Pre-Documentary Questions

http://www.meatthetruth.com

There are over 1,000 documentaries on Netflix. Subcategories include: biographical, crime, historical, international, military, music & concert, political, science & nature, social & cultural, sports, and travel & adventure. Despite these endless options and genres to choose from, I have only seen handful of documentaries. There are a few reasons why I haven't yet hopped on the Documentary bandwagon:

1) I don't have much time
2) I especially don't have much time for TV

3) I usually spend my free-time reading, catching up on sleep, spending time with my boyfriend, or going to see friends.

If I do decide to set some time aside for "the box" I tend to choose one of my favorite shows. I prefer to watch a few episodes of The Office, Bob's Burgers, Trailer Park Boys, Parks and Recreation, or Ouran High School Host Club rather than a documentary.

Although, I should start making time for more documentaries since they make excellent subject matter for this course. As Dr. Kyburz mentioned in the class syllabus (https://www.dropbox.com/s/xtvdh5rtdu9fyuy/hastag%20CW2.pdf?dl=0) one of the goals of this course is to "enhance our analytical reading, writing, and thinking skills." Documentaries give us endless material to watch, listen, and write about while using analytical thinking skills to develop a deeper understanding of the content. The syllabus goes on to state that "we will be focusing our studies on the uses of digital media for engaging in various forms of activism towards social change." Documentaries are a prime source of digital media and many times express a need for social change. Documentaries change our minds and can help change the future.

Documentaries can encourage people to get involved as well as influence them to change their lifestyle. For example, the documentary FOOD, Inc. exposed the massive amounts of hormones in American food and persuaded me to choose organic food options more often. The documentary was able to change my lifestyle by exposing the food industry's harmful effects on human health and the environment. Documentaries are a form of digital media that encourage personal and social change. Documentaries are particularly useful for this class because they include mass amounts of information and data that can be communicated between peers and together analyzed.

Mixed Opinions About Twitter

A couple interesting points were brought up in class this week regarding social media. There were mixed opinions among students and Dr. Kyburz regarding Twitter. Two different perspectives of the social media site were discussed. A couple students stated that they felt Twitter seemed to be a way for users to let the world know every mundane detail of their average and not-so-interesting lives. This may be because many of us students used Twitter for that purpose when the site became popularized during our high school years. As a result, college students in particular may dread going through their own tweet history only to find evidence of their embarressing, less mature, possibly angsty and/or annoying high school selves.

On the other hand, Dr. Kyburz brought up a valid point. As she mentioned, Twitter is a tool used by countless politicians, doctors, actors, writers, news stations, and organizations. Social media can be used to promote, persuade, inform, and learn. I think that because college students are still students, and not professionals, we don't find Twitter as useful. However, this could change after graduating depending on what field or career individuals choose to pursue. Although, for some of us, Twitter may never be a convenient or helpful tool for promoting ourselves and/or career. As a future nurse, I can't foresee many reasons as to how Twitter could be useful to myself and my patients. In nursing, the best way to open communication with a patient is to let them know to use a call light button during their visit and then give them their doctor's phone number for post visit questions and concerns. 

I think that some individuals in the class are not interested in using Twitter because it does not seem particularly useful now... and it may not seem useful even once we start our careers. But, if students gave the social media site a chance, they may discover that Twitter can be informative and enlightening if you discover interesting "hashtags" or "follow" others that actually do have something to say.