Depression is not something that is easy to talk about, and I understand if this is hard for some to read about. Understand that you are not alone in this fight, and there are so many people that may not understand exactly what you’re going through, but they will listen.

To begin this week, I want to introduce you to a news blog called Depression News From Medical News Today. This blog has many different articles that they have published related to depression, but there is one of their most recent blogs that I want to share with you. I believe that it really speaks to our generation.

The article was published on November 15 2018, titled New evidence that social media increases loneliness. I think this title is a dead giveaway to what that article will be about. I’m sure you can agree that social media KILLS your mental health. It makes you feel as if you’re not good enough because these other women are so dang pretty. It makes you feel alone because even through there are millions of people in this world, no one understands you. It is not healthy!

In this article, researchers from Melissa G. Hunt’s research team looked at the three biggest platforms of social media: Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram. This study included 143 undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania. They each completed a survey to determine their baseline mood and well-being at the start of the study, and they supplied a week’s worth of data from their phones to demonstrate their current social media habits. The participants were assigned to one of two groups. The first group was instructed to continue using social media as they normally would and the second group was asked to limit their use of Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram to just 10 minutes a day for each platform. Over three weeks, the participants made their smartphone data available to researchers and they examined the participants anxiety, depression, loneliness, and fear of missing out. After three weeks, the results showed that the group who reduced their social media use experienced significant decrease in depression and loneliness. These effects were “particularly pronounced for folks who were more depressed when they came into the study.”

Based on their findings, Hunt offered advice for social media users who may be worried about the effect that these platforms could have on their well-being: “When you’re not busy getting sucked into clickbait social media, you’re actually spending more time on things that are more likely to make you feel better about your life. In general, I would say, put your phone down and be with the people in your life.”

Social media is so much more powerful than we realize. I think this study really made participants step back and see how toxic social media really is. When we look at Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook, I think that many of us really feel like everyone else has such a better life than we do. We really believe that we have such a terrible life because we aren’t on the beach for 26 weeks out of the year. We think that because we aren’t spending tons of money going shopping every weekend that we aren’t “blessed” with some of the greatest things. We really put ourselves down. Sometimes, all you need to do is put that phone down, open your eyes, and really see that the most important things in your life is mental health, family, and your relationships with others.

Sources

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323683.php

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/

 

As some of you may know, I am a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). For about 100 or more hours every month, I dedicate my time and love to my residents. I know many other CNA’s that would never dedicate this much time to people they don’t even know, but my residents mean so much more to me. Many of my residents do not live near their families anymore, so my co-workers and I are their family now. I spend weekends, morning, afternoons, nights, holidays, and birthdays with these amazing people. I am blessed to be able to do so!

I know a lot of people just think of CNA’s as “professional butt wipers”, but I can tell you we are much more than that. We are the people that reassure them when they are crying because their family never comes to see them. We are the ones that makes them feel better after that have awoken from a bad dream. We are the ones that kiss them goodnight and tell them that we love them. We are the ones that could even be holding their hand when they take their last breath.

I dread work somedays, but no matter what job you have, you are going to dread work somedays. It is by no means an easy job, but it is a rewarding job. To see the residents smile at you when you wake them up in the morning, to hear them say “Oooh honey it is soo good to see you today!”, to listen to how appreciative they are of you. It warms my heart and makes all of the sore feet and back pains worth it.

Many of my residents suffer from a type of dementia. Many of them have Alzheimer’s disease, a few of them have Parkinson’s disease. Many family members choose not to come visit because it is too hard for them to see their loved ones like that, but I am the one that sees it all first hand. It is hard to watch someone you care so much about be in so much pain and discomfort. It is hard to watch them shake so uncontrollably that they can no longer feed themselves. It is hard to watch them lose so much weight because they can’t do anything besides sit down. It is hard to watch them lose their minds because of this horrible disease.

