Making money through the internet.

            How you ever wondered about ways of making extra cash? Have you ever considered trying to make money through the internet?  For those of you who said yes to the above questions, I may have some interesting options for you. Many websites offer easy and free ways to make extra money. Blog ads, online questionnaires, and video ads are great ways to make extra money online.

Have you ever noticed whenever you’re browsing a website or a blog, those little ads randomly placed on the side of the page you’re on? Some can be irrelevant to the website or blog you’re on, but did you know that the owner of the page is making money off of them? Companies, such as Google, give you the opportunity to make extra money just by putting ads on your blogs or websites. Things like AdSense, which is run by Google, and AdBrite will pay you whenever someone clicks on the link that is displayed on your page. The outcome of these ads can be anywhere between zero cents to at most ten U.S. dollars. To have these ads on your site, you must apply to Google AdSense. If you are accepted, they will let you choose key words or phrases to customize your ads depending on your site or blog. Such as, if you have a food blog you can choose to put different food related ads to show your viewers. There are some down sides to adding ads to blog and websites. Like stated before there is a chance that an ad may not pay as much money as others. There is a chance that you may not make any profit from one ad, but another ad may give you three dollars per click. You also have to think about how the view will see your blog, such as the appearance of the blog once the ad is added to it. Sometimes if the ad is an ‘in your face’ ad, the viewer would click off assuming it’s just a scam or

As someone who has used online questionnaires in the past, I positively say they are actually a very reliable source of extra income. The whole point of the questionnaires is to give companies feedback on products we use every day, or even things we do every day. These questionnaires are easy to do and are usually based on things you’re interested in. Websites such as Opinion Outpost and Survey Savvy are two, reliable, websites I would recommend using. When you sign up for Opinion Outpost will have you fill in your profile to figure out what you’re interested in. Based on that information, they send you surveys that will interest you. Survey Savvy is very similar to Opinion Outpost; it uses the same personal profile system to offer you surveys to take. The only difference is that once you have made approximately one dollar, to ‘Request Payment’. Which is will be sent via the U.S. mail. Personally, I feel the only down side to this method is the fact that it is time consuming. As someone who has extra time to just sit in front of a computer, I find it easy to take the Questionnaires. With someone who has to take care of children or someone who’s usually busy at work, it may be harder to take the surveys. There is also the risk that a website may not be trustworthy. Sadly, there are scam sites out there that will take advantage of you. Even though there are no specific list of sites that are scams here is a link to a website that will help you determine if it is a scam site or not.

            Whenever you’re on YouTube, doesn’t it seem like there is always that annoying ad that plays before the video, of even a pop up ad at the bottom of the video player while you’re watching something? I can tell you I get those all the time, since I’m an avid YouTube user. You probably wouldn’t think that the user of that account is making money off that ad. This is very similar to the ads on the blogs. By adding Google’s AdSense to your videos, you can make some extra money. Another reason it is similar to the ads on blogs: For every click on these ads, you make more money per click. A great thing about this is the fact that after a while, this partnership can be considered a full time job. Much like many other “YouTubers” such as, Shane Dawson, Phillip Defranco, Shay Carl, and Charles Trippy, they have made YouTube their full time job. Let’s take Charles Trippy, also known as CTFxC, for example; he has vlogged (video blogged) every day for the past 1612 days (as of 9/30/2013). He holds the world record for the most consecutive days documented by video, as well as “vlogging” his engagement and wedding to his wife Alli, tour life with the band he plays bass guitar for, known as We The Kings, and two brain surgeries. He also recently filmed while in the operating room of his most recent brain surgery which has been receiving national news due to the fact this surgery has never been filmed and posted online before. (video below was filmed on 9/17/2013 it is documented as 1601 named, Man Films Own Brain Surgery)

To get back to the topic: Some cons about this idea are the fact that it is very time consuming. Moreover, it is required to post videos regularly to keep your partnership statues. As well as keep a clean name by posting acceptable content and following the Copyright and original content rules. There is also a chance of being denied when you apply.

