Day: January 23, 2015

Dear Ms Samantha Taylor,

I find your opinions true and open minded, however I find the opinions of the people you have included in your article untrue and misleading. Mr Franzen believes that online socialising is “Creating a uniquely shallow and  trivial culture” I disagree here because some social networking sites do not allow pictures preventing predjudism. Mr Franzen also talks about how our less meaningful relationships become more important than our significant relationships; this again is untrue as you can still connect with those more important relationships through social networking and keep them vital. you also include a statement that talks about how the world is drifting towards disaster because we spend “countless hours glued  to Facebook” where as actually social networking keeps us updated with what’s going on in the world through the countless of people updating their status or tweeting what’s occurring on in the news. The rest of your article is filled with biased statements from ignorant people and one sided arguments however you acknowledge the truth of teens and social networking, but I want everyone to realize the truth behind all the lies.

Mr Franzen believes that online socialising is causing teens to become more shallow where as I disagree, by using the word shallow he already contradicts himself as he his stereotyping a mass a mass group based on a few examples. Also, some teenagers do not post any pictures on social networking sites therefore preventing any prejudicism and making sure someone likes you based on your personality and not on your looks.

Mr Franzen also says that our less meaningful relationships become more important than our meaningful relationships, this is again untrue because we can still speak to the important people in our lives through social networking as well as minor less meaningful relationships that are less important than others, so in actual fact social networking improves multiple relationships at the same time by allowing multiple chats with multiple people at the same time.

You also include statements by two people Louis CK and Susan Greenfield, the first being that Mr CK would not allow his children to have phones as he fears they would lose empathy; this is just one example and I strongly believe that allowing the use of phones would not cause the loss of empathy as empathy is gained and lost by personal experiences and the way you are brought up.You also include the statement from Ms Greenfield and she believes that parents are raising kids that have been disconnected from the real world where as social networking keeps us connected with news and so on and it is really up to how the parents want their child to be raised so really the amount of time teens spend on social networking is up to the parents.

To conclude, most of the evidence given by others are given by people that show no sign of reliability and you have only focused on the negatives of social networking not the positives. I disagree with your sources and your studies as they show no signs of evidence, nor do they seem to be a reliable source. Teens should not be viewed as internet zombies or not able to show empathy or can not be connected to the real world, however should be viewed as hopeful, young, responsible adults.  

Yours Sincerely

Nathan Smith

The air was cold and dusty, the sky was grey and cloudy, behind the wall of dust were two men. They stood back to back, as more dust cleared many more figures could be seen, but these were no friendly figures they were running towards the two men, each of the many figures held weapons and each were pointing them at the men. The men stood. Staring. Waiting for the first move. Jack held a gun and waited. There was an eerie silence, no one moved, although the eerie silence lasted only a few seconds it felt like years. The sudden blast of weapons broke it and it turned into an all out war.

Jack shot the first shot, it threw a few of the enemies off guard giving them enough time to find cover behind a destroyed car that deflected many bullets aimed at Jack. The figures started to move towards the car but before they could move any further, Jack let of a few rounds in their direction. He hit one of the figures now known to be soldiers and he went down with the sound of his helmet smacking the ground. His fellow soldiers backtracked to their starting position. Another group moved in and again Jack let of a few rounds hitting another one, but this time it did not stop the still advancing soldiers. “They’re never going to stop,” Jack thought to himself. “We have to make a break for it, but we need to wait for an opening.” The once still, silent air now rang with deafening blasts from guns and cries of pain.

Blood painted the road red, screams filled the air. Jack knew he couldn’t hold out much longer, so he grabbed his friends arm and started to run to a wall which used to hold a corner shop which was now demolished now laying on the road. Jack shot of another shot and this time hit two of the soldiers but it did not stop the three advancing soldiers left. Before Jack could get back behind his cover one of the soldiers let off a couple of rounds hitting Jacks arm and knocking his only protection out of his hands. A drop of sweat rolled down his neck, both mens hearts beat faster and faster and a look of worry ascended upon both of their faces.

Knowing that was their only salvation Jack made a quick dash into the open to pick up his gun, the soldiers bullets followed his feet missing by mere inches, he picked it up and made a roll behind another wall. Two of the three went after Jack’s friend and the remaining soldier fired at Jack. The soldier started to reload but before he could put  new clip in Jack stood before him, both men stared at each other, their guns felt like plastic tubes, and their clothes were like skin. Jack broke this intense moment with two shots to the soldiers torso. The remaining two, who were oblivious to what had happened, had their backs turned towards Jack, he shot off two precise shots both hitting their mark and killing both of them.