I have a resident, and I am not able to tell you her real name, so I will call her Barbara. She is the sweetest lady, but she suffers from Parkinson’s disease. She has other diagnosis, but Parkinson’s effects her the most. She is very stiff all of the time, so it is hard for her to move around anywhere, even with a lift. She shakes uncontrollably and can no longer feed herself without spilling all over. She has very bad mood swings and around 12pm daily, she suddenly thinks everyone is out to get her. She knows that we all love her so much, but this horrible disease just takes over your mind. Again, I am the one that reassures her, holds her hand, kisses her and tells her I love her. It calms her down, and I’d do anything to make them comfortable. She has family that comes to visit, but they are not there often.

I also have a resident named Ron. Not his real name, but I am not able to tell you his real name. Anyways, he is a very sweet man, but he suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. His favorite day is Sunday because he gets to see his family and be close to God. He has a hard time remembering where he is, why he has to be there, when things are happening, and why he has to do certain things at certain times. It is not easy to reassure him because he is very set in his ways. I do my best to calm him down and make him comfortable, but sometimes it it impossible.

Being a CNA isn’t easy. It is very physically and emotionally demanding. It takes a lot of patience and love to be able to do what I do. I believe that it takes a special person to be able to be a CNA and love someone that they barely even know like they are their grandma or grandpa. I love my job, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Drinking Coffee May Reduce Your Chances of Developing Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s

I know if you’re anything like me, coffee is something that keeps you thriving. Without it, you look and feel like you’ve just risen from your death bed.

This study was done by  Science Daily in November of 2018. The goal of this research was to try to demonstrate that there may be some benefits to drinking an excessive amount of coffee everyday.

Before I get too into detail, I want to mention that Parkinson’s is another form of dementia. It is a progressive nervous system disorder that affects movement. Tremors are the most common symptom, but the disorder also causes stiffness and slowing of movement.

A new study out of Krembil Brain Institute suggests that there could be more to that morning jolt of goodness than a boost in energy and attention. Scientists are suggesting that drinking coffee may also protect you from developing Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

“Coffee consumption does seem to have some correlation to a decreased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease,” says Dr. Donald Weaver, co-director of the Krembil Brain Institute. “But we wanted to investigate why that     is — which compounds are involved and how they may impact age-related cognitive decline.”

This is honestly music to my ears! I am a huge coffee drinker, no matter what time of day it is! I know there are many people who are just like me, and maybe they drink even more coffee than me. If this study proves to be true, I’ll definitely be upping my intake of coffee (:

Dr. Weaver admits there is a lot more research that needs to be done before it can translate into potential therapeutic options.

“What this study does is take the epidemiological evidence and try to refine it and to demonstrate that there are indeed components within coffee that are beneficial to warding off cognitive decline. It is interesting but are we suggesting that coffee is a cure? Absolutely not.”

Exercise May Lessen Fall Risk for Older Adults With Alzheimer’s

As one who works with the elderly, I know that exercise can be vital. It is important for them to remain as active as possible, not only for their physical health, but their mental health as well. Most of the people that I work have Alzheimer’s and are now immobile, and they are at a high fall risk, simply because the disease makes them think that they are capable of walking.

A research team decided to explore the idea of exercise reducing the risk of falling among people who have developed Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimers disease is a brain disease that causes changes that kill brain cells. Alzheimer’s is a type of dementia, which causes memory loss and problems with thinking and making decisions. People with this disease and other forms of dementia have difficulties performing daily activities that many of us consider routine.

Dementia takes a toll on those who live with it, and it also places a burden on caregivers. Dementia causes problems with memory, language, and decision-making, as well as neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, changes in mood, increased irritability, and changes in personality and behavior. People with Alzheimer’s have twice the risk for falls compared to people without this disease. About 60 percent of older adults with dementia fall each year.

Researchers are suggesting that neuropsychiatric symptoms might predict whether an older person with Alzheimer’s disease is more likely to fall. Researchers also know that exercise can reduce the number of falls in older people with dementia. However, they do not know very much about how neuropsychiatric symptoms may increase the risk of falls, and they know even less about how much exercise may reduce the risk of falls for people with dementia.