            There are probably many different ways to make money on the internet, such as companies paying people to ‘spam’ others on social networking sites to click links. I personally believe that these three methods are more reliable, as well as less annoying to others. As a closer, always be safe on the internet, and never give your personal information.

Syria in a Nutshell (revised)

      

  The Syrian civil war began mid-March 2011 and has escalated since then. The battles are between forces loyal to the Syrian Government and rebels trying to oust the regime of Bashar al Assad.  After the use of chemical weapons by the government, much of the international community has proposed plans to aid the rebels via military intervention.  Speaking on potential intervention by the United States, Senator Rand Paul said, “The war in Syria has no clear national security connection to the United States and victory by either side will not necessarily bring into power people to the United States. U.S. involvement in Syria is complicated, unwanted, and would bring both economic and political consequences.

 

       To understand the situation in Syria, one must know what has happened since the war started and what parties are involved. The civil war started on the 15th of March, 2011 during Arab Spring; a protest movement by natives in the Arab region who were unhappy about local government rules.  The Syrian military was sent in to quell the protests. After months of the military containing protests and firing upon protesters, the protest had turned into an armed rebellion and insurgency by June of the same year. On one side is the Syrian Government and military loyal to President Bashar al Assad, as well as a few militias still loyal to the government, and a small number of Iranian commandos. Syria is also back politically by Iran and Russia (although Russia is not a participant via military). On the opposite side is the Free Syrian Army, which consists of armed citizens and military deserters, as well as a handful of other Islamic militias (some of which are affiliated with Al-Qaeda). By March of 2013, the Assad Regime had been accused of using chemical weapons, using them on occasions after March, and firing upon weapons inspectors from the United Nations. This sparked outrage and condemnation from some of the international community, Including the United States and some of its allies, most can remember U.S. president Obama’s use of the phrase “crossing the red line”. The U.S. government has since been debating as well as planning strikes on Syria; however plans for military intervention have been all but forgotten, since Syria agreed to turn over all chemical weapons to the international community to be destroyed by a certain date.

        If you may have noticed, nothing pertaining to the Syrian Civil war has affected the United States or its citizens. So a big question is why. Why should the United States get involved?  Most research and polls conclude that the majority of Americans are against striking Syria. If our government representatives represent us, and we don’t want something, why continue to push for something we don’t want.  One might wonder who would benefit from involvement in this war. The average American wouldn’t, were not helping any ally. Clearly Syria is a not a friend to the U.S., and the opposing forces aren’t much better. Some of the rebel forces are the same militias that were fighting U.S. troops in Iraq only a few years ago. The only people that would benefit from military intervention in Syria are those involved in the military industrial complex. The military industrial complex is a vicious cycle of civilian providers of military equipment and politicians making both monetary and political gains. These gains come at the expense of the American taxpayer. Also the United States simply does not have the means to expand military at this point, after over a decade of ground war in Iraq and Afghanistan; as well as smaller advisory campaigns in a handful of other countries. I speak not only on the human cost of war, but the monetary cost. The United Sates has spent over 850 billion dollars on war since 2001. That’s money that the taxpayer, their children and grandchildren will have to pay. From the outside looking in, say there’s someone fighting with their brother; and you don’t particular care for either of them, or them for you. Their fight is not affecting you in any way whatsoever. But you don’t like it and you go spend all the money you have as well as some you don’t have on boxing lessons and equipment to stop the fight. And even after you help the brothers still won’t like you. All you’re getting out of it is some dirty looks and losing money.  You would be America. The situation in Syria is complicated and seems to have a lot of angles, however no matter what angle you look at it from; military intervention in Syria makes no sense.

