Abercrombie & Fitch hates Big, Beautiful Women

In a recent interview, the CEO of the popular and preppy clothing brand, Abercrombie & Fitch declared that his brand does not carry XL or XXL sized clothing for women. Why you ask? Well, to put it simply, Mike Jeffries (CEO) doesn’t want “fat chicks” to be seen in his clothing.

Excuse me Mr. Jeffries? Are you serious? Now I’m not by any means a tiny person, I’ve got curves and some rump to spare. I could still fit well within the S, M and L sizes already offered at Abercrombie & Fitch; but I can tell you right now, I will never buy an item of clothing from this brand ever again.

The following is a letter to Mike Jeffries on the topic of his intolerable statement about the female shape.

To Whom It May Concern: Mike Jeffries,

On behalf of the American people, and more importantly American women, I am writing this letter to say that you sir, are disgrace.  In a recent interview, you were asked why your brand does not carry sizes larger than an  “L”. In response, you stated that your company seeks to gain the attention of a certain type of customer, the “All- American Girl” or “Cool Kids”. Let me tell you something about America Mr. Jeffries, America is much bigger than a large. We are a country filled with indulgences, mostly we indulge in food; but what is our second favorite indulgence? Clothing. Unfortunately, Your cheaply made, overpriced clothing is one of America’s favorite brands. It pains me to see that so much money goes to such an unethical man.

Eating disorders among teenage females is currently an epidemic in the United States. Millions of young women starve themselves everyday to look the way the women in your ads look.  Young women vomit up their lunch so they might be able to fit into the idea you have about what is considered “attractive” and “cool”. You are perpetuating the impossible idea that a size zero is what makes a person beautiful.  You sir, are the reason women cannot feel comfortable in their own skin. It is not fair that Abercrombie and Fitch carry the sizes XL and XXL in men’s clothing, but not women’s. This blatant disregard for the female body reiterates that worth in women lies in their body, not in their personality, mind or morals.

I’d like to ask you sir, what size is your mother? What about your sister?  Can either of them fit in to the clothing you sell? Does the size of their bodies dictate whether they are worthy enough, or beautiful enough to be seen promoting your brand? What if had a daughter? Say she doesn’t fit the mold of someone you’d consider being “cool” enough to wear Abercrombie & Fitch? Would you deny her the right to wear your clothes just as you have millions of other women around the world?  I hope your answer to these questions is no, but if it isn’t, then I suppose there is  hope for you as a human being.

My first hope in this letter is that you retract your previous statements, and Abercrombie & Fitch makes clothing more accessible to women of a larger size. My second, and more important hope is that women across the united states XXL and XXS join together to boycott your disgustingly prejudice brand. It is so imperative now more than ever to promote a healthy body image among the entire female race. It is not important to fit into a certain size, it is important to be healthy and love yourself.

I thank you for your time and attention to this matter.

Respectfully,

Shelby Jo Offutt

Bengie’s Drive-In Theater

My friends and I enjoying a night at Bengie’s (I’m the redhead)

Bengie’s Drive- In, located in Middle River, Maryland (close to Baltimore) is the perfect place for a Friday night date. For just $9.00, a patron gets to watch not one, not two, but three movies! And I’m not talking like vintage black and white movies; I’m talking blockbuster hits and Disney’s latest cartoon adventures! The concession stand at Bengie’s is the most affordable and wholesome concession food you will ever find. From fresh-fried corndogs to veggie wraps or even a shrimp egg roll, Bengie’s makes sure that the best comfort foods are present to make your night the best it can be!

Because it is an out-door venue, there aren’t many places to hang advertisements. Of course, up-coming movies are strung along the walls of the snack bar, but the primary place where advertisements show up is on the radio station that the movie audio plays through.  Everyone listens to the station before the movie comes on, and it is a great way to advertise products and companies. It is the easiest way to gain the attention of the audience, because everyone is huddled in their cars, waiting for the movie to begin.