At the end of this study, it was shown that people with Alzheimer’s and neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression and anxiety have a higher risk for falls. Exercise can reduce the risk of falling for older adults with these symptoms. Further studies are needed to confirm these results.

From personal experience, I believe that this study is very valid. I have witnessed first hand how many times a person with Alzheimer’s disease who does not participate in exercise can fall, and I have also seen how many times a person with Alzheimer’s disease that does participate in exercise can fall. Exercise may not keep a person from falling, but there is a chance they it could prevent it and lessen the amount of falls they may be having. Falling is very hard of a person, older or younger, so many we should give more encouragement to the people who can exercise to do so. Maybe it could even extend their lives. We won’t know unless we try.

Sources

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181105160825.htm

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181029135235.htm

What is Alzheimer’s Disease?

Alzheimer’s is a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking, and behavior.

Basics of Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimers is the most common cause of dementia. It accounts for 60 percent to 80 percent of dementia cases.

Alzheimers is not a normal part of aging. The greatest risk factor is increasing age, and the majority of people with Alzheimers are 65 years old or older. Alzheimers is not just a disease of old age. Roughly 200,000 Americans under the age of 65 have younger-onset Alzheimers disease. This disease worsens over time. It is a progressive disease, where dementia symptoms gradually worsen over a number of years.

In its early stages, memory loss is mild, but with late-stage Alzheimers, individuals lose the ability to carry on a conversations and respond to their environment. Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in the US. Those with Alzheimers live an average of eight years after their symptoms become noticeable to others, but survival can range from four years to 20 years, depending on the age and other health conditions.

There is no current cure for Alzheimers, but there are treatments for symptoms and the research is never ending. Although current treatments cannot stop Alzheimers from progressing, they can temporarily slow the worsening of dementia symptoms and improve the quality of life for those with Alzheimers and their caregivers. Today, there is a worldwide effort under way to find better ways to treat the disease, delay the onset, and prevent it from developing.

Symptoms

The most common symptom of Alzheimers is difficulty remembering newly learned information. As Alzheimers advances through the brain, it leads to increasingly severe symptoms, including:

• disorientation
• depression, irritability, aggressiveness, changes in sleeping habits, wandering
• mood and behavior changes
• repetition of statements and questions over and over without realizing
• getting lost in familiar places
• deepening confusion about events, time, and place
• unfounded suspicions about family, friends, and caregivers
• more serious memory loss and behavior changes
• difficulty speaking, swallowing, and walking
• responding ineffectively to everyday problems

People with memory loss or other signs of Alzheimers may find it hard to recognize they have a problem. Signs of dementia may be more obvious to family and friends. Anyone experiencing dementia-like symptoms should see a doctor as soon as possible.

Risk Factors

Increasing age is the greatest known risk factor for Alzheimers. It is not a part of normal aging, but your risk increases greatly after you reach age 65. The rate of dementia doubles every decade after age 60. Past head trauma can also increase your risk for developing Alzheimers disease.

Family history and genetics plays a role in the development of Alzheimers. Your risk is somewhat higher if a first-degree relative, such as a parent or sibling, has the disease. Women are also more likely than men to develop Alzheimers disease, in part because they live longer.

Alzheimers is also common in people who have Down syndrome. Their signs and symptoms tend to appear 10 to 20 years sooner than they do for the general population. A gene contained in the extra chromosome that causes Down syndrome significantly increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

There is no lifestyle factor that has been definitively shown to reduce your risk of Alzheimers disease. However, some evidence shows that the same factors that put you at risk for heart disease also may increase the chance that you’ll develop Alzheimers. These include:

• Lack of exercise
• Obesity
• Smoking or exposure to second hand smoke
• High blood pressure
• Poorly controlled type 2 diabetes
• A diet lacking in fruits and vegetables

These factors are also linked to vascular dementia, a type of dementia caused by damaged blood vessels in the brain. It is important to work with your health care team on a plan to control these factors to help protect your heart — and may also help reduce your risk of Alzheimers disease and vascular dementia.

