When War Meets Video Games

Our modern day society is currently filled with everyday events that serves as influences to kids. With the assistment of war video games these days, children, teenagers, and even adults tend to play these games for the thrill and self experience of the trauma real soldiers face.

War video games have been rising in popularity lately due to its thrilling plot and the fact that people these days can actually play something realistic and not have to suffer the consequences. Playing these games enhances their imagination and unrealistic dreams of fighting for their country or serving as a top secret agent without having to cope with stress. Basically, people like to play games that they can relate to reality without having to cope with stress in hopes of unconciously trying to find solutions to problems that their currently dealing with.

"If its not realistic, its not worth playing" as the article says. I belive that these war games are fun as well as making people lose the seriousness of war and maybe even take it lightly. Why do you ask? Think of it this way. Kids playing these games go under virtual squad operations to overtake the opposing team. They get shot down. Game over. Then all of a sudden, it says "Try again? Yes or No?" So with this difference from real life, kids grow up, lettling slip of the fact that in war, there are no second chances after a bullet pierces your head. However, the thrill and excitement that pounds in the veins of players is what makes this game so fun because players actually, unconciously relate and pretend that their virtual mission is real.

These games have impacted on people in ways that they themselves are not even aware of. Personally I think war video games are an excellent way of showing people how war is really like without the thought of actually being killed but with the thought of what soldiers had to go through night, and day.

An iPod Classroom?

As a student of Mary Ward, I believe that the introduction of the use of iPods as an educational device would prove to be a very contributive and beneficial to the learning to the students of Mary Ward. It would further the self-directed learning of Mary Ward students and expand the educational environment of the school to new perspectives.

Should Mary Ward introduce the use of iPod as a learning device, I believe that students of Ward (including myself) would learn well using it. This would expand our learning levels beyond that of a classroom and place easy access to seminars in the palm of your hands. With the introduction of the iPod, preparation for tests can now be done on a TTC bus instead of just waiting to study when you get to school. Time management would be more easier if the lectures of your teacher can be accessed with just a push of a button.

With Mary Ward's commitment to self-directed learning, I hope that sometime in the future, the school will embrace this new technology as part of the school curriculum. Advantages of such technology would enable students to view seminars during transportation to/after the school, before TA check ins, lunch periods, in between periods, and revise last minute lectures before tests/exams. Also, it would aid students who are unable to attend seminars just by downloading it off the internet. With this technology, the creation of evolution of time management and dedicated learning will interest students to the new options they have in their path to success. The indirect fusion of technology and books open doors that leads to many possibilities including that of advanced learning. Although these doors may lead to positive roads, there will also be bumps along the way that represents its disadvantages. Some students may use their iPod for learning, while others may use it as an excuse to kill time while listening to music during classes. The temptation to listen to music or watch videos such as "The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift" on your iPod during classes may be too strong to resist. Aside from its crude temptation, the cost of an iPod is very high, especially to those students whose allowances cannot cover the cost. These are the barriers that we must be willing to break if we were to sucessfully use its power without negative results.

All in all, i believe that Mary Ward should embrace this technology. Thus leaving it to the students to adapt to its rewards as well as its consequences.

With The GOOD Comes The BAD

As each day progresses, scientists around the world are developing new and advanced technological devices. They also work on improving the devices they already have such as cell phones, computers, television sets, and stereo systems. Although improvments to man kind's creation are good and everything, it also comes with the bad that may lead to nothing.

Let's use the cell phone camera as one example and how much it can affect the community through both positive and negative.

The positive. Picture this in your mind. A tourist from Russia visited China to view the Great Wall. Just when he arrives at the tourist spot, he recieves a call on his cell (not a camera phone) from his friend saying "You forgot your camera here". Now the man responds by saying "Aww man, i'll just find one here...somewhere". Doesn't that sound inconvienent and unfortunate? Of course it does. Now picture this scene again only with a few adjustments. The same man from Russia visits the Great Wall of China as a tourist. He recieves a call on his cell (camera phone this time) saying that he left his camera at home. However the man is relieved to say that it'll be fine because he can just use his phone to take the pictures. Now wasn't that much better than the first scene? So basically the positive side to camera phones is that you can now take pictures wherever you go along with having the same device that makes calls. You can even send pictures to family and friends. Very useful device to be in posession of.

The negative. As mentioned in Miss Huebner's blog, the invention of the camera phone has brought about the threat of loss of privacy to everyone. How you may ask? Well just imagine that your wearing a kilt and you desided to sit down. A moment later some perverted person weilding a camera phone decides to...excercise its uses involvng undetected picturing of...I'll let you decide what that person takes a picture of. So anyways, that is only one way that the camera phone may be used negatively. It may even be used to take illegal videos and pictures inside a movie theatre or an acting theatre. The minute size of the camera phones makes it hard for security to detect its illegal uses. It may even be used to take pictures of YOU! How would you know no one else has taken a picture of you without your knowledge through the use of a camera phone? It makes me feel sick knowing the unlimited negative capacity of camera phones.

So there you have it. The good and the bad. The Ying and Yang of ONE of technological devices. Is it good or is it bad? To tell you the truth, you can only answer this question if a person is in the picture with its technological posessions.

.::Intro::.

A. Bee Toral --> Adolf Benedick Toral

G10.15

TA68

Taught By Miss Huebner
Section 002

Go PowerPuff Girls! =)

~Blossom