Being very SOCIAL while being antiSOCIAL

“distracted from distraction by distraction” – T.S Eliot

As you read this blog, are you aware of whats happening around you? Is someone next to you trying to get you attention while your head hangs over your smartphone or are your eyes staring at the glare of the computer screen? Are you at a dinner table and that the conversation is so boring that you decide to switch to your more social life, which is your smartphone. Is there even a conversation at the table, or is everyone too busy to interact.

So now you may not agree with me, and tell me that I need a fast track ticket to the 21^st century, where everything is digital. You may even inform me that you may be on your phone because the next person is on their phone and that you won’t even bother trying to talk to them. Hey I know that few families sit at the dinner table nowadays, which some have argued that there is no time, and that you are busy.

I am not ignorant to say that now we must all just drop our phones and all forcefully talk to each other, for starters you phone doesn’t have a bad breath, and it’s much easier to ignore someone on social networks, and instant chats without being rude. Well this was true until whatsapp came with “the last seen at tab”, which kind of makes it more difficult to lie about that.

The point I am trying to make, as a society we should start to get worried when people laugh literally face to face by saying LOL. This I do not understand. Are you even really laughing? Do we even do things that make us truly happy, or are we doing it to make our friends envious and followers worship us by posting statuses? Look I understand that if like you just did something awesome in your life and need to share it, that’s understandable. It becomes a problem when I know what you’ve had for breakfast, or you are angry at John Soap for what he did. Clearly John Smith doesn’t have phone to be texted, or called. A saying I like, is that everyone’s life seems perfect on Facebook. If only.....  And the more we live this virtual world of ours, where everything is perfect, where do we find the time to live real life and attend to life’s needs.

One my favourite situations are at parties/gatherings, when you find a couple of people on their phones sitting down, frantically texting away, and lost in their own world. Like why are you there in the first place?, its obvious everyone at the gathering is boring, and that your phone gives you greater satisfaction. Even if you are a shy person, how you going to improve your social skills by being on your phone all the time, and typing LOL when you didn't even crack a smile. I will admit that the phone is now a great accessory to seem busy, or not socially awkward. When you find yourself in such situations, it is easy to turn to your phone. Yes......think back, you have done that before, and even if you don’t talk to that person in your contact list often, you suddenly say Hi. 

Maybe I am just so much of a people’s person that I find this new trend disturbing, but I know somewhere somehow, everyone needs people skills and the ability to communicate with another human being properly. I also am worried about the literacy of these phone users, as all words are abbreviated, and in all honesty could be a new language. Some research shows that social networking has encouraged students to write more, which is great, but we need to take it one step further and teach them to write and speak properly.

I could go on forever with this but, I think you get the point I am trying to prove. For some of us we have less human interaction while having more of a digital interaction, which in turn may make us more antisocial.  On extreme cases you may find that one person may be a Casanova on the phone, with all the right lines, but when it comes to human interaction, it’s a complete turnaround.

So my 2 cents worth of advice to you for next time. Take time to appreciate human interaction to see a genuine smile, to embrace that awkward moment with another human, who won’t make you upset, when it says battery low.

Not being acknowledged because of SKIN Colour?

One small step for mankind one giant leap for Human kind- Neil Armstrong

These were the famous words said by Neil Armstrong when he first walked on the moon. Or was he the first person to walk on the moon? There are many conspiracy theories surrounding the claim of Americans sending the first people to the moon, even though Mythbusters proved that they were. That is another debate on its own. Do you not wonder why society remembers Neil Armstrong more than Yuri Gagarin ( first person in Space), does media select who to acknowledge more, does government cover up true stories to not alter history?. These are some of the questions that drove me to write about certain individuals being not acknowledged by the government or the World for things they accomplished. In this case apparently being the first people to do it or participate in it

The 3 people I would like to highlight in this regard is our own South African surgeon “ Hamilton Naki” , Nigerian super computer inventor “Philip Emeagwali” and guitar inventor “ Robert F Flemming” . These people happen to be African with Flemming being African American. This leads to my next question that if they are not being acknowledged, is it because of skin colour.

The case of Hamilton Naki has caused a lot of stir in the South  African medical industry in the past, about Naki actually being the first person to participate in the first open heart surgery. Extreme supporters claimed he performed the surgery himself. Now I am not saying he did or did not, but it is one of those issues that do raise red flags to know who is lying and who is telling the truth. People, who worked with Chris Bernard and were close to him, rise to claim that Naki was nowhere close to the surgery room at the time, and would not be allowed to perform such under the apartheid laws.

