Of Copycats and Copy-Pasting

                                             (image: youtube.com)
 

Yay kaugalingon  na hinimo, kinopya hurot. There is a big issue on originality at present. With information and concepts flourishing in any media portal, it seems that creativity is having its natural demise. Although others insist that they are doing original content, fact is, these contents are by-products of the trends and concepts created by some to have their tipping point. Commercial intentions are at the backbone of any trend or fad. Sometimes, there are outliers who just became accidentally become the talk of the town and are being copied by others. Yet, a lot is being tied to what is “in” and “how to be like you”.

In 1995, Steve Jobs was interviewed by Robert Cringely for the PBS documentary The Triumph of the Nerds. The future Apple CEO reflected on the notion that generating big ideas isn’t the same as bringing them to life in a valuable way. As he said, “There’s just a tremendous amount of craftsmanship in between a great idea and a great product.”

Content creation, according to conductor.com, is the process of identifying a new topic you want to write about, deciding which form you want the content to take, formalizing your strategy (keyword or otherwise), and then actually producing it.

From an outsider’s view, it can be easy to assume content creators simply generate imaginative ideas, write (or record) them, and then publish them as a blog post, email message, or other content piece. Yet, these “creators” are well-immersed with what tickles the mind of people. What ideas will sell and what concepts can resonate to the majority.

Then there came the pop culture’s so-called “influencers”. They are those who have the power to affect the purchasing decisions of others because of his or her authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with his or her audience.

Over the last decade, we have seen social media grow rapidly in importance. According to the January 2019 “We Are Social” report, 3.484 billion people actively use social media - that's 45% of the world’s population. Inevitably these people look up to influencers in social media to guide them with their decision making.

Influencers in social media are people who have built a reputation for their knowledge and expertise on a specific topic. They make regular posts about that topic on their preferred social media channels and generate large followings of enthusiastic, engaged people who pay close attention to their views (influencermarketinghub.com, 2021).

This is where creativity is at risk. Why think of something else when almost everything is given to us directly complete with the presentations that we prefer? Why read a book and commune with the creative minds of the writers when there are digested reviews for us? Why think of a new topic or create a new theory when almost all can be found using search engines?

Creativity allows us to view and solve problems more openly and with innovation. Creativity opens the mind. A society that has lost touch with its creative side is an imprisoned society, in that generations of people may be closed minded. It broadens our perspectives and can help us overcome prejudices (Carson, 2018).

Neuroscientists who study creativity have found that creativity does not involve a single brain region or even a single side of the brain, as the “right brain” myth of creativity suggests; instead, it draws on the whole brain. This complex process consists of many interacting cognitive systems (both conscious and unconscious) and emotions, with different brain regions recruited to handle each task and to work together as a team to get the job done.

Creativity is being tickled by a stimulus then a concept can be done. With this mindset, the mind works in a wide dimension and it starts to formulate, design and allow the concepts to be materialized. Influences can be there but the original mind creates its own product- an outcome considered as something novel, something new. It is not “copying” everything from the original concept and be dense enough to claim them their own.

Researchers think that, rather than making our living as innovators, human beings survive and thrive precisely because we don’t think for ourselves. Instead, people cope with challenging climates and ecological contexts by carefully copying others – especially those we respect. Instead of Homo sapiens, or “man the knower,” we’re really Homo imitans: “man the imitator.”

Studies indicate that those of lower education levels tend to copy those with higher education levels. It is hypothesized that this happens because they are trying to learn from those with more knowledge and experience than them. Copying someone with more knowledge can also help them to get further in the workplace. They may pick up some valuable skills they had no idea were crucial in your field of work.

But what would be imitated if no one creates? What will happen to the society when all people have to do is to copy and imitate what is happening around them?

Why is creativity important in everyday life? Betsy Roe (2012) said:  It is because it makes life infinitely interesting and fulfilling. Creativity is a way of living life that embraces originality and makes unique connections between seemingly disparate ideas. Creativity’s by-products are some of the major achievements of civilization–from the invention of the wheel to Mozart’s sonatas.

It is difficult to create something but we have to. Else, what is there to be excited about?

