Five Star Addiction

One minute turned to five minutes, then an hour, then through the night but I never noticed. What about food? What about sleep? Where did time hide, that I couldn’t see it, neither did I notice it pass me by? Just in front of me, bared into my eyes, like super glue, I couldn’t disengage. The world was in my hand, and I did control it—that was the addiction. Video game addiction is real, real enough to “stop other healthy lifestyle behaviors, such as going out with friends, working or attending school”, stated Connor Murphy, in his blog “5 five signs of a video game addiction”. He uses logos to point out the downside of video game addiction. Though he states explicitly the facts associated with addiction, it overlaps to appealing to the emotions (pathos). For example, “when…gaming is removed it feels earth-shattering to the addict”. Earth-shattering invokes a strong emotion, like that of the addict to gaming. Another blog, “5 Steps to overcome Video game addiction”, the blogger Justin Robert makes use of ethos through his strong personal experience with this addiction. His once being addicted and overcoming it, makes him an expert and enhances the efficacy of the tips he has suggested for overcoming addiction.

Both blogs uses bullet point style to convey their message—taking it one step at a time. They are different, in that one talks about the signs and the other the cure. The author of signs of addiction is a marketing manager, so his perspective leans towards a logical and scientific approach, talking about “dopamine” effect on a game addict. And the other blogger is just a former addict which brings credibility to his work by being an overcomer.

Both posts were able to convey the gripping claws of addiction, and the second, how to overcome it through the rhetoric of logos and ethos, respectively. 

                           

The Culture of Ignorance

Life is a sweet array of beauty, trailing from the blue skies to the springs of fresh water. Everything is golden; everything is wonderful—till I woke up. What is it that you tell me, but I rather not hear, nay I hear but I refuse to acknowledge it. Life is better off that way. Sometimes, just maybe a tiny bit, it is better if we didn’t know. It is better to count stars, than to count the reasons why your life sucks. Don’t get me wrong, life is beautiful. But how many pictures have you smeared? How many pain have you overlooked to come to accept and know this definition to be true? Honestly, there are some things, I rather not know. What about you?

I once had an athlete that I adored. He is the best at what he does and I want to be the best at what I do. I looked up to his excellence; to be like him one day, the ‘him’ in my field. The greatest, there ever was. Till I found out something distasteful and immoral about his personal life. It really shattered and ruined all the respect I had for him. Well I should think that. But no, I still adore him. He is the best there ever was. I rather would have liked not know that piece of information but even though I did know, I acted like I don’t. Life seemed better that way. How extreme can one go, to mask reality? How about you, how far have you gone? Do you think there is a point of return? Personally, breathe is the only requirement for change but what about the strength to change? It’s a special grace!