I always get confused about people’s paranoia about the internet: something about the entire world being connected seems to scare people sometimes, especially when it’s concerning something people really don’t want to be spoken aloud.
Frequently on the television, usually the news, they’ll post an analogy about the internet. In one example, the presenter was in the middle of a busy mall, shouting his details through a speaker to illustrate the danger of handing out your information to ‘dodgy’ websites.
Firstly, what is meant by a ‘dodgy’ website? Almost anyone who knows a bit about computers, especially those who specifically scam people using them, would know exactly how to make an impressive looking website. But for every scam, there are so many more websites which work, and if you were still worried then paypal is the sensible option. It’s a well-known and trusted name which would really suffer with any bad feedback.
Obviously, as soon as it says anything about an inheritance in a foreign country, ignore it. Yes, it might be real, but it’s really not worth checking. The same goes for most charities online as well, unless they’re a well known company.
So, generally, you can trust your bank details on the internet, in the right place, and nowadays even if you buy in a store then your details very possibly may be sent via the internet anyway.
The main thread of this blog was meant to be about the social side of the internet, however. There’s a lot of controversy about the safety of posting your deepest feelings to the internet. The main reason is that it’s split into two types of thinkers: the ‘I don’t want to put it where everyone will read it’ and the others.
‘The others’ is a little more complex, with conflicting issues. We, (because I am strictly a believer in this view) realise that by putting it on the internet then the whole world has access to it but we also realise… who would want to? As the proud owner of at least 5 websites, all of which have probably been seen by about 50 people, tops, I realise that no one cares about yet another person jabbering on. And these were actually advertised websites, too, not ones which just faded into the background. If you want someone to read what you say then you have to work amazingly hard.
The few people that do actually view these websites are a very small amount and are more then likely from a distinctly foreign country or from somewhere that you neither know nor care about. If someone you will never knows something, then why is it a bad thing they know?
You might be wondering what the point of this is. If no one’s going to find it, what’s the point of posting it onto the internet? Well, sometimes it’s just good to tell someone something that’s really burning you up inside. In the real world, it’s almost impossible to express all of your feels to someone who is completely outside and impartial, without sounding like a crazy person or paying far too much money for a psychiatrist. The internet is just the tool to express your secrets to real people who just don’t give a damn.
For those who want to try this, I suggest the following (optional) steps:
>>>Use a website that isn’t based on connectivity. Bebo, MySpace and anything else like this is a bad idea if you don’t want people who actually know you to find you. Freewebs and Blogster are good examples.
>>>Use an internet alias. Possibly even make a second one if the first one is used commonly within your friends.
>>>Don’t tell anyone about it you know, even if you really want to show it. You may regret it later if you want to add more.
>>>If you actually want input to your problems, then I’d recommend Help.com. You can even post anonymously, and the best thing is no one’s ever heard of it!
>>>Don’t use people’s real names.
If you have a secret, one of the safest places to say it is the internet. For those of you who still don’t believe me, there is a hitcounter positioned at the bottom of this screen. Instead of counting how many page views there are (I have a habit of going backwards and forwards onto a webpage) it counts the amount of viewers there have been since it was put there. It was placed there before I began this article. It started on 1 (for me). It is still on 1. So, maybe there won’t be anyone to disagree with me.
26 April, 2008
Want Something Kept Secret? Post it on the Internet!
23 April, 2008
This is What Love Looks Like
As a 17-year-old girl, I admit that I am not most experienced in Love. I’ve experienced love for convenience, friendship disguised cunningly as love, and recently I believe I have experienced True Love: the sort of feeling that, although you realise that a relationship doesn’t have to last forever to be special, you still want it to last forever. This is rare, especially for someone as cautious and literal minded as I am who usually views things as lasting for ALAP (As Long As Possible), rather then the dreaded word ‘forever’. I can honestly say I am not an expert, however, as I have only felt this way for a couple of months, and therefore still have the cautious view that this is again friendship in disguised (but with 99% accuracy I can say this isn’t true).
What I’m getting at is that each feeling I have is new, and as a tourist to this new emotion I find things which are interesting. The point this time that I found was about the image of what we fall in love with.
The trail of thought began with a standard moment of insecurity which everyone makes, spoken aloud by my boyfriend. I think it was about weight – after all, it usually is, even with the slimmest of people – and my response was a typical cliché line ‘you look fine the way you are. You shouldn’t lose or gain a pound,’ and I’m not the sort to lie. I did, and genuinely still do, think that he is the perfect weight and build.
Then I realised that clearly it wasn’t going to be a very honest opinion. Everything about him I began to realise was under the rose-tinted spectacles, and I only realised this when, almost desperately, I had to keep a hold of the image I had of him the moment that I fell in love.
Is this just a single incident, or is it really the same for every relationship, and possibly the secret towards failing and succeeding relationships? If every time someone fell in love they fell in love with the exact, complete form that they saw their lover as, then a lot of things would be explained.
Firstly, the failure of young love: In our earliest years, we develop more then throughout the rest of our lives, and if we fall in love with someone while they are growing older, then they are obviously going to change. This image isn’t just physical appearance; it is merely how we perceive the other half, which is largely personality. As someone we are interested in changes, we begin to sub-consciously lose interest, even if they become more beautiful and well-rounded people.