One of the best PR strategies I saw at Bengie’s was a PSA about keeping drive-ins open in America. Before the previews or opening credits of the movie, pictures of decrepit old drive-ins flash across the screen. Each time a picture of a drive-in appears, a big red stamp that says CLOSED punches on to the screen. It seems like at least one hundred pictures stamped CLOSED shift on the huge screen in front of me. It’s incredibly unsettling and depressing- especially since I’m sitting in a drive-in myself! I came to enjoy a few movies under the stars, but now all I can think about is “what if Bengie’s closes?”

What an effective technique! It did exactly what is designed to do.  I felt terrible after seeing that PSA. It was almost as if I had just watched that ASPCA commercial where Sarah McLochlan sings about dying puppies. I didn’t want to let another family-owned drive-in be a victim of the recession. I know everyone else on that lot felt the same way I did.  There was an odd silence after watching it, as if everyone was collectively mourning the loss of Friday nights not spent at a drive-in. A radio personality broke the post-PSA silence by saying only this: Bengie’s needs your support to continue to stay alive. Please continue to be loyal patrons, and always remember to gain use of our snack bar.

The PSA reminded me, and everyone surrounding me that if we don’t take action, then Bengie’s could look just like those lonely, dirty pictures of a huge screen facing nothing but a vacant lot and tumbleweeds. It was simple, striking, and to the point.  The pictures jolted the audience into awareness, and then urged them to take action by taking simple measures to keep Bengie’s in business.  The biggest one: don’t bring outside food. If you think about it, when a ticket to see three movies is  $9.00, that’s only $3.00 a movie. How would anyone be able to make a profit on that? Especially when there are only 3 showings every week: Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The concession stand is where Bengie’s makes the most of their money, so if people sneak outside food and drinks- there is no way it would be able to survive. What the commercial did was guilt the audience in to being an 

Brilliant! I have never felt so guilty for sneaking a drink in to a movie! I almost felt responsible to closing all of the other Drive-Ins who could no longer brighten up the weekend air! Why must I be so darn greedy?  That night when I went in to the snack bar, I bought jumbo popcorn, a corndog and a large soda. The line was backed up all the wayout the door.  Everyone had to make sure 

they were doing their part to make sure Bengie’s wouldn’t be leaving for quite some time.

I love Bengie’s Drive-In. It’s one of my favorite spots to spend a summer night.  I will continue to bring my family and friends to Bengie’s for many years to come

Product Placement

So, as I sit here, trying to think of what to write about- sipping on my Coco-Cola, I say to myself  “Hooray! Don’t I just adore typing this blog on my sleek, portable Mac book-Pro! It ‘s superior quality and design make creating this blog so much easier!”

By reading the above statement, you have been victim of product placement. It may have been fairly obvious, especially since this is a blog, and not movie of TV show; however had the message been slightly subtler, you may not have noticed at all.  Product placement can show up in places we least expect it, like say- the story of a teenager and a vampire falling in love and then fighting off other vampires. What does that have to do with Volvo or Apple computers? What does K-Y Jelly have to do with the story of two policemen trying to handle the violent backlash of the drug cartel? We both know this answer: Absolutely nothing.  It’s an easy way to gain funding for the movie, while promoting a product.  It’s Advertising.

By the way, the two movies in question are: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (2012) and End of Watch (2012). These movies aren’t the only ones guilty of product placement. Any movie you can think of made in the past ten years is probably guilty of at least one product being advertised through the context of the narrative. The biggest product placement offenders are often big budget Blockbuster hits like the Spiderman comic revamp, titled The Amazing Spiderman.

The Amazing Spiderman (2012) is the movie recreation of the comic that follows Peter Parker, a normal teenager who is bitten by a radioactive spider that turns him into a super-hero and vigilante.  He seeks to make the world a safer place while trying to avenge his uncle’s death and solve the disappearance of his father.

