Distinguished Young Women

 
When I was a Junior in high school, I entered a program to compete for the opportunity to win college scholarships. It was called Distinguished Young Women of America, and was essentially equivalent to a scholastic Miss America. I was drawn to the program for the opportunity to perform and discuss what actions I had taken to better myself and my community, and the scholarships were of course an incentive. Upon entering at the local level, I never thought that I would win, let alone continue to advance through multiple stages of the competition. Finally, I was invited to the national stage as one of fifty young women chosen to be a national spokesperson for Distinguished Young Women (DYW). My year and half as a DYW representative required me to have numerous speaking engagements: some of which were to emphasize the benefits of the program to potential supporters, in the hopes of inviting new donors to the program, others included hosting leadership seminars for young children, to instill the concept that with determination and hard work they can achieve anything. 

As time progressed, I grew so passionate about the DYW program and what it stands for that every time I publicly spoke, it felt natural and meaningful. However, I recognize that when I am not as familiar with or passionate about a topic, my speaking tends to seem much less natural. My discomfort is clear through my forced hand gestures and my lack of conversational tone while speaking. In order to combat this and become a better public speaker, I need to practice enough to achieve the same level of comfort I have while discussing the DYW program. Once I have done so, my words will be able to flow freely and my audience can better sense my passion for the topic.

Happy Birthday

Do you remember the days when a birthday was a huge ordeal, with multiple weeks of planning  beforehand to ensure that the notable day in someone's life was all that it could be? Before technology played such a strong role is our daily lives, actions such as wishing someone a happy birthday required some degree of work. Whether it was an in-person visit, a written letter, or even a phone call, the action demonstrated a genuine desire to show care for the individual having a birthday and that they are valued on their special day. As society has progressed, so has technology, and this has greatly impacted something which had been so meaningful for so long: birthdays. Think about the actions that you, and quite likely the majority of Americans, take to contribute to someone's birthday.

*open laptop, log on to Facebook, find their page, post "happy birthday," close laptop*

I believe that it is fair to assume that many of us are guilty of this form of birthday acknowledgement. This action correlates to the way society is progressing as a whole: becoming more efficient with less effort exerted; however, in doing so, the sense of care is eliminated from an action, much like virtually wishing someone a happy birthday.

This paradigm shift is significant because it is a reflection of how society has shifted as a whole, but focuses on one element which is particularly relevant to our generation. It is evident that as technology has made vast improvements it has also hindered other aspects of life, such as communication. Ultimately, my central claim for this piece is that the implementation of advanced technologies in society has made simple communication more impersonal and less meaningful, as apparent through the transformation of one simple wish: "happy birthday." 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/12/tech/web/tech-romance-evolution/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/happiness-in-world/201006/the-effect-technology-relationships
http://www.edudemic.com/the-4-negative-side-effects-of-technology/
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/facebook-effect-social-network-changed-world-122656206.html
http://time.com/3751376/happy-birthday-wishes-facebook-twitter-etiquette/

Paradigm Shift

John Locke once described the human mind as a "tabula rasa," or a blank slate. At the root of this statement is essentially that when we are born, our mind is a clean surface, susceptible to alterations. What alters our tabula rasa is a conglomeration of everything that we experience and encounter in our life times. Each event, regardless of how minute, leaves a mark on our tabula rasa; this jumbled series of alterations is what defines who we are. One major part of who we are is the environment in which we were raised. The communal series of facts we have grown to understand, because of their commonality, has become a part of us. In conjunction, these facts become a common theory, which is recognized as a paradigm.

We find comfort in our contemporary paradigm because it encompasses what is acceptable and what we strive to be. However, what is deemed acceptable and what fits into today's paradigm does not reflect the paradigm(s) of history. I have discovered two paradigm shifts to be particularly interesting: young children's creativity, and the roles of eighteen-year-olds.

A child's degree of creativity is directly correlated to how they draw a bird, I know this might seem like an interesting concept, but let me explain. Historically speaking, a child's sense of the world was drawn from real experiences; however, today's prevalence of media has conflicted with their opportunities to gain first-hand knowledge of the real world. A child in kindergarten drew the following image

It's clear that despite his limited art skills, he still strove to illustrate a realistic bird. However, as that child grows older, and media has a more prominent role in his life, he begins to depict birds like this

Because of the paradigm shift in children's relationship with media, it has stimulated a major shift in their sense of creativity as they grow older. 

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Another paradigm shift which I find very interesting is the roles of eighteen year olds. It is particularly relevant because many of us are eighteen, so we have a common understanding of how we are expected to fit into society. Historically, at eighteen people had vastly different requirements to thrive. As adults, many people were no longer being educated and were in the work force, as they had already been for several years. Personally, I view myself as being very young and having a husband at this age is out of the question. However; many women were already married by eighteen which is a major shift in expectations; indirectly, this also certainly influences a shift in family dynamics. 

Something else that is prevalent in modern society are outliers to the commonly accepted roles of eighteen year olds. We see people like Malala Yousafzai and Kylie Jenner, who both recently entered adulthood.

Malala is known for her dynamic action in the fight for educational rights for young girls, despite having been shot. She has made a steady rise to fame and has been recognized numerous times on the global stage. It is baffling to me that we are the same age and she has already accomplished so much in her lifetime.

Kylie Jenner is known for... well, quite honestly I am not entirely sure. As a half member of the Kardashian clan, she has made a steady rise to fame because as a family they were already in the American spotlight. Individually, much of her attention is derived from her money and massive, medically enhanced lips.

It is intriguing to analyze the roles of eighteen-year-olds in a historical context and understand the major paradigm shifts the roles underwent throughout the years to reach modern expectations. The element of outliers, such as Malala Yousafzai and Kylie Jenner, adds an addition layer to the complexity of contemporary eighteen-year-olds. 

Images credited to 

Stereotypes and Divergent Thinking

GenHERation

Hollywood Life