       The Central intelligence Agency has a term called “blow back”. Blow back is the unseen consequences of a solution to a problem. For example, the U.S. funded the Taliban during the soviet invasion of Afghanistan, supplying them with weapons and training. Unbeknownst to us at the time we would be fighting against them just over 20 years later. We toppled Saddam Hussein in just 3 months without knowing it would spark an insurgency and civil war spanning 8 years. Who knows what the blowback of intervening would be. Not only the blowback from people within Syria, but from the international community.  Why take the risk and find out? Why stick our noses where they don’t belong? Why attempt to police the world? It seems the mainstream media nor the politicians beating the war drums won’t answer these questions, moreover when they do they either sidestep the question or defy all logic and reasoning in their answers.

 

       The potential blowback, the total costs to the American people, and the complete lack of concern from the American public should be more than enough reasons not to get involved. The complications of the participants and the lack of relation to U.S. national security make United States military intervention in Syria is unreasonable. The costs outweigh the benefits.

Facebook the Incurable Disease

       

     

       Technology just keep changing.  It is easier to deal with people through social media rather than hear their voice.  You have texting, and it makes it so easy to communicate. Without guidelines to social media, people can say almost anything and get away with it. 

The three things that are problematic with Facebook are: they are giving out too much personal information, engaging in drama, and spending too much time there can harm relationships and reputations.

People are often posting their personal information on social media websites such as Facebook. They endlessly post various information about their family life, kids, and things they do behind closed doors.  Once these issues are posted, they become public information, which allows other people to view the information and talk about it. The person who posted the information then becomes angry because their information is being discussed, and they begin a feud with someone else because of information that was exchanged.  People find out information about other people, and begin to make comments.  For example, Jim and Taylor were once friends.  Taylor took Jim’s girlfriend away from him. Jim posts his grievances towards the situation. Taylor sees this post, and responds. This creates a negative atmosphere, in which everyone connected to them by this website will be able to view and make responses

Also, when it comes to drama, Facebook should be considered “the ring”.  There’s, individuals duke it out with one another.  Friends become enemies, and families fall apart.  Someone posts information about another person because of a disagreement they had.  The other person responds, and they literally go back and forth with insults.  In this case, Facbook becomes “the ring” because it serves as the battle ground for confrontation.  People do not confront each other face to face anymore.  They don’t settle disagreements personally either.  Instead, they share their grievances with any and everyone who will read their posts.  This also causes a problem because now anyone can get involved.  Facebook seems to have no limits on what can be posted.  Facebook is generally in the hands of the people. They have the authority to do what feels comfortable to them without thought of who may or may not be viewing the information. There is no separation of the ages. When a person has an issue with another person they usually put all kinds of vulgarity on their page to express their feelings.   For example, Christian and Jazemin get into a fight in McDonald’s Parking lot.  Someone records the fight and post it on Facebook.  Everyone sees it and begin to pick sides between the two.  More people get involved in the fight and cause more drama on Facebook. This is a sinister and strategic deed in which the person’s ego became his/her soul. It is also an attempt to gain popularity and notoriety through the downfalls of someone else’s trouble. 

In addition, Facebook harms relationships and reputations in various ways. People rarely call people any more because calling someone is less convenient.  Facebook brings about a technological change to modern day communication. Communication that they use now cause people not to interact face to face anymore, and they hide behind the computer screen and mobile devices. For example, if Kate is sleeping with John while she is going with Paul, John may post this information. John may not realize the harm this could do to the relationship that Kate has with Paul. John may even post some of the things they did online, which could ruin Kate’s reputation with family, friends, and future employers.  Employers are often checking on their employees through social media such as Facebook.  The employers want their employees to maintain a certain image for the company.  For instance, my friend Susan, who had a job working with the city, went though tribulation.  Susan’s ex boyfriend Travis posted naked photos of her on Facebook.  The photos circulated all over with friends and non friends on Facebook.  In the city that Susan was living in. The employer soon found out  and Susan got fired from her job.  On the other hand, children are pulled into the dynamics between adults.  For example,  Ann and Bill post their current divorce situation and the problems in their marriage.  The children are dragged into the conversation. Minors also have access to what is going on, and they too are able to get involved.