• The Amazing Spiderman has at least 25 products or company’s placed throughout the movie.
  • Adidas
  • Bed, Bath and Beyond
  • Ben and Jerry’s
  • BMW
  • Bing
  • Chevrolet

• Hellman’s
• Jansport
• Jeep
• Lumber Liquidators
  Mercedes
• Mott’s
• Nature’s Best
• Nike
• RawlingsRubik’s Cube
• Russell Athletics
• Sony
• Sony VAIO
• Starbucks
• Time Out
• Tropicana
• Tuscan Dairy Farms
• WebMD
• Zoo York

That’s over 25 mindless, tiny commercials that consumers may not be aware of.

Personally, I’m not even familiar with some of these products, so I wouldn’t know  if or when they were being advertised to me, but others are just so obvious. There is an entire scene when Peter Parker is using Bing to research the science his father was working on before he disappeared. There are close-ups of the screen as he types words in to the search engine. It actually shows step-by-step how to search with Bing and how simple it’s supposed to be to use.  It’s almost like an instruction manual placed right smack dab into the middle of a movie.  Unlike most commercials on TV, the technique of product placement isn’t stopping the action or plot of the movie. The advertisement is placed along side the plot, or even helps to further the story line like it does in The Amazing Superman. Bing actually helped Peter become informed and therefore he took action.

The same thing can happen in action movies when the hero jumps into a certain brand of car to catch the villain in a drawn-out car chase.  The car is now shown as fast, safe and durable because the hero always catches up, he always makes it out alive, and despite crashing into a thousand different obstacles, the car just keeps moving. All of these concepts are being presented in the matter of seconds or minutes without any verbal communication to the audience.

I think the most noticeable and unforgettable product placements are fast food and technology.  Movies are created through suspended realities, often with things that don’t exist in the natural world. It’s funny and memorable that Tony Stark from Iron Man really wants to bite into a juicy Big Mac when he’s living in a world that really doesn’t exist.  Of all the things he could have in his entirely made-up universe, he wants a Big Mac. Technology is also noticed more when it comes to product placement. The characters usually use the newest phone, tablet or laptop. So when you see a cool character using their IPad, it makes you want to use it too.

In cases of big companies like Apple, I think that it’s the producers of movies that seek out the product rather than the products seeking advertisement.  Business Insider had an article that said one secret to Apple’s success is the free (that’s right FREE) product placement they receive from many of Hollywood’s best. In 2011, Apple outfitted 891 TV shows, and 40% of profits generated from Box offices were by movies featuring  “I devices”.  That’s a whole lot of free advertising for Apple.  So say that each show plays in an hour time slot once a week, plus the hundreds of movies that average about two hours in duration. That’s thousands upon thousands of hours that viewers are looking at Apple product. It obviously works.

Personally, I don’t mind a little bit of product placement here and there. A lot of times, I think that it makes the story feel more real. I hope that in the future, product placement doesn’t become excessive to the point that there is more advertising than movie content, although it’s hard to draw a line. What happens when there are 250 products being placed in a film instead of 25? When does it end?

The Fault in Our Stars: A book I will never forget.

The Fault in Our Stars is a novel by John Green that follows the struggles of teenage life from the view of Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 16-year-old cancer patient forced to live with an oxygen tank constantly keeping her alive.

I can truly say that this book, although it is fiction, changed my life. It’s the type of book that sticks with you for quite some time after reading it. Maybe it’s because I was 16 just three years ago, and can relate to the feeling of falling in love for the first time. Maybe it stuck to me because knowing what it’s like to be sixteen, I can never understand the daily struggles and incredible heartbreak Hazel had to tackle through out the course of the novel.

The book was actually given to me as a gift close to the end of Christmas break this year. My boyfriend is always encouraging me to be reading at least one book at all times, so he got The Fault in Our Stars, thinking it would be a good fit. I started the book on a Wednesday, and by Sunday night I was finished. I just couldn’t get enough of the book!