But then why do some young loves last, I hear you ask? Well, the key is to fall in love over and over again. If there is a way to actually do this purposefully, then I would like to know. As far as I know, there is no way, and the ability to do so is purely accidental and unrelated to the strength of the love or the characters falling in love.
Another example of the use of this theory is why the rate of divorce and bad relationships is on the increase. Blame the sanctity of marriage being destroyed, morality being corrupted or the general state of the world, if you wish, but the fact of the matter is that many couples who find themselves making the pledge to stay together forever and genuinely mean it find themselves mistaken, where many more may have stayed together only a few years earlier. But our world is changing constantly at a faster rate then ever before, especially the people. Our views, appearance, and even personality can be manipulated in a moment.
There are exceptions to the rule. There are many couples who break up for reasons other than this. People can sometimes change the image in their mind to one that is either more or less realistic to the actual partner over time. A lack of communication is a main cause of the image blurring and seemingly less attainable.
And the couples who manage to brave it all to last forever? Well, there are either two explanations: Either they continue to fall in love again and again, or the more likely option that their original image was either vague or based on something that never changes, such as an aspect of their personality, a sense of humour or even just that certain smile.
Does this theory always hold, or is this just co-incidence? Either way, I don’t think I’ll be risking an extreme make-over anytime soon…
What I’m getting at is that each feeling I have is new, and as a tourist to this new emotion I find things which are interesting. The point this time that I found was about the image of what we fall in love with.
The trail of thought began with a standard moment of insecurity which everyone makes, spoken aloud by my boyfriend. I think it was about weight – after all, it usually is, even with the slimmest of people – and my response was a typical cliché line ‘you look fine the way you are. You shouldn’t lose or gain a pound,’ and I’m not the sort to lie. I did, and genuinely still do, think that he is the perfect weight and build.
Then I realised that clearly it wasn’t going to be a very honest opinion. Everything about him I began to realise was under the rose-tinted spectacles, and I only realised this when, almost desperately, I had to keep a hold of the image I had of him the moment that I fell in love.
Is this just a single incident, or is it really the same for every relationship, and possibly the secret towards failing and succeeding relationships? If every time someone fell in love they fell in love with the exact, complete form that they saw their lover as, then a lot of things would be explained.
Firstly, the failure of young love: In our earliest years, we develop more then throughout the rest of our lives, and if we fall in love with someone while they are growing older, then they are obviously going to change. This image isn’t just physical appearance; it is merely how we perceive the other half, which is largely personality. As someone we are interested in changes, we begin to sub-consciously lose interest, even if they become more beautiful and well-rounded people.
But then why do some young loves last, I hear you ask? Well, the key is to fall in love over and over again. If there is a way to actually do this purposefully, then I would like to know. As far as I know, there is no way, and the ability to do so is purely accidental and unrelated to the strength of the love or the characters falling in love.
Another example of the use of this theory is why the rate of divorce and bad relationships is on the increase. Blame the sanctity of marriage being destroyed, morality being corrupted or the general state of the world, if you wish, but the fact of the matter is that many couples who find themselves making the pledge to stay together forever and genuinely mean it find themselves mistaken, where many more may have stayed together only a few years earlier. But our world is changing constantly at a faster rate then ever before, especially the people. Our views, appearance, and even personality can be manipulated in a moment.
There are exceptions to the rule. There are many couples who break up for reasons other than this. People can sometimes change the image in their mind to one that is either more or less realistic to the actual partner over time. A lack of communication is a main cause of the image blurring and seemingly less attainable.
And the couples who manage to brave it all to last forever? Well, there are either two explanations: Either they continue to fall in love again and again, or the more likely option that their original image was either vague or based on something that never changes, such as an aspect of their personality, a sense of humour or even just that certain smile.
Does this theory always hold, or is this just co-incidence? Either way, I don’t think I’ll be risking an extreme make-over anytime soon…
The World of the Blog
As a writer, I often have a creative urge to put things into written form. As a scientist, I often see things from new and interesting perspectives which are difficult to bring up into a normal conversation. Naturally, the obvious solution was to combine my writing with my thoughts, but this is easier said then done. Studying English Literature at A-Level has neatly categorised texts into three piles; Prose, Play and Poetry, each with their own specifications and strengths but none of which suiting the needs of a good explanation. This enlightened me on a new, modern type of text: The Blog.
Technically speaking, the blog would be a sub-group of prose, standing tall against the genres of essays and novels. Even more technically speaking, a blog would be considered as a form, or evolution, of an essay: Indeed, a blog has all of the flexibility of an essay, and is certainly almost always non-fiction, but a blog is also adaptable in language and tone. This, for example, is an extremely formal tone, especially for a blog. If I had chosen to, I could have spoken colloquially, saying 'this is a canny posting thing', or, even worse, in my opinion, I could have begun 'itz alreet + brb lol'.
