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Because of social media and texting 24/7, our minds have become accustomed to emoticons and what they represent. For example, our brains now register the colon - dash - close - bracket as a real smiling face. This phenomenon has been studied by scientists and this break through is not only interesting but also dawns upon the fact of how people right now are beginning to be taken over by technology. If just seeing a few markings of type makes one remember a face, then what more weird things will we be able to connect with text to in the future? It's not just smiley faced emoticons people register as well - there are thousands of emoticons that people now understand are pictures that are smaller versions of a bigger idea such as, OTL representing a person kneeling in failure and even, (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻, to represent the action of flipping a table.

In September 2012, the Pakistani government passed an order to ban the access to YouTube because of a single video that slashed their control and decisions for their country. Although I'm pretty sure that there are far more offensive videos shared and posted on that site about other countries, their government has decided to to block everyone in their country from potentially seeing that video and went for drastic measures (surprise, surprise). It is not just YouTube that one country has boycotted, but others have requested content take down on Google as well with the threat of banning all of Google if they do not comply. The act of banning these sites may not be such a big deal, but I see it as placing filters, surveillance, censorship and controlling what people see.

The youth of today hate politics, but who can blame them when a struggle between old white men for power doesn't really peak there interest. Ontario's premier, Kathleen Wynne, thought she had the solution to the disenfranchised youth problem and turned to the social media site, Reddit, for a solution. on February 11 , 2014, Premier Wynne held an AMA (or ask me anything) from here account on the Canadian reddit board. Many, including myself, were very excited; a politician that's hip, relatable, and will answer questions I have about the government, this was every poli/computer-sci's wet dream. Unfortunately however, madam Wynne has lived up to the rest of her political career, underwhelming (shots fired). During the hour long AMA, hundreds upon hundreds of questions were asked, ones that got to the core of Ontario's political scene, questions about the socio-economic impacts of subway vs LRT. This was shaping up to be the AMA of the century... on the upside, we now know what her favourite books are... and where her next marathon will be held... yay? The premier answered a grand total of 10 questions, the 2 aforementioned included, and all received the same scripted political rhetoric that gave questions instead of answers. Our hopes for a relatable and understanding politician were scrapped by this blunder. All we wanted was a bridge between the politicians that control our lives and the thing we use daily. This was apparently too much to ask, leaving us youth as unconnected and dismissive as ever.

The article I am sharing is about how worldwide governments are beginning to pay more attention on social media and using it for better and for worse. I chose to share this article because as time continues, life is becoming more and more technology based. It is interesting to see how the government now sees social media as a way to reach younger people and help boost their campaign strengths. The Canadian government along with the US government are now more involved in our online actions. This worries me though because it feels that the government is watching us, and monitoring our actions which makes me feel insecure which is why I found this article interesting.

You just received a detention from your homeroom teacher because you did not finish your homework. The reason? FACEBOOK. Americans are spending too much time on social networks(23%). Allowing us to download the networks onto our phones(smartphones) is part of the reason why it is raising our numbers. But what's sad is that this information is no longer surprising to us. Take a look at what the world is turning into. 

I'd read the rest of this article, but I have to check to see what's up on Facebook