My favorite character by far is Augustus “Gus” Waters- Hazel’s love interest. He is so kind, and caring, and funny. He has such an extraordinary outlook on life for young man who lost his leg to cancer. At the beginning of the book, Gus has been cancer free for over a year and is living as any other teenager; he just has to use a prosthetic leg.  The thing that I enjoy most about Gus’s character is his amazing sense of humor. He can find humor in any situation, even when his best friend Isaac has to have both eyes removed due to eye cancer. This may sound like it would be offensive, but it actually makes Isaac and everyone surrounding him feel at ease.

After I read The Fault In Our Stars, I needed Devin (my boyfriend) to read it too! I wanted so desperately to have someone to talk about the story with. Devin and I were high school sweethearts, so we often had conversations comparing what our courtship was like to Hazel and Gus’s courtship. Their playful banter, and the way they cared for each other reminded us of how we felt when our love was new. Another conversation that came up frequently was dealing with the terminal illness of a loved one. The parents of Gus, Hazel and Isaac also played a very big part of the novel, so it was interesting to read not only the view of the person with the illness, but also the people who are affected by it every day. Although I’m not a parent right now, I’m quickly moving toward adulthood and someday I may have to tackle the emotional stress of having a sick child.

I think that a lot of times, when illness like cancer is spoken about publically, the focus is often on the suffering, and the hospital visits and everything about it is made to feel so clinical. The Fault in Our Stars does the opposite- it humanizes cancer. The characters in the novel are not real people, but they seem so real and relatable that it’s hard not to feel attached or connected to them on a personal level. 

For someone who has never known a person with cancer, or had to deal with the emotional pain of having a loved-one with cancer, I can honestly say that this book gave me a new perspective and appreciation for life. I recommend this book to any young person, whether they be going through a hard time in their lives, or maybe they’re just in need of a good read. The Fault in Our Stars is funny, witty and inspirational. I am so glad I had the opportunity to read this book.

 

Currently, The fault in Our Stars is in the pre-production stages of being turned into a feature film. The cast is set to star Shailene Woodley– known for her role as Amy Juergens in Secret Life of the American Teenager

My life according to Disney

In the United States, and maybe some parts of Europe and Asia, it is a childhood right-of-passage to be fitted with your Mickey Mouse ears. For me, that fateful day came on Halloween 1998. I was five years old, and despite just getting over the chicken pox, and my mother being four months pregnant with my little brother– nothing could keep me from getting those ears placed on my head.

Walt Disney and his movies are responsible for generations of light-hearted, dreamy-eyed children who believe that miracles happen everyday. Being one of those children in the 1990’s, I witnessed a change from the cookie cutter European Monarchies to a more diverse group of hero’s and heroines. This made it possible for everyone to identify

My favorite movie of the decade was the Lion King. Like so many other children, I would watch that cassette tape on a loop. I had a child sized Simba recliner, which I would sit in for hours while I braided my Ariel Barbie’s hair and watched The Lion King.  As a child, the big concepts like death and evil kind of went over my head. I can remember being sad when Mufasa died, but mostly I just remember Simba dancing around with Timon and Pumbaa singing  “no worries for the rest of our days…”

It’s funny to think that even in the face of a murder plot and exile the main character finds a way to discover the sunny side of things. In Disney movies, it doesn’t matter how bleak the situation seems to be, there is always time for dancing and a song- in fact, most of time it’s the happy song that leads them to the solution of whatever problem is at hand. With this general formula Disney made it seem like anything was possible and we as children ate this idea by the spoonful!

Personally, I was one of the most confident children I know and I attribute it all to Disney. I had this notion that as long as I tried my best and gave a little spunk, I could never fail! I hadn’t seen any examples of how to accept defeat, or more importantly- how to accept defeat graciously.  The first time I lost a peewee soccer game, I was devastated! There must be something I could do to change this fate! I’m a good person, why didn’t I win? 