So many people are hurt as a result of incidents on Facebook.  Lives are ruined and reputation are spoiled.  There is so much negativity going on.  People are discussing things that should never be revealed publicly.  Such information really makes one look bad.  The information also reflects back on one’s family and friends.  There is no doubt that someone is checking status to see what or who they can talk about.  So be careful what you put on Facebook website because it could come back to haunt you.

Grab the Mic and Represent While You Present

 

Jill Jones nervously walked out onto the stage, her essay tightly bound in her hand. She got to the podium when all of a sudden, the words got jumbled in her head, she started stuttering and her palms started to sweat. Jill started looking into the audience, looking at their faces, she got more nervous analyzing what they were thinking and ran off stage. Jill suffers from Glossophobia, a fear of public speaking, and more than 5.4 million Americans suffer from it.  To overcome the fear of public speaking, you need to prepare, relax, and channel your way of thinking.

Many suffer from the fear of public speaking, but preparing will help you lower your anxiety. Preparation will most likely help you approach your speech with confidence. Make sure you research your topic weeks before hand. You need to rehearse what you are going to say and how you are going to say it. Reading a slide or paragraph multiple times will encode the information into your long-term memory. Practice your speech in front of a mirror or with your family and friends. Getting their opinion will help you realize what you need to practice more on and what you might want to not change in your essay. This is also a good technique to see if you messed up on any words or if your grammar is off. Try to practice your transition into each main topic. Memorizing the sequence of your slides can also help you relate different subjects with your topic, ultimately making you feel more comfortable reading about it with others (Martinuzzi). Practice makes perfect.

Relaxation is key. Your presentation isn’t a performance. Don’t try and make it perfect, it is okay if you mess up (Orman). When presenting, you need to pause frequently. In “The Kings Speech”, a movie based on the life of King George VI, the speech therapist uses the technique of pausing to help the king get over his stuttering habit (Fazackarley). People who suffer from anxiety will most likely hold their breath when starting their speeches. Always remember to breathe and take deep breaths. Don’t pay attention to the audience faces. Looking into the audience can only make you more nervous. Before you go to present, try to find a friendly face, this will help lower your anxiety and make it seem like a conversation between you and your buddy. If the audience is paying attention to what you are saying, they won’t be smiling at you. Most of the times if they are giving the presenter a blank stare; they are concentrating on what they are saying. Also, don’t feel panicked if they are talking to the person next to them, they could be talking about your topic (Martinuzzi). People can’t see your fear unless you let them.

The presenters’ way of thinking before and after your presentation can determine the outcome of how they do. Turn your negative affirmations into positive affirmations. Negative thoughts only strengths your anxiety. If you think you will mess up, you will mess up. If you go into a test thinking “I’m going to fail”, you will forget what you were taught and start second guessing yourself (Musa). “Negative form self-talk is like throwing gasoline in a room of fire” (Martinuzzi).  If you forget the information it’s okay. You are only presenting it, it is up to the audience to get more involved and read more about your topic. Your only goal is to get them interested enough in your topic to do it. If you mess up during it, just laugh about it, don’t put yourself down for a common mistake. After the presentation, don’t try and “filter think”. Filter thinking is only hearing the negative criticism someone is giving you, even if 90% of it was praise (Musa). It can also follow you into the workplace, your boss could have just praised you on your amazing presentation, but since he criticized you for not using the companies’ colors on the PowerPoint, that’s all you can think about. These ways of thinking will make it where you can never see the positive in any situation.

Speaking anxieties can cause problems in school but also in the work place. “All professions at some point of time will require you to speak publicly, in the form of making a presentation, addressing a meeting or conference, [and] airing your views generally in a discussion” (Vocalize Your Thoughts). Most of the times the fear of public speaking, is related to another issue you had at a young age, such as being taunted or made fun of. Using techniques, such as relaxation skills and preparing before the presentation will help you overcome your fear.

