The Rise of Online Quizzes

Posted by random olio

I admit it, I am coming clean. I have recently become addicted to the plethora of online quizzes asking what tarot card would you be, what city are you meant to live in, or are you a narcissist?

Buzzfeed even has ones like: “What Kind of Bitch Are You?” or “What Does Your Engagement Ring Say About You?” The list is endless. Why do we care? Why do we click and spend 5-10 minutes to find out our fate? It is almost like we want a free visit to an astrologer, and if the results of the quiz are exemplary to who we think we are, then we might try another, and if they slander us we move on to other things. What is it about the online voyeuristic habits that make us even stop and take the quiz? I admit I even coerce Chris to take one or two here or there to compare to my results. Why, oh why do we even care?

Is it that we want validation? We want to know what someone else thinks of our future destiny? We do not really believe in the answer, but like being at the state fair we are willing to give the palm reader a small amount to read our hands and see what the future might behold for us. These quizzes have to be filled with bullshit algorithms. For example, one quiz (I cannot remember the topic) that I had Chris fill out, gave us the same result, yet it was male and female specific. Definitely something wrong with the results of that (all I remember is that we both got Zelda – go figure).

So is it a fad? Why have we become so addicted, and why do we even care? My Facebook feed is often full of friends who seem to fill their days with quizzes that they share with others (no judgement from me). Are we bored? Do they tell us something about ourselves that we do not know? What is it that has made us so addicted?

“Human Bandwidth Manager”

Posted by random olio

I am not sure how many of you watch Portlandia (if you do not you are missing out). Okay, honestly not every episode is amazing, but some are very clever. I compare it to a skit in an episode of Saturday Night Live. Some are winners and hilarious and others are horrible. The same goes for Portlandia. One recent episode had a sketch about our digital footprint.

Carrie Brownstein feels completely overwhelmed by all the emails, Facebook messages, texts, likes, etc that she gets all day. She decides to declare social bankruptcy. She goes into a bank to file papers to remove all of her online profiles. The guy on the other side of the desk (Kumail Nanjiani) basically tells her that everything will be deleted (Twitter followers, voicemail, her ‘social’ debt, etc). She signs the papers, and her social identity no longer exists. Her own friends do not even recognize or remember her. Is that what our world has become? We are only known through who we are on Instagram or Facebook? The man even has a nameplate on his desk that says: “Human Bandwidth Manager.” Clever. Rather than tell you what happens you can go online and watch it here.

It made me start to think as I have those days where I cannot imagine reading another email, opening another text, checking Facebook, because it all just feels too much. We have either embarked or wished we had the self control to take a day or a week away from social media. You hear folks all the time say they are going to detox from their smart phone or social networks. There are even three pages of articles on The Huffington Post just on “Social Media Addiction” and that is just one website.

I can attest that I at times am addicted. I blog, I Facebook (wow I just used it as a verb), I email, text, and quasi Instagram and sometimes tweet. I also enjoy my time away. I love syncing my emails and seeing nothing new (it makes the world feel quiet). Yet, are we so saturated that individuals have to go on a social detox, or maybe a social identity crisis? While Portlandia was making fun, will “Human Bandwidth Manager” be a job of the future?

What do you think?

What, what? An unkept Barbie?

Posted by random olio

Okay, I confess. I was a Barbie girl. You would not find me playing with horses, or GI Joes, I was 100% a Barbie girl. You could bring over your horse or GI Joe, but I would only play if it meant that Barbie would be involved. I do not know if it was considered a lot, but I had about 10 different Barbies, in addition to the townhouse (with string powered elevator) and the hair salon. I was obsessed with changing their outfits, combing their hair, and even gave one a haircut. Little did I know that Barbie’s hair would not grow back like mine always had.

my one saved Barbie

Yesterday when I saw this article on the Huffington Post. I had to laugh. What would Barbie look like without her makeup on? Click the above link to see. In my mind, she looks like an exhausted mom. Even so, I think that Mattel should sell a Barbie without makeup. It would show little girls that women are real, and they are beautiful with and without makeup. We do not always look amazing in the morning, and sometimes we do. Either way the reality should be present in toys that kids purchase. Free of fake eyelashes, eyeshadow, and foundation to cover up moles.