Disney instills in us that anything is possible, which is fantastic; but in the real world there are limits. I think the problem with my generation is that everyone is so busy complimenting themselves and trying to live out pipe-dreams that they are unable to achieve real goals.  Urban Dictionary calls this phenomenon “Disney Syndrome”, describing it as a “flawed outlook on life”.

Over all, I think Disney provides both children and parents with wholesome entertainment and fond memories that will last a lifetime. I know I will never forget the times I spent plopped on the couch with my parents watching my favorite Disney movies.

Choose Your Own Adventure– In the future.

When I was born, the world was made of cassette tapes, pay phones and computer monitors that could take up an entire desktop. Now, just 20 years later I can vocally tell  my 5 inch, 4 ounce Iphone  that I feel like eating sushi, and with in seconds I will have a list of places, according to the distance from my current location then exact turn by turn directions how to get to the restaurant of my choosing. I think it’s safe to say that the world as we know it is rapidly changing.

Is it for the better? Or is it for the worse?

Let’s say in 25 years from now, the world is brilliant. Technology has made the world a faster, safer place and in turn, the human population has never been better. Due to the newest computer technologies and vast amounts of satellites placed all around the world’s atmosphere, the education systems from around the world have become completely unified. Children are no longer forced to attend school according to their geographical location; instead they are placed in classes based their level of comprehension and skill. Teachers from all around the world collaborate to create specialized curriculums so that each and every student gets the most out of their education. Students now have the opportunity to learn any language in the world. Cultural boundaries become minuscule as students learn along side others who come from infinite ethic backgrounds. This makes the world a more intellectually equal place. Countries are no longer fighting to have the top education system, but instead collaborating in order to make the future a brighter place.

How does this work? —Well you see, let’s say Johnny is a thirteen-year-old boy. When he wakes up in the morning, he does not ride a bus to school where he sits in class with the same children and teacher every day. Instead, He wakes up and places his hand on a sensor; with that, he has uploaded his class schedule for the day.  At 9:00 am, he sits at his desk in his home while a hologram of his math teacher is projected in front of him. Anything she writes on the “board” simply appears on his desktop. If he or any of his other classmates from around the world has a question or wants to participate, they simply swipe their index finger across the bottom of their desk and the teacher is notified. After that, the teacher can choose a student to call on. When a student speaks, their voice is captured and sent out to the rest of the class and the teacher in real time. If needed, the language can be instantly translated into any other language so the entire class can understand. This creates a cohesive virtual classroom environment. Johnny’s schedule is completely tailored to his needs as a student, which means if struggle with the concept of chemistry, he will be placed in a section working at a more basic level. Johnny has the chance to be academically challenged while becoming connected with his peers from around the world. He will grow up to be a multi-cultural and multi-lingual adult, fully prepared for the modern world around him.

The best part about this future is that the technology of education is now available to everyone. Children in places such as Sub-Saharan Africa or very Eastern European countries have access to these means, making the digital divide almost invisible. This creates the chance for educational equality for the entire planet earth.  Better education impacts everything from population control to economics. Life is sweet in 2035.

Now lets talk about the other option—

In 25 years, World War III has completely taken over the lives of all humans.  Because of the vast amounts of technologies available to certain countries, peace in the world has been completely destroyed. Those with strict military rule, or absolute chaos divide the world. The United States of America is no longer a place filled with dreams, but a place where supplies are low and Big Brother is watching.  In fear of extreme terrorism, or worse a rebellion from within, the U.S. military monitors every single person twenty-four hours a day. Every American citizen has a barcode imprinted on him or her at birth. This barcode has the power to control every aspect of daily life.

