Author: Emilie Buckman

#firstworldproblems

Posted on by Emilie Buckman

Sometime I think our internet savvy, hyper-aware generation can be too detached for its own good.  Need an example? Look at the twitter account @firstworldroblems.

Don’t get me wrong when I first saw the tweets I thought they were entertaining. And I am definitely guilty of complaining about trivial inconveniences associated with living a country of abundance. (The other day I started whining about how my phone always freezes up when I am in Instagram than someone pointed that was an first world problem.)

I started rethinking the accounts humor when I saw this viral video for WATERislife, which has Haitians reading actual tweets from the popular accounts. Their organization helps provide clean drinking to impoverished residents of Haiti.

After seeing the video I felt both incredibly happy, while also feeling like a huge jerk. (It’s hard not to feel bad living in a society that has so much, yet complains about small problems. If you don’t feel like a jerk I am pretty sure you don’t have a soul.) But my happiness outweighs those feelings because I know what good WATERislife can do with this video.

The video is so simple yet to so effective. In my opinion, a great way to connect with this shrewd generation is to show the highlight the juxtaposition of their indifference. This is one video does just that! Here’s hoping it goes viral!

Think before you tweet

Posted on by Emilie Buckman

Ugh, Michael Vick. If I am Michael Vick, you better believe I am going to edit any and all information I send out to avoid even the slightest reference to dogs. So when I hear about a picture he posted on Twitter, in which an astute online follower noticed a box of Milk-bone dog biscuits, I was disappointed. Not because he has a dog – though I truly believe he should never be able own another pet – but rather, I am disappointed in his carelessness in keeping it a secret. Without question Vick’s publicist (and every other person in his life) must have warned him to be cautious about making any allusion to pet ownership.

But the internet does not exist to make it easy for celebrities to hide from their past improprieties. The only people who get to enjoy anonymity online are the lowly internet trolls, who are out to catch mistakes like a Milk-bone box in a photo of a known associate of dog-fighting.

While I am all about “live and let live,” Vick doesn’t have that luxury. I hope Vick is preparing answers for how to handle the inevitable and persistent questions about dogs he is bound to encounter. One can only hope he comes up with better answers than how unfair it is to his kids. Let’s get one thing straight, having a dog is a privilege and not a right. Your kids will be fine.  My parents didn’t give us a dog when we were little and we turned out just fine. (Also they didn’t participate in dog-fighting so I think I had more reasons to feel deprived.)

A different filter for Instagram

Posted on by Emilie Buckman

I always have to preface these types of posts with this statement:  my feelings towards social media and technology vary greatly when talking about personal versus business use.

It’s fair to say I can be rather dismissive when it comes to the latest and greatest technology, gadgets, and all around high tech offerings.   Not because of some arbitrary feelings of nostalgia, but rather, it’s my need to avoid pointless fads.  (I can say with pride I escaped the pitfall of MySpace.)

A few months ago I wrote a fairly pretentious and completely judgmental post about the phone app and social media site Instagram.   Now I rejected joining long enough but, being that I work in social media, I wasn’t able to avoid it for too long.  So I broke down and started my new life with Instagram.  But if you are expecting this post to be a complete retraction to my less than enthusiastic evaluation, you will be sorely disappointed.

I will say, now I see the filters are amusing and how truly creative people can use the medium in ways that will impress even the most cynical of photography snobs. With all my reservations, I finally get that it is just plain and simple fun, even if you use the app to document your entire caloric and caffeine intake for the day. (It’s still annoying but I guess I can forgive it.)

What I won’t concede about is the necessity of a site in and of its self.  Using it on your phone is one thing but to trying to connect on a computer is useless.  You have to use an outside site, like Webstagram, which I don’t get.  And the best mediums to showcase your pictures are still Facebook and Twitter.  So I still have a separate site is pointless.

So at the end of the day my views might have softened towards Instagram but I am definitely not a convert.  But let’s be real for a second; I’m just salty no one wants to follow me and all the pictures I post of beers at the terrace.