blog post 9

Wow.  I have absolutely no clue what to write about since I finished my volunteer hours a couple weeks ago.  For those out there who still read these things (which I know is like everybody in the class haha) I unfortunately haven’t met with my conversation partner in the past few weeks.  It’s unfortunate because I truly considered her to be a friend of mine and, like a normal person, I enjoy spending time with my friends.  Since I’m staying here over the summer I will hopefully get to see her then. 

I just thought, what if my community service somehow influenced someone else’s decision to volunteer at a location of their choosing.  Wouldn’t that be cool?  And then the same effect may take hold on someone else in a sort of chain reaction.  I guess that is what is meant by the phrase [One person can change the world]…or something like that.

The more I think about this volunteering stuff the more I think that it takes person to person interaction to effect a change somewhere somehow.  You can’t do it through a computer game or simulation or through gamification or some other made up technique.  You just need plain human interaction.  Face to face contact is the best way to let your personality come out and it is the best way for you to express your thoughts and feelings.  If you are giving a presentation is it better over skype or in person?  If you ask a girl out is it better over text or in person?  Which is more likely to produce a favorable response?  Now do I think some of what society can do with technology is neat?  Yes and no.  Some of it is neat but then again some of it is weird and unnecessary.  Cody talked to us about internet groups who fight to keep information free on the internet and participate in illegal acts of vandalism, and maybe terrorism (depending on how you look at it), and a picture he showed us that day stuck out in my head.  It was a picture of people in suits and Guy Faux masks holding up a sign that said “Don’t worry we are from the internet.”  At first I thought it was funny but I also thought it was stupid.  And the more I thought about the kinds of activities they did I came to think of that as stupid also.  If they want to accomplish something they should be going out into their local communities and persuading the people around them, face to face, to take their side and then they will see the change they want.