The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Tag: social media

  • It’s a small world, after all

    It’s a small world, after all

    By Carlina Grillo

    ‌These days, there are multiple forms of sightseeing. There’s the typical guided tours, pub hopping, gift shops, and getting lost. Then, there’s Tinder.

    ‌Using Tinder abroad took sightseeing to a whole new perspective—that perspective being from the depths of the dating pool.

    I am writing to you from across the pond, all the way from Ireland, where I am currently sitting on a bus on my way to Cork.

    ‌Besides writing for The Lumberjack and watching raindrops roll down the bus windows, there are limited activities for these long travel days.

    ‌Social media is pretty boring when most of my mutuals are still sleeping. The seven hour time difference means when I’m sipping on my morning cappuccino, or on my mid-day bus ride, the only people up are the night owls and insomniacs.

    ‌That’s when I switched to Tinder, social media for the single and bored. I’ve noticed two things about Irish Tinder: half of the men are named Seán (or some other variation of Shawn) and 99% of Tinder cover photos are group photos. When you figure out who in the group the profile belongs to, it’s never the one you had hoped for. It’s especially difficult when the European men are friends with people who look exactly like them. I can go through an entire profile never knowing who’s who.

    ‌So, here I am, scrolling on Tinder as I’m leaving Galway, and I see another familiar face. This person however didn’t have a group photo, didn’t have a stereotypical European profile and what caught my attention the most was a photo from the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This man is either a tourist in Galway or has been a tourist around my stomping grounds. Either way, there’s some commonality.

    ‌I swiped right and it was a match. Immediately, I asked if he was from Ireland.

    “Yes! I lived in America for a good while… didn’t we go to school together?” He asked.

    ‌Then it all clicked. His face was familiar because we attended the same small town high school in the Santa Cruz mountains. Turns out, he moved from Ireland to California, and then back to Galway. What are the odds?

    ‌And maybe this coincidence wouldn’t have blown my mind so much if it was my first encounter within this teeny tiny world.

    ‌What I failed to mention was my plane ride to Ireland from SFO. I sat in the terminal with my friend waiting to board our Aer Lingus direct flight to Dublin. From the corner of my eye, I see another familiar face. Sure enough, I wasn’t the only Cal Poly Humboldt student who had traveled from Arcata to SF to Dublin for Spring break.

    I felt a sense of déjà vu as a classmate from my women’s studies lecture sat right down the row, just like we had done in the classroom 48 hours prior. I wasn’t completely sure it was them until 11 hours later when we caught the same bus into town. It was clear we caught each other by surprise, experiencing our first moments in Ireland together. Again, what are the odds?

    ‌Needless to say, my first time abroad, from one rainy city to another, I’ve been feeling right at home and  as the Irish say, céad míle fáilte – or one hundred thousand welcomes.

  • Delete your TikTok

    Delete your TikTok

    by Valen Lambert

    Originally printed April 12, 2023

    When our government recently proposed a ban on TikTok because of national security risks, I was probably one of the few that delighted in the news. While the government is worried about national security, I think the app’s biggest threat is to culture and dare I say, our souls. I might sound like a pretentious asshole, but I think TikTok is melting the brains of the youth and you need to delete it right now and go touch some fucking grass. 

    When I first transferred here from the old-school beach town of Morro Bay, where flip phones still circulated amongst my unplugged community of surfers, farmers, and creatives, I was blown away by the distinct “TikTok culture” that I realized dominates the humor, interests and identities of my peers. All of a sudden I kept hearing people saying the same jokes, the same words, while wearing the same outfits accompanied by the same refrain: “I saw it on TikTok!”

    Don’t get me wrong, trends are a natural part of our social fabric, but there’s something about the way that TikTok baby-feeds content to its users and digs their personalities into a hole at frightening speeds that freaks me out. It homogenizes people into select subcultures based on their algorithm. Instead of going out into the world and discovering themselves through their own exploration of literature, media, art and fashion, TikTok informs your personality for you. 

    The algorithm puts you in a box. Conformity just got a whole lot faster and easier with TikTok spiraling users into cogs in the culture machine. It leaves little to no room for users to explore themselves naturally without the consistent influence of the internet. The app is a culture factory, and everyone is willingly surrendering to the mind-numbing work of consuming and popping out trends that this app is banking off of. Everyone’s also hoping to bank off their own image.