Prevention

Right now, there is no proven way to prevent Alzheimers disease. Research into prevention is ongoing. The strongest evidence so far suggests that you may be able to lower your risk of Alzheimers disease by reducing your risk of heart disease.

Keeping active – physically, mentally, and socially – may make your life more enjoyable and may also help reduce the risk of Alzheimers.

What happens in the brain?

Microscopic changes in the brain begin long before the first signs of memory loss. The brain has 100 billion nerve cells. Each nerve cell connects with many others to form a communication network. Groups have special jobs, including thinking, learning and remembering, helping us see, hear and smell. To do their work, they operate like tiny factories. They receive supplies, generate energy, construct equipment and get rid of waste. They process and store information and communicate with other cells.

Scientists believe that Alzheimers prevents parts of the factories from running well. They are unsure of where the trouble starts, but just like a real factory, backups and breakdowns in one system causes problems in other areas. As damage spreads, cells lose their ability to do their jobs and eventually die, causing irreversible changes in the brain.

Overall

As you can see, Alzheimer’s is not something that is enjoyable. It changes the life of the person suffering, as well as the family and friends of the person suffering. Coming from someone who works with people diagnosed with this disease, it is not easy to handle. Some days are better than others, and it is important to be understanding of the disease. If you think you may have Alzheimer’s disease, or think that someone close to you also has the disease, please see your doctor as soon as possible.

Sources

• https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-alzheimers
• https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alzheimers-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20350447Depression

Thank you for reading! Make sure to look out for my next post! (:

To begin talking about Alzheimer’s disease, I want to introduce you to a blog that talks about a lot of the same research topics that I will be talking about. Science Daily is a news blog that I came across while I was looking into more research about Alzheimer’s disease. I believe that Science Daily is a very reliable resource because they have many, many article about lots and lots of research on Alzheimer’s disease. They published some amazing articles about continuous research that is being done with Alzheimer’s disease. If there is anything that any of you would like to know, besides what I am going to tell you, I highly recommend this website as a good place to look. (The link to the whole website will be included at the bottom of this post!)

Their article, Possible cause for Alzheimer’s and traumatic brain injury, they discuss what could be a possible “cause” for Alzheimer’s. Federico Sesti, a professor of neuroscience and cell biology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, was looking into a potassium channel referred to as KCNB1. KCNB1 is a non-amyloid-beta protein in the brain. He believes that under conditions of stress in a brain affected by Alzheimer’s, KCNB1 builds up and becomes toxic to other neurons and then promotes the production of amyloid-beta. The build up KCNB1 channels is caused by a chemical process that is also called oxidization. During this study, they found that in brains affected by Alzheimers, the build up of KCNB1 was much higher than in a normal brain.

In the cases of Alzheimers and traumatic brain injury, they build up of KCNB1 is associated with severe damage of the mental function.

Sesti successfully tested a drug called Sprycel in mice. This drug is used to treat patients with leukemia. “Our study shows that this drug and similar ones could potentially be used to treat Alzheimer’s, a discovery that leads the way to launching a clinical trial to test this drug on humans.”

In this article, the author talks a lot about what they think could be a “cause” of Alzheimers disease. While there is no main cause for this disease, there are things that scientists think contribute to a diagnosis, and these things are important to know about!

Science Daily also published an article titled Artificial intelligence predicts Alzheimer’s years before diagnosis. This article talks about the Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology and how it could improve the ability of brain imaging to predict Alzheimer’s disease.

Timely diagnosis of Alzheimer’s has always been important. The sooner it is diagnosed, the more effective treatments and interventions can be. However, diagnosing Alzheimers early isn’y always easy. Research has linked the disease process to changes in metabolism, which is shown by glucose uptake in certain regions of the brain, but these changes are sometimes difficult to recognize.

