Living Text of Sociology

The Living Text Blog is now Closed for the Spring Semester

Mr. Andoscia — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:16:35 +0000

You may still be able to post until I change the password, but no more blogs will be graded.

Blogs and Comments have been Graded

Mr. Andoscia — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:15:52 +0000

All Blogs and comments have been graded for the Spring Semester. Have a great summer, everyone.

Cell phones and driving (R.C.A)

student — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:39:58 +0000

While reading an article on the use of cell phones while driving, it explained the causes and dangers it lead to. cars has been around since the 1980s, with car phones, but they weren’t nearly as popular as they are now.It is estimated that 91% of Americans today have and use a cellphone, and obviously a good majority of those users use the phone while driving (arstechnica).According to the Medical News Today, there is a marked decrease in the ability to maintain a consistent speed, and keeping the car in a single lane while people use cell phones while driving.”New research shows that people have greater difficultly maintaining a fixed speed, or keeping their car safe in a single lane when performing tasks that simulated conversing on a mobile phone, than if they were driving without the distraction. Contrary to expectation, the speaking and listening were equally distracting. The research was conducted at the University of Illinois and will be published in the next edition of Applied Cognitive Psychology.”This is most certainly a recent problem, as cell phones were for a long time an exponentially growing trend. The old mindset was that phones would keep getting smaller and smaller, which was true. Interestingly enough, in today’s day and age, cell phones have stopped getting smaller. They have in fact grown slightly, however, this size increase is not proportional to their increase in functionality, going from making phone calls to having fully capable web browsers right on the phone. Cell phone use while driving now not only covers making calls, but perhaps even more deadly, the dangers of texting while driving. Texting while driving is now one of the main issues, especially in teenagers between the ages of 16 and 17″Drivers younger than 20 had the highest distracted-driving fatality rate among all age groups last year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Drivers 20 to 29 ranked second. The administration said that 5,870 people died and about 515,000 were injured last year in accidents attributed to distracted driving.” (Washington Post). Clearly, texting while driving is a huge issue in society today, and society is working hard to adapt and keep drivers safer on the roads. Looking at the rates seems as if cell phones users rates are increasing, maybe in the near future a new technique can be installed in the way we use our cell phones.

Religion and Society (R.C.A)

student — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:33:07 +0000

With Religion and Society religions, whatever their form, can have major social impact in some societies - for good or for evil. Of course in some religions any social impact they have may be secondary or incidental to their main declared aim of relating people to God. The social impact of religions is normally less to do with the religion itself than its institutional form or church.The social impact of any one religion in any society is strongly affected by whether it is supported by the majority of the population or by a minority. A majority religion not only directly impacts more people, but is also likely to have substantial impact on government and on society values. Generally it is the poorest societies that have the greatest proportion of the population supporting religion, though that may mean several religions rather than one religion. But for religion’s social impact, the major difference will often be between poorer societies and less-poor societies.Religions generally have greater social impact in poorer societies, where they tend to be supported more strongly by the majority. Often one religion will predominate and will have substantial effect on the government - either the religion controlling the government, or the government using the religion in a majority-poverty society.

Raising driver’s age (R.C.A)

student — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:18:30 +0000

Getting a driver’s license at 16 is not only a privilege to 16-year-olds, it also tends to be a rite of passage.
First there’s the permit, then driver’s education, and finally the big, stressful test. After that, it’s only a matter of eagerly awaiting the mail every day until one more licensed driver is on the road.
Although this passage seems so important to the youth of today, the Legislature is contemplating bumping up the age to get that heavenly plastic card by a few years.
According to Car-Accidents.com, motor vehicle crashes result in more than 5,000 teen deaths a year in the United States.
In the adolescent years, teen brains are still developing. While 15- and 16-year-olds may have the logical reasoning of an adult, their social and emotional development is not fully mature. Basically, teenagers are more appointed to seek sensation while driving.However, raising the driving age is not really a solution to what some view as a problem on the road. Rather than postponing the licensing age, teens in driver’s education classes should have to complete more driving hours before graduating from the course. With more practice, they are more likely to be more responsible drivers by the time they get their license.While many people feel that raising the minimum licensing age will fix the problem, it will only relocate it. Rather than seeing a huge number of crashes in the 16- and 17-year-old range, it will move to the 18- to 20-year-old range. The seemingly “quick fix” will not actually fix anything. I feel that teens should be required to log more hours, stop the texting and driving thinking that they can be multitasked in order to become capable, responsible drivers.

Teen Pregnancy( R.C.A)

student — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 23:04:34 +0000

Teen pregnancy can be presented as a social issue because it cause many problems such as poverty, poor education, a history of physical and sexual abuse, poor self-esteem, and unemployment. Teens who perform at poor academic levels, or are born to mothers who were teen mothers themselves, are also at a higher risk for teen pregnancy.Sending mixed messages to teenagers may also contribute to high incidences of teen pregnancy and also popular media culture that give the appearance of engaging in sexual activity and promoting sexual promiscuitybeliefs, sex education and/or a clear understanding about the consequences of being sexually irresponsible, is not taught in their home. Sex education classes in school are often banned by the very parents who believe that sex should be discussed in the home environment. Most of the information that young adults learn about sex may come from misinformed or uninformed peer groups, and the very preventative programs aimed at educating teens about sex and contraception almost rarely effectively reach teens that are in need these programs. So to prevent teen pregnancies, after school activities and programs would be a great way to start in order to prevent this social problem.