    All of a sudden everyone has a chance to be famous. The Hollywood virus is infecting young folks all around the world with the idea that with some good looks, a little charm and some trendiness, they’ll make a big break and one of their videos will go viral. They take to their front-cameras and hope that they can capitalize on their image (while simultaneously bagging on capitalism). The app promotes radical self expression, but leads creators to monetize on their individuality and become caricatures of themselves. They’re abandoning memes and becoming them.

    I don’t have a TikTok, but I have an Instagram, which is unfortunately the same damn thing at this point. I get suggested so many dumb reels of people making faces into the camera with some regurgitated words to go along with some trending song and it’s all just one big jack-off party. I lose thousands of brain cells anytime I see one.  

    Look, I like posting selfies too. I like feeling hot and confident and sharing that with the world and not giving AF. I’m in no way trying to belittle people for feeling themselves. But I believe there is a threshold, because it can’t possibly be good for your mental health to be chronically online and have your whole life and image revolving around your digital presence. If this sounds like you, I urge you to unplug, even if just for a bit. There is so much meaningless content getting pumped into our heads that has no benefit to your well-being whatsoever, and believe it or not, all that dog-shit is taking up valuable space in your head where you could be daydreaming, thinking about poems, flowers, or frogs, or better yet, absolutely fucking nothing.  

    I want to make it clear that I’m not targeting anyone specifically, and that being chronically online doesn’t make you a robot. It’s a crazy time to be alive, and social media has become so irreversibly ingrained that it’s hard to disconnect from it if you grew up with it. This generation also faces so much anxiety about the impending doom of our future, I don’t blame us for being chronically online. I mainly hate this stupid app because I know that in every person there is unfathomable depth and complexity that is being suppressed by mainlining content straight to their identity. 

    We create ourselves every day. Our lives, our identities, are art projects that we create through connecting and making associations with the world around us. That is hard to do when you only see the world in ways that other people told you you should see. It’s like watching Bob Ross and only being really good at making Bob Ross paintings. Delete your TikTok and go paint the world with yourself.

  • Dear Mr. Putin

    by Cheyenne Wise

    In March 2020, Gal Gadot released the infamous “Imagine” video on her Instagram page, an asinine attempt to convey solidarity with a world being ravaged by COVID-19. The rich and famous banded together to imagine a world with “no possessions” while people around the country suffered a social, health and economic crisis wasn’t what the world needed at the time.

    The whole thing was cringy and overall tone-deaf. Step aside, Gal Gadot, because a new savior is here to stop the Ukraine crisis. Actress AnnaLynne McCord, self-proclaimed human rights activist and anti-human trafficking ambassador, released a slam poem video in an attempt to make Russian President Vladimir Putin stop and feel the love. McCord’s over 2-minute long video implies she might have been able to change the Russian leader had she had been his mother.

    Don’t worry Ukraine and everyone else, another white American has once again stepped up to the plate to put a stop to this devastation.

    “Dear President Vladimir Putin: I’m so sorry that I was not your mother. If I was your mother, you would have been so loved,” chanted McCord.

    Putin should be on his knees sobbing at the realization that all he needed was love, right? McCord continued, lamenting that if she was his mother, she would have died to make him warm, to protect him from the unjust, violence, terror, and uncertainty, and to “give you life.”

    If you aren’t convinced that American influencers can save the day, you need to look again. John ‘You Can’t See Me!’ Cena tweeted out, “If I could somehow summon the powers of a real life #Peacemaker I think this would be a great time to do so.” Cena wished upon a star that his DC character Peacemaker was real so he can help, making sure to tag the marketing account for the show.

    All that’s missing from this A-Team is our girl Kendall Jenner with her can of Pepsi to take the front lines.

    Watching the atrocities in Ukraine unfold on top of dealing with the savior complex of these influencers is just disgusting. These influencers are so sincere in thinking that they are uplifting the masses, when in reality they are doing the absolute least. The last time a group of influencers gathered together and actually created change was in the 80s, when “We Are the World” raised millions of dollars in aid of Africa.

    The performative activism of celebrities during these times is unneeded and repugnant. To them I say: keep your slam poetry and songs to yourself. The world doesn’t need cheering up, especially from people like you.