Work Cited Page

Fazackarley, Jane. "Speech pathologist discusses new film The King's Speech Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/301977

Martinuzzi, Bruna. "11 Easy Ways to Finally Overcome Your Public Speaking Fear." Clarion Enterprises. N.p., 03 Feburary 2013. Web. 1 Oct 2013.< http://www.clarionenterprises.com/blog/?p

Musa, F.. N.p.. Web. 1 Oct 2013. <http://www.wikihow.com/Think-Positively>.

"Public Speaking - Vocalize Your Thoughts." Mind Body N Soul. N.p.. Web. 1 Oct 2013.< http://www.mindbodynsoul.com/Positive-Thinking/public-speaking-vocalize-your-thoughts.html>.

Finding a Job After Graduation

                       Find a job After Graduation 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the current unemployment rate is 7.3%. In a nut shell, this means there are more people looking for jobs than there are jobs to be filled. Most graduates have had some experience working in what is called “entry jobs”. These are jobs like working in the fast-food business, grocery stores, and any job that takes little skill and has low pay. You go to college to learn the skills that give you the opportunities for a better job. After you graduate you will be looking for the job that hopefully will carry you to retirement. Therefor graduates need better information on choosing a career, creating a resume, and acing an interview, to assure they get the job they are looking for.

            Many students attend college without knowing exactly what their career is going to be. The lucky ones are those who know exactly what they want to do and have that as their goal. For those of us who aren’t sure there are places you can go that will help. When I went to high school we had a guidance counselor that could give you a general idea what your possible career paths could be. And it was based on what courses you excelled in, and what courses you struggled with. There was not much influence on what careers would fit your likes, or personality, but don’t really do much for helping you to choose a career. Most colleges have some sort of career counseling. Here at Horry Georgetown Technical College, we have Career Assessment and Counseling. They use the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI), and the Strong Interest Inventory test to help you make career and educational chooses. I would also suggest using available sites like humanmetrics.com and taking the Jung career indicator test. This is a personality test and, if you answer the questions honestly, it will give you a list of carrier chooses that best fits your personality. Trust me, you do not want a job that you dread going to. It is worth the time to find the best occupation for you.

            Resumes and Cover letters are what will get you the interview. This is according to Caitlin Jacobs, the Assist to Work counselor at HGTC. Preparing a resume and cover letter may seem tedious, but you will probably get looked over if you do not present one. As a hiring manager I would get a hundred applicants for every job I was filling. Out of the hundred applicants, there might be fifty with a resume attached to them. I would spend more time looking over the applications that came with resumes, because it showed that the applicant cared enough about getting the job by spending the time to write one.

            Not only is it important to attach a resume, it is also important to write a good resume. The danger of attaching a resume, is attaching badly written one. I have seen some really bad ones.  I could never understand why someone would take the time to write a resume, and fail to make sure the simplest grammar and punctuation rules were followed. I have seen ones where the first letter in a sentence was not capitalized, no periods at the ends of sentences, or very poorly spelled words. Only about thirty-five of the fifty resumes passed this limpness test. Caitlin suggests that you have your resume written about a professional. If you choose not to use a professional there is several web sites and books that can help you write your own. I like “Before and After Resumes” by Tracy Burns-Martin, it carries the reader step-by-step through writing their resume, and has examples for various types of careers.  Whether you decide to use a professional or write your resume yourself, make sure you have someone proofread it, and edit it for you.

            Now you need to prepare for the interview. There are three words to remember when preparing for an interview, and they are “Practice, Practice, and Practice”. Remember that so far out of the hundred applicants we still have thirty-five left, and you wouldn’t want to do all that work on a resume just to blow it in the interview. Think about it this way, Michael Phelps couldn’t have won 8 gold medals in the 2008 Olympics without hours of practice. It’s the same for interviewing. The more you practice, the better you become. It will also give you the confidence that will come out in the interview.

