Things I've Learned This Year

     We may not notice it, but within a years time we all learn new concepts regarding ourselves and or the world we live in. This new knowledge has helped make you the person you are today, so we should always appreciate what we learn. We can make the world a better place by sharing this knowledge with one another so we can each decide as an individual person how we want that knowledge to apply to our lives. So, here are some of the things I have learned this year.

1. Sometimes life can be hard. We grow from struggle, if we didn't have any struggle the world would be full of carbon copy people that had no unique quirks and insights.

2. To much tradition can equal stagnation. If you are always stuck in the flow and format of how life was in the past, YOU will be stuck in the past as well. Tradition is good in minority, but if you base your life off tradition you won't be able to see what your future may have in store.

3. Life isn't about fighting your way through the hard times. It's about what you take from those times and how you apply them to your life.

4. What is popular is not always what is right.

5. The best way to be beautiful is to be yourself. Accepting your inner beauty will make you the most beautiful person in the world, because no one will have the same beauty as you.

6. Wisdom is not academic. Wisdom is intellectual and philosophical. It will never be able to be properly given or defined by books or studies because it comes from you.

7. Find your passion. Without a passion or something to fight for your life can seem dull and empty. Find your passion because it fuels you.

8. Memories are seeds that grow rose colored trees. Memories are beautiful things, but if you base all your judgments off of them you won't be able to see past the positives. You could run the risk of making a judgment or action that could harm you deeply.

9. Don't be afraid to be unique. How can new concepts or insights come to be if you stick to the status quo of what society dictates as perfection.

10. Sometimes the invisible is the most beautiful thing you can know. If we base our entire knowledge off of only what we can see, feel, taste, and touch, things like love and faith wouldn't exist. Open you mind to what is the unseen, because it can hold the best life has to offer.

   To wrap this all up, I challenge you to look back at this year and recount all the minor or major life changing things you have learned. I believe this challenge is important because it forces you to go back and see how you've grown as a person and how certain events in your life may have assisted that growth. As well as, how some things that may have seemed minor created large changes or vice versa. So, look back into your year and recount everything you've learned and the ways in which it has made you a better person. Who knows maybe I'll write about it and we can all share our new knowledge. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.

What is Net Neutrality and Why is it Important?

What is net neutrality?

     Net Neutrality is a set of rules and regulations that prevent internet service providers (ISP’s) from showing favoritism to specific content on the internet. It enforces that ISP’s not discriminate based on user, content, application, website, or platform. Net neutrality prevents ISP’s from slowing down, blocking, or charging extra money to specific websites or internet content.

Now that net neutrality has been repealed, what does that mean?

     I am not saying I know what will happen by any means. Although, some of the things that could have the potential to happen include, bandwidth throttling, content discrimination/favoritism, net bias, and tiered internet.

     Bandwidth throttling is best defined as ISP’s slowing down or speeding up of internet for a user. An ISP could now hold the capability of either slowing down or speeding up your internet based on how much you pay them for said service.

     Content discrimination/favoritism is basically how it sounds. ISP’s could now technically carry the right to dictate to a user or content creator what they can and what they cannot upload onto the internet.

     Net bias is the opposite of what net neutrality mandates. With the repeal of net neutrality, net bias has the potential to flourish. Net bias is the discrimination of users and content creators utilizing items such as price, and quality of content.

     Finally, tiered internet is a spectrum of tiers which a user or content creator can choose from that vary in price. These tiers are basically packages that include differing amenities. Examples of these packages could include,

*Basic Internet

*Social network internet

*content creator internet

Basically, tiered internet separates the internet's current content into separate packages that increase in price with the more amenities they include.

     Overall, all these things listed and defined above have the potential to become a reality with the retraction of net neutrality.

Why is this potentially a negative change?

     The repeal of net neutrality affects content creator’s freedom of speech. It does this by posing the potential of ISP’s being able to dictate what or how much they put in their content. The content restricted has the potential to be ideas or concepts the ISP does not agree with.

     Retraction of net neutrality also holds the potential to inhibit equal employment opportunity. It does this by giving the ISP’s rights to inhibit internet users based upon how much they pay. In other words, people such as, Youtubers and online shopping providers may have to pay more to produce the content they need to maintain their jobs. If these people cannot afford these charges they lose their employment. This goes for people who post content online in hopes of being discovered as well. Musicians, actors, artists, and writers who post their work online in hopes of getting discovered also will have to pay more money they potentially do not have. This prevents these people from having the same chances as someone who is already in the field or has more money to pay an ISP.

     In conclusion, these are the problems the repulsion of net neutrality could pose and how it could be disadvantageous to many people around the United States.  

#SaveNetNeutrality