Category Archives: Social Media

A Shared Politics of Fear and Hate

Although Canadians have little actual stake in the American election, there is much shared sentiment on both sides of the border. Following the lead of the American media, many Canadians declare themselves to be supporters of one candidate or another, … Continue reading

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Living in Cities and Hiding in a Box

Increasingly we gather in cities. All around the globe the movement is toward the urban areas, and here in the west, just outside the principal urban areas, into the suburbs. The glitz and excitement of the city is not experienced … Continue reading

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Go Pokémon Go

The Pokemon Go craze is relatively recent in Canada. In fact, the game is not really available in the country and those who are stumbling around on the city streets chasing ephemeral characters from a game have fudged their country … Continue reading

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Gaming Grand Theft Auto

One of the most popular games of all time is Grand Theft Auto. The game features particular missions, in which the characters, or you—depending on game setting—navigate a fictional world to accomplish a goal. Many people play the game “properly” … Continue reading

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Prove How Smart You Are: Or, Are You Dumb Enough to Play?

There are a number of short mental exercises or games on Facebook which ask the casual smartphone user to pause in their scrolling through hundreds of posts about their friends in order to prove something about their intellect to the … Continue reading

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Fifty Shades and a Silo of the Publishing Industry

The so-called vanity press has changed little in the public imagination until very recently. Traditionally, paying to have your book published was seen as synonymous with junk novels and sentimental and self-indulgent poetry. The only route to acceptance by the … Continue reading

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Content Management and the Internet

In prehistory the production of goods was done by hand and the potential purchaser had an item they could examine and then buy. The item was a chipped rock and the purchase was made with promise, threat, or exchange of … Continue reading

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Outsourcing our Memory

I’ve been editing some journals lately and I am often struck by how little I remember about events that theoretically happened in my own life. I wonder at my own reports of meeting what sound like wonderful people and having … Continue reading

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How to Make Facebook Work for You

This is nowhere as easy as it sounds and I am sure that people more media and tech savvy than me have worked out a better way. The problem is that my facebook feed bombards me with cat videos and … Continue reading

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