Over-Entertained

                

(image: youtube.com)        

Sobrahan da na paglingaw sa kaugalingon. Often, you observe people who are constantly looking for some kind of entertainment. Young ones complain about being bored all the time and gadgets like smart phones are used 98% to entertain them. Activities like viewing memes, laughing on viral vlogs and doing tiktok videos seem to be the fad. A lot of time used in the virtual world is all about entertainment.

We are always learning either deliberately or unconsciously. At each moment in time we are absorbing something into our brain, either we are picking up bad habits or good habits, or maybe taking in useful knowledge or useless knowledge, but we are learning nonetheless. That is why you may have heard people say ‘watch what goes in your brain.’

For a lot of people today, entertainment is a high priority, and they can’t go a day without it.

Shikati (2018) posited: Entertainment is the enemy of self-development and personal growth; it is the enemy of education. The moment you choose harmful or time wasting entertainment you place your personal education in the hands of content creators and you give them the power to educate you on whatever they want to feed you. In part, you also place the power to choose the direction in which your life is headed in the hands of someone else.

People spend more time with entertainment media than with any other activity outside of work. Yet given how ubiquitous it is, we have spent far too little effort learning about how entertainment media affects how we think and act.

Parents and policy makers are often inundated with frightening claims about media and technology’s effects on kids.  In 2014 one British newspaper compared playing video games to using heroin. In 2017, a headline in The Atlantic asked “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” Recently, there are claims that too much exposure to social media can create depression due to the highly studied FOMO (fear of missing out) theory.

Entertainment is not wrong. In fact, it creates balance in the lives of people. Yet, balance is not going to be attained when too much of it will be consumed. We must not let entertaining ourselves get along with our capacities and responsibilities. It is always wrong to become unproductive due to too much longing for entertainment.

Henry David Thoreau, as always, said it more eloquently than anybody: “A stereotyped, but unconscious despair is concealed under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work.”

In 1787, Edward Gibbon completed his book, “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” giving the following reasons for its destruction: the rapid increase of divorce with the resultant undermining of the home; higher and higher taxes and the spending of public money for free circuses for the people; the mad craze for sports, which became more and more brutal; the building of gigantic armaments, when the real enemy was within, and the decay of religious faith, which faded into formalism and became impotent.

In short, Gibbon concluded that satisfying the desires of the people for comforts and entertainment became more important than their relationship with God and others.

How many family members are not speaking even if they are physically present and are stooped over their smart phones or laptops being “somewhere” else? How many friends prefer to play online games without even asking about their emotional well-being? How man online prayer gatherings are snubbed in lieu of Netflix and YouTube?

This is not to say that all entertainment is destructive or immoral. We need periodic breaks from the routines of life; time out from the daily grind. Jesus told His disciples to “come apart and rest awhile” (Mark 6:31), prompting someone to wisely observe that if we don’t come apart, we’ll come apart.

We must be reasonable enough to prioritize. This is the activity that arranges items or activities in order of importance relative to each other. There is a need for us to consider what is more important first then inject entertainment to create balance and productivity. If we are students, we can prioritize learning over entertaining memes and videos. If we are government workers, we can start with service rather than loafing.

Kids today, and really adults too, expect to be entertained all the time—even when they’re at school and work, observes Gregory Bloom, lecturer and author of Overcoming Entertainment Addiction: How to Cure Your Children of the Need to be Constantly Entertained (Action Publishing Group, 2006).

Amusement or fun addiction has an alarming rise among people today. “Behavioral” addictions have now been widely recognized as non-substance addictions (that can also develop with or without substance addictions). Neuro-imaging techniques and recent research show that it is not only alcohol and recreational drugs that are addictive. Behavioral addictions trigger the same fundamental responses in the body as, for example, cocaine (Grant et al., 2010).

In the end, it is the person to push himself towards that direction. A strong understanding of his/her action is needed for him to steer clear from the damaging effects of too much entertainment consumption.

Let us also create…not just consume.

 

Whether Drunk or Not

 

                                     (image: youtbe.com)

Protektahan an bayong na baji. In line with the ongoing talks about the case of the flight attendant’s death during the New Year’s Eve party in a hotel in Makati City, a hashtag circulated in the social media sites which became the talk of the town when 2021 was ushered in. PROTECT DRUNK GIRLS seemed to be all over the media platforms which sometimes bring confusion to some.

