Just came across this blogger Kina Grannis, who plays covers of songs and then teaches you how to play them, she's pretty cool. I really like this version of Use Somebody by Kings of Leon.
Monday 16 August 2010
Tuesday 3 August 2010
Twitter...the end of life as we know it
So, lately I read a statement from this man, antique expert Martin Miller....
...lambasting Stephen Fry for his use of Twitter, and the effect of this on young people. Without publishing the statement in full for fear of making this blog, well, boring, Miller basically states that young people should be deterred from using sites such as Twitter, and possibly the internet altogether. Apparently, "The radiation [off the net] can’t be dealt with by young brains. It’s grip is too intense. It has the effect of drawing them in and locking them psychologically in a type of foetal deadlock where nothing is linear, everything is lateral and globular." In Miller's view, "The young generation have the attention span of gnats. Less emphasis should be placed on the maddening drive up the pixilated superhighway - more emphasis on slowing down, simplifying, trying, realising, smelling, reality.“
Let us try and get to grips with this idea that young people can't cope with the internet, if we may. I have lost counts of the number of friends and family members over the aged of 40 who I have had to teach about computers, the internet etc., and I am by no means what you would call technologically 'savvy'. Every time something new crops up on this blog, such as embedding video or editing HTML code, you can rest assured that I've probably spent an hour or two scouring Blogspot's Help page to learn from the expertise of others who are much better at it than I. I'm still having trouble adding music clips, to tell you the truth. However, I'd be willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that a cross-section of youngsters would be able to handle much more new-fangled computer 'sorcery' than the older generation - it is only logical that we who have grown up with it in our lives can utilise it better than our elders.
I will agree with Mr. Miller that younger people do perhaps lack the attention to certain things that our elders display. For example, we do not merely sit still and watch advert breaks - rather, we channel hop in the hope of finding something good on to last for those few minutes. Would someone please explain to me why this example is a bad thing? You could argue that it makes it harder for advertisers to target us, and forces them to come up with harder-hitting advertising strategies. Better ad campaigns mean more people will be affected by them, and probably more people will buy the products than before, causing the economy to rise up out of the credit crunch once and for all. All from not paying attention. So go, children of the world, and ignore everything around you - you're country depends on it. Ok, I'm stretching the point here a fair way, but there is a method to my madness.
...lambasting Stephen Fry for his use of Twitter, and the effect of this on young people. Without publishing the statement in full for fear of making this blog, well, boring, Miller basically states that young people should be deterred from using sites such as Twitter, and possibly the internet altogether. Apparently, "The radiation [off the net] can’t be dealt with by young brains. It’s grip is too intense. It has the effect of drawing them in and locking them psychologically in a type of foetal deadlock where nothing is linear, everything is lateral and globular." In Miller's view, "The young generation have the attention span of gnats. Less emphasis should be placed on the maddening drive up the pixilated superhighway - more emphasis on slowing down, simplifying, trying, realising, smelling, reality.“
Let us try and get to grips with this idea that young people can't cope with the internet, if we may. I have lost counts of the number of friends and family members over the aged of 40 who I have had to teach about computers, the internet etc., and I am by no means what you would call technologically 'savvy'. Every time something new crops up on this blog, such as embedding video or editing HTML code, you can rest assured that I've probably spent an hour or two scouring Blogspot's Help page to learn from the expertise of others who are much better at it than I. I'm still having trouble adding music clips, to tell you the truth. However, I'd be willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that a cross-section of youngsters would be able to handle much more new-fangled computer 'sorcery' than the older generation - it is only logical that we who have grown up with it in our lives can utilise it better than our elders.
I will agree with Mr. Miller that younger people do perhaps lack the attention to certain things that our elders display. For example, we do not merely sit still and watch advert breaks - rather, we channel hop in the hope of finding something good on to last for those few minutes. Would someone please explain to me why this example is a bad thing? You could argue that it makes it harder for advertisers to target us, and forces them to come up with harder-hitting advertising strategies. Better ad campaigns mean more people will be affected by them, and probably more people will buy the products than before, causing the economy to rise up out of the credit crunch once and for all. All from not paying attention. So go, children of the world, and ignore everything around you - you're country depends on it. Ok, I'm stretching the point here a fair way, but there is a method to my madness.
Mr. Miller just seems to be one more crusty old relic who would rather stand, arms folded, at the bottom of the staircase looking up and glowering menacingly at the modern world while the elevator carries everyone else up to the roof, where a nice little garden party is waiting for them. And it's a party where blue birds carry nice little messages for you on string. Good old Twitter.
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