Digital Nation Blog

We just finished our presentations on our Digital Nation topics. I chose to talk about virtual worlds mainly because it talks about the health and healing used for soldiers in Iraq and the addictions that people may have today with virtual worlds. The first tab that I had looked at talked about health and healing, which talks about a new method that doctors are using today to help the soldiers that have come home and are dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. Virtual Reality: Through A Soldiers EyesVirtual Reality is a process in which soldiers with PTSD go through to relive their own experiences to help with the stress they have back home. It also allows the doctor or therapist to help the patient get their lives back to normal. Virtual Reality is like a gaming system but only used for therapy. The doctor can set the computer simulation to any type of scene for any type of situation that the patient may have encountered. The simulation can be set up by time of day, how many vehicles are on the road, how many people are in your vehicle or around you. Things can be blown up, you can be shot at and helicopters can be flying above. The patient may also remember a smell that triggered a memory and the doctor can provide that smell and once the patient reacts to the smell the doctor will know exactly which smell it was, like rubber or carbon from a carbon bomb. The patient will also experience vibrations from the chair they are sitting in that may help the experience of an IED that may have just gone off. A lot of patients say that this experience doesn't feel real, it feels more evocative, like a mood and memory aid than an emersive simulation. Virtual Reality balances a person to except and embrace those problems and let them go to get rid of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Another topic that I took notes on was Raquel's presentation over Relationships. Raquel talks about a lot of different situations about people that are creating fake relationships online because they don't have that in the real world. An identity was created to make the girl more beautiful online than in real life. Another girl that has an eating disorder searches online and finds unhealthy support online and it makes her condition a lot worse. My favorite tab that Raquel talked about was Bubbe, the 83 year old grandmother that becomes every ones grandmother online. Bubbe becomes the online cook and teaches online users about the food that she cooks and how to make it. The last tab that Raquel talked about was huge because it is about online bullying. A boy killed himself because he was on websites and kids were bullying him and lying about liking him. A girl that he knew from school thought it would be funny to flirt with the boy and act like she liked him when in the end she laughed at him not knowing how much it would hurt him. The boy looked up websites on how to kill himself. A website taught the boy how to tie a noose and what the best type of rope to use. Because of the bullying from other people online the boy hung himself at a very young age. Parents wish they could protect their kids from things like this but with the way things are today and what is online, it is very hard to protect anyone from online bullies and websites that could teach kids things that could be a danger to themselves and the people that are around them.