Athena Presto posted her opinion on Rappler: The pushback against victim-blaming is a moral imperative. The reminder that getting drunk does not equate to consent can never be overstated – especially in a country where many use the idea of sexual harassment to tell women to cover up. However, we also need to remind each other to resist in a way that doesn't box women into being passive victims needing protection.

Women are not special beings that need to be shielded. Protecting women, especially in a patronizing and infantilizing way, distracts us from recognizing that women are human beings deserving of respect just like everyone else — drunk or otherwise.

Getting drunk is the decision of a person. Gone are the days when we blame peer pressure or whatever justifications that we have. It is the person who puts the alcohol in his/her body and most of the time not at gunpoint. It was scientifically proven that too much consumption of alcohol can either make one do unthinkable things due to intoxication. Thus, the mandate came to put labels on alcoholic beverages to “drink moderately” which later evolved to “drink responsibly”.

Both men and women are at risk of the dangers of being intoxicated by alcohol. It can produce detectable impairments in memory after only a few drinks and, as the amount of alcohol increases, so does the degree of impairment. Large quantities of alcohol, especially when consumed quickly and on an empty stomach, can produce a blackout, or an interval of time for which the intoxicated person cannot recall key details of events, or even entire events. This is according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

The campaign to “protect drunk girls” seem to romanticize getting drunk. According to startuprecovery.com, there can be any number of reasons that someone can begin to romanticize their time with alcohol. Going to the bar to blow off steam and constant advertisements tying alcohol’s use to happy, social gatherings, there can be many ways to receive mixed signals about drinking, even after they have experienced the highly destructive side of alcohol.

The long history of colonialism has embedded a patriarchal culture among Filipinos. The conception of women as full-time homemakers, as subordinated to men, violence against them is private, as reserve labor force, and as sexual objects is now being eroded by modern women asserting themselves in many aspects of life. But on the other hand, some are either marginalized, discriminated, or even exploited by the harsh realities of global economy and consumerism (Anonuevo, 2000).

Although the patriarchal culture persists, we now understand equality on both sexes. The 1987 Constitution states a prominent provision. The first in the Declaration of Principles Article II Section 14 asserted that "The State recognizes the role of women in nation-building and shall ensure the fundamental equality before the law of women and men."

We need to frame sexual violence as something done by criminals than something that just happens to women. Taking the perpetrators out of the conversation makes it harder for us to demand accountability and justice. It has been more of "she was raped" than "they raped her" or "teach your daughter to say no" than "teach your sons that no means no." Reminding girls to stay safe is an inadequate response vis-à-vis clear manifestations of who we should be dealing with (Presto, 2020).

In management, Root cause analysis (RCA) is a systematic process for identifying “root causes” of problems or events and an approach for responding to them. RCA is based on the basic idea that effective management requires more than merely “putting out fires” for problems that develop, but finding a way to prevent them. In cases similar to the much-discussed one over the flight attendant, we can see irresponsible drinking as the main culprit. Again, this writer does not blame the victim but the root of the problem. In excess, everything can be dangerous.

We can stop romanticizing alcohol intoxication.

So what then? Vince Ferreras of CNN Philippines reported on January 7, 2021: Four of flight attendant Christine Dacera's friends, who were also respondents in her case, recalled their final hours with her while celebrating New Year's Eve in a Makati hotel. In a press conference on Thursday, the respondents reiterated their innocence, saying Christine died of natural causes.

There are “unknown” and unpublished attacks on women, boys and children. These violent acts decompose the core of our society.

[Violence], says Rappler, happens to women because they are continuously rendered weak, no matter the circumstance. Fighting sexual violence does not need any qualifier — not drunk, not naked, not alone — especially when qualifiers contribute to the stigma against women who are independent and do not conform to gender norms.

Violence must not be treated indifferently. And all of us must be protected from it.

  

Drunken Master

                                     (photo:councilonrecovery.org)

Parabayong! This is actually a term which is translated to ALCOHOLIC. Yet a lot of young people seem to take pride by being one. They are posting their drinking binges on social media like important events. Of course, we adhere to the understanding that “this is a free country” and “we are responsible for our own body” concepts but ADDICTION is a social malady. It is happening in the society and is slowly eating the morality and values of people.

