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Author Archives: sarah.deikun
Posts: 5 (archived below)
Comments: 0
Social Media and Conventional Interactions
In a New York Times article, the Boston Public Health Commission argues that changing your Facebook status to single before telling your ex-parent is not healthy. The fact that a whole convention was held on such topics seems ridiculous to me. The health commission argues that before posting a single status, ex-partners should come to an agreement to break up and stay informed. This is not a social media phenomenon, people have moved on to new partners or been over there old one before letting them know way before social media was invented. Social media is now just a visible extension. Anyway, how did they really come to the conclusion that breaking up in person is more “healthy” than doing over the internet. In person, there may be a chance for a physical altercation or less chance for one person to get their opinions out if they are not well spoken. Of course, there are pros and cons of the internet and social media specifically, but I am not sure the issues covered by the convention are those that deserve such attention. If parents and families foster environments of encouraged communication and interaction I believe there would be less impersonal interactions among peers. If parents spend all night on their blackberry and laptop, it sets an example for teens on how they should conduct their relationships with others.
Do Husbands and Wives have equal workloads?
A New York Times article assessed whether men and women had an unequal distribution of work in the household. The original argument that women do more stemmed from the authors’ own experience and those of the women she knows. She went on to explain a little of why she believed what she did in the first place. Her investigating on the matter, led her to analyze the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In it, she appeared to be convinced by their data that women in fact do not do more work than men. I remain skeptical of this data. I have many questions left unanswered. For example, what was considered paid work or unpaid work? What was categorized as leisure rather than work? What questions were asked to determine these findings? I think that many women and mothers do things that may not be considered work or even essential to the functioning of the household but rather just to make things a little better for the family. I do agree that perhaps mothers spend more time thinking about the functioning of the family which would remain unaccounted for. Essentially, the argument of whether or not the workload between spouses is equal does not matter. If the arrangement of the household works for the individual family, then why keep tabs? However, credit is due to mothers who do live the role of housewife and take care of children and the household. It is arguably the most underpaid job out there and has the least vacation time (none!)!
Posted in Assignment 4
Tagged Husband, New York Times, Wife, Workload
Comments Off on Do Husbands and Wives have equal workloads?
Consuming Kids
I found a documentary called Consuming Kids : The Commercialisation of Children. For sake of brevity I only watched and posted the first part (of seven). This documentary is directly related to the past few articles we have read in class. It includes a brief history of marketing and how kids are marketed too. It is not shocking at all to see that Ronald Reagan and the courts gave power to businesses and marketers rather than the FTC which represents the “people”. This has remained a common trend in politics and issues until this day. The money and influence of individuals is miniscule compared to the lobbying and funds distributed through large corporations. On the same token, parents and families should not be looking to the government for guidance in the media influencing their children. It is not pick and chose for every aspect the government should or should not regulate. If the people want America to be the consumer/capitalistic state that it is, we can not go crying to the government when it has unintended effects.
The amount of money that is pumped into the economy under the influence from children was truly amazing. Informative documentaries such as this one, should serve as a wake up call to parents and families to power they give to their kids and the amount and type of information they are exposed to. Although parents certainly cannot control everything their child sees and hears, they can help educate and influence the way their kids process information. Technology in the form of TV’s, the internet, and phones have had a profound influence on society today, but how the information they convey is interpreted and distributed is up to each person to decide.
Eugenics in America
A video on Eugenics on Youtube gave a brief history of the topic in the United States and Nazi Germany. I was taken aback by some the facts and laws that were passed in the United States assuming that the information from the documentary is accurate. I had never heard of the history of Eugenics in the United States, I have only heard it talked about in the context of Hitler and Germany. It was even mentioned that Hitler not only mentioned but modeled his own beliefs and practices based on those of America. It is really hard to imagine how society thought and expressed their feelings about the “mentally ill” in the past. It was highly appropriate to mention that many of the fears and stigmas stemmed from ideologies related to class and race. I did like how the documentary mentioned that there is gains to be made in the advancements of genetics, but yet history shows us that we should be weary of the possibilities it will create. It is important for society to look to the past and see how technologies and scientific capabilities have unfolded in the past in order to prevent future events from unfolding in similiar ways.
Midwife vs. Hospital Birth
In a recent New York Times article, they chronicled the debate over wether or not pregnancy related deaths are actually increasing or not and the causes that may underly the change. They went on to state that statistics from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention show an increase in mortality rate, yet an Ob/Gyn claimed that data showed it has decreased in the past few years. This discrepancy is troublesome. With such an important issue at hand, it is alarming that there lacks concrete data and analysis on the subject of mortality rates in pregnancy. It was even more disappointing to see the focus of both the midwife advocate and hospital birth advocate attacking eachother over numbers and practices, rather than focusing on the pressing issue at hand. If they both claim to have the mother’s and baby’s safety as their main concern, why was there little mention of it. Because the process of giving birth is essential to society and the world we live in, this is an issue that should be resolved. Pregnant women are confused enough by the bombardment of precautions, products and activities that the one thing they should not have to think about is their safety while giving birth. Knowing your caregiver has your own best interest in mind will make one’s birthing experience more enjoyable than any music, medication or breathing excercises. This article is relavent to this class because it shows the controversy that technology has caused in relation to the delivery process and the important of continued exploration into the issues surrounding it.