  • Shelter-in-Place is Not a Productivity Race

    Shelter-in-Place is Not a Productivity Race

    Quarantine shelter-in-place offers escape for some and anxiety for others—both are damaging

    Inhale, pause, exhale. We are living through an unprecedented, intimidating and stressful time, but now is not the time to beat yourself up.

    While the world seems at a standstill, many people have taken this time away from their normal daily duties to start new hobbies, lose weight or even learn new languages. These tasks and goals are not a reflection of yourself, nor should they be used to show off your journey through social distancing.

    A 2013 study by a psychologist at the University of Michigan examined the effects of social media on people’s mental wellbeing. The study found that social media, Facebook in particular, does not facilitate beneficial social interactions.

    The same, and worse, can be said in regard to many other social media platforms. For example, Instagram can be a mindless escape for some but a shame-inducing harbor for others.

    There’s a constant creation of new challenges and trends coming up everyday, whether it’s the pushup challenge, #untiltomorrow or even celebrities singing tone deaf tunes. Or perhaps it’s a stream of self improvement posts and revitalized New Years goals.

    Whatever is clouding your social media feed, it doesn’t have to be a standard for you to live up to. This isn’t a productivity competition.

    Some of us might have more time on our hands, but that doesn’t make things easier—and some people still working or now taking care of children might not have more time. We are also still dealing with pre-existing mindsets on top of the stress of a viral global outbreak.

    Don’t waste this time comparing yourself to someone who’s lost 10 pounds walking in circles in their driveway or to someone who’s learned how to speak Italian while in quarantine.

    We need to have compassion for ourselves always, but especially now. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID-19 webpage provides a section for stress and coping information. This page offers insight to stress causes and outcomes all while underscoring the importance of knowing everyone deals with stress differently.

    Thus, we escape to viral social media trends for entertainment and relief.

    In a recent Vox article, writer Rebecca Jennings supports the flood of Instagram challenges. She argues people should continue this outpour of personal content because it offers connections that will stay in this ephemeral time.

    However, instead of cluttering a platform with more dog picture reposts or pictures of people wearing pillows as clothing that only distract from the now, we should contribute to the conversation by being honest and doing something that honors yourself and others. Let your friends on social media know how you really feel—open up, cry, laugh and inspire. If you’re up for it, of course.

    Don’t waste this time comparing yourself to someone who’s lost 10 pounds walking in circles in their driveway or to someone who’s learned how to speak Italian while in quarantine. Of course, if walking in circles in your driveway while rambling in broken Italian is your thing, go for it.

    Being honest with others allows for accountability. If you continue to keep up a guise of happiness when you’re truly suffering inside, you won’t receive the help you deserve.

    Speaking up about how you feel is a challenge more people should face. You don’t need to make immediate changes to improve, but you owe it to yourself to take the time you need.

  • What It Means When You’re “Going Through It”

    What It Means When You’re “Going Through It”

    Breaking down the common modern phrase

    Being a college student, adult and overall human being on this planet can be very difficult sometimes. Whether we can explain what we’re going through or not, we very well know that we are going through it.

    “Going through it” is a phrase that has come up in today’s culture and is spelled on social media as “going thru it.” Regardless of how it’s spelled, it usually means a certain aspect of your life, or maybe everything in your life, is getting the best of you and you’re feeling weighed down.

    “Usually when I’m going through it there are a lot of things going on around me and it makes things harder to do. My mind is taking over everything.”

    Emily Lopez

    “When I say I’m going through it, I’m just kind of not feeling it,” Xochilt Reyes said. Reyes, 22, believes the phrase has a lot of emotion behind it. Reyes said you can usually tell someone is going through it before they tell you that they are.

    “You can hear it in their voice and see it in their face,” she said.

    Emily Lopez, 20, is a third-year criminology and justice studies major at Humboldt State University. Lopez agreed when she is going through it, it’s a state of being overwhelmed or sad that makes everyday tasks hard to do.

    “Usually when I’m going through it there are a lot of things going on around me and it makes things harder to do,” she said. “My mind is taking over everything.”

    Going through it is just a simple way for us to share how we’re feeling without having to go super in-depth into how we’re actually feeling. It’s three words that explain why we might have been slacking. This three-word phrase says enough to where we are able to understand our friend either needs a little space or a little help to get through the day.

    Going through it is an unpleasant experience, but one that we have all gone through at least once.

