TOW #16: IRB

The second part of the book  They Poured Fire on Us From The Sky discusses their escape to Kenya and search for a better life in the United States. It goes into the interview they had to go through in order to make it into the United States. I thought this part of the book was a complete nail-biting portion because they were so close to what they had hope for after suffering for 10 years. The book keys in on the readers emotions to get them to fully understand all the boys had to go through and how heart wrenching their journey was. The whole book had automatic ethos due to the fact that it was the actual people and based off a Sudan Civil War. The insight into the issue allowed for readership understand the struggle they had to endure in order to achieve a better lifestyle. The imagery the book produces for the reader makes the book better as a whole. It really makes one feel as though they are experiencing the pain and can understand what the boys had to go through. Overall I thought this book was an inspirational, emotional one that kept me on the edge of my seat. 

Tow #15: Facebook

In an article on The Onion, a new "notification" for Facebook was discussed. The new notification 
would include alerting users that they have not been viewing Facebook recently or at that exact moment. The article states that Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO claimed, "We hope these helpful new alerts will improve our users." This article is a way to satirically show that people are obsessed with technology and that although we are already absorbed in it, companies are pushing harder to get their user rates up. The article ends with the claim that, "Zuckerberg went on to say that notifications informing users when they are currently looking at Facebook will be introduced by the end of the year." This is a direct attempt to make fun of the notifications that Facebook is sending out now and to explain how ridiculous they are. The article utilizes satire and over exaggeration to show how technology is hitting a new point of ridiculousness and that our lives are based around it. Also to explain the insane motive behind the notifications and steps social media companies take to get the users attention. The approach was effective in helping viewers understand the extremes social media takes to creep into every second of our time. 

TOW #14: Social Media

Washington Post- Toles  

              This cartoon from the Washington Post is based on the idea of social media and the internet taking over. Since the game monopoly is based on a player making their way through life and buying and selling, this cartoon is a spin-off to show how now people's lives revolve around the internet and technology. It uses references to social issues that are based on technology as the parts of the game. The comparison with the "Go" space and "200 likes" versus the original "200 dollars" shows how people focus on likes more and are reliant on how many likes they get to build up their self confidence and essentially "start the game." The lanes that are usually properties to buy are split up into categories in which people navigate and usually use the most when using technology. This portrays the idea that we are more focused on what is on the internet than the real world. Instead of the "go to jail" spot, there is a "give up data" space, due to the fact that almost every person stresses about the thought of getting the message from their phone company that they have used all their data and there is still time left in the month. There is also an "ad pop up" space to show a relatively small but irritating disturbance in our internet experiences. The dialogue in the corner is supposed to who that since we are sucked into the internet we don't get any "chances" in life because we are so focused on the technological aspect of life. This cartoon accurately depicts society today is so caught up in technology and everything the internet has to offer that they are withdrawn from real life itself. It is also correct is showing that almost everything is being changed to electronic, even things that have not been associated with the internet before, such as paying for a Starbucks and even playing traditional board games, including Monopoly.