In this article, the author talked about how important a timely diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease can be. With every diagnosis, the sooner the better. This article also talked about Artificial Intelligence, AI, which is a which is a technology that improves the ability of brain imaging to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease.

Throughout this next week, I hope to give all of you a better understanding of:

• What Alzheimer’s disease is,
• The basics of Alzheimer’s disease,
• the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease,
• possible prevention,
• the effects that Alzheimer’s disease has on a person and their lifestyle

I also hope to give all of you a better idea of research that is currently being done about Alzheimer’s disease. At the end of the week, I want to share my personal opinion and experience with all of you, because I feel that is an important contribution to the topic.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you will join me on this journey of learning more about Alzheimer’s disease!

 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/

Have you ever been reading an article, read something that was really interesting to you, and you wanted to learn more about it? Maybe you just wanted to know where the writer got it, or maybe you wanted to include it in something that you were working on, but you didn’t know where the writer got the information? So you go looking through the essay to try and find the source. But, where is it? This is called, “I Can’t Find the Stupid Link.”

I know I am guilty of this for sure, and I’m sure there are many others that are guilty of this as well. The author used a relationship between websites and links to better explain this. You are on a website and you find something you want to learn more about so you look for an “About Us” or “More Information” or “FAQ” link, but it is no where to be found. You’ve looked at the top of the page, the bottom, the right and the left side, but you cant find the stupid link! Similarly, a reader might be reading something and have a quick internal questions about it: Where can I learn more about this? Who researched this? Can I read this article myself? Just like when we are looking through a website, this reader is looking to find a quick answer to their question! The easiest way to solve this problem is to either look at the information in the citation, or skim the references or works cited section.

Sometimes it’s not as easy as it sounds, and I will say myself that many times I have just included things with no reference or source to back it up. It happens. There’s fixes, and now I know how I can fix my mistake! (:

This article taught me a lot about fixing my mistakes, and there are definitely other things that I am guilty of doing. One last thing that I am definitely guilty of “Am I in the Right Movie?”

You have a paper due at 12:00. It’s 11:30 and you’re just sitting down to start writing. You have an idea and you think it is going to go great. You get the first paragraph done and it goes just as expected. You begin the second paragraph and you find out, the words sounded better in your head. You think maybe throwing in a quote would help with the flow, but instead it just makes it sound like nails in a chalkboard. It’s like sitting in a movie theater. You’re there to see The Grinch, and all of the sudden High School Musical 3 comes on. This is not what you had planned.

This article gave examples on some of the most annoying ways people have used sources in their writing, but they also included ways that these annoyances can be fixed. Sometimes you’re writing and you don’t know how to incorporate a source so you just throw it in, other times you know how to incorporate the source but you just don’t care. Either way, this article will help you fix it.

 

Summary

The title of the article was a dead giveaway. It told us exactly what we were going to be learning about.

All throughout this article, the author gave several examples about how people use sources in annoying ways. The author also explained something that really stood out to me.

The author used the analogy of an annoying driver. When you are driving, you know that the general rule is that the slower traffic stays to the right, but there is always that one car that just stays in the left lane no matter how slow they are going. We get irritated because, “everyone knows that the slower vehicles stay in the left lane for crying out loud!!” Chances are, they do know this. The author came to two conclusions about people like this:

1. You don’t know the generally accepted practices of driving in the certain state, Or
2. You know the guidelines but don’t care.

This is also true for using sources. Many people, when writing essays, are just trying to get it done and the last thing they are worried about is how they are siting sources. Who cares as long as you include them, right? No. Wrong. People who pay attention to things like the way people site sources find this so annoying and it will probably ruin their entire day when they read your essay and see the way that you included these sources.

Main Idea & Key Terms

• Rhetorical Nature: following a different conversation depending on the purpose and audience of the writing.
• Kinship: blood relationship, a sharing of characters or origins.
• Integrally: very important or necessary
• Contextualize: place or study in context
• Patch-writing: careless form of paraphrasing, essentially “patching” together direct quotes or different pieces of information that are too close to the source.

