. People need to start sticking up for each other rather than walk by if someone is being bullied. They could potentially save a life.

America is very different when it comes to topics like sex compared to other places in the world like Europe. In America sex has been more hush hush especially throughout the 20th century. In 2019 when it comes to sex, nudity, or even just talking about sex, it’s a little more relaxed than it used to be. When it comes to movies they could be rated are for things like drugs, swearing and violence. A movie could be rated NC-17 if it contains a lot adult content like sex and a lot of violence. A movie can still be rated PG-13 if there is violence but no blood. These ratings are important because it limits your movie to a specific audience. For example if you goal is to create a movie that is PG-13 that means that this movie can be seen by mostly everyone. The catch is that if you’re if you’re 13 or under then you would need a parent or guardian to come with you. If your movie is rated R that means you have to be over the age of 18 to go see that movie by yourself, but if you’re under the age of 18 you may still see the movie but you parent or guardian has to come with you. NC-17 means that only adults can go see this film and no one else. In other places around the world when it comes to sex and violence, unlike America, it’s the opposite. That means that movies are more likely to get a rated R or NC-17 if there’s a lot of violence in the movie instead of sex. One of the main reasons why movies are rated the way that they are in America is because people don’t want to receive letters or phone calls, getting harassed over the content of the movie. It’s also almost like an attempt at brain washing because people who you and I don’t even know are determining whats safe for people to watch and what isn’t because they think we’ll indulge in bad behavior because we saw it in a movie. When a war movie is being made the film makers have to consult with the pentagon to make sure that the American military isn’t being portrayed negatively. To make sure the movie isn’t showing off a war crime. In my opinion i think that is pretty crazy. I think people should be able to watch what they want to watch,it’s almost like saying violent video games cause people to be violent which has no proof to support it. At the end of the day people are individuals who should be able to develop their own morals, decide for themselves if that’s something they want to watch.

Sitcoms in the 70s were huge, along with live tv. There were a lot of shows staring some pretty funny female leads. Some of these shows were the Mary Taylor Moore Show, I Love Lucy, Maude. Who stars in these shows may you ask? well let me tell you. Mary Taylor Moore, Betty White, Valerie Harper, Lucile Ball, Marcia Rodd. Some other huge female leads were Joan Rivers and Phyllus Taylor. All these women were very popular, most of them receiving their own Sitcoms, they all played a large role in the history of tv for women. All of these women were comedians with some of them being controversial for their time. Joan Rivers was the first woman to be on tv pregnant, which people couldn’t believe. Rivers also would say things everyone was thinking but no one had the guts to say. Closer to the end of the 70s and into the 80s, tv was still huge at the time even for people in England. One of the big questions was who shot JR? This had so many people wondering who shot him and this brought everyone together. MASH as well was another huge show for the time that ended around the 80s. A hundred twenty three million people tuned into the final episode. These two shows meant the last call for the pre-cable world. Then in the 80s Sitcoms died.

Even though Sitcoms died, that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t some Sitcoms that were some big hits. Like the Cosby’s show in 1984, or Cheers. Cheers was big for the time as well because this show was good at establishing a community. You knew everyone after the first episode. Now, these shows were popular, but not as popular as a show called Hill Street Blues. This show was a changing point in the history of tv. This show had a mood to it and it showed that cops too have personal lives. This show became so popular that it won eight emmy awards and influenced everything that came after it. Like a show called Saint Elsewhere which built its own rules. This show mirrored society and was not afraid to bring up harsh topics like, someone who’s diagnosed with aids, or one of their doctors getting raped in prison. These two shows really paved the way for the show ER. ER and Saint Elsewhere are similar in the fact the they both take place in a hospital. The main difference is that Saint Elsewhere focused more on the personal lives of the characters in the show. In ER the hospital was a protagonist in the with the characters leaving for seasons at a time. ER was a very popular show running for years with many people loving it. This show paved the way for more shows to come after it aired.

Tv for people at this time was huge. To them it was like a movie theater in their house and at the time motion pictures was losing money because of it. This introduced things like the tv dinner trey and people usually stayed in on Saturdays to watch shows. It’s kind of crazy to think how much tv has changed over the years.

Television is the 70s. TV was living large with popular shows like Happy Days, All in the Family, and M*A*S*H. Saturday nights were the best nights because they had the best line up of shows. It was a great night to sit inside with a TV dinner trey, a cold one, and the family for some quality bonding. Huddling around the TV for good entertainment and some good memories. During this time, TV had such a large influence on the American people that the government decided they were going to step in and tell these companies what they can and can’t say. At the time this was a very big deal because our government decided to infringe upon the first amendment right of these companies. Obviously the American people aren’t going to stand for that one, and that could be why we have the shows and movies that we have today.

The man, the myth, the legend, formally known as…Rod Seriling. What a guy he was. Died at the age of 50 from a heart attack, but in my opinion his shows live on. I have for sure kicked back to a couple episodes of the Twilight Zone. Serling was a very talented screenwriter and very critical of his own writing. When it came to TV shows, well lets just say not many could compete. At the time this was all live TV, so everything had to be acted out in one go, perfectly. Serling liked the fame he was getting and wanted to get himself on the big screen as well, and so he did. When Serling became more popular he wanted to send a message with the material he was putting out in which people reacted to negatively. So, Serling being the bro we all know and love, he had to work is way around that. The Twilight Zone was actually the first fantasy style show to air because fantasy at the time wasn’t really accepted on TV. Within each episode there was a different story, with a different message that he was trying to portray to his audience. He’d also get away with calling out things like the government as long as the words were leaving the mouth of the antagonist within the episode, like an alien or a Nazi. What led to Serlings downfall wasn’t because his shows were bad or his screenwriting was bad, he was still very talented. It was when he was a star in advertisements for beer and for socks. Why? you ask, well let me handle that question for you. People saw this and at the time, thought that Serling was selling out because he did it for the paycheck. Nowadays companies need ads to make some money, but it was different times when Rod Serling was alive. This led Serling to work for a company that really didn’t give him any artistic freedom. So, these episodes could be bad with Rod Serling’s name on it and there was nothing really he could do about it. That’s pretty sad given how talented the man was, it’s not like his talent went anywhere either. He just slowly fell off. He may be gone but he wont be forgotten, i’ll have to watch a few more episodes of the Twilight Zone.

Brandon Parker

This is a goofy little youtube video that talks alittle about what the twilight zone is!