 You might ask, “How am I supposed to practice for an interview”. You can ask a professional to do a mock up interview, you can see if there are any resources at your school, and there are even some online services like, jobsearch.about.com, practice.interviewstream.com, and career-advice.monster.com. Take the time so you’re prepared.

            Dress for success. I’m sure everybody has heard this before. This also applies for interviewing. The first thing the interview looks at is your appearance. You don’t want to the first impression to be a good one, rather a great one. I have whittled the thirty-five applicants down to the top twenty, and I am ready to start interviewing. If you are in the top twenty, and walk in with holey jeans and a t-shirt the interview is going to go very quickly. I can remember a time when an applicant came into my office with an oversize sport shirt, un-tucked in his baggy pants. After the short interview one of my employees asked me how it went. I said “Are you kidding me? Did you see how he was dressed?”  He said, “He looks cool”. You don’t dress cool when dressing for an interview. You want to dress nice, with neutral colors. I believe that there are different levels of dress depending on the job you are applying for, but it should never be anything less than business-casual.

            You also need to consider things like, hair, beards and mustaches, tattoos, and jewelry. I do not have any personal preference, but some managers might. Don’t close the door just because you want to wear a nose ring, or grow a beard. It is never easy to say, but stereotypes do still exist. Not necessary due to the color of some ones skin, but also against long hair, scruffy beards, tattoos, and body- piercings. And when the job is directly dealing with customers the interviewing manager has to consider whether or not the interviewee would offend their customer. The best rule of thumb is to have a neat and trimmed haircut, trim the beard and mustache, cover the tattoos (when possible), and remove the body-piercings. Remember that you’re not there to be cool, but to land the job.

            Remember to leave the cell phone in your car. I cannot say that enough. Yes, I have had people answer their cell phone in the middle of the interview. They didn’t get the job. If for some really important emergency reason you need to be available at a moment’s notice, inform the interviewer that there is a rare but critical situation going on and you don’t feel comfortable being unreachable, let him know you’re interested in the job and ask if you can reschedule the interview. If he/she wants to go ahead with the interview, put the phone on vibrate, place the phone on the desk where you can see it, and only answer it if it is the emergency call you were afraid of. The manager is human, and will appreciate that you wanted to reschedule the interview. If you think about it, it would be really sad that you didn’t get the job because your mom called just to say “I love you.”  

            Now I’m down to the top two applicants. Because you have written or had written a great resume, practiced you interview, dressed for success, and gotten your haircut, it’s time to sell yourself. You need to come with a positive attitude. Leave the worries about rent in the car with your cell phone. Be confident, but not cocky. Show the interviewer that you believe in yourself, and believe you can accomplish whatever you set your mind to. Try to stay away from too much casual conversation. He/she doesn’t need to know what high school you went to, or what your favorite football team is. Be polite, courteous, and kind. Managers are looking for people who can get along with their employees, and that are enjoyable to work with. Here are a few things I don’t think really need to be said, but I have seen them. Don’t be late, don’t curse, and don’t use slang. You want to present yourself as a pleasant fit for the company.

            With these skills and knowledge you are well on your way of getting the job you’re looking for. One other major help is net-working. Join the clubs that are associated in your field. It will give you an opportunity to meet professionals, and see what jobs are available. Take the time to do it right. If you don’t, you have a good chance in ending up in a job you don’t like. It is worth every minute spent preparing. 

 

The negative impact smartphones are making on today's society

 Do you own a smartphone? If so, how much time do you spend on it? Smartphones are constantly being used throughout the day to make calls, text, check emails, and many other things. As technology grows we find that smartphones are having a negative impact on today’s society. Although we use smartphones on an everyday basis we need to learn how to disconnect when driving, spending time with family, and after leaving work.

