Obesity of the Brain: Why Man Can't Find The Answers He's Looking To Find

“All of this has happened before and all of this will happen again.”

These wise words spoken by the Battlestar Gallactica cast during the re-imagined series (running between 2005 and 2009) define validity … even when spoken outside the realm of a Sci-Fi plot construction.

It has dawned upon this blogger that the cliché is correct – life moves in a circular pattern with an occasional pause on its way coasting through eternity.

First, there’s school. Who doesn’t remember the early morning wake-up calls where parents yell through every corridor of the house and kid grunts and rolls around in bed hoping to grab a few more seconds of shut eye because it feels so damn good in that warm cocoon of a bed.

Now, there’s work. The same morning struggle of getting out of bed remains but the parents are no longer supporting characters in this particular scene. The kid has transformed from a wide-eyed leading roll youngster with a potential case of dimples to a full-on, bill-paying, alcohol-consuming adult who has to wake themselves up in the morning.

A once simple task seems daunting now what with the technological advances of today’s society. Before, your father’s voice in the morning was all the alarm clock needed. Now, a cell phone on vibrate substitutes for the human voice.

How do you know what to wear to work for the day? Before, opening your front door or window helped you gauge the blaze of the heat outside or the frost covering the streets. Now, logging-in to weather.com answers all questions including what the weather will look like over the next 10 days.

Technology is man spooning himself information. The constant saturation of junk food-for-thought in cyberspace is enough to crowd the human mind and leave the brain swelling from too much STUFF. Forget physical obesity, our brains are fat enough due to the over saturation of useless information flooding our thoughts. Think about it.

A strong health regiment for the brain is just what people need. A few calisthenics should do the mind a little good. Some newspaper (in print, not online) columns in the morning, a cross word puzzle at lunch, classic or modern novels before bed – these would all help solve obesity of the brain.

This blogger would like to propose an experiment. All Chicago to DC readers, please, I beg you to oblige. Take a risk. Turn off that computer when you get home from work at night. Don’t even bother turning the television on, what good will it do anyway (evening news/post-bad day movies are exceptions to this rule?) Write friends you haven’t seen in awhile a letter instead of a wall post on their Facebook (yes, permission to ask them for their address via a Facebook message is granted for this endeavor.)

Society has lost focus of what’s good. We turn to our mistakes and continue to harp on them. Why not go back to what worked instead of attempting to discover a new alternative? Maybe the best decision we can make for the future is to utilize the past for our benefit. It worked once, it will work again – but we have to try if we want the answers.

Disposable is the new Digital -- No, I'm not Kidding

Whoever said digital cameras were the new disposable was strongly mistaken -- or at least that's what I tried to prove to my friends Saturday night.


With my college graduation weeks away, I attempted to document my final sorority formal on two disposable cameras. It wasn't to prove a point. It wasn't to appear as if I was in any way to superior to my peers. I just felt like it.

The reason behind my strong desire to capture the classy yet semi-debaucherous acts that my classmates and myself chose to act upon is simple: no one has real photos anymore.

To top it off, the most common complaint after handing my disposable camera to a friend in order to capture the obligatory "cute photo of you and your date for your family members" photo was, "Wow, do I really have to look through this little hole to take a picture? I can't see anything!" False. You can see something. Look through the darn view finder! It's not hard.

The older that the generation born at the end of the 1980's (and so on...) get, the more pictures taken of them and their friends end up on Facebook and not in a picture frame at their bedside or upon their walls. The world is in this digital fantasy playland that they don't want to escape from. It's as if people know they can click their ruby slippers three times and then go home to a simpler time, but they don't and they won't.

There are many benefits to using disposable over digital. For example, the suspense factor skyrockets when you have no idea what the pictures you're taking look like before, during, and after clicking the shutter. There is no "instant gratification" to taking a picture on a disposable camera ... unless you count the fact that you know it will be quite entertaining to see after being developed.

Technology has and will continue to change the cultural landscape. Trends come and go based on the next gadget produced by Apple, Sony, Cannon, and the internet as a whole. It's up to the people buying and selling those products to make the final decision in the amount that they use them.

I too am an iPod using, digital camera owning woman of the 21st century. But that doesn't mean you have to abuse the privilege.

Digital camera owners don't have to downgrade and go back to using film cameras or disposables, but simply printing the photos they take instead of sticking them online would be nice.

I can't tell you how many times I've taken pictures on my digital camera with the sole intention to post them online for the whole world to see. It's a way of "showing off" what you did to as many people as possible as fast you can so everyone can see all the cool things you did. That's why I urge all digital camera users to be far more weary of what they post. Take all the photos you want but ask yourself this: is it really worth posting if it's not worth printing?

So do something new this week. Go get yourself a disposable camera, head out in that spring weather, and take some pictures. The results may surprise you!

All photos in this entry were taken by R.H. Levitin with a disposable camera, compliment of CVS Pharmacy.

The Addiction to Constant Communication Plagues the American Social Scene

What a spectacular spring-time holiday weekend filled with home cooked meals and citrus libations. The Easter/Passover weekend is a time for all of us stuck in our various college towns to spend time together and cherish the fact that we didn't have to catch a train, drive for hours, or fly across the country to be with family for a 48 hour period during the busiest academic time of the year.

Finals are approaching and tensions are high, but all of that disappears when good friends gather to chit-chat and pass the time.

A Sunday brunch is the exact fix anyone who's a month away from graduating needs in order to forget their worries and gossip about the latest inter-greek life drama that happened at last week's impromptu gatherings. It's an excuse to stress about the little things that don't matter instead of daily woes about the inevitable transition into "the real world".

There's one thing that bothered me during today's holiday feast. The constant use of cell phones for entertainment while in a room of your closest friends.

I suppose I missed the memo that read: "While at this social event (or any other for that matter) feel free to browse the internet while on your various wireless devices. They are no longer a simple phone but rather an intricate social tool to help carry on a conversation. It will encourage your time spent bonding with your friends or acquaintances by the simple press of a button. Don't know what to talk about? Go for a Google search. Want to watch the latest Beyonce music video? You Tube it! The possibilities are endless. There will never be another lull in any conversation you ever have ... just as long as you carry your cell phone at all times."

You can call me old fashioned, but I find this ridiculous. I'll admit I have been known to send the occasional text message while hanging out with a friend, but then again, who hasn't at this point? What I find absurd is the social implications people just three years younger than me seem to think a cell phone has.

It's understandable that shy person might turn to their cell phone as a tool to aid their socializing process, but to rely on it 24/7 seems a bit much.

People today have no idea that the rules of social etiquette have changed -- and it's all because of the cell phone.

There were days, not too long ago, that people who get dirty stares from strangers if they were caught talking on their phone while on a public bus or train. Before the Blackberry became a staple of the business man or woman on-the-go, sending messages via a phone while you were at a cocktail or dinner party was unheard of and slightly blasphemous. But now, anything goes.

Adults aren't the only ones with this addiction to constant communication. Children, teenagers, and college students have all caught on to the trend.

The saddest part is that this trend was self-inflicted. We did it to ourselves.

It's A.D.D. of the social spectrum. It's an infectious desire to be continuously connected and a fear that if that connection is lost, everything will fall apart.

There's no chance of a worldwide recall of all wireless devices connected to the internet but for the sake of humanity, I wish we'd all take a step back and minimize our usage.

Wouldn't it be nice to shut off those darn things and just spend time with each other? Turn off the TV. Shut down your computer. Put your phone on silent. Relax. Breathe some fresh air. And -- remember -- at the end of the day, all of those contraptions that feed you information are nothing but plastic and artificial intelligence.