At this point I'd like to point out that I have no problem with the evolution of our written language. Shortening the way we write simple words has always been a part of our culture, from the adaptation of the word 'to-day' to simply 'today' to even more extreme examples. It is human nature to be lazy with things which we are forced to repeat, and our language is no exception.
The same feeling applies to creating new words such as 'brb' and 'lol', both of which I use frequently online, though would never say aloud. These were created for a purpose. In the example of 'lol', it was not only to save time but to allow the person on the other side to understand what the tone of the conversation was. In a world where everything is written quickly and to the point, it is very easy to misinterperate a written conversation. For this, plays and prose have stage directions of descriptions, but there are none of these on MSN, AOL or any other instant messenger, and the sentence 'I hate you' and 'I hate you lol' can be read as the same thing. When speaking or in other forms of writing, the difference is obvious, so a modern form of writing needs its own 'stage directions'.
What I am against, however, is the mutilation of the English language. I don't mean to sound like an out-of-touch middle-aged woman ranting, because that couldn't be further from the truth, but when someone starts talking to you with 'y's instead of 'i's, missing out every 'e' and generally replacing almost every letter with one or two which are different, you truly think 'what is the point?'. You may think that this is a time saving device at first glances - it does sometimes look slightly smaller then what it would have been if typed properly - but I assure you, it's not. This text-style of writing is a skilled art which you can't learn instantly; when typing, your fingers do not look for a 'y' when there is meant to be an 'i', and it takes just as long to actively think about not putting in that extra 'e' as it does to put it in. The writing does, admittedly, become easy and then eventually faster to type then standard English, but then all that time saved is completely ruined when all you recieve (after a few seconds) a simple 'huh?'.
It is this new language gap that makes the blog one of the most unique and interesting forms of writing. Because of this freedom of style, the blog can be enjoyed and written by almost every type of person; age, social class, education and even actual ability bare no restrictions towards to creator and reader. There are no restrictions of subject matter (assuming it is abiding by the terms and conditions of the webhost) and because there is such a large populatity over the new genre, writing becomes a inspirational challenge to get your voice heard. If you want to, that is, because there is a personal closeness to a blog which is close to reading someone's diary, sometimes.
Where else in the history of the world can you write a fully structured essay about the pros and cons of internets answer to literature, and have next to it the inner struggles of a 17-year-old girl coping with her latest heartache? No where.
Technically speaking, the blog would be a sub-group of prose, standing tall against the genres of essays and novels. Even more technically speaking, a blog would be considered as a form, or evolution, of an essay: Indeed, a blog has all of the flexibility of an essay, and is certainly almost always non-fiction, but a blog is also adaptable in language and tone. This, for example, is an extremely formal tone, especially for a blog. If I had chosen to, I could have spoken colloquially, saying 'this is a canny posting thing', or, even worse, in my opinion, I could have begun 'itz alreet + brb lol'.
At this point I'd like to point out that I have no problem with the evolution of our written language. Shortening the way we write simple words has always been a part of our culture, from the adaptation of the word 'to-day' to simply 'today' to even more extreme examples. It is human nature to be lazy with things which we are forced to repeat, and our language is no exception.
The same feeling applies to creating new words such as 'brb' and 'lol', both of which I use frequently online, though would never say aloud. These were created for a purpose. In the example of 'lol', it was not only to save time but to allow the person on the other side to understand what the tone of the conversation was. In a world where everything is written quickly and to the point, it is very easy to misinterperate a written conversation. For this, plays and prose have stage directions of descriptions, but there are none of these on MSN, AOL or any other instant messenger, and the sentence 'I hate you' and 'I hate you lol' can be read as the same thing. When speaking or in other forms of writing, the difference is obvious, so a modern form of writing needs its own 'stage directions'.
What I am against, however, is the mutilation of the English language. I don't mean to sound like an out-of-touch middle-aged woman ranting, because that couldn't be further from the truth, but when someone starts talking to you with 'y's instead of 'i's, missing out every 'e' and generally replacing almost every letter with one or two which are different, you truly think 'what is the point?'. You may think that this is a time saving device at first glances - it does sometimes look slightly smaller then what it would have been if typed properly - but I assure you, it's not. This text-style of writing is a skilled art which you can't learn instantly; when typing, your fingers do not look for a 'y' when there is meant to be an 'i', and it takes just as long to actively think about not putting in that extra 'e' as it does to put it in. The writing does, admittedly, become easy and then eventually faster to type then standard English, but then all that time saved is completely ruined when all you recieve (after a few seconds) a simple 'huh?'.
It is this new language gap that makes the blog one of the most unique and interesting forms of writing. Because of this freedom of style, the blog can be enjoyed and written by almost every type of person; age, social class, education and even actual ability bare no restrictions towards to creator and reader. There are no restrictions of subject matter (assuming it is abiding by the terms and conditions of the webhost) and because there is such a large populatity over the new genre, writing becomes a inspirational challenge to get your voice heard. If you want to, that is, because there is a personal closeness to a blog which is close to reading someone's diary, sometimes.
Where else in the history of the world can you write a fully structured essay about the pros and cons of internets answer to literature, and have next to it the inner struggles of a 17-year-old girl coping with her latest heartache? No where.
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