Texting and driving is one of the worst negative impacts that smartphones make on today’s society. A person who texts while driving is twenty-three times more likely to get into a car accident than someone who is not texting. That puts that person’s life and other people’s lives at an extreme high risk. In 2009, a reported 448,000 people were injured due to caraccidents that involved distracted driving. (stoptextsstopwreks.org) Almost everyone in today’s society now owns a smartphone. Therefore, 60 percent of all people use their smartphone while they are driving. These small devices are a huge distraction to someone that is behind the wheel. Which causes distracted driving to be the number one killer of American teens. Consequently, texting while driving causes 1,600,000 accidents per year, and nearly eleven teens die every day. As a result thirty nine states including D.C. now have laws that prohibit all drivers from being able to text. Also there are apps used forAndroid and Blackberry phones that have a free anti-texting and driving mobileapp to prevent people from texting. (textinganddrivingsafety.com) Society is trying to come up with new ways to prevent texting and driving from happening because they see how much damage it is causing. If people would put their phones down and pay attention to the road there would be less injures, less accidents, and less deaths.

Smartphones are causing a strain on many relationships including families. Families can’t sit down and have a meal together with a nice conversation because everyone is disconnected. One might be on the internet, playing a game, texting or checking their email while at the table not even engaging in the table conversation. They are all physically present, but mentally they are not because smartphones create a whole other world for some people. With these smartphones no one feels alone, they have everything they need with just one touch. Therefore, people get very attached to this device because unlike the television or the computer the smartphone is able to follow people everywhere they go. People can be connected with other people all hours of the day from friends to family and business colleagues. However, if family members would pay attention to each other as much as they did there smartphone they wouldn’t be disconnected. Nonetheless, they are not so useful when it comes down to being able to have a real and meaningful conversation with someone. These devices now limit people from communicating because people are used to having time to figure out what to say. When people are so used to having there smartphone all the time it may be difficult to disconnect, but the rewards of disconnecting and engaging with family are worth it.
As if having a job isn’t hard enough at times it now follows people home, which is a place for them to unwind, and relax at the end of the day. That is now being interfered with due to emails, texts, or phone calls coming in. This adds more stress to employees than ever before because they use to be able to escape it. It also means more work for them, maybe without the pay. Businesses use this device for communication to their employees because they are more accessible. Many bosses expect employees to be reachable after they leave the workplace. This could interrupt family time, relaxation or maybe even vacation. What some bosses may not realize is that this could dissatisfy the employee therefore they could not be performing up to the needs necessary of the business. As a result this could be hurting the business instead of helping it to grow and prosper like every business owner wants. Extra stress could also affect the employee’s marriage or relationship with their children. They may miss important events of their children’s life because of having to deal with work related issues. Technology can be a great resource for the business world because it makes productivity so much faster but there needs to be a way to leave work at the workplace. If business owners want to thrive and make it in this economy then they also need to think about the needs of their employees as well as their business.

Technology definitely has its perks but it also has its downfalls. It basically runs our whole world because people have become so attached to this device. If people could learn how to leave it alone while driving and while spending time with family and friends then maybe the advantages of technology would outweigh the bad. A wise man named Steve Wozniak once said,“All of a sudden, we’ve lost a lot of control,’ he said. ‘We can’t turn off our internet; we can’t turn off our smartphones; we can’t turn off our computers. You used to ask a smart person a question. Now, who do you ask? It starts with g-o, and it’s not God…” (goodreads.com)

 

 

The Battle Between Sexes



I am not a feminist, nor do I think boys and girls are equal when it comes to certain things, but I don’t see why they are not seen as equals when it comes to sports. Sayings such as, “you throw like a girl,” “you hit like a girl”, “girls play like that,” and “a girl could do better than you,” are used on a daily basis in male and female sports. Sayings like that are used to refer to athletes that they are not doing well; therefore, they must play like girls. Referring to bad playing as playing “like a girl,” has become so common that you may even find girls telling each other that they are playing like a bunch of girls. Is it really true that boys are better at sports, or is it just some old saying that has stuck? To determine whether or not boys are better at sports than girls, we need to understand their mental levels, physical attributes, and the role society may play in the debate.