In order to gain entry in to any building or mode of transportation, the barcode must me swiped and accepted. Cars will not start until the driver’s barcode has been verified. Citizens are not allowed to enter places their barcode is not registered. This means that a citizen may only gain entry into their own home, their motor vehicle, their place of work, and their place of worship.  The same laws apply for Internet content. A citizen must supply their barcode to gain access to information, but the government has control over what the citizen can see. If a citizen attempts to gain access to an unverified website, they are immediately identified and arrested.

Mail no longer exists. It is considered too much of a risk for the government to allow conversations to go unmonitored.  Paper has become completely obsolete. In order to communicate, a person must either use a government issued phone, or send a message via a closely monitored email system. Citizens must use their barcode to dial one another. Once both barcodes have been verified and accepted, the two may only have up to five minutes of talk time a day. This is to ensure that any anti-American communication would be almost impossible.

Supplies such as food and fuel are scarce. Places like super markets no longer exist.  According to the number of barcodes registered to a household, a package of dehydrated food is delivered each month. Every week, a small amount of clean drinking-water is placed on the doorstep.

The fear of weapons of mass destruction is all too real. Some countries have already been blown off the map. Although the government’s safety measures have kept the United States unharmed thus far, a shower a nuclear missiles could come raining down at any minute.

So which will it be?

In all honesty, there is no telling what the future could hold. I think the world could be a mixture of both scenarios in 25 years. Hopefully not as extreme. I think that with new information technologies, education will both be easier to come by but I also think that in time the government could potentially take away some of the freedoms that

we are accustomed to.

As for my future?

I look forward to information technology making my life easier. When I wake up in the morning, all of the latest news stories will be uploaded and projected on to my wall while I get ready and make my breakfast. As I move from room to room the projection will follow me, ensuring that I wont miss a moment of programming. Advertisements will be custom tailored to only tell me about the products and services I want to hear about. Every aspect of mass communication will be faster, smoother and easier to come by. It will be completely impossible not to have access to information.

Confessions of a Facebook Addict Part 2: Withdrawal

A day without Mass Media is like a day with out . . . anything!

My primary goal for my day with out media was to completely cut out social networking sites, especially Facebook, which I recently discovered is my go-to media.

My secondary goal was to attempt to avoid everything else.

“You’ve got Mail!”

I will tell you right now, I was unsuccessful with both of these goals.

I made it a point not to go near my computer that morning for obvious reasons. Usually, I check my email when I wake up to see if any of my classes have been canceled, if the University is closed etc, etc, etc. If I checked my email during my media-less day, I would only be more tempted to get on Facebook and then I would start out the day as a cheater. We can’t have that now can we? No! So I skipped the laptop all together. I didn’t even put it in my backpack for school.

As I boarded the Towson shuttle I could already hear the radio blasting. I had already failed! There was no way to avoid it! I tried to zone it out by looking up at the posters that are taped to the tope edge of the bus, except when I saw them I realized I was looking at advertising for the TU bookstore, sporting events and Bill Bateman’s Bistro. It became very obvious that if I was going to avoid mass media the bus was not the place to do it. I believe this would fall under the category of involuntary exposure to media.

Once I got to my first class, I realized that I had missed an email that morning saying that my first class was canceled. Of course!

I was really surprised to find how easy it was to avoid media on campus. There was only one place I needed to keep away from: the University Union. The UU is the media hub of Towson. There are posters and info-booths and televisions galore! Oh, how tempting it was to go and watch some cable over a plate of Chick-fil-a! My will power prevailed over the temptation as a made my way back to the advertisement covered shuttle and made my way home.

I don’t have cable in my apartment because Netflix is a much cheaper alternative, so that was really easy to avoid as well. Without the Internet or television at my disposal, I felt like the world was empty.  What did people do before the 1950s?

By the time five o’clock rolled around I had done all my dishes, scrubbed my bathtub and put together everything I was going to cook for dinner. I was bored out of my mind! I needed something to focus on, or entertain me. When I walked into my room I could feel my computer staring at me from across the room, calling me closer! Oh the agony I felt trying to stay away. With in moments I was sitting at my desk with the Internet up and ready to go. I pressed the Facebook tab and began to scroll through my newsfeed like wild fire! It felt amazing to get back to my beloved social media.

