It's a Small World After All

        The media has really made the world a smaller place. People are now "closer" to each other than they were before. Media has certainly mad the the distance between people shorter and now people can communicate and relate with each other even they are not in the same place together. Before we had snail mail, a very time consuming way of relaying messages, now we have the e-mail. With the e-mail sending messages have become instant with the only problem to address is how slow or how fast your internet connection will be. E-mail has now become less convenient also with the creation of chat clients and chat rooms or instant messaging. Instant messaging is self explanatory. Receivers get the message as soon as you send it most of the time but your internet connection might be a problem again because a slow connection might delay your messages for a few moments. Cellphones have now also become an essential part of life. With it we can send text messages even without internet and we could also call anybody, anywhere, anytime as long as there is a cell signal wherever you may be. Television have also reinvented the way people get their news. Aside from newspapers there are news channels on TV. People just turn on the TV and then they can see what is happening around and they know about it instantly. The internet is the ultimate source of connection. It connects millions of people around the world and shows no sign of slowing down (except for a few ISPs that are really bad). With the internet people can talk to each other, purchase stuff, download software, book trips, find information and much more.

          Media has really changed on how people live and people rely heavily on the media. With the whole world being connected there is this concept called the global village. Everyone practically lives next door to each other with the media and we do not need to leave the comforts of home since every body and everything is so well connected.

Filtering, Censorship, Manipulation

            Censorship is not a very big deal in media or at least I do not mind it at all. Media gets filtered all the time and I am used to that already. Maybe that is the power that media has over its audiences. The audience cannot choose what will ultimately be shown on media. In the end the audience will have to cope on what will be shown. The ones that control the media would want to avoid any controversy as possible. Sometimes though, filtering can get out of hand and audiences can get false information and beliefs from the media. With the advancements in technology these days it has become too easy and very common to manipulate the media. One example I can think is Photoshop. One can simply get pictures and edit them using Photoshop to show something unusual. One famous picture was circulating emails a few years ago. It was a picture of a rescue helicopter with someone hanging on the rope ladder. The helicopter was hovering over a body of water and there was a shark cropped in leaping out of the water straight to the man hanging on the ladder. The picture was pretty realistic so I bought it for some time and then never heard of it in the news and I saw the helicopter and the shark were two different pictures that were put together.

             With media manipulation and filtering it is difficult to address a wide audience on sensitive issues properly. There are small communities though that are aware and are trying to make others aware also. An example I can think of is the band Rage Against the Machine, a rap metal band with songs often having lyrics addressing political issues. Their songs would almost always sound like a protest backed up with a heavy metal sound. The band has faced many controversies because of their songs that question political issues such as government oppression. The band is also censored in other countries.

              Media is easily manipulated and filtered so how can we be sure if what we see and hear from the media are what they really are? Since there are no other ways to get our information anymore we rely heavily on the media to get our information, but if we think about we cannot be too sure of what we get are really true. Such as is the power of media.

Well Connected

Imagine a world without technology(modern technology). A world without computers, phones(including cellphones), cars, internet, television and whatnot. I have imagined this kind of world and I imagined a very sad me in it or at least a very bored me or both. My life has become so dependent on technology that a few days without my computer can have me getting depressed over it. I depend on my electronic gadgets very much. They are my media devices. Without them I would not know the things happening around me, to my friends, to the society. My laptop plus internet access pretty much tells the story of one whole day for me. If I have nothing better to do I just sit in front of my laptop either playing video games, surfing the web, or chatting with friends. If not my laptop I use my iPad and basically do what I do when I use my laptop. See? I am very dependent on my gadgets. Take them away and I get bored easily and become unaware of the happenings around.

I am somehow a prime example of someone using the Uses and Gratification Theory. The core proposition of the theory is "People actively seek out specific media and specific content to satisfy particular needs." This statement is very applicable to me. I have a cellphone so that I can communicate with my friends whenever I want or need to and it is loaded with songs so that when I get bored I just get my earphones and start listening to songs. I have my laptop so that I can make my papers, but my laptop has more uses than that. My laptop can also cure boredom because I have numerous video games installed in it and I just play when I am bored and when I get tired of playing I surf the internet and chat with my friends. I also have an iPad which basically has the same uses as my laptop the upside is that it is more portable. I have an Xbox when I want a real gaming console to play with. I also have guitars (both electric and acoustic ones) when sometimes I want to play some music on my own.