The main idea of this essay was to show us annoying ways that people use sources, hense the title. It is to show us and make us aware of things we may also be doing that we didn’t even know was annoying. It also show us way not to site or use sources in our essays we may be writing.

Commentary

Throughout this article, the author gave many examples of annoying ways that people use sources. I know that none of us read this essay without saying to yourself, “I have done that before.”

One example that stood out to me was the armadillo roadkill example. The author showed how the quote that the writer used came out of no where. There was no introduction to the quote, it was not explained, it was just throw into the sentence. I am definitely guilty of this. I remember when I was in junior high, maybe 7th or 8th grade, and I was in a writing class. Many of our papers had certain guidelines that we needed to follow in order to get an A on the paper. One of the most common requirements was to include two or more quotes in your essay. So, in order to get an A, I would just throw in random quotes. The teacher never said I have to properly insert the quote, he/she simply said I needed to include them.

Summary: How to Read Like a Writer

“When you read like a writer, you are trying to figure out how the text you are reading was constructed so that you learn how to “build” one for yourself.”

This article was very interesting to me. Throughout, the author talked about things we should focus on when we are working on how to read like a writer. Some of these things included thinking about why the author used this word instead of that word, what the genre of the story/article may be, what the purpose of the story/article is, what the intended audience may be, and even thinking about the evidence the author uses to support his or her claims.

The author stated that in order to read like a writer, you need to try to understand the way that the author has put the piece together and what that particular text can teach you about writing.

A few important things that I pulled out of this article was:

• know what the author is writing/talking about
• transitions
• possibly starting out with personal experiences
• the positive and negative impacts that author has on everything depending on be

One of the last suggestions that the author gave to help you read like a writer was to mark up your pages, write notes on the margins of the pages, and write notes both during and after reading. More times than not, the notes that people have written get used in their own papers. By using this technique, you can end up with a lot of useful ideas and information to help you with whatever you may have to write.

Main Idea/Key Terms: How to Read Like a Writer

Antiquated: old-fashioned or outdated

Context: the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms that can be fully understood and assessed.

Genre (in terms of articles): a category in artistic composure characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter.

Writerly Techniques: include, but are not limited to, narrative structure, pattern, diction, irony, allusion, tone, and setting.

Contextual Factors: characteristics of the ecology/environment that are related to the effectiveness of a collaboration.

The main idea of the article was to tell readers how to read in the same way that a writer reads. If you think about it, writers do not have the same minds as people who are not writers. When writers are reading, they are thinking about why the author used this word instead of that word, the genre of the article/story, the authors purpose, etc. This article taught readers how to read like writers.

Commentary: …and by islands, i mean paragraphs

Instead of calling this a reading, I would like to call it an adventure. I would call it this because it wasn’t your typical reading. This adventure had you scrolling all around the page, unsure of which order to read the paragraphs in, and unsure if you were even doing this right. The paragraphs were constantly changing, sometimes even without you clicking on them, and that made it even more difficult. I like it though. Throughout this adventure, I was trying to find the meaning of each paragraph. I discovered that each paragraph seemed as if the author was describing how they survived on that specific island or what they found. Some paragraphs talked about the relationship between islands and paragraphs and some talked about certain items that were found at the specific island. Each paragraph was unique in it’s own way.

At the end of this adventure, I also discovered what I think is the meaning of the title. By titling it “… and by islands, i mean paragraphs,” it showed that the islands are the paragraphs of the reading. In some readings, you are unsure of where to start with discovering why the author wrote it, what the main idea is, or why this specific detail was even included. When you are on an island, you have NO idea where to start with anything! I feel that the title was very fitting for this article.

This adventure really got me thinking about something that means so much to me. Not only this article, but the picture I was shown in class on Wednesday. Dr. Robinson showed us the following photo:

She told us to relate this to the article we had just read, and explain it in our own words.

