The Digital Past

This class was super interesting to me because I have never really knew what idealism or realism was until this class. A lot of people always learned about these philosophies in high school but I was probably goofing off and not paying attention…per usual. Now, when the descriptions of these two ideas were read, I automatically classified myself as a realist. Thought it was that simple and I had done my part. As the class discussion continued, I found myself having new thoughts that switched me between idealist and realist. Truly a roller coaster. I have always believed that there is no such thing as a single “ideal, perfect world/life” because everyone is different. And that’s when it hit me, everyone IS different. We all have different perceptions of what is “perfect”; my perfect may not be somebody else’s perfect. At least that is how I see it…

In all honesty, I still do not know what the hell I am. I am somewhat both. I do believe in a God but I do not practice my religion as much as others. Maybe a few times a year on the big holidays but not daily/weekly. But I am also very realistic when it comes to my life such as believing things happen for a reason, not because God has a plan, but because it is inevitable.

I have always hated reading, always. So trying to read this book was absolutely the death of me. I do not know it is because of technology why I dislike reading books because part of me has disliked it from as long as I can remember, but I also do understand what the books message was saying how our attention spans are shorter and we can barely get through a full page without getting distracted. I also find it very ironic in the way that a lot of our class assignments are on the internet. There’s nothing bad about it, it’s just a little humorous.

Coming into this class, I did not really know what to expect. “The Digital Past” seemed very vague and I was not sure if that meant we would be learning important dates like when the internet was made or the evolution of everything technology. But I figured I would give it a go.

The first class was every college kid’s dream. A quick 20 minute class on the first day and we were out of there. And a professor who played music? It’s gonna be a fun class.

The second class we discussed loudness about music. When I left, I was floored and forever changed after the discovering that most artists now a days stay at the same level of volume whether they are talking softly or screaming. We used Adele’s “Hello” as an example (which is one of my favorite songs) and it is one of those situations where you do not notice until someone points it out and the glass is shattered. I cannot unhear it and even listen more closely when the radio is on. I think it would then be interesting to go see an artist (let’s keep Adele in this scenario) in concert, would she scream the chorus or stay the same volume? I would not know because her tickets cost more than my soul so I could not test it…but that’s a different story.