"And Now a Word from their Cool College Sponser" Response

Creating an advertising stunt that feature teenagers is a very good approach to getting a company publicity and more business. If someone were to tell me that they would pay for me to go to college if I spoke for their company and advertised for their business, I would be totally on board because today, college is expensive. By doing a business a favor and in return getting free tuition, I believe more and more companies could get better business. After all, it is our generation that is going to run the country, and what better way to start out early and get the youth of the nation involved. Not only does this help a company, but it helps the teen sponsers as well. It is a great resume builder for getting into a successful job, and allows the teens to do something productive with their time, while also getting experience into a field that could be a potential career. I wish more companies would advertise for this type of business and actually do this because it can help both the company and the teens involved.

"Meet my 5,000 New Best Pals" Response

After reading Janet Kornblum's article about how people on Myspace add a million friends to their friends list, I think about how many friends I actually do have. Why add people who I have no idea who they are? They wouldn't be called "friends" then, in the real world. They would just be other people I am adding to a friends list who are total strangers, which really defeats the purpose of a Myspace or Facebook. Of course, I have people added to my Facebook who I do not talk to at all and wouldn't consider my "friend"; however, I add these people because I knew them at some point in my life and feel as though they should be added. I do not just randomly add people who I've never spoken two words in real life before though. That would just be ridiculous. The social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace can actually hurt someone's social skills by adding random people, but I think they can also help as well. Getting to know friends of friends can help finding jobs, or meeting that special someone. But I wouldn't just add Joe Smith because he looks gorgeous in his picture; he's still someone I have never seen or spoke to before.

Leading a Double Life

In response to Irene Sege's "Leading a Double Life", I think it is abosolutely bizarre that people like to think they are something else on a digital aspect. Even though they put their interests and everything that relates to them into these people, I feel that it is just a "safety" blanket for living in the real world. There was an episode of True Life on MTV about how people that are uncomfortable with themsevles use these sites to portray themselves as something else. I think that instead of hours on end on the computer pretending to be someone, people should use their social skills and own selves in the real world to meet people physically, not digitally. It helps them in the long run, and this goes to show that technology is changing teens and the way they interact and socialize with the rest of the world.