To better understand both genders mental states, it is important to know how they differ and why that may affect the way they play sports. According to Leonard Sax, saying one gender is smarter than the other would not be true, because different regions of the brain develop at different times. After his five year research, "Sexual dimorphism of brain developmental trajectories during childhood and adolescence,” Sax discovered that girls reach the halfway mark of brain development sooner than boys. The girls reached the halfway mark at the age of eleven, while boys didn’t reach halfway development until the age of fifteen. This seemed to continue into adult life as women reached full brain maturity at the age of twenty one or twenty two and men didn’t reach full maturity until the age of thirty. Although the mental state of both boys and girls differed research showed that it didn’t seem to affect the way they played sports or explain why boys are supposedly better athletes. What it does insinuate is maybe another debate, a debate that girls may be developing physically slower than boys but, boys may be developing mentally slower than girls.

 

Furthermore, according to Mikaela Conley from ABC news, she agrees with Sax by saying boys are better at sports than girls isn’t true. In fact, according to research, girls proved they can hang with the boys. Indiana University did a research project of USA swimmers ages 6-19, they recorded 1.9 million swims from the year 2005 to the year 2010, it was found that from the ages of eight to twelve boys and girls seemed to be equal in there swims but, that changed at the age thirteen when puberty normally hits. At the point of puberty boys start to physically exceed the girls, with major increases in there muscle mass helping them to outperform girls. Joel Stager, professor in the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation at Indiana University at Bloomington, and lead author of the study cleared it up like this, “Due to differences in developmental pace it seems to be true that at least in some sports there are periods of time during which girls and boys might be athletic equals.”

Moreover, research seems to back the opinion that boys and girls can be athletic equals and along with the research society also seems to back the same opinion. When asked how boys feel about the debate they even agreed that in certain sports and at a certain age girls and boys could play the same sport and succeed just the same.  Jim Thomas recalls a moment in his life that proved to him girls could be equal when it came to sports, “There was a girl who used to compete on my swimming team in high school and to be honest she could out swim most of the boys on that team, it just went to show that genders weren’t that different when it came to competing in sports it all came down to who worked harder.”  Along with Jim Thomas I have also witnessed gender equality in sports; while attending Carolina Forest high school there was a girl named Chelsea Thomas who went from a cheerleader to our first female football player. When interviewing her teammates and coaches I found that she was a key asset to the team and not only that, but she was treated as an equal in practice and on the field, she never once got special treatment for being a girl. To this day what Coach Hummel said about her playing on a team with boys sticks with me, “She may be a girl, but she is more than qualified to play this sport with the boys she has drive, passion, and has put in the hard work, it wouldn’t be the same without her on the team she is one of the guys,” He added by saying, “it never mattered that she was a girl it just that she worked just as hard if not harder as everyone else.”

So are boys better than girls at sports? I don’t think we will ever truly know the answer to that question, but what we do know is that everyone develops in different ways, mentally, physically, and socially. There is no telling how each individual, female or male is going to develop and there is always going to be a different opinion on the battle between sexes. Maybe in the generations to come society will play a more “power to the women role,” and girls will become the new top dogs in sports while boys may whip around and become the new Einstein’s. Like I said, “Maybe,” but until then all we can do is watch and see what happens. Like Mary Douglas once said, “real equality is immesely difficult to achieve, it needs continual revision and monitoring of distributions."

 

Work Cited

Conley, Mikaela. Girls Can Hang Athletically Wit the Boys, Says Study. ABC News. 1. Conley, Mikaela. May 31, 2013. Blog. October 6, 2013. http://www.abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/201/05/31/girls-can-hang-athletically-with-the-boys-says-study/

Sax, Leonard. Gender Differences in the Sequence of Brain Development. Education. 1. n.p. May17, 2010. Blog. October 6, 2013. http://www.education.com/refrence/article/Ref_Boys_Girls/