Bethe's COM-565 Blog

Something struck me as I researched the benefits of and the skills needed for blogging for this assignment. And that was how much blogging has become a business. At least half of the hits on each page of results referenced marketing, making money from blogging, or being a “pro” blogger. Instead of individuals blogging solely for friends and family, it began to encompass professional and personal/professional goals and became a way for people to promote their personal brand and their business (Minaev, 2021) . As someone who was part of the “blogiverse” (as a reader, not a blogger) from the early days, this hit me hard. When I think of blogging, I think of how advances in online technology (high-speed internet access, online software programs, and feed readers) were allowing people to express themselves, share their knowledge and their passions and to maybe make a difference in an area they loved (Dekmezian, 2016) . This was back in the days when Blogger required knowing at least a bit o...

 Not unlike the dopamine rush that we get from Facebook “likes” and other positive online interactions (as discussed in my IWant It Now! Blog entry,) the technologies that keep us connected to the world can also connect us to political and social activism – both good and bad – and provide equally addictive adrenaline rushes. Take, for example, the January 6 th Capitol Insurrection, Rebecca Heilweil and Shirin Ghaffary wrote in a Jan8 Vox article : “The kind of experience that a lot of people, especially the more extreme people, had on the 6th is not completely dissimilar to a drug,” Evans said. “They got a very powerful high from storming the Capitol and they will be looking for the next high, the ones at least who don’t wind up in custody.” The Capitol Insurrection had been in the planning stages for months before the actual event took place, virtually undetected. However, it was years of online radicalization that led to the Capitol riot. Hordes of far-right movements have ...

  If patience is a virtue, then we, as a society, are doomed. I grew up in a household where hard work, perseverance and dedication earned the extra goodies I wanted. If I wanted something extra or out of the ordinary for myself, I had to save my money, then wait to go shopping for it.  Similarly, when I needed to do research for school assignments, I was at the mercy of our small-town public library and their brief hours. Oh, and I needed to ride my bike there and back. I couldn’t order a book from Amazon and download it instantly or have in 2 hours, and we didn’t have Google as an instant information source. I had to wait for things. I remember watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory when I was really young - somewhere around 4, 5, or 6 and as much as Gene Wilder mesmerized me, Veruca Salt’s impatience, greed and incessant demands for everything she saw horrified me, even then. I also remember being secretly pleased when she was deemed a “bad egg” by one of Wonka’s ...