Only a few soldiers remained, but they were quite far away and also quite hesitant to advance on the two men. Jack fired his remaining few bullets and then decided  to run, the two men  ran  for their lives. They knew if they were caught they would be killed . As they ran they could hear the soldiers behind them and the occasional blast from a gun. They dodged trees and  bullets to survive. Neither of the two knew where they were or how long they had been running. Jacks companion stopped running, Jack tried to get him moving again but then realised why he stopped. On the companions leg was a humongous bullet hole, it was staring at Jack almost as if it were mocking him. The companion struggled to get up but with agonising pain he managed. With Jack’s help he covered the wound and hobbled along being supported by Jack.
What felt like hours was actually minuets, the two stopped moving as they did not hear the sound of the soldiers feet, both of them had no breath so they waited for a few seconds, but before the were completely recovered they were faced with a soldier who let of a shot that hit a tree next to Jack and with that the two started to run again, still dodging bullets and tree stumps they came to a halt as they were met by a waterfall with jagged rocks at the bottom, accessing their options within seconds Jack jumped pulling his friend with him. The men disappeared through the mist of the waterfall.

Writing to Argue

Many people are afraid to come to school or work, and why? because of bullying. Bullying affects all schools and workplaces across the world, not one is unaffected by bullying, every second that someone is bullied is a second of that persons life ruined. Is this acceptable? of course its not, and why? because we live in a society where bullying is unacceptable and wrong, but then why does it still continue? because many people in the world have not gotten the message that bullying is wrong. This is what I want all bullies to hear; what you are doing is wrong. Everyone civilised will agree that abusing somebody (both physically and verbally) is a disgrace to our society.

Bullying does not just take one disguise, it has many forms than just physical or verbal, for example there’s cyber bullying, this is when someone sends verbally abusive messages to someone via text messaging, e-mailing or social networks. This form of bullying is very popular with our modern day technology and like all forms of bullying drives many people to the brink of suicide and unfortunately some to suicide.This form of bullying is very popular because the victim doesn’t always know who’s bullying them, so the bully gets to victimise someone without the repercussions and without their identity being revealed. ‘some children are biologically predisposed to bullying because such behaviour lent their ancestors a selective advantage in our evolutionary past.’ this is one theory by a bullying psychologist, it shows that bullying could be caused by ancestral behaviour that got an ‘advantage’ through bullying. ‘a Washington middle school teacher allegedly joined bullies in beating a 13-year-old boy to the ground and physically abusing him.’ this is a newspaper article (the Daily Mail) it shows that although there are many anti-bullying websites and groups, bullying persists throughout the world and stands strong; even the ones we trust with the safety of children and their education, are joining in with a sickening act towards a 13-year-old boy.

The main form of bullying is physical bullying, this form of bullying is very popular and has been an issue for many years, it is very popular as the bully can determine the amount of damage that is dealt to the victim, ‘The tendency for school children to bully others was conceived as lying along a continuum of frequency, ranging from zero to very high’ this is a quote from a psychologist that specialises in bullying from a young age, trauma from physical abuse in a persons youth could cause an influential child that it is acceptable to abuse someone for personal pleasure; whether it’s mental abuse or physical abuse, it isn’t the right way to behave and treat others, so in later life this is the way that person would treat the people around them. The effects of physical bullying range from slight effects to physical and mental scarring that could last for many years, ‘It has been suggested that the mental health of schoolchildren can be undermined by repeated bullying at school’ this is a quote from the association for professionals in adolescent bullying.

Many people try and stop bullying by starting up anti-bullying websites and by handing out leaflets and so on, but if there are so many people trying to stop bullying than why does it still persist? Well some believe that the sheer size of people that bully others is just too hard to stop; so the possibility that bullying is abolished is hard to imagine. Some anti-bullying websites like childline work hard to help prevent children  all over from getting bullied, they hold events that raise money for victims of bullying and also raise awareness of bullying and its effects. “I am really upset as I am being bullied at school. They call me fat which has made me stop eating. I have tried to talk to my dad and the teachers but they don’t seem to listen or do anything about it. I am bullied online all the time  and sometimes get threatened. They say they will find out where  I am and hurt me. They tell me I should keep quiet but I really want to tell someone. I am scared that I might get hurt if I do tell someone. Help!” this is from a young boy who contacted childline for help. It shows how desperate some children are to get something so simple like a shoulder to cry on or help from someone.

Another major event that takes place to raise awareness of anti-social behaviour is anti-bullying week; “This Anti-Bullying Week we call on children and young people, schools, media, government, parents and carers and the voluntary sector to raise awareness of the children and young people who have special educational needs and disabilities that are bullied in schools.” This is a statement from another anti-bullying group called anti-bullying alliance. They talk about a number of young people and children with disabilities who are bullied, they are bullied due to their disabilities. The statement also shows the lengths they will go to, to raise awareness of the abuse and discrimination which occurs in schools around the world because of someone’s disability.

In conclusion, most people turn a blind eye to bullying, they see it as childish fun but when the joke goes too far, someone doesn’t come into school because of fear of abuse or hide in toilets to avoid certain people, then that to me is when the ‘fun’ turns into bullying. No one deserves to be treated like that, no one deserves to be bullied, so if you see a person being verbally or physically bullied are you going to turn a blind eye and be as bad as the bully or are you going to do something about it.