Marriage

The secular meaning of marriage is “the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/marriage). In this definition, marriage is little more than a contract that has no time limit; it can be broken at any time. I suppose this is why affairs and divorces, breaking of the contract, do not disturb most people the way they do me. To me, matrimony is a sacrament, a gift from God. It is “an indissoluble bond between a man and a woman, created by human contract and ratified by divine grace” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_marriage). Marriage is not temporary in my heart. It is a commitment between a man and a woman, and blessed by God. In this commitment, the two become one and are therefore inseparable until death.

When I read the article from ABC news, I was very bothered. Philip Victor discusses a divorce that was caused by a virtual affair on a site called “Second Life”. “Second Life” is a virtual world that people can create characters, or avatars, and interact in everyday activities. David Pollard was caught by his soon-to-be ex-wife Amy Taylor snuggling with a virtual avatar. Amy and David met and fell in love on line, so this is why it affected Amy so much. And now, David and the woman whose avatar he was with are getting married.

The shocking part of this story is the way the affair took place, not that he had an affair. That statement is a result of the desensitization towards affairs and divorces. Both are so prevalent in today’s society. The current divorce rates are as follows in America: “50% percent of first marriages, 67% of second and 74% of third marriages end in divorce, according to Jennifer Baker of the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Springfield, Missouri.”

It was only a matter of time until the virtual reality became a true reflection of our reality. If people are so quick to have affairs or end their marriages in reality, what stops them in a world of fantasy and bliss? According to David Brooks Overstimulated Surburbia, of the stories on the Sims game, most of them “don’t seem to regard marriage as the happily-ever-after ideal”. This is the trend in the modern world as well. Most view marriage as a binding contract in which they are constricted and restrained. For those of us who still view marriage as a sacred bond between one man and one woman, we become more and more troubled by those marriages ending in divorce. It is not the way God intended, which explains for the heartache and sadness that arises during and after the divorce process.

The article can be found on: http://abcnews.go.com/International/SmallBiz/Story?id=6255277&page=1

R&D - Research and Development

When I began my research, I did not have a solid topic chosen. I knew that as a product of the technology generation, it has played and will continue to play an important part in my life. Children growing up now are exposed to more technology at an even earlier age. Most of their games and entertainment are technology based, and as we have more advances in technology, it will continue to consume a larger part of our lives. As with every aspect of our lives, the increase in technology will alter our lives and lifestyles. Is it possible that visual media could alter a person's personality and ethical decisions? Could it warp a child's conception of what reality is, and thus alter their conscious?

I began searching psychology databases on Saginaw Valley's website for academic journals that contained information about children being affected by media. In ProQuest Psychology Journals, I found an article by Edward L. Palmer and Brian M. Young called The Faces of Televisual Media: Teaching, Violence, Selling to Children. This is a scholarly journal and an academic article. It discusses the educational purposes of media and technology while contrasting it with its adverse effects of teaching aggressive behavioral patterns to children and young adults who play video games frequently. Though I do not know which conclusion I will establish, I know that I will represent the two instances and weigh out the pros and cons of media and technology’s role in our society.

The more popular site that I found for the relevant popular source was from http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D944Q94O0.htm. I found this by typing “court cases, children violent video games” into Google search engine. Here it discusses a court case in which children under 18 years of age would be prohibited to buy or rent a violent video game without the parent’s permission. The court has yet to rule on this specific case, but the paper came out Oct 30, 2008. The ruling is said to come out in the next few months. It is interesting because it is being considered that video games are affecting the personalities of children and their behavioral patterns. I plan to continue researching similar cases to find more information. Another popular site to go in congruence with the educational television is found on http://www.medialit.org/reading_room/article119.html . The author provides information on preschoolers and young children who watched educational programming and scored higher on academic tests in the future.

Comparing and contrasting the positive and negative effects of technology is going to be my main focus. I hope to conclude which is more of an issue in our society, the disrupted behavior or advancements in education.

Real People - Real Campaigning

Political campaigning has changed completely in the last century. With the invention of new technology, the candidates were given new opportunities and new avenues of advertisement that otherwise would have been impossible. The addition of the radio and the television allowed political parties to share information and speak to every individual in America. Being able to see the candidate made a huge impact on the voters and ever since, has been a key way to address the citizens of America during a presidential campaign.

Due to the advancements in technology, voters began expecting more and more out of campaign advertisements. Candidates are always trying to make their billboard or radio advertisement or commercial better than the other guy’s. In order for people to pay attention to what they have to say, they have to use innovative methods to attract their audience.

As with all advertising, the audience usually feels most compelled by those commercials that they can relate to. This technique has been used since the 1950’s, according to Errol Morris in his article People in the Middle. The ads have “real people”, people that appear to be middle class and average. They use simple language and attempt to look sincere.

The problem with “real people” campaign ads is the fact that even these are altered and skewed. Take, for instance, the ad found on http://www.peopleinthemiddleforobama.org/. The people in the video are chosen out of thousands of people. They pick the individuals who are most appealing. They also pick snippets from each person’s interview and fuse them together. The more advanced our technology, the more altered the commercials are becoming. For example, one lady is cut off mid sentence and then fused with another sentence that she talked about later. The audience doesn’t hear her actual statement, but rather what the political party wants us to hear. It is not really “real”, but just as altered as any other commercial.

Regardless, these types of advertisements are effective. These “real people” ads are more of an ethos approach, trying to tug on the emotions of the audience. When people can relate to an advertisement, they are more likely to be affected by it and consider the message. Because the advertisements with “real people” are not informative, I believe that they must be used in addition to advertisements from the candidate themselves in which they discuss their political views.