Online Subcultures

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Cisnero and Nakayama’s article (2015) emphasizes on how social media and the ideologies of “new” and “old” racism influence public discourses of race.  If “old” racism stresses on the difference in biological and cultural essentialism, “new” or “color-blind” racism suggests indirect racial division by removing the significance of race.  New media culture has shifted the norms of intercultural communication and cultural logics of race into a classification and hierarchy based on subcultures.  Instead of analyzing the concepts of racism through the lens of mass media, this blog post will adopt the feature of tastes and aesthetics as a reflection of subculture divisions existed in digital environments.

Postfeminism in Media Culture

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Rosalind Gill’s article proposes that postfeminism is not a movement, but a sensibility that accentuates individualism, choice, and empowerment characteristics.   To unpack postfeminist characteristics in media culture, Gill tentatively delves into an array of features that influence postfeminism sensibility.   The three features that will be chronologically discussed in this blog post are feminity as a bodily property; individualism, choice, and empowerment; and self-surveillance and discipline.

Friendship and the Impact of Social Media

Image Source: Matt Blease

In our tech-dominated society, people are able to dramatically expand their social horizons and instantly connect with friends via the use of social media, regardless of the geographical distance.  While electronic communication seems more convenient in our fast-paced lifestyles, many critics argue that the fruits of technology can lead our friendships toward inauthenticity.  A study by Robin Dunbar, a professor of evolutionary psychology, theorized that an individual can only maintain no more than 150 friendships, or five close friendships, due to cognitive limitations of brain size, attention span, and the time to nurture the friendships.  Yet, social media has created a new shift for the universal idea of friendship, which was once rare and precious in ancient times.  

My Digital Detox Experience - A Mindful Exercise

This blog post records my one-hour digital detox experience, in which I refrain myself from all means of electronic and media uses.  The purpose of this digital detox is not to meditate, but to find my present self and to pay my attention to the way I pay attention.  For this digital detox, I have decided to spend an hour sitting in a quiet park nearby my university apartment while refraining myself from my phone and any other technological devices.  I picked this outdoor setting because I much preferred the fresh air outside to an indoor environment.  At 1 p.m., the park was not crowded and almost empty.  Therefore, I was able to be alone with my own thoughts for the entire hour without much distractions and external stimulations. 

Plastic-Free Shopping Guide

In our modern world, it is easy to get stuck in a fast-paced lifestyle that offers immediate convenience with single-use items, such as plastic bags, plastic straws, or takeout cups.  Every year, 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide; this means 2 million plastic bags are used each minute (Earth Policy Institute).  Almost every shop we visit provides some kinds of mass-produced plastic products that can be effortlessly thrown away after one use.  Imagine the other side of the picture, where do all of these single-use items go if they can't be recycled: landfills.  Sadly, this makes many of us hard to believe that our world was once plastic-free.

ZERO WASTE BODY BUTTER

My passion for environmental sustainability started in 2014 when I took an Environmental Studies course at my university.  Ever since I grew my interest in the environment, I slowly became more conscious of what products I purchase in the market and how my footprint affects the environment.  To reduce the amount of trash being sent to landfills, I started to recycle and compost.  Not so long ago, I created an ECO section on The Rosemary Life and wrote my first blog post about being eco-conscious at the beach.  As I am still in the progress of learning and making small changes at a time, I want to document and share this green journey with you all through my blog!

Summer Beach Guide

The refreshing power of the ocean relinquishes one of the most healing medications to the mind and the body that is scarcely comparable with anything else.  I am always amazed by the soothing abilities that the ocean offers.  Being present at the beach restores, invigorates and cleanses my soul every time.  Walking along the shore and dipping my toes in the waves are always so pure and blissful.  One day at the beach can give me the energy and rejuvenation for a long period of time.  The luxuriance of sea air melts away all stress and tension in my life.  The ocean air stays deeply in my soul that I can’t seem to find the same aliveness elsewhere.