That is all. Time for me to get back to playing my games and chatting with my friends. :)

Membership Required

Organizational Culture Theory. Those who comprise an organization defines the organization. In basic terms this is how an organization is run by its members. The members have already their "norms and traditions" in their organization and it is their generally accepted behavior. It is like an organization would have an extra set of unwritten rules in addition to the written rules of an organization. An example of a written rule in an organization can be something like this: "Always log in when coming to work and log out when leaving" and an example of an unwritten can go like this: "Do not bring bring food that would make a lot of noise when chewed or bit."

Before college (yes I mean high school) I was almost never part of any extra-curricular activities, but now (college) there are different organizations and stuff. I never had the experience of doing any work except school work of course. This year, my sophomore year, I signed for only one organization which is my home organization ACTM. In my freshman year I had 3 orgs including ACTM, but I never did anything productive in any of them. I was just a member in all of them. I think what prompted me to lessen my extra-curricular activities is my laziness and my schedule. I never found out the "culture" of the other 2 orgs I previously joined though I still get notification e-mails from them until now. In ACTM this year I tried being active so I am now part of the finance core/team/department (I'm not sure which) and without any previous experience obviously I do not what to do in my work. From my views and experiences with the organization I can say that members are close and pretty much everybody knows each other especially the active ones. Everybody is very hardworking also although I might be an exception. Honestly I have no idea what to do so I just follow what I'm told and observe around and learn from what's happening around me.

I do not plan to stay active for long because even though I am not part of any major activities in the organization the stress of school has already been overwhelming me, but hopefully I will still stay active. I would still need to learn how ACTM fully works though and from that maybe I can probably be a proper member or active member in the future.

Tech Tech Tech... LIN-Tech????

People are too lazy nowadays!

You know how I know this? I was hungry for a BigMac and I was already. Back then if you wanted a BigMac you go to the nearest McDonald's and get one yourself. Welcome the phone and delivery just by dialing was possible. Now I'm hungry for a BigMac and I'm already on my computer.... WWW.McDelivery.com.ph FTW!!!!!! I didn't have to stand up all I did was lift 3 fingers and in 30 minutes I have my BigMac!

The problem today is people have become too complacent. Just this morning I was nearly late for my NSTP. And FINALLY! I arrived right "on time" before my jeep left. I just arrived almost 20 minutes late but still when I was still in traffic I texted my classmates to wait for me because of the heavy traffic along Katipunan.

And now... I'm here at my friend's house waiting for a party. I actually forgot to make my blog the day before but because of technology (there is wi-fi and a laptop) and I was able to make my blog in time.

Turn Shuffle Off, Put it on Repeat

Structuration - The "creation and recreation" of organizational environment through rules and regulations.


Structuration with its structure creates somehow a template. In this case a template for everyday life. Each day becomes redundant, repetitive, same as the others. A good example of a repetitive pattern of life is school. School is the same everyday unless of course for special or extreme situations that would call for breaking the pattern.

Everyday we wake up, get dressed, and go to school. In school we have schedules. The schedule never changes and we are forced to follow it and it dictates what we do in school and what class we go to. In class we get tons of work and tests so much so that sometimes when we try to remember our lessons each of the lessons in each class overlaps with each other. It makes everything much more confusing.

Ateneo specifically has its own structure of sorts. One thing that is unique to the Ateneo is the INTAC class. I never really got to know what INTAC was really for because it never really did what it was supposed to and that is introduce us to Ateneo culture. INTAC class was one thing I never looked forward to. Another Ateneo structure is the strict ID implementation. I have no problem with this because it really is for security reasons, though the guards are sometimes too annoying. They know you have an ID but they still check if it's your ID. That's not the problem though. The problem is that they sometimes take too long just to check if the face on your ID is your ID. But all these are just patterns, structures. They are all unavoidable situations and are already part of everyday life. Going to school, home work, school work, ID implementation, schedules they are all what we encounter everyday.

Though patterns are somehow a good thing also. At least we do not have to think hard of what we have to do each day. The only thing we have to think about is whether to follow the pattern or not and sometimes thinking outside the box is a great thing. It adds color to your otherwise black and white life. A little variety won't hurt and it would keep our lives more interesting and exciting.