All and all, I supposed it’s nearly impossible to avoid mass media for an entire day. That is, unless you live in a remote village in Africa. . . or not!

I spy with my little eye a Shell advertisement!

Confessions of a Facebook Addict Part 1: The Revelation

 Friend Requests, Wall posts, Status Updates, Comments, Relationship Status, Tagging, Poking, Liking, Stalking… Before 2005, none of these words had anything in common. Some  of those phrases didn’t even exist! That is, until a glorious new invention called ‘The Facebook’ completely revolutionized the way people relate to one another. Facebook is the place to meet new people, catch up with old friends, voice your opinions and post millions of ‘selfies’ for the entire world to see! It is exhilarating! . . .Maybe even addicting?

Personally, I adore Facebook. I feel as if I have grown up with it. My first facebook experience came during my freshman year of high school. A boy I had a slight crush on told me that ‘Facebook is definitely the new Myspace, but easier. You have to join!’ He really did not have to pull my leg, I signed up with in the hour! Although my romance with Facebook-boy did not last, my love affair with the online social network flourished in to a deep connection that could not be broken.      

Flash forward six years: I am a sophomore in college, I am in a long-term relationship and Facebook is still an incredibly important part of my day. To be honest, I hadn’t noticed until now just how important it is to me. I connect to facebook more each day than I do with any other media or social network. I haven’t even created a Twitter account because I almost feel as if my loyalty to Facebook would be compromised in some way. That sounds crazy I know, but I can’t help it.

Now, don’t get me wrong; I am very open to other forms of media. One of my favorite rituals during the day is to listen to The Kane Show as I ride the shuttle to school.  I really enjoy talk-radio. Aside from facebook, I would say that’s where I hear the most of my current events. Every morning from 7:25 am- 7:47 I am able to hear the latest on Celebrity gossip, what shows are on that night, one or two current events and maybe even a song (not including the sponsored advertising). The same thing happens when I ride the shuttle home after my classes. All together, that is a little less than an hour out of my day. To give you a comparison Radio = less than an hour; Facebook = More than five.

My boyfriend is the one who coined the term ‘Facebook Addict’. He began to call me that after it appeared that regardless of the time of day, setting or activities I was involved in at the moment, I always found a way to check my newsfeed.  I never took him seriously. It seemed to me to be just a playful joke between the two of us. After spending an entire day tracking my use . . . He could not be more right! I am a Facebook Addict.  By the time I make it to the bathroom in the morning, I have already been to my facebook page twice. I check my Facebook before I ever even think about my email. While on campus, I have my Samsung tablet in my hand constantly, always bouncing between Facebook and Pinterest. During classes I try really hard to focus, but my mouse always finds it’s way to clicking onto my Facebook account. It’s almost as if I have lost all self-control.

I think the most disappointing aspect of all of this is that the reasons why I love Facebook so much is really none of my business.  Facebook is like the social-network version of reality TV. It’s a place where everyone dishes up whatever interesting, funny, absurd or devastating event that happened in his or her lives.

To me, there is nothing juicier than discovering a controversial Status Update and watching people flock to duke it out in the comments section.  It’s absolutely terrible! When I think of all the other things I could concern my life with, it’s embarrassing to know that more than 5 hours of my time is spent nosing into other’s business; and to they do the same to me!

Facebook serves as my primary view in to current events happening in the world. The most recently, I remember finding out that the Pope had resigned through all of the funny statuses and Memes people were posting on their walls. I also felt really up to date on the 2012 Election due to several political debates that happened on my newsfeed daily. I guess not everything on Facebook is evil?

For now, I’m going to seek recovery for my facebook overdoses, and try to cut back on social media.

‘ Hello everyone, name is Shelby Offutt and I’m a Facebook Addict’