Others claim that the Apartheid government at the time would cover this up, and would never acknowledge Naki for the duties. So the question that beckons is who is lying. Upon doing some research, Naki did not have a medical degree at all, but was a very skilled with his hands which made him an assistant to a surgeon at the time after many years. There are some articles that claim Bernard himself said Naki was a better surgeon than him. So again who is right, who is telling the truth.  I find myself asking, would Naki have been able to even perform the surgery without a degree. I also wrestle in my mind would Naki just wake up one day and lie about the surgery, was he paid by the media or government to lie to the world or to otherwise to face the consequences.  When Naki died several newspapers including The Economist published an obituary of Naki, stating he performed the surgery and they later retracted the article based on several reasons. Is there a conspiracy there or not?.  Bernard is quoted as saying he Naki was great in the theatre on liver transplants, while others claim Naki only operated on animals and was not allowed in Groote Schuur, with so many stories, this opens up a lot of debate.

This is not just in South Africa. When you google the Fathers of the internet, a lot of people come up, but you will not see the name Philip Emeagwali among the names in the list. Philip Emeagwali was a Nigerean scientist who claimed being the Father of the internet. In some articles he is acclaimed as the unkown father of the internet. Upon doing research, there are more facts supporting that he was NOT one of the fathers of the internet, even Nigerian scientist’s claiming he was a fraud. This topic does emotionally play with black people, as some critics say that black people want to hold onto the fact that there is a black hero, and cannot accept the truth. Apparently Emeagwali lied about everything from the Nobel price of computing to his education. This story has more flaws than Naki’s one. My only question is then why would Philip Emeagwali lie about all of this, why would he go through all that trouble, if he knew he’d be caught one day.  I am fully aware people do lie to get to fame. Being a university student who has been encouraged to think for myself and think out the box, on this case, there are more facts supporting that He was NOT the father of the internet, but to play devil’s advocate, this could be one big cover up, so that history is not changed, and that a black person is not acknowledged as being the father of the internet.  Several reputable sources do claim him as the father of the internet while others deny, so again who is lying?

Robert F Flemming is the man, (according to many sources) that is credited with inventing the guitar. So it becomes worrying when you read on to these articles, where some are claiming that he did not, that he only had the patent to the guitar, hence why he is credited with it. Does is really bother people that much, that Flemming was not smart enough to invent the guitar. Is it based on his skin colour? Many questions do start to surface when such accusations do happen, or am I wrong, just another man claiming to invent something that he did not.

To end, I am not claiming that these particular people did actually invent something or be one of the first people to do something. It does though get one wondering when it’s happened more than once, that if these particular people are not being acknowledged because of skin colour? 

  

GONE are the GOOD OLD DAYS

The way prices are rising, the good old days are last week- Les Dawson

If you are confused when you hear people talk about playing with marbles, Top’s, Tazo’s, , gaining grounds, or staying up all night playing sonic the hedgehog, defeating M.Bison on street fighter, then unfortunately you were not born in the early 90’s or you just have a bad memory.

There are countless studies that confirm that the 21^st century child is spending more time indoors than outdoors. There are so many, that we as a society do not know which one to believe, but one thing I can say, is that from my observation and ( at this time you can agree) that we hardly see children playing on the streets anymore.    

There may be many underlying causes for this. Personally I think it can be blamed on Globalisation, if fingers must be pointed. Please don’t get me wrong, I embraced Globalisation with both hands (without it, you wouldn’t be reading this).  As much as Globalisation has made the world a much better (arguable), easier and more connected place, it came with its problems. In my country (South Africa) a lot of the children from the early 90’s can agree with me when I say, we don’t see kids riding bikes to a friend’s house, playing a variety of games with the tennis ball, taking a walk to the local supermarket to just buy a couple of Chappies bubble gum  to read the “did you know inside”.

I remember growing up, being outside for the whole day on weekends and after school until sunset on week days. I remember tripping and colliding with the road face first playing gaining grounds (really painful!), to putting a plastic bottle on my bike tyre to make it sound like a motorbike when riding it. Gone are the good old days. As much as some of activities that I participated in hurt when looking back, I appreciate I had that childhood. It feels like yesterday I was playing Sega mega cast (a video game console which uses cartridges) playing into the night and having to switch it off to let the adapter cool down. Even with the introduction of the internet in my household, the internet was so slow that loading Google took so long on my 56k modem that I went outside to play anyway. I acknowledge that we all had different childhoods, and being brought up, but I just can’t imagine having the same smile saying remember in Grade 5 when we Facebook stalked that girl/guy.

I recently read an article that a 5 year old kid, is now seeing a psychologist after his Ipad was taken away. I was honestly speechless when I read that article. Another article revealed that if your child is awake, he/she is probably online. I generally have a problem young and old  people being on their phones if you are at the dinner table, whether at home or at a restaurant. Another matter of concern that has come to my attention is that generally people of today do activities so that they can post a status rather than their own self fulfillment  So before I get carried away on that topic, back to the children of today

In my recent trip to Brazil, I really appreciated the culture, sense of togetherness and the importance of family time in Brazil, something we hardly see in any country. Every weekend without fail, at the Lagoon, Botanical Garden or local parks, there are families playing with kites, canoeing or sitting having a picnic among many things.  I’m not sure if this is a 1^st world problem or the whole world entirely, but just seeing the family and kids spending time with each other brought so much peace and happiness to me, something I had not seen in my country. Hey maybe you totally disagree with me, maybe you’d rather spend time impressing your friends digitally, being on your phone typing LOL or LMAO when you didn’t even crack a smile,  then spending time with family and friends. You are after all entitled to your opinion, who am I to tell you what will make you happy.