Great Minds Think Alike...

                … or so they say. The theory of groupthink, is very intriguing that it introduces the idea of unanimity over individuality. All I can say is that this is very true. People want to do what others want to do and who can blame them? Unity means that there will be less conflict between ideas and therefore less conflict between individuals. This can also mean that work can be achieved in a shorter span of time. However, would it maximize quality as in the case wherein individual ideas be pooled together to form a better idea?

                Yes, groupthink would result in more peaceful and speedier manners of work, but what of the individual ideas? Thinking as one would only result to one goal and apply only one idea out of the many possible ideas each individual in a group could come up with. We should respect each other’s ideas and criticize if necessary. In this way higher quality outputs can be achieved because of the variety that will be achieved. There would be more color in the work put as each individual’s ideas will be from their own originality and likeness.

                Groupthink reminds me a lot of a hive mind. A hive mind is a collective consciousness where there is no individuality. Everything or everyone thinks the same as if there is really only one mind that controls them all. A hive mind reminds me of the popular video game Star Craft wherein one the races there actually have a hive mind. The race is called Zerg. They are very primitive whose only goal is to spread and destroy anything not Zerg. They always attack swiftly and in swarms or most commonly known as a Zerg rush to catch opponents of guard and outnumbered. Picture depicting a Zerg rush.

Can't see the picture clearly? Here is a link of actual gameplay footage of a Zerg Rush: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfl279o_Cko

                Groupthink can be a good or a bad thing depending on the situation. When pressed on time this could be a good thing, but when quality is a must individuality is called upon and pooled together to form variety and color. :)

Week 5 Who you?!

              Through extensive guidance testing I have received my results and I have been classified as an introvert. I think this classification alone help explain why I have so much difficulty in meeting and talking to people I do not know very well. It always feels so awkward when I have to meet new people because I do not know what to say and do. Being an introvert I do all typical introvert stuff. I stay at home all day, watch the telly all day, eat all day, sit all day, and play videogames all day. These typical introvert activities make me a poor conversation starter. I do not know what to talk about because I only know what happens inside my house or what I am interested in, but I cannot talk about that it’s boring.

                I can only talk normally and with full confidence with my friends. This makes it hard when I am being required to talk to strangers or others that I am not close to. This sometimes consists of buying stuff, interviews, or asking others to answer surveys. This is a dilemma for me because sometimes school work requires talking to people that most likely I am not close to or are total strangers. It is not a nice feeling and it puts me in a delay. In class we talked about uncertainty reduction theories. People want to reduce the uncertainty they have in others in order to build a good relationship with each other or to know each other better. I feel like I have to utilise this uncertainty reduction thingy in order to be rid of my unsociable nature.

I am also a partially shy person. Sometimes I am confident when I am in front of people but sometimes I get scared and nervous. This all depends though on circumstances though. I can get my confidence if I have friends in the audience, for my grades, or if I just enjoy what I am doing. I get very nervous when I know I will be embarrassing myself in front of people, I do what I normally do not do, or I have no idea of what I am supposed to be doing in the first place. Just sharing :)

                Sometimes or often I wish I was like the sociable ones. They can talk to people with ease and they always seem to know what to talk about even if they do not know the person they are talking to. I feel like they actually do know who they are talking to and that is something I envy them for. 

Week 4 Hey Guy, You Got A Problem?

                Things do not always go the way we want it to happen and that is so true. You give everything you can do, all your efforts, all you hard work but ultimately in the end nada, zilch, NOTHING! Everything you did, gone in mere seconds and you cannot do anything about it. Painful isn’t it? Saddens you? Relates to you?

                People fail all the time and that is normal. Heck! I fail (in my tests) all the time but it hasn’t stopped me from being cheerful and hopeful that the future holds the better. Do not be so over bent with failure as you learn from the mistakes and it eventually leads to success. But no matter how you think and know that the future will be better you are still struck by the failure you have experienced because you know that the effort that you put in to something just became pointless. COGNITIVE DISSONANCE! ßWhat a phrase! It just basically means the “feeling of discomfort caused by situations inconsistent with one’s own cognitions” or in plain English “WTF! NO! That is not what I wanted! Wa!” and then cuss words follow. :P

Let us define a few terms shall we?

Cognition – this is what you want, what you believe in.

Dissonance – this is what you do not want, it just doesn’t sit well with your beliefs.