    Although this phrase has a negative connotation, the brand Viva La Bonita, who is known for creating clothes to empower women of color, turned the phrase going thru it into growing through it. The growing implies things might be rough right now, but they lead to a learning experience from which we grow and move forward. We use the experience to handle futures in which we find ourselves going through it again.

    Personally, it makes me look back at times where I was going through it and evaluate how I’ve grown from those times.

    Going through it is an unpleasant experience, but one that we have all gone through at least once. The important thing to know is that you’re not alone and that almost everyone knows what you mean when you say you’re going through it. Resources are out there if you ask for them, and friends are almost definitely there when you need them.

  • Protect your profile

    Protect your profile

    In light of data breaches, maintain some privacy.

    Facebook gives away your information. Twitter, Instagram and Google do it too. So do most of your other social media apps and websites.

    Everything you search, click or talk about ends up being sent somewhere to someone and it’s usually to advertisers, sometimes it is to a political research company like Cambridge Analytica.

    After the Cambridge Analytica breach of Facebook information of over 50 million users, the time to understand your Facebook settings is now. Social media is a giant presence in our daily lives and though taking back some privacy seems difficult, it is not impossible.

    According to the Guardian, Facebook used to be able to ask for your information, but it really has access to all of your friends’ information as well, just by taking a quiz. They no longer allow this to happen, but you can still make sure you’re not sharing more than you want with others.

    “That means that around 300,000 people could sign up for a personality test quiz, and in the process hand over information of 150 times that number,” The Guardian article said.

    The Guardian goes on to explain that you’re probably handing over more information than you bargained for, even though they no longer mine you for your friends’ information.

    When you sign into your Facebook account, go up to the top right of your screen and hit the drop-down arrow. In that drop-down menu, click on settings and find your “Apps and Advertising” pages on the left hand side.

    This is where you can control some of what you share with advertisers and pages that are data mining your info, and still find out which Gilmore Girls character you’re most likely to fall in love with.

    On the apps page, sort through the lists of apps accessing your info and change permissions or delete access entirely. On this page you can also change how you interact with these apps, pages and games that ask for you information as well as change privacy settings on older versions of Facebook. You can also deny pesky game request notifications here as well.

    Accessing the ads page will neatly lay out the information ads are using to cater to you, what business you’ve interacted with and what ads you do or don’t want to see. Spend some time checking out these settings, and figuring out what does and does not bother you.

    If you’ve got extra time, Facebook also has an informational page on why advertising is important and what advertisers are looking for when they get your information. There are more options here to adjust your advertising experience.

    The reality is, escaping social media data mining is difficult for a generation who is always tuned in and constantly sharing. These are some options on how to combat your information from being too available on Facebook, and protecting what Facebook does and does not offer to third parties.

    Just like writing something on paper, the internet is permanent. You can remove your information from your profile as well, but these social media apps and programs will still have this information on file.

    A more extreme and definite alternative? Delete Facebook and your other social media apps. We as journalists do not fully stand behind deleting social medias in order to stay informed.

    However, we believe there are benefits to maintaining privacy or removing yourself from social media. We also understand it is difficult to remain informed in today’s digital era when you make these decisions.

    Explore the settings in other social media apps, and discover how much of you they are giving to outside companies and take back some of your privacy.

  • “Iron Fist” Review

    “Iron Fist” Review

    By Danny Dunn

    “Iron Fist” is a good show with interesting plotlines and characters throughout the season, but does suffer from some pacing and visual issues. “Iron Fist” is the latest Marvel show on Netflix, following the character Danny Rand (Finn Jones) otherwise known as The Iron Fist.

    “Iron Fist” is the fourth installment of Marvel television shows on Netflix along with “Daredevil”, “Jessica Jones”, and “Luke Cage.” “Iron Fist” is the last Marvel Netflix show before the big team up of the four heroes called “The Defenders”.

    “Iron Fist” is written by Scott Buck and directed by John Dahl. While neither have worked on a Marvel show before, they both have many years of experience in television, and have collaborated on the show “Dexter”.

    While on a trip to China, the Rand family plane goes down somewhere in the Himalayas. After seeing both of his parents die in the plane crash, young Danny Rand is found by some monks that reside in the mystical city of K’un-Lun, where he is trained in martial arts and eventually is granted the power to summon the Iron Fist.