I wonder what it would have been like if my Barbie dolls looked like real woman (even in the way their feet are formed) would I have had a different idea of beauty as I grew up? Luckily I got makeup out of my system at an early age, and eventually formulated my own view of what was beautiful to me, and makeup was not on that list. I know the discourse and dialogue around creating an anatomically correct Barbie doll is old news, but I still think it needs to happen. I wonder though if makeup free, “accurate” dolls were created, would little girls be interested? Have we created little monsters?

Hopefully the trend can be reversed and there can be a happy medium. Instead of Barbie without makeup that looks exhausted and worn out, we could just have natural Barbie that has flat feet, wears her Chacos, looks energized, and maybe just wears lip gloss. Is that too much to ask?

Do you know about VAWA?

Posted by random olio

VAWA is the Violence Against Women Act. Keep reading. It is important to know for your daughters, wife, sisters, niece, and friends. “The Violence Against Women Act is a United States federal law passed in 1994, reauthorized in 2000, again in 2005, and is up for reauthorization this year.” In my post last Friday I talked about One Billion Rising. A campaign that raises awareness calls an end to violence against women. Last week, the Senate passed the VAWA act providing $659 million over five years for some domestic violence programs. Next week the House of Representatives will vote on VAWA. That means there is still time to communicate with your Representative. This can mean a local rape crisis center stays open. It can mean women’s shelters in your community stay open. It can mean that another woman is safe.

This is an issue that is near and dear to me.

Please support VAWA. It is not something we should take for granted. We need to do what we can to continue to raise awareness and not assume that because VAWA was in effect in the past, that it will be passed next week. We all can remember presidential elections that we thought, oh it is a shoo in, and things happened differently. As I think about the many recent events where we have seen violence in general, Newtown, Connecticut, Colorado Theater shootings, the list goes on, I wonder about the violence happening to women that we do not see on the nightly news.

This Huffington Post article states:

“On average, four to five women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends each day in the United States as a result of domestic violence. Over 200,000 people are sexually assaulted each year in this country.”

Not a statistic we want to think about, but one we should ponder. This is a no brainer for me. This should be part of being a world citizen, honoring and protecting all humans. It is 2013, we should no longer have to talk about violence against women. We should not have to differentiate between men and women. The reality is we do have to fight for this initiative. Speak up. Let your voice be heard.

A Letter From Your Little Bug

Posted by random olio

For those of you that have been following my blog for a bit know that I have been thinking about motherhood. I recently found this great letter on The Huffington Post website. It is from their “Honest Toddler” section with the tag: “Not potty trained. Not trying.” It is a letter from a little one to their mother. It is cleverly written, honest, and direct. I wonder if I could birth a child with such an eloquent way of writing while so young (wink. wink). I am not going to copy the letter in its entirety, but will share this excerpt:

“You seem tired and short-tempered this morning which is why I felt more comfortable writing this than having a face-to-face. Can I get you anything? A cup of coffee? While you’re up please bring me a sippy cup of juice and some unbroken crackers. Oh that’s right. We don’t have crackers… I recall you saying that around 1:15. That’s OK. Why keep the house stocked with my favorite foods? I’m sure we have two kinds of wine though. But that’s fine.”

Intrigued? You will have to click the above link to read the entire letter.

I also wanted to share a good reminder from David Kanigan’s blog, which I have featured before on my blog. He posts the quote:

“The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice.” -Peggy O’Mara (www.silverpen.com)

Oh how true that is. How many times do I go to do things and think about how my reasoning has to do with something my mom or dad said to me when I was young. It is even a good reminder for all of us in how we talk to others.