Consonant – everything is consistent with your beliefs, you crave this!

                Cognition is what everybody wants. By nature people want it their way and will be disappointed if their way is not to be followed. This is now called dissonance and people do not want this. Some people will be really shallow and some will be very critical at this. For example when it comes to sports I am pretty shallow. I just play for the fun and I do not mind when I lose but when it comes to video games I can be very critical and I always want to win unless I know that I am really no match against my opponents. I play this online game called Heroes of Newerth and I play to win because of the opponents that I usually get. I usually get the boastful ones that think they are better than everybody else. So naturally this makes my friends and I uncomfortable (dissonance) and we want to correct this. We beat the crap out of them and at the end we feel all good and happy inside that we were able to make them eat their own words and shut them up (consonant, mmmm feels goood). They trash talk, we deliver and that is how it works. Oh, and we trash talk back also to complement the opponents’ ass whooping courtesy of my team. Another thing my friends and I find joy in is planking. Planking is when you lie face down in the most unusual of places with your arms placed at your sides and somebody takes picture and posts it on the internet. We enjoyed this activity so much so that we made our own fan site called Ateneo Planking which now has a relatively good following of more plankers in Ateneo. We find joy in this activity even though it makes us look stupid in the eyes of many because it is very weird and unusual and it also brings joy to those that see you.

I am wearing the purple shirt :)

                To sum everything up, everybody wants it their way. Things though do not always happen the way they want it to be, but this is okay! We learn from our mistakes to lessen the risks of making the same mistakes in the future and when things go our way we just feel very happy for ourselves.

Back Street Boys, take it away! “♪ I want it that way… ♫”

Week 3 I Regret Not Buying!

                Buyer’s remorse. Do you have it? Did you get it? Either way you are not going to feel good about it. Sometimes I get it and then sometimes I don’t. Generally when I buy stuff I do not regret it. Why would I regret buying stuff for myself using my own money anyway? I used my own money and that means I really want what I’m buying right? But sometimes why do some people just seem to be less cheerful than they should be? Maybe it was because they realized that what they have bought was utterly useless to them, or they found something better, or they expected too much from what they bought and many more reasons to state.

                What I found out today is that one can have buyer’s remorse from not buying something. Say what? Buyer’s remorse from not buying anything? Yes! Buyer’s remorse from NOT BUYING ANYTHING!! Don’t be annoying!

                It might seem strange but it is true. The explanation? Easy. The buyer was somehow prevented or refused to buy self a nice reward of sorts. This is true from personal experience. A friend of mine (his blog will give his identity away) wanted to buy a little something something for himself but he didn’t. He wanted it but didn’t get it. Now regret fill his mind and now wants that something something even more. See? Buyer’s remorse without buying anything. How fun was that?

                Sometimes I feel the same way too. I want to buy stuff too but sometimes I can’t and that just makes me a little sad inside. I usually want shoes, games or electronics. When I can’t buy them I can’t them off my mind and it bothers me for a long time. Why? Because I want them and I know I have uses for them. I don’t just buy anything for no reason. Almost anything I buy have practical use. My shoes for example. Some are for my sports activities while others are for casual purposes. Games are a way for me to unwind after a tiring school day. When I do not get my games I feel sad because I know that I am going to be bored for a long time before I can get a new game.

                Buyer’s remorse comes with a package of emotions. Not only do you feel regret but you feel sad and unfulfilled at the same time. You feel sad because you did not buy what you want or you bought something of no use to yourself. Unfulfilled because you just feel something missing from you (maybe money or there is a hole in your wallet) or you feel empty because you did not get anything that would fill the void.

                But why feel sad? Buy what you want to buy and don’t buy anything that wouldn’t make you happy. Just make sure that what you buy will truly make you happy.

                Food makes me happy. Electronics makes me happier. J

Week 2 Persuasive Ain't It?

                 Recently an intriguing, but a very interesting question popped out and made me think and I rarely think. The question goes like this “How do I persuade my audience?” and it made me wonder how all those rich businessmen get all their buyers, those politicians to get the favour of the voters and what not. The art of persuasion is very interesting indeed. You might be wondering: “Hey Joseph, why did you just call persuasion an art?” and that is a very good question and asking that makes me think and as I said earlier thinking is a rare instance for me and when I do think just stand back and watch as I blow your mind away with the things I will and can come up with ranging from the utterly nonsensical things or to the cleverest of things even for my standards, but what is not rare for me is learning.

