Technology Isolation

I think the expansion of technology has its ups and downs as most things do in life. I love how easy it is to just quickly look something up on the Internet, how one can go online shopping, and how Facebook has expanded which keeps me in contact with several friends and allows us to catch up and views each others pictures. In the work sense, I do lots of my work on the computer (payroll, looking up peoples information, entering info into Peoplesoft), etc. and rely heavily on technology for my day to day duties. I do agree with what the textbook says that more people have become isolated due to the expansion of technology since so many things are readily available and we need little human contact. However, this to me is unhealthy if it's taken to the extreme because we need human interaction to develop and to live our lives. I would go crazy if I didn't have face to face interaction with people on a daily basis and don't believe people should without this because you will become socially awkward. We read in the textbook about the boy who lived in the woods for years and wasn't able to progress in society because of his lack of interaction with others.

Crime

After reading about crime statistics and way crime can be prevented or moreso "detecting risks", I agreed much more with the proposal of community policing. This reminds me much of the neighborhood watch program that many housing communities already have. By getting neighbors involved to just watch over things, notice trends, and be able to point out one something isn't right can be very useful to a community. I don't think that the community should start acting like heroes and trying to save people from criminals but getting people involved seems like a good idea;more people can't hurt. Shaming to me seems like a bad idea because if a community labels a person as a criminal and basically treats them like an outcast, I fear that instead of being shamed, they will take their criminal behavior label and become more deviant.

Nature vs. Nurture

Nature vs. nurture is always going to be a controversial issue and one that I find very tough to decide on. With any situation such as gender, race, sexual preference, etc. there can always be a debate whether somebody is brought up that way and society has shaped us (nurture) or are we just born that way (nature)? Sometimes, I think it can be a mixture of both which really makes it difficult to choose a side. In the podcast we listened to, gender was the subject used and whether females and males act differently. As a female, I feel that my upbringing had to do with teaching me norms about women in society such as what is proper for a girl to wear in certain situations, how to act, what to expect of the opposite sex and so on. Also, society has formed opinions and thoughts in my head. When I hang around a bunch of girls who are very girly and like to shop, like to go dancing and get all dressed up that definitely influences my behavior so both of these examples are nurture related. But I feel regardless of people's influences, I am naturally a certain way because I am a female and thats when nature takes its part.

BBC clip-week 3

After watching the BBC clip performed by Hugh Laurie, I felt that his performance was in a way mocking American musicians. When he made the facial expressions that showed him really getting into the signing, the audience started laughing which made it seem that they are laughing at the fact that American musicians really get into their music. I also felt that the audience reacted the way they did because the only lyrics he really say were, "America" which seemed really self involved. It is a possibility that the British audience was laughing at the fact that Americans are selfish and only think of themselves