Evaluate your T.V. viewing/internet/phone/video game use. How much time do you spend in these activities and what is the effect on your life?

T.V. viewing?  Oh, yes!  I see these quaint anchors for armchair attendants, magnets for munching manikins, and even tube-timers--99% of households have 1 television.  Whereas 78% of America’s population is exposed to, or has access to, the Internet—moot point.  Then there is the combination between fixed phones and cell phones, with a whopping 103% demographic in favor of mobile units.  Another moot point.  With more women playing video games, at nearly 40%, the average in 2011 is 67% of households play video games, with the greatest concentration between the ages of 18 and 49, with males spending the most time in a given week—8 hours!  To be fair to those of us that do not watch an anchor, nor have a cellphone stuck in our ears for hours on end, choose to defer to video games connected to the internet.  Yes, I am a video gamer and find this vice relaxing and distraction from life—.  Personally, catching a rerun from a day long past, such as Perry Mason, or Get Smart, or even Hogan’s Heroes, is a novelty, rarity, and justifiable opportunity.  Unlike the National average that reflects a growing coach-potato mentality, the time investment on my part is negligible, perhaps less than 1% of a 168-hour week.  My statistics for my phone are not even on the radar—1% of 1% of my tube visits.  As for gaming, my usage is fairly close to the National average, though not epidemic, nonetheless so purported to clinch this topic’s focus.  Yet, society is engaged in another ideological battle over electronics, and how it is robbing us of our time, while the other camp debates the net benefits, be it relaxing and decompressing. Oh, we will avoid the evil word—entertainment.  To be categorized with an industry heavy into robbing the public of their time in exchange for dollars, shame on us for investing our time in pixel-propriety.  And, I would counter that bowling, football, golfing, hunting, shooting pool, or any number of other entertainment venues could be thrown out there for scrutiny.  Oh, I realize this topic asked a very generic question.  Sure, let us reflect on our time allotments, until someone takes issue, gasps, and takes us to task.  It’s all good, with the question and answer is just me reading it.  It’s entirely a different animal when we put it out there for the public to see.  And I revel in my vice, and stand out among critics, the outspoken, and soapbox antagonists, ready to prance, stomp, and cling to my Internet Video Gaming.  Get back!  I can’t see my game.  Is there anything else??? Nope?  Okay.  Do you mind?  I’m trying to level up here—scat!

TIME TO PLAY!

Did high school, your previous education or work experience prepare you for college?

Whether my dismal grades in high school, or my academic excellence in the army, that positively affected my college success, either in whole or in part, is a matter of speculation—at best.  Early on, right out of high school, I purposed to avoid any higher education, mostly due to my special educational experience growing up.  As for the military, I excelled in Advanced Individual Training, not because I had too, but because I enjoyed what I was doing.  Many years later, and with a family to support, I would gravitate to necessity to find a balance in trucking to maintain a budget.  It would be a stretch of my imagination to find roots, in either experience, which echoes a hint of recognition to which college success is a kin.  No, I would have to point out that the recession was the great equalizer, removing my options and giving way to desperation.  Moreover, being a homeless full-time student is much more attractive than being homeless and unemployed.  Necessity is a powerful motivator, that without alternatives, pragmatic that I am, college offers a viable solution, albeit a gamble for the future, with some normality of financial stability, it is not hard to see why I, and many others, pursue a higher education.  For me, the choices were far and few between, and with the recession far from over, retooling for the future seemed a necessary and plausible path to undergo.  However, I would point out that I have found that my own advice to my children has made life as a student bearable, even enjoyable in classes that I otherwise would have never guessed I would take.  That advice is to have fun, laugh, and enjoy the experience.  In this way, the learning curve is not so steep, and the challenges not so difficult, and the rewards are that much more sweeter.  Admittedly, my experience in the army could be the catalyst for this mindset, wherein my efforts to be the best technician, were undoubtedly connected with my sense of adventure.  And so this adventure in the wonderful world of higher education is my journey, the path of choice, so I had better enjoy the trip for as long as I can.  In the not so distant future, academia will open up doors, through which I will either sprout wings and soar—or flop, relegated to being homeless and unemployed.