Surely, as human being, everything we do and see can affect ourselves, sometimes soon or later, more or less. So the ‘consumerism’ can really interfere in character of teenagers if parenting does not pay attention at their ‘trends’, it’s values and changing what might be harm.

I agree with the initiative of Alana ONG, as Vanessa has shown. It’s necessary to show how the things are and how can be done, so then people can reflect, compare, understand the matter and make a choice of life. Because sometimes, not all the parents are able to perceive this influence on character of teenagers, even more the last ones.

Searching about Consumerism I’ve got shocked when I read this article:

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/triumph-of-consumerism/

Some examples are fun, however it’s serious. Because people are naming their babies inspired on brands! That’s a dreadful reflection of consumerism. They are going to grow thinking about ‘brands’, not meanings.

Some people use it as an “escape valve”, however, part of them can’t let go from it. As many things in this world, they are not harmful per se, however the way we use it can be harmful and cause dependency – as to someone who lacks something that ‘seems’ to find on internet.

Can we assume that the internet addiction is not measured by the time you spend on it but when you are replacing the possibilities in the real life giving preference to the virtual one?

I think it’s much more complex, in this article of The New York Times, clinician of Internet Dependency have tried to create a list of ‘signs’:

“FIFTEEN signs of an addiction to using the Internet and computers, according to Internet/Computer Addiction Services in Redmond, Wash., follow:

1. Inability to predict the amount of time spent on computer.

2. Failed attempts to control personal use for an extended period of time.

3. Having a sense of euphoria while on the computer.

4. Craving more computer time.

5. Neglecting family and friends.

6. Feeling restless, irritable and discontent when not on the computer.

7. Lying to employers and family about computer activity.

8. Problems with school or job performance as a result of time spent on the computer.

9. Feelings of guilt, shame, anxiety or depression as a result of time spent on the computer.

10. Changes in sleep patterns.

11. Health problems like carpal tunnel syndrome, eye strain, weight changes, backaches and chronic sleep deprivation.

12. Denying, rationalizing and minimizing adverse consequences stemming from computer use.

13. Withdrawal from real-life hobbies and social interactions.

14. Obsessing about sexual acting out through the use of the Internet.

15. Creation of enhanced personae to find cyberlove or cybersex.”

The link: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9803EEDE1531F932A35751C1A9639C8B63&pagewanted;=all

The worst problem, I see, is to prefer a “virtual life”, because as human being, we need a presence that no internet, game, computer or “virtual life” can replace. These article can be important for the debate, because there are some examples of problem that people who were ‘obsessed’ about it have had. By the demands of controlling this kind of “addiction”, psychologists have build clinics; made researches about the problem; in Korea, where the major part of population uses internet, people have created a Boot Camp aiming to Cure Web Addiction (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/technology/18rehab.html?pagewanted=all)

None of these practices and “solutions” can be effective per se, however it can be a powerful way to make people think about how and how much they are using internet.

There is no “easy” way of living, and, surely it’s not a cheap way, because as people have already discussed, the products to replace some substance we need are more expensive than the groceries we buy at supermarket.

I’m not vegetarian or vegan, however I eat some special foods when I don’t want to eat meat - sometimes it is harm to me; other times I eat it because these foods usually are healthy and nature, even tasty.

Changing habits is not easy, and changing diet can even be harmful. This is a healthy way of living JUST when people really do what must to; when vegetarians follow medical and nutritional recommendation.

One problem of being vegan appears when we discuss about pregnancy, because the meat substances are necessary to a healthy development of the fetus; and even when babies get the age of eating, doctors usually tells the mother to give them some specific piece of meat for a healthy development of brain. That’s something people not usually discuss about, however affects others, the baby, specifically. I hope there is other alternative for vegetarians in such case, however I haven’t found.

Do vegetarians preserve the nature or don’t they make any difference?

Even knowing it’s a wonder, it’s a bit tendentious. Because you can’t generalize that vegetarians preserve the nature, part of them are vegetarians, but not for this reason. And someone who is not vegetarian can still preserve nature.

Anorexia is an eating disorder. The person always think that is ‘fatter’ than really is, fear gaining weight and by that the person begin to eat less and lose weight.

I think this campaign is shocking, however, effective. This is a powerful way to make people reflect, because as the reporter has said “it’s hard to look at and even more hard not looking at”. And anorexia can really be related to the model death, because when you don’t feed yourself as should, you lack substances that can improve your health and immunological system.

