Parents becoming too attached to technology

I can agree with this article. They're saying that parents and adults have a bigger addiction to technology than what people may think. The roles have been switched; instead of the parent nagging the teenager about putting away their phones, the children are nagging the parents to get off the smartphone or laptop. I have personally noticed this with my own mom every since she got her fancy droid smartphone and iPod touch. This woman loves scrabble. I mean loves it. After dinner, when we'd be spending family time together in the living room, she'd be on the couch with both devices out, playing two simultaneous games of scrabble and Words With Friends. It gets really annoying. And her most recent discovery, and I blame myself for this one, is the new "Draw Something" game. I showed her, knowing she'd love it being the art major she is, but I didn't think about what it could mean. Now, every single night, when she's not playing Words With Friends, she is constantly asking me, "Bryana, does this look like a postcard?" or "What does this look like?" And when that's not going on, she is constantly asking me if I played my turn with her yet.
Yeah. This is getting a little out of hand. I have brought it up to her several - no, many- times. All she does is laugh it off. So I know exactly what Beth Teitell means when she describes the many people who have trouble with parents getting of their technology devices. She described an instance where a father was so attached to his laptop, his two young children were putting their heads in between him and the screen, and even "fabricated potty-training accidents" (Teitell). She qualifies both sides of the argument with interviews from many people. It seems as though the majority of the interviews make it seem like parents are the bad guys when it comes to technology, though I think this was the author's purpose because she is showing everyone how harmful technology can be to children when parents are using it.


Article: Dad, can you put away the laptop? by Beth Teitell

What Doctors Can Learn From Musicians

At first, when I read the title of the article, I thought, "How in the world can doctors learn from musicians?" But after reading it, I can definitely see how it works. Music and medicine differ in one, big way: Medicine is based around having the knowledge of many medical topics, but little knowledge if used in the performance of medicine. Musicians, on the other hand, make it their goal to perform. They practice and practice and practice with plenty of critical feedback from teachers, themselves, and audiences. For most of you, you've had some sort of private lesson teacher or coach or something of that sort. The way they help you is by coaching you. Helping you along the way, you know? That's what doctors can use from musicians. Getting constant feedback and coaching during their process of practicing. They "spur constant growth" (Ofri) with you, motivating you to do your best. As a musician, you strive to become better, and no plateaus are acceptable. I find that this method can be very effective and it would greatly help our population of doctors. If they get their feedback and criticism, they can better their performance and make sure they're the best they could be.
The author, Danielle Ofri, is a musician and a doctor, so the article works very well coming from someone who has the experience of both areas. I thought it was well done, and brought up a good point of improvement in the field of medicine. She also quotes a book by a fellow doctor about her argument, and how "the actual practice of clinical medicine is a performance" (Ofri).


Article: What Doctors Can Learn From Musicians by Danielle Ofri, M.D.

iBooks go a little too far?

The point of a book is to read it, right? Well, apparently not. At least, not to the new iBook from Apple. You may think this iBook may be just your regular electronic book, made for reading enjoyment. Nope. This book comes fully equipped with games, interactive playthings, music, and just a whole bunch of distractions. If I wanted that much stuff in my book, I would have just gotten the computer game. It think this new feature just takes away from the enjoyment of just reading words. Not playing "whack-a-mole" with Beatles characters because it somewhat has relevance to their story, "The yellow Submarine". Author Laura Miller pointed out something I definitely agreed with, "You can’t really pay much attention to anything else while you’re reading, so in order to play with any of these new features, you have to stop reading." (Miller). Something else I am not a fan of with these books is not being allowed to have an imagination. With little videos and interactive illustrations of what happens, I wouldn't be able to think for myself and picture the story with how I want it to look. If I had one of these fancy-shmancy iBooks, I wouldn't have that feeling I do on lazy summer days where I sit outside in the sun and just get lost in a book. No. I'd have all of these distractions within the book that would cause me, and many other people, to not even read a book.
The author definitely has a strong opinion when it comes to these iBooks, and that is negativity. Coming from first-hand experience with one, she hates it. Reading with more than one person, especially children, causes both of them to argue about who gets to play which game and who gets to use the special feature that the meaning of reading gets lots with them. This is not something we need, especially for our youth. It was said that this may be the possible future of books. And it really frightens me. The author's first-hand experience definitely adds more support to her argument.




Article: Can bells and whistles save the book? by Laura Miller

The Color of Water by James McBride

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Classical Music... a Punishment?

What this article says is that music can be used on a negative way. People don't really like the sound of classical, and it therefore drives them away. For example, a 7-eleven blasted Mozart in it's parking lot to get rid of unwanted loiterers. Also, a school in England actually used classical music as a punishment. When students misbehaved, they were forced to sit and listen to the music for an hour. And behavior increased 50%. If listening to classical music was a punishment, I wouldn't mind at all. I like classical music. For the most part, I disagreed with the article, until a few good points toward the end. It has a lot to do with presentation. If the music is screechy because of the poor speakers, a bad recording, or something of the like, it isn't going to be as enjoyable as listening to it surround sound or even better, live. If you pass through a terminal and hear music for a short amount of time, you don't really notice it. But, if you were to be staying in that terminal for a while, that music becomes more apparent.
For the most part, Anne Midgette is supporting the theory that classical music is used to filter out people from public spaces, and is used in a negative way. She starts the article out with a personal story that has made her realize this. After giving several informing pieces of evidence, she makes her argument clear. I don't think she wrote this for the argument, really. I think she wrote it for the sake of informing others.

Article: "Blasting Mozart to drive criminals away" by Anne Midgette

'Tis by Frank McCourt

So far, I really enjoy this book. I haven't really read much of it, but I really like what I have read. I know it's going to be about him trying to make it in New York, but the part about him in the church, I really like it. It's interesting to see how differently people valued religion. There were those who went all-out and sat in the front, but then there were the guys who were in the back, making fun of them. And now, people don't even bother to show up to church if they don't want to go.