Please don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining, and in a way it is very hard to revert back to those days, and most likely there’s nothing we could do either way. This brings me to my next point into why it’s changed.

Globalisation brought Facebook, smartphones, faster internet connection speeds, video games that do not need cooling down, HD viewing (which I’m in love with) and many other things. The reason I state that we cannot help ourselves, is that

·         It’s in our human nature to not fall behind and to know what’s trending or not, so we can stay relevant. We need to have email access in our pockets, as today time is money. What today is about is how many friends you have on Facebook to how many followers you have on twitter. The way technology is advancing it is becoming harder to invent something new, and if you blink you might just fall behind and not be relevant anymore.  We are so caught up into this digital age, that as we become more social we become more antisocial (My opinion).

·         Crime is on a whole new level with child kidnappings, basically the streets are not safe for our children to play on anymore

·         Children are generally online way more, so even if you wanted to play on the streets there would be no one to play with

There are many more other reasons as to why the world is what it is today, but before I end, just to put a spanner in the works. Is it really that important to know all the trends?  Is being on social networks really making us more social? Is cybercrime not an issue? There are many child kidnappings, but there is also child depression and teenage suicide because of social networks nowadays.

So, as much as the good old days are gone, the 21^st century has its many advantages and disadvantages as well, so as a society where do we find the balance. Do we need balance in the first place? these are the many questions that still remained to be answered.

Living in your 20's

Living your 20’s

Somewhere someone at this current time while you reading this, clicking your mouse to scroll down, someone has turned 20. From all of us in our 20’s we welcome you to possibly the best years of your life.

“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us”

So the question that beckons, is how do I live the best years of my life? I am not some sort of Guru, or some life coach who can tell you how to live your life, but one thing I can advise is that one needs Travel on their bucket list.  I was fortunate it enough to travel to Europe in 2006 with my family to France, Belgium, Netherlands and England. At the time I thought that was the best experience of my life. That was true until I recently went on a trip to the beautiful city in Brazil called Rio De Janiero. 

There are no words in the Oxford dictionary that can describe my experience there of 7 weeks, but one thing I realised on my trip, is that it is something that has to be done by every young adult in their 20’s.

There seems to be a need to explore, sense of adventure, learning new languages and cultures in human beings which can be accomplished through travel. I am still yet to hear from a person or read an article of someone who learnt nothing from travel, whether it was good or bad. The point I am trying to make is that, in the end no matter your reasons for travel, it grows you as a person.

So at this point you might be saying that, I would love to travel but do not have money. You may be saying I make it sound so easy to travel, that you can just spin a little globe and wherever your finger lands you can just go there. I acknowledge that we come from different backgrounds, and therefore have different finances. That is the sad truth that we were all not born equal, that some have it easier than others. The only problem with that is we use it as an excuse to hold us back from doing what we really love and want to do.  In my opinion it’s a mindset us a humans have, and we should take something from what the great Bob Marley said that, “we need to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery”.  

My personal opinion is that if you struggle more than the person next to you to reach the same goal, you the person that struggled, will feel more satisfaction. The more satisfied we are, the better we feel about our accomplishments and the happier we become. After all we are in pursuit of happiness are we not? The struggle in this context is the ability to save enough to go on that trip you have been yearning to embark on.

So what are the solutions so that we can travel? SAVE! No matter who you are and where you are from, anyone can save. What I do is that every month my bank automatically takes a portion of my allowance and I cannot stop it for 12 months, it almost forces me to save.

I have done this for the past 3 years and I can safely say I can afford to buy a return ticket to more than 70% of cities in the world. Depending on your financial status it may take you months or years to save up for that dream trip but in the end it would have been worth it.

There are countless opportunities that can make you earn your travel money back, if you are worried about the opportunity cost of travelling. There are organisations like Chilli adventures that allow you to travel and work, and you may even end up earning more than you paid for. There is a great organisation called Aiesec that allows you to travel abroad and change the world one way or another while experiencing a different country, and the best part is that accommodation is usually free (which is the most expensive cost in terms of travel).

Now to the good stuff. What does travelling bring?

Amongst the countless experiences I can mention, depending on your personality, you have an opportunity to make new friends, see beautiful places, learn new cultures, indulge in delicious food or not!, adventure and excitement are one of the hundreds of reasons why you need to travel in your 20’s

Another reason to travel in your 20’s is that, in our late 20’s whether we about to graduate or are committed to either our work or girlfriends/boyfriends until death do you apart, it becomes much easier to make excuses not to travel ie. To not live your 20’s.

So as we arrive to the end of this Blog, think when you hit your 30’s, do you really want to look back and regret not at least travelling once somewhere, so you can at least tell your grand kids a story or two. Again I say, we travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.