This picture made me think of something being held up, or together, by a single thing. For example, my mother. She has been a single mother for the last 9 years now, and my goodness has she done an amazing job. I thought of her when I saw thing photo because she is the hands that us holding me together. These hands are made from rocks, and she is the rock in my life. She keeps me grounded, strong, and held together. Without these hands, this island would fall apart. It would be sunken in the water; gone. Without my mother, by life would fall apart. These hands are strong. They are holding up an entire island, and that isn’t easy work. My mother is so strong because she holds not only my life together, but my siblings lives together as well. She is the glue, the rock, the hands holding my life together. This photo also shows a person walking across the island in the center of the hands (I think). To me, this really shows trust. The person walking across trusts that no matter what, the hands will not let him/her down. He/she will always be supported by these hands. I feel this same way about my mother. I feel like a lot of times I am just disappointing her, but not matter what, she is the hands holding me up. She is the person I trust with my entire life. Granted, we never had to greatest relationship, but I regret that. My mother will always support me, love me, and hold me up. I will always trust her, love her, and hold her up in return.

This adventure really made me wonder what the real reason behind it was, and I’m still not 100% sure what the reason behind it was. Each paragraph is a different situation or a different description of the island itself. One island talked about the physical features on the island, including bits of lava. The author also told us that the days were humid and it was very windy. Another island had text that was constantly changing dates and times. This made me wonder if maybe he couldn’t decide what to write, or there was too much to write about. I think that the overall purpose of this adventure was to make the reader really think hard about that the idea of all of this madness was. Why was there no real way to real this? Why is this dang paragraph constantly changing on me? Why doesn’t any of this make sense to me? I really thought long and hard about this adventure, but it began to really test my patience at times!

 

When you think of a filter, do you think of the filter you use on your instagram photos or the super fun snapchat filters? Do you think about the millions of different ways to filter a photo? Maybe you think about the filter in your coffee pot or your furnace, but do you think about the ways you can physically filter yourself? Not only do we use filters on our social media accounts, but we use filters on ourselves everyday. These filters can be captured through photos, and when we capture the photo, we can use even more filters. Some examples of filters we physically put on ourselves is makeup, hair styles, clothing, attitude, facial expressions, emotions towards others, and even the way we communicate with others.

Throughout Chapters 1, 2, and 3 of Seeing Ourselves Through Technology, the author talked about many different types of ways to filter photos and ourselves. She talked about cultural filters and technological filters, genres as filters and different types of photos we take, such as time-lapse photos, and profile pictures. I wanted to show some examples of the way I have used filters. Throughout my life, I have constantly been taking pictures. I haven’t taken one of myself everyday, nor have I been able to keep all of the photos, but I have been able to keep most. Most of these photos are from 2014-currently, but there is one photo from 2005. I included this to show how much of a physical filter I have put on myself as I have grown up.

Throughout these photos, you can see that my hair color and length has changed, my smile has changed, the makeup I wear has changed, my wardrobe is different, and some of the people in the photos have also changed. Some of these photos have filters and some do not. None of the pictures have the same filter. (Pictures start in the first column and go down).

In this article, Rettberg talked about a woman named Suzanne Szucs. Over the course of 15 years, she took a photo everyday, no matter what. Her photos were displayed in an art gallery for anyone to look at. Relating this to my photos, I haven’t taken photos every day for the last 15 years, but I have been taking photos. Over the course of Szucs photos, you can notice a change in her life or when things were not going so well for her that day. In my photos, you cannot see the changes in my life or the days I wasn’t doing the best, but you can see a lot of physical changes I have made.

Overall, I don’t think the changes that I have made to myself have made me any less of the person that I am, but I do think I am going to try something different. Filters don’t define who you are, but they do hide who you might be. They can hide your true eye color or the nasty pimple you have on your forehead, but who cares about those things? People want to see you for who you are, no matter how hard it may be for yourself. I am going to take my photos using no filter from now on, in hopes that there are others that will follow behind me!