                “Why is persuasion an art?” you might ask and this makes me ask “why did you just ask that a second time?” just wait and you will know soon enough because I will tell you. I call persuasion an art because not everybody can use it as effectively as others. I can compare it to other forms of art like illustrative or musical arts. In the illustrative arts others can use their abilities and imagination more effectively than others do. For example in painting there are those that are just not cut out to be painters while others paint and the audience basks in the greatness and artistry. Musicians also have that ability to be much more able than others. They make great music with originality in every note they make while others take so much time to learn the simplest of songs. Comparing these to persuasion it is all the same and thus I can call persuasion an art. Some people have the art of persuasion down and they are juggernauts when they persuade people. People gather and they gather to listen and they do what they are told. On the other hand others who do not have this art act like repellents to the audience as if they have somehow converted their insect repellents to ward people off.

                Now, how does this art of persuasion work? Well I think persuasion plays with the mind of the audience. Others choose to make the audience feel good with their barrage of sweet and uplifting words, others make the audience think, and others play with the ethics of the audience. Respectively these can be classified as pathos, logos, and then ethos. Thinking about this it made me realize something: it is all in the mind. These persuasive people somehow know what their audience wants and what their audience wants gets the attention of the audience. Some just use the cuteness :3

                And now I will give some examples as to how to attract some attention and do some persuasion. The most attention grabbing phrase that I know of is “Hey, do you want money?” and then make them do what you want them to do and I know nothing beats money or is it just me? LOL! You can also do something unusual that will grab the attention of the people around you like dance in the middle of a crowd, do a stunt, do a magic show (Criss Angel whoooo!!), or run around screaming. Just make sure that you keep the attention on you while you are already trying to say what you want to say and they do what you want them to do.

                Persuasion gets audiences, people to do stuff for you, or people to buy stuff from you. Learn this art and it will never let you down. You can get people to do what you want even if they do not want to. You attack them subtly inside (as to not hurt them) to convince them to do anything you want them to or be convinced of what you are trying to tell them. Persuasion is just not for others to do your bidding, you use it also so that people will listen to you and side with you.

                Now do you want to learn the art of persuasion? Persuasive ain’t it?

Week 1 Communication: Anywhere Anytime and You Can't Get Rid of It

                Imagine a tool that is used by all without any restrictions, a tool that can manifest in any form possible whether tangible or intangible, a tool that is used at all times at day or even at night. This tool is one of the most powerful tools of all and it used to build whole nations, factions, basically anything and everything. This tool is called communication. Communication is vast and is available to anyone or anything. I was recently challenged to think of a situation in which there was no communication. I pondered for a while together with my fellow classmates and ultimately failed to think of a thought. A thought in which if there was or is ever a circumstance when communication will be absent. And then this gave us a thought: communication IS everywhere and it will never be absent.

                Imagine if there was no communication aaaand I bet you can’t. HAHA! I already said that communication is ALWAYS present. I think that the only time there ever will be no communication is when somehow the whole universe broke down and nothing survives in the destruction. Communication will only be absent by that time because nothing can transmit messages and nothing can receive the messages.

                It is completely natural for everything and everybody to communicate with each other. Even subconsciously we communicate with each other. There are even times that one will talk to one’s self. It might sound weird to talk to yourself, but everybody does it sometime to think about stuff they do not want to involve others in. See? Communication comes so naturally that people talk to themselves’ from time to time. For the more eccentric some even talk to their things as if those things can talk back at them.

                Communication is also without restrictions. People use it anywhere for everything and they choose whether to use this responsibly or not. Others like their profane language and their mouths spew profanity like a volcano erupting and spilling lava all over the place. Others use communication responsibly and make friends not enemies, peace not war, and much more responsible things and activities.

               The basic idea is communication is important, but unlike other important things communication can never be rid off. Air is important but one can just hold his/her breathe and suffocate, food is important but one can starve one’s self to death, water likewise is important and one can also choose to thirst to death. One thing they have all in common, besides killing yourself, is that those actions still communicate to others and to the self.

                You can’t get rid of it, you can’t run away from it. What is it? It’s COMMUNICATION and it’s coming to get you!!