Tag: social media
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The Awkward Ethics of Creating Online
Am I a Contradiction? I was quite critical toward influencer culture in my latest post regarding the fictional novel People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd. The book follows an influencer mother who shapes her life, and the lives of those around her, for the sake of content. It is a timely and unsettling read. I discussed the… Read more
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Book #47- Reflections on “People Like Her”
Book #47 People Like Her: A Novel By Ellery Lloyd A Modern Thriller I usually don’t like thrillers, I figure life is scary enough. But this fictional novel caught my attention as a conversation starter for the ethics and dangers of our modern online world. And I couldn’t put it down. It is definitely twisted,… Read more
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Book #44- Reflections on “Algospeak”
Book #44 Algospeak By Adam Aleksic Comparing Old & New Language The latest three books in my Book Reading Challenge have been: Despite their age, I was struck by how relevant each of these books are. They aren’t just outdated classics, but rather timeless mirrors of the human condition- something that remains very much alive… Read more
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Book #43- Reflections on “The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde”
Book #43 The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde By Robert Louis Stevenson Last week I read Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and was surprised by how relevant its themes are to our modern world. This week, for Halloween, I picked up The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and it feels jarringly applicable… Read more
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An Anecdote About Social Trends
Changing Relationship Dynamics in Graduate Housing When I did my master’s degree in 2015, I lived in an international residence with 175 other graduate students. In theory, it should have been a wonderful experience. But it wasn’t. There were many strange and dark moments during my time there. A decade later, I was talking to… Read more
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Who Has the Right to Tell a Story?
The Ethics of Telling Your Story Online I recently told my sister about my blog. She had been mildly curious over what I was doing each day when I went to the library to read or write blog posts; so I told her about it. It was a bit awkward since some of the things… Read more
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The Blessing of a Delay
Convenient Content I was recently writing a blog post in a place where the Wi-Fi wasn’t great. I was outdoors by the water so I am not complaining and I used my iPhone’s hotspot to write. After about an hour of writing, I took a break. I took a sip of my now-cold tea, and… Read more
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Being Entertained by Other People’s Lives vs. Our Own
My Own Life Became Filled With Other People’s Storylines In my latest blog post, I talked about the ethical consumption of other people’s lives for our own entertainment. But there is another part of the story that I am grappling with. That is, being entertained by other people’s lives vs. being entertained by my own.… Read more
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Living Ethically in the Age of Entertainment
Our Lives as Entertainment We consume each other’s lives more than we ever have. If I go on social media, I can find out what a coworker ate for lunch, details of my friend’s messy divorce, and that another friend’s child had to be rushed to the hospital. We aren’t just living our lives, we… Read more
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How Reading Books Helps Me Cope With Anxiety and Uncertainty
Feeling Insecure & Uncertain Can Lead You Down a Bad Road In Misbelief by Dan Ariely, he attributes much of a person’s fall down a rabbit hole to a sense of feeling uncomfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty. This person then seeks easy, quick answers online and feels a temporary, short-term sense of power and control… Read more
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When Lies Rewrite Your Life: The Impact of False Narratives
Dealing with the effects of misbelief will soon be its own therapy topic, I think. Not just for the one who believes the false information, but also for the one who is the subject of the lies. For the latter, the situation can feel incredibly disorienting since they often do not see the rumors develop-… Read more
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7 Ways to Foster Healthy Relationships in Society
I am beginning to sense a theme in my 2025 Reading Challenge (which is to read 52 books this year). I have intentionally chosen books of a variety of genres- some artistic, some self-help, some biographical, some fiction, etc. But one theme has slowly been bubbling to the surface in many of these books: the… Read more
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The Blessing and Curse of Influence
The Relationship Between Influence and Originality In his book Drawing For Illustration, author Martin Salisbury talks about the number of artistic influences that modern day illustrators have access to. They are exposed to so much creativity from around the world at the click of a button. This access to information is incredible. Before the internet,… Read more
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Motherhood Highlight Reel
Motherhood & Social Media In Highlight Real by Emily Lynn Paulson, she talks about the way mothers compare themselves to others. It seems like an unlikely place to find competition. Who can bake the best bread? Change the most diapers? Have the best relationship with their kids (or at least look like they do)? But… Read more
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Book #10- Reflections on “Highlight Real”
Book #10 Highlight Real By Emily Lynn Paulson Casual & Serious Lies of the Modern World This author talks openly about only sharing the highlights of her life and the casual (and serious) lies that accompany doing this. Part of the issue with the modern world is that, little by little, people drift farther away… Read more
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Book #9- Reflections on “Hate Follow”
Book #9 Hate Follow By Erin Quinn-Kong Exploring Family Vlogs Through Fiction This is a light-hearted fiction book with serious undertones. It uses fictional characters and scenarios to discuss themes such as parenting, online family influencers, children’s right to privacy, family relationships, and what we owe the people that we love. I enjoy books like… Read more
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Book #8- Reflections on “There Is No Ethan”
Book #8 There Is No Ethan By Anna Akbari In this book, three women team up to find the person who has mutually catfished them. It is a wild ride. It speaks to the chaos, disingenuousness, and danger that the internet can bring. The women met their internet sweetheart on an online dating site. However,… Read more