21st century – erverta

The hero that I want to be

Since we were kids, we always read fairy tales about fearless heroes, who never stopped in front of rising danger. They saved people’s lives, spread energy and fought with evil standing with a bright smile. We are used to considering that heroes necessarily accompanied by a mountain of steel muscles, masculine traits, idealized face and immortality. They were our role models until we realized the real hero features.

We grow up and our values change with us. It’s obvious that ones who inspired us a decade ago, today represented just as a pleasant memory. I can confidently say that I overthought this meaning of a real ‘hero’, not without the help of real-life examples. Life is an unpredictable thing with difficult life situations, you can never know how people will act in certain cases. Some people, who always smile and seem to be really strong, can break down because of minor troubles. Some people, who seem to be helpless and weak, can overcome tragedies without sorrow or blame. External appearance has nothing in common with spirit core, it is something that we are born with.

When it comes to me, I fail to answer the question “Who is the hero that I want to be?”. As for a dreamer, the first association is related to superpowers, like flying, teleportation or invisibility. If only it was a reality! I understood that for me a hero is not defined just as a one who comes to help. A hero is a person who has enough courage and aspiration in life to continue a fight, no matter how he or she is tired. The real hero is not waiting for honours or approval, inner harmony is more important for him or her. An example of such kind of a person is my mom. She is the strongest woman I ever knew and will know. She had a lot of failures but she never thought about stopping her way. My mom inspires me to explore more and more, to give love and care for the ones I love and admire. My mom is not just my hero, she is my role model and my support. I think I can answer the question now.

My own hero, that I wish to become in future

New media and its advantages

In the late 20th century new term “new media” started spreading. Before defining what is new media, let’s understand what is it in common sense. Media – is a channel, platform or outlet, which allows people to spread and share different kinds of information. So, we call media everything where we have receivers and senders of a message. In general understanding, television, radio, newspapers, magazines, briefly, anything that has a physical state, can be referred to traditional media. Nowadays, a major part of our communication is taken by new media. These are social networks, emails, personal blogs, video games, podcasts, platforms like YouTube, etc.

With the growing popularity of the Internet, many new ways of distributing information were invented. One century ago people could not even imagine having a television or a radio. If we compare traditional and new media, the second one will have much more advantages. I found four features, which I think are the most actual for me and my generation.

The main advantage of new media is that any person can be either a sender or a receiver. Furthermore, this communication model is traditional for old types of media, while in the 21st century we combine two roles in one. We have a possibility to give feedback right after consuming information. This allows people to build a more personal communication.

Everyone can remember how we were waiting for a tv programme, then setting a channel and only then starting to watch film or show. Today we don’t have that routine. We just turn on our smartphone or tablet and watch what we want anytime we want to. On-demand access is the benefit of new media.

The third advantage is the interactive representation of the information. Pictures, videos and audio files give us extra meaning, it makes reception easier and more interesting. I personally enjoy reading materials that are supplemented by media files.

What distinguishes old media from new, is that we don’t need a huge amount of money to start broadcasting or blogging, we just need an Internet connection. Decades ago people needed to employ a film crew, pay for broadcasting in order to start your own show. Today you can open YouTube and upload video. This is a great chance for teenagers and kids all around the world, who don’t earn money but have a desire to share something. Cheapness is important.

Besides these four features, there are many more, but I included only key advantages for me. It’s fascinating how within 2 decades our communication improved to a new level. I can’t even imagine what is waiting for us in future! (◕‿◕)

Why I chose this topic

Since our teacher told us about personal blogs, I was thinking about a topic, that can be interesting not just for me, but also for my groupmates and friends. For the first time, I considered a theme about self-love. But later I declined this thought because it would not be useful for my audience. Yesterday, while I seated in the kitchen choosing topic, my father gave me a great idea. He said that nowadays in Kazakh society young people are creative and ambitious, but factors like corruption, nepotism and full control from parents are slowing down their potential. I know examples of families, where kids are threatened as a lost dream compensation. My friend’s parents forced her to study medicine just because they did not have a chance to fulfil their dreams. It is just one example from thousands of cases.

As a 17-year-old girl, I face misunderstanding from the older generation in many questions. In particular, there is a huge generation gap, which aggravates our relationship with parents and grandparents. They were raised in times when every coin was valuable and they had no choice. Furthermore, scarcity was everywhere. Our parents are using methods of nurture which are irrelevant in conditions of the 21st century. Change of consciousness will take decades. Nevertheless, I think that everything depends on a particular person. Some open-minded adults are ready to adapt to the new times, some are categorically against innovations. We can’t blame them because it is their view of the world. Instead, we can explain to older people why they should let us make decisions by ourselves.

Teenagers are afraid to make mistakes, to challenge themselves because we’re given no chance to a try. I am happy to know personally so many talented and vigorous youngsters, who don’t stop because of circumstances and prohibitions. I also hope that in this blog I will widely light up the topic about the young generation. If you have any suggestions or questions, contact me. (◕‿◕)