Several people in life spend the majority of their time doing what they love and are passionate to the uttermost. Others stray through life trying to find out what makes them happy, or what they believe in, or what to do next. Either way the metaphor above is short and simple and can apply to anyone.

In the Postman readings, he talks about when asking questions that it is not about the quantity of the answer but the quality. Sometimes we can answer difficult and important questions with very few words.

Using the metaphor “Life is an oyster, what’s your pearl?” with Postman’s view on analysis and the quality of questions and answers, we can see that analogy that the most valued part of an oyster is the pearl inside. We cannot always see the pearl, but its presence matters. An oyster may not be the prettiest object to look upon, but pearls are adorned by people around the world. Also getting to the pearl takes patience and time. Things that one must wait for to obtained are usually worth the wait.

The oyster and its pearl can even be compared to a woman and her virginity. Once its gone they are never looked at the same way again.

The two can also be compared to a student in college. Once he or she graduates the prize may be obtained. The next chapter of life can begin.

Anyway you look at it, a metaphor can help us simplify the questions in our life by increasing the quality of our answers rather than the quantity by giving so many researched reasons why.

One common form of media used by teenagers today in their leisure time is podcasting. Podcasting is uploading live or pre-recorded video to websites or downloading them to media devices such as an iPod. Intergrating technology that is normally used for pleasure into an educational setting is becoming more and more common. But what uses could podcasting provide in the classroom?

• One use of podcasting in the classroom could be for the dreaded “worksheet day” when a teacher cannot be in class, and a substitute must give out a worksheet for students to work do. With podcasting a teacher could pre-record a lecture or lesson and have the substitute show the podcast to students during class so as not to waste a day of learning.

Social bookmarking websites such as Delicious allows users to save sites that they have viewed to the internet; it also allows them to see if the web site has been updated without having to go to the site. A big plus is sites like Delicious are free.

Social bookmarking is also something that could be used in the classroom. Teachers should use a separate account for the classroom and not personal accounts. One dangerous possibility is students bookmarking inappropriate sites at home and sharing them with other students at school. Either way every system has its flaws. Social bookmarking, though, could prove to have more positives than negatives.

Over the next few weeks, I became “friends” on MySpace with many of my friends from school. Most of them were more tech-savvy than myself so their profiles had more bells and whistles. After about a month or so most of my friends kept talking about Facebook. I decided to check it out. I liked it and made an account. A few months flew by and I realized that social networking was addicting. I checked my Facebook every day and my MySpace about every other day.

When I got into college, I grasped a better understanding of the uses and dangers of social networking. During my first month of college, I received tons of friend requests from random people who just sent me a friend request because they were also going to the same college. I, for some odd reason or another, followed suit. I sent requests to people I thought I might want to be friends with and surprisingly most accepted. I found it strange that people are so welcoming and accepting of people they have never met.

During the past year, I joined an honor fraternity on campus, and the fraternity uses Facebook for almost everything such as sending out event reminders, holding discussions, scrap-booking, etc.

A few months back I deleted my MySpace account because I had stopped checking it on a regular basis, and I had been irritated about glitches and spam. Also the majority of my friends shifted from MySpace to Facebook.

Social networking sites were blocked on the computers in my high school. It was looked at as more of a nuisance and not a possible tool. In my personal opinion, I would not even consider using social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook in the classroom before the high school level. At the high school level I would be very apprehensive using them with freshmen and sophomores because of the maturity levels. Honestly though, I think using social networks for projects or class discussions is perfectly acceptable if facilitated appropriately. Everything in moderation…

It is still unsure how games and other forms of media will play on the PSP.go since Sony has done away with the UMD slot on the new handheld. More details are coming.