E-Commerce vs. Brick and Mortar

     E-Commerce is an industry model that is booming right now with more and more people leaning towards it as their main shopping medium based on the convenience it offers. This model is becoming an increasing challenge to the typical brick and mortar model that has been used for countless years in this country as a means of purchasing all kinds of merchandise. A lot of people do not like dealing with other people so any chance to avoid salespeople is a win for a lot of consumers. However, this does not mean the brick and mortar companies are out of luck. Numerous people still enjoy going to the store to actually physically see the product they are thinking about buying. The expertise of the salespeople can help the less knowledgeable audience make a decision on a product. The problem nowadays is people will go to the store see what they want and walk out to buy it online. Price is usually a big factor when deciding, and online retailers have been offering up the cheapest prices for most items. The advantage brick and mortar stores need to take advantage of is the availability to have the item right away. Furthermore, the online store for most of these brick and mortars now offer a "pick up in store" option which allow the convenience of online with the instant gratification consumers look for.

     E-Commerce lacks in this area due to the shipping of items they have to deal with. People often don't like to wait for things so retailers like Amazon need to find out ways to encourage customers to stick with them over the competition. Amazon is in the works of developing new strategies to reduce the wait time using drone delivery and anticipatory shipping. Anticipatory shipping is when Amazon will ship new items to distribution facilities closest to people that are most likely to buy them based on past purchases. Shipping is an expensive task that online retailers have to deal with and finding an affordable solution has been difficult. 

     When brick and mortar companies get customers to come back to their stores, they are building stronger brand loyalty with the customers. If a customer really likes a particular store, he or she will be more likely to come back rather than find the product else where. Additionally, once the customer is in the store, they have a better chance of purchasing more than they originally intended to. Online retailers, on the other hand, do not get as many people to do the same. Overall, this battle between shopping mediums has yet to come to an end, and it will be interesting to see who ends up winning. 

Finding the Answer to Online Bullying

     Online bullying is becoming an increasing problem in a world of continued technological advancements of communication. People are able to interact with one another online and create friendships solely online. The problem with communicating online is people think they are anonymous, and they can say whatever they want to others. Numerous people are struggling with their own personal problems everyday, and some of those people turn to the internet to extend their burdens onto other people in the form of cyber-bullying. Most of these online bullies are being punished on a zero tolerance basis nowadays. The problem I have with this format is the people that punish the bully don't ever look into the underlying causes for the bully's actions. Usually there are things that happened in the past of the bully that make them have negative feelings towards others causing the bullying to occur. Danah Boyd claims a punishment-oriented approach is not the right solution to the cyber-bullying problem. I kind of agree with her in the sense that punishment should not be the sole answer to the problem; however, unlike Boyd, I think punishment should still take place on bullies, otherwise the bully is going to think it is okay for him or her to be conducting this act again in the future. Furthermore, I think authorities should look deeper into the background of the offender to try and help the prevent them from doing any further bullying. Additionally, advisers at high schools should get trained in cyber-bullying so they can offer an avenue for students to go if they are ever getting harassed repeatedly. Steps should be provided to the student into how the problem can be solved. I believe the only way to solve this problem is for other parties to getting involved because it can be overwhelming for the victim to get out of the situation they have gotten stuck in.

What is Addiction?

     With so many people especially teens spending a large part of there time on social media websites, some would consider that we are becoming addicted to it. Danah Boyd would argue that there are many constraints placed on teenager that cause a large consumption of social media. One of these constraints would be their parents over scheduling them to the point where 95% of there day would already be planned leaving no time for hanging out with friends and doing what they want. This situation then causes them to use their phones and computers in order to compensate with the communication avenues consisting of social media. I believe it is not an addiction because once the user joins in on a real life social event, usually social media is pushed to the back burner and used to a lesser extent. The user is most likely with the people he or she is looking up on the web so it is unnecessary.If you were truly addicted, you would be struggling every minute you didn't have it out.
      It appears to me that the main culprit is convenience that is causing the massive overuse. I don't think addiction is the answer. People are finding numerous different ways to communicate with people, and it is technology that is providing more pathways to fulfill the need. I agree with Boyd about there being many different conflicting factors that lead to the large usage in today's society. Boyd also mentions how having a productive talk about the priorities a teenager should have will be more beneficial than calling all social media devilish. Furthermore Boyd mentions how parents are become less trustworthy with other children just based on the content children are growing up with so they isolate their children from the rest of society. In order to fill this void in their life, they are forced to turn to social media. Society is the main driving force to massive social media consumption; therefore, I don't necessarily agree that social media is a terrible problem that all parents should have their kids avoiding. Addiction is out to the question for me. Critics should first look at the underlying problems before they make judgement on social media.