Sydnie Tiseo (Edison) Cell Phones, we love them and hate them

student — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 22:58:25 +0000

I’m sitting at the Edison campus and cannot help but to see about 9 out of 10 people walk by with thier heads down staring into their phones. First off, they should really watch out because they may bump into a pillar, secondly, isn’t it interesting that we are a society that is constantly glued to our phones. What would we do without them? I always wonder how my parents survived without them back in the day. Cell phones have become a necessity within our lives, we could probably not live without them as a society.It’s interesting to think about how the cell phone started out. At first they were a luxury item, but when people had them they really only used them for emergencies. No one really carried them around anyways because they were big, heavy, and bulky. That is, until one day when a genius decided to create a flip phone. The evolution of the cell phone is proof that simple marketing and a bit of innovation can really change how the world works.Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy using my cell phone just as much as the next guy, but I cannot help but wonder what cell phones have done, and are doing, to us. With smart phones, we can do anything from Google the score from last nights game to checking on our bank accounts. I feel like no one thinks about the risks involved in doing certain things on a cell phone. A friend of mine is always checking his bank account info whenever we are out in a public area. Doesn’t he realize that anyone, with the proper mindset and equipment, can hack his personal info? I’ve told him time and time again that it can be as easy as one click for someone, and a big loss for him. That’s just one of the troubles of these newer smart phones.Society today runs off of phones and I honestly believe that we have been innovated and ruined at the same time.

Jordan Fontair (Edison) Legalizing Marijuana

student — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 22:44:29 +0000

Legalizing marijuana has become a huge issue this country has come across over the years. People say that it is a “gateway” drug and it leads to all sorts of other drugs. I think the people that look at it like that are ridiculous. It is only a “gateway” drug if the person that is using it wants to do other drugs. There are lots of people out there that have no desire to do any drugs at all, but one day they might find themselves thinking about trying marijuana. That doesn’t mean they are going to try it and love it and go t bigger and badder drugs. That just means that they might want to try it, and if they do and they like it, its that persons decision to decide if they want to keep doing it or not. It’s also that persons decision to decide on their own if they are going to do any other drugs. I personally do not think marijuana is a “gateway” drug. I think that fact is overrated. I think it would be good to legalize marijuana because it would help the countries debt slowly go away. The marijuana business is a billion dollar business that the government could use to their advantage. I also think that because of today’s generation of kids and how many of them do or have done marijuana, many of the jobs that we will be offered later on in life will not test for marijuana because so many people from our generation have done it. Realistically there would be tons of people across the country that will not be allowed to get jobs because they either do or have done marijuana. I think legalizing marijuana in the United States would tremendously help out our economy.

Ricardo Perez (edison)

student — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 22:29:39 +0000

In today’s society you can walk through a high school and see countless students pregnant and find out that it’s basically sociably acceptable…? With television shows those glamor’s 16 year olds that are pregnant, other shows showing the paternity results of these teens. With these teens having babies, not even finishing high school, do they think they’re going to provide bright futures for these children? Chances are they are not. Yet the media and parents of these teen are finding it more and more acceptable for teen to be pregnant.With this continuing to be more acceptable future generations are going to brought up facing difficulties and struggles in their lives. Action needs to be taken for the sake of future generations. Shows that are idolizing pregnant teens need to be taken down, so that they’re not painting an image to these impressionable teen that life will be just as good if I have a child at 15. It is important to have “The Talk” with your children let them know what is out there and what are the consequences. Also parents need to be more involved in their children’s lives. Know who your children’s friends are, know who their boyfriend/ girlfriends are, and most importantly know where your child is at.

EmmOvin-stress management

student — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 22:04:00 +0000

Major life events, such as the death of a loved one, can cause severe stress. Stress can have both positive and negative effects. Stress is a normal, adaptive reaction to threat. It signals danger and prepares us to take defensive action. Fear of things that pose realistic threats motivates us to deal with them or avoid them. Stress also motivates us to achieve and fuels creativity. Although stress may hinder performance on difficult tasks, moderate stress seems to improve motivation and performance on less complex tasks. We cannot completely eliminate stress from our life because of the simple fact that we cannot be alive and live without stress. Yet, we can certainly learn to manage our stress in a way that leaves us less vulnerable to its negative effects. Stress management is not about learning how to avoid or escape the pressure and turbulence of living. It is about learning to appreciate how the body reacts to these pressures, and about learning how to develop skills that enhance the body’s adjustment. Stress management training teaches us techniques for handling stress, including mental and physical strategies that decrease anxiety and promote relaxation and quieting of both the body and the mind. Stress is a common experience. We may feel stress when we are very busy, have important deadlines to meet, or have too little time to finish all of our tasks. Often people experience stress because of problems at work or in social relationships, such as a poor evaluation by a supervisor or an argument with a friend. Some people may be particularly vulnerable to stress in situations involving the threat of failure or personal humiliation. For adolescents, the most stressful events are the death of a parent or a close family member, divorce of their parents, imprisonment of their mother or father, and major personal disability or illness. Sometimes, apparently positive events can have stressful components.