Society's Watchdog

The watchdog role that society possesses allows us to check the power that the government has through watching and criticizing what they do. We have protection to criticize the government due to our First Amendment rights, giving us the freedom to speak out against the actions and policies that they may introduce as we see fit. 

I feel that out of the eight values, this watchdog role is the most important because if we are not allowed to criticize the government, they are just going to keep gaining power and make choices for themselves instead of the country and the citizens who inhabit it. Also, by voicing our opinions we are able to express our disproval of choices they make for the country, potentially turning over a new leaf and encouraging the government to change their opinions on certain topics, such as same-sex marriage. 

This value is also inspiring to society since it urges society to speak up and out, join marches or protests, and allows everyone's opinion to be seen by others. This also makes this value meaningful, supporting and respecting each individual's opinion. Of course this doesn't come without backlash, with the explosion of social media allowing everyone to make comments on other's opinions oftentimes arguing with someone they may not know over their specific beliefs and values they think are right for everyone.

This watchdog value and the above information can also be tied to the safety valve or stable change value, allowing people to voice their opinions both supporting and dissenting others views on a topic. Everyone has their own views and opinion on subjects such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and gun laws, all of which are very hot topics prevalent in today's society. By allowing society to voice their opinion, nothing is held back or hidden and everything is put on the table to examine, both by the government and other members of our culture. 

Advancing Communications and Lost Skills

SMS stand for Short Messaging Service, meaning the total character count for the message must be 160 characters or less. The concept for SMS messaging came from Franco-German GSM Cooperation by Freidhelm Hillenbrand and Bernard Ghillebaert in 1984, and the first text message was sent in 1992 by Neil Papworth, a former developer at Sema Group Telecoms, to Richard Jarvis, from Vodafone, telling him “Merry Christmas.” In 1993 Nokia became the first manufacturer to support user-sent text messaging, and in 1997 Nokia produced the first mobile phone with a full keyboard, the Nokia 9000i Communicator.

Through the innovation of smartphones, the virtual keyboard gained popularity and added aspects such as spell check, automatic correction, and predicted words/phrases to use in texts. Many social media and internet platforms use the SMS style, encouraging its growth, and in 2007 Americans sent and received more text messages than they did phone calls per month. Today, SMS is the most used data application with 81% of mobile phone users utilizing the tool.

Although text messaging is a quick and convenient way of how we communicate with and manage friends, family, work and social activities, it can create poor communication skills for avid texters and decrease social activity between people, decreasing the amount of time spent actually being with them. Texting also takes out all of the tone or personality of your message, creating misinterpreted meanings, things being taken out of context, and hurt feelings that could be avoided with a simple phone call or chat in person. For the full article, click here.