    After being presumed dead for the last 15 years, Danny returns home to New York City. He goes to Rand Enterprises to have meeting with Harold Meachum (David Wenham), to try and reclaim his company, but to Danny’s surprise Harold had died shortly after the Rand plane went down 15 years ago.

    Now Harold’s children and Danny’s childhood friends Ward Meachum (Tom Pelphrey) and his sister Joy (Jessica Stroup) run Rand enterprises. They are understandably skeptical of Danny, and do not believe he is the real Danny Rand.

    Danny also finds out that members of his sworn enemies criminal organization, known as The Hand, are not only in New York but have infiltrated Rand Enterprises.

    So now Danny must force his way back into Rand enterprises, while also protecting the company and the city from ‘The Hand’.

    One of Danny’s allies in his quest is Colleen Wing (Jessica Henwick). Colleen owns her own martial arts dojo in New York City, and allows Danny to stay at her dojo when he has nowhere else to turn.

    There are some outside characters and references to other Marvel shows.

    For instance, The Hand plays a central role in both “Daredevil” and “Iron Fist”. The Hand is a criminal organization that manufactures and distributes drugs, along with having highly skilled assassins.

    Jeri Hogarth (Carrie-Anne Moss) or ‘J-Money’ is a lawyer, who has a recurring role in Jessica Jones. Before becoming a lawyer Hogarth interned at Rand Enterprises, where she met a young Danny Rand, which leads Danny to seek out Hogarth to help him get control of his company again.

    Former nurse Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) has now made an appearance in each of the four Marvel shows. She was introduced in “Daredevil” as a nurse for an injured Matt Murdock. In “Jessica Jones” Claire is brought in by Jessica to help an injured Luke Cage. This leads to Claire making an appearance in “Luke Cage” as a love interest of Luke.

    In “Iron Fist” Claire joins Colleen Wing’s dojo to try and improve her martial arts skills. She also assists Danny and Colleen on a couple adventures throughout the season. Claire mentions to Danny that she knew somebody that had battled ‘The Hand’ in the past (Daredevil).

    Madame Gao (Wai Ching Ho) was also in Daredevil, as an associate of the crime boss Wilson Fisk. Gao has her own drug operation along with ties to ‘The Hand’ and presents a problem to Danny throughout the show.

    One of the main issues with the show is that some of the actual plot points took too much time to get going, and that it spends too much time dealing with Rand Enterprises issues and not Iron Fist action or superhero related issues.

    However, there are a lot of scenes in the first half of the series that have to do with Rand Enterprises, but they are presented in an interesting fashion. The struggle for Danny not only to prove that he is in fact Danny Rand, but also the struggle get back majority shareholder status in a company that his father created.

    There are a few times that a plotline was dragged out an episode or so longer than it needed to be. The scenes that were long were not terrible, they are just sometimes not really essential.

    There is also a need for more action throughout the show. There are only a handful of solid action scenes, but the overall story makes up for it. There are times that you can tell that it is not actually Finn Jones doing his own stunts.

    Speaking of Finn Jones (Danny), his acting is kind of bland throughout the season, it is hard to tell whether it is the writing or his acting.  For instance, there is a scene where Danny is supposed to be furious with Ward and Joy when they are still trying to keep him out of the company. Danny makes a scene and throws plates and glasses, but his overall demeanor did not seem angry at all.

    In scenes where he is not fighting, which is the majority of the show, he does not show enough charisma on screen, and that is something that is essential if there is not going to be a lot of action in the show. “Jessica Jones” is a perfect example of little action, but it is entertaining throughout, because the characters are interesting.

    That is not to say there is no interesting characters in “Iron Fist”. Jessica Henwick nails her role as Colleen Wing. She is easily the most likable character in the series, and when she is on screen she steals the scene. There are a few cage match fights she is in that are unrealistic, but that is not really her fault. It is not a stunt double issue, it is more of a six foot 300 pound guy getting his butt kicked by five and a half foot 115 pound Colleen. It is awesome to watch her fight scenes, a couple in particular in the back half of the season that really show how skilled she is in martial arts.

    Despite the show suffering from pacing and visual issues, it makes up for it with an interesting plotline and deep and well thought out characters throughout the season. “Iron Fist” is a solid show to watch for anyone out there looking for a nice binge on Netflix, and the show is a four out of five stars.