Alcoholism, according to healthline.com, has been known by a variety of terms, including alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence. Today, it is referred to as alcohol use disorder. It occurs when you drink so much that your body eventually becomes dependent on or addicted to alcohol. When this happens, alcohol becomes the most important thing in your life.

People with alcohol use disorder will continue to drink even when drinking causes negative consequences, like losing a job or destroying relationships with people they love. They may know that their alcohol use negatively affects their lives, but it’s often not enough to make them stop drinking.

The symptoms that can lead to a diagnosis include drinking more alcohol than intended, failing to cut back on alcohol use, devoting substantial time and effort to drinking and recovering from drinking, strong cravings for alcohol, failing to fulfill obligations at work, school, or home, disengaging from relationships and activities, and developing tolerance or withdrawal, among others. Experiencing at least two symptoms throughout the course of a year merits a diagnosis, from mild to moderate to severe (Psychology Today).

Just like cigarette smoking or nicotine addiction, the target of alcohol addiction is usually the young people. Alcoholic drinks are lucrative businesses and the manufacturers make it sure that their products must have a set of clients so that business will continue to thrive.

Research shows that many adolescents start to drink at very young ages. In 2003, the average age of first use of alcohol was about 14, compared to about 17 1/2 in 1965. People who reported starting to drink before the age of 15 were four times more likely to also report meeting the criteria for alcohol dependence at some point in their lives. In fact, new research shows that the serious drinking problems (including what is called alcoholism) typically associated with middle age actually begin to appear much earlier, during young adulthood and even adolescence (Chen, Williams, et al, 2003).

In a survey conducted by the University of the Philippines in 1994, 60 per cent or 5.3 million Filipino youths are said to be drinking alcoholic beverages. About 4.2 million of them are males and 1.1 million are females. On the average, Filipino youths start drinking alcohol at the age of 16 or 17. Alcoholism across the Philippines in 2016, by gender and type is around 8.8 percent of males and 1.8 percent of females had alcohol use disorders.

The teenagers said their family, friends, and the mass media have influenced them to experiment with drinking alcohol. Underscoring the critical role that the family plays in youth behaviors, young people seem to take their cue from their own parents' attitudes and behavior. Thus, a boy who grows up with an alcoholic father is more likely to become one himself.

Mass media and the internet also play a great role in the marketing of alcohol. Beer and liquors in the Philippines are portrayed with positive images. Companies have varied strategies, depending on what market they want to target, focusing on basic Filipino values. For instance, beers and other alcoholic beverages have been associated with thirst quenching, male bonding, friendship and camaraderie, unity, youthfulness and fun among many others. Most common in the advertisements is the use of popular local action and sexy actors and actresses as their image models.

Why is it addictive? Physical addiction to alcohol is caused by the chemical response in the brain to it. Studies show that alcohol interacts with receptors in the brain called gamma-Amino butyric acid (GABA) receptors. These receptors stimulate opioid receptors in the brain, releasing chemicals called endorphins that cause pleasure or euphoria. Addiction to alcohol can also have a psychological cause when someone uses alcohol to cope with a psychological need. For instance, someone who feels unhappy may use alcohol to cope with that unhappiness (Williams, 2020).

Most of the literature on alcoholism suggests that the reasons are genetics, external or peer pressure and personality (those who think that drinking makes them socially-accepted).

What are the risk factors? Jurgen Rehm (2011) mentioned that alcohol is a necessary underlying cause for more than 30 conditions and a contributing factor to many more. The most common disease categories that are entirely or partly caused by alcohol consumption include infectious diseases, cancer, diabetes, neuropsychiatric diseases (including alcohol use disorders), cardiovascular disease, liver and pancreas disease, and unintentional and intentional injury.

Many teens do not have the mental capacity to fully understand the consequences of drinking or even be aware of them. Teens can face immediate negative consequences, such as brain damage and delayed puberty. Indirect health issues, such as car crashes and sexual assaults, are also common problems from drinking.

Still, we see an alarming increase of youngsters displaying their “seemingly normal” drinking binges and drunken acts on social media. It takes a lot of good parenting, education and morality development for them to lead a healthier life ahead.

If the parents, schools and religious denominations do not condemn such addiction, the future might be bleak plagued with sick and dysfunctional individuals.