Surely, the media is a problem by the way it influences showing a “model” of how to be or look like; however people need to realize about it and encourage others to be only themselves, caring not about trends. As you’ve discussed, beautiful is not a mathematical principle; it’s about Nature, we are different, diverse, and that’s the real beauty. Sometimes people go until the limits for fitting in trends because they are influenced, encouraged, involved, and so can’t see what really matters: a healthy life.

Discussing about anorexia I’ve remembered of the song “Ana’s Song”, it was created by the Silverchair vocalist to express his battle with anorexia. Here, there is an interview he gave to Rolling Stone magazine:

Up to know is clear that the major problem on Plastic Bags is educational, because people need to reflect about the whole problem; when we talk about an educational problem is not only about knowing the effects of throwing bags at the streets and recycling them, but also the necessary effort to get used to new ways of carrying groceries; an effort to take care of Nature.

On the material of R7, someone said that plastic bags are important because they are used for the garbage: “- Quando a sacola sair de circulação, o consumidor vai ter que comprar duas embalagens: uma para o transporte das compras e o saco de lixo, que é feito do mesmo material da sacolinha e tem a mesma destinação, ou seja, o aterro sanitário.” However, we still have the plastics bags we use to carry fruits and vegetables, they are not banned at markets and can be used for carrying the garbage.

For sure we have a real life and it cannot be replaced by a virtual life, but as humans, everything we do affect ourselves in a scale, from little to much, it depends on what we make of our life. Facebook can also affect our real life when we change our routine in attempt to include it; and it can also affect our mood when we make it important, we run as fast as we can in attempt to get news, to see some reply about anything - from personal conversations to expressing yourself through things shared. You can feel anxious on looking for news, better for some response or angry for another, how good is it going to be like is relative, personal. So the theory claimed on the article “Facebook's success: It's about making people feel better” looks fallacious when you pay attention at something: 30 people are too little data to make a generalization about a subjective matter - surely, Facebook has more than thirty users.

As in real life, not everybody play ‘fair’, some people wants to be seen in some way, so what people are doing on social networks probably is a reflect of society and people ‘masks’.

I agree with Marcia, Internet is a really powerful tool.

It has broken distances: people from different places around the world can communicate, however, we cannot know how is at the other side. About this dreadful insecurity many social networks has created an option for users, they can ‘protect’ their profiles, only allowed people can see what they do or post.

Nowadays, people also record anything their babies do and soon upload to YouTube. People aim to “show” their kids, to entertain strangers and appear on TV, because, now, TV programs can use YouTube videos – it’s really a new option when people upload videos, to allow sites and TV to show it. Some years ago it was not a real option.

There are parents who join social networks in attempt to control their children and those ones who make them join this even without knowing it consciously, yet.

FIFA rights was always known so we can consider that this interference on Brazilian law is not ‘correct’ it’s just something that would be expected analogically. Because about this event, these ‘matters’ are always pointed, surrounding the host countries, their cities and people, it’s not a strange matter, it has previous cases.

As we can see on the first article “there will be an exclusive commercial area of two kilometers around stadiums” so, for Brazilian government, FIFA will have what they want and our government know that there will be a great profit even if not all of the states allow the beverage sale in stadium.

I agree that the prices should have been cut down since we just buy ‘the products’ and we do not pay for bags. However I see a socio-biological worry on the issue, because everyone knows how many bags are thrown on the streets blocking the rain water to flow and causing a big impact: floods, besides the sea life problems.

“What's wrong with plastic bags? Lots. They often wind up as litter, or in trees. They drift into oceans and rivers and kill fish. They can take 1,000 years to decompose. And every time we use a plastic bag, we drive up the demand for oil - which is used to make plastics.”

(The link of the article used: http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/14/magazines/fortune/pluggedin_gunther_plastic.fortune/index.htm) )

So, surely, there is an economic interest, but we are part of Nature and it also might be important.

It’s important how some of these materials ‘showed’ the cannabis subject opposite side, I mean, everyone say that it’s related to criminality, however one of this articles has pointed the ‘medical usage’ of cannabis that might cost too little in comparison to actual therapeutic medicines for some patients.

“Prescription for medical purposes could therefore reduce the National Health Service's dependence on other costly drugs.” (On the second material: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_politics/963653.stm) )

It’s not totally proved its “safety or efficacy”, - as you can see on last material - however this is already used around the world. The last article has been "reviewed" by an ‘Authority’ on the issue, as we've read on Fulkerson's texts, Argument from Authority is an important writing strategy, people who have a lack of knowledge about some issue rely on authorities. At this article it’s not an argument, it’s not made by the Doctor, it’s just “reviewed”. However, it’s still an interesting method, used by the writer, to improve the text reliability.