Imagine being bitten by mosquitoes 132 times and having no ointment to relieve the itching. Well, I guess that’s just something you have to live with in a rural place such as Kenny Lake, Alaska. I was ten miles back on a trail; I had crossed threw bogs, and made my way up a mountain and down to the other side. Finally it was time to rest. Once I sat down I had noticed little red dots across my arm. At first I just thought, oh it’s probably just a rash. I’ll be fine. Little did I know that they were mosquito bites and just an hour later I would begin itching them. That night my sister counted my mosquito bites and found I had over a hundred.
    There are many benefits to make up for the disadvantages of living in a rural community. There is a sense of liberty, one that a city person isn’t able to feel. You have the freedom to build whatever you want; you don’t need to get a special permit. Also it’s very tranquil; rather than the buzzing of traffic, you get to hear the sounds of nature, the wind blowing through the trees or the gentle sound of a nearby creek.
    Another advantage of living in the bush is that you’re on nature’s doorstep, but that can also be a disadvantage. It’s a good thing because it isn’t every day that you get to watch a black bear roam around your yard, or have a great horned owl camp outside your window. The list of benefits could go on, but I’d like to keep this blog short and simple.
    Now time to state the drawbacks of living in a rural area. A huge problem is living far away from large grocery stores and other shops. Since we don’t live near any, we have to stock up when we are in town, which is spendy. But they last awhile. Dentist and doctor appointments mean a lengthy trip into town as well. Staying overnight is required on some of these excursions which can really be expensive, not to mention the high cost of gas to get to town.

Sometimes I have trouble filling my free time because I run out of activities to do. There are just not a lot of activities to do here unless you enjoy being outdoors all the time, winter or summer, rain or shine. Having no movie theatres, bowling alleys, or malls to hang out at, really makes for a difficult social life.

                Kenny Lake is truly a stunning place. Sure there are many disadvantages to living in such a rural community, but there is also an endless list of advantages.

    Albert Einstein once said, “I fear the day that technology will surpass human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.”
     A few days ago I was reading an article my teacher, Mr.Voley, gave to me from The Washington Post. It was about the man who committed the heinous crimes in Newtown, Connecticut. It has provoked me into thinking about the negative ways technology has affected us: mentally and physically. Adam Lanza, the shooter in the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre, found community among gamers. He avoided interactions with people as much as he possibly could, spending most of his time in his room playing violent video games. Instead of socially interacting with humans, he did so with virtual ones on a screen. “It was an illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship,” one lady told Michael Rosenwald of The Washington Post. This is a clear example of how technology can hurt you mentally.
    A couple of weeks ago I was watching Savannah Gutherie’s Dateline story about being too digitally attached to your electronics. She gave evidence by challenging four Californian college girls to go without all of their electronics for two weeks. One of the ladies believed that after eight hours of living without her Smartphone, she was experiencing anxiety, headaches, the feeling that she was possibly about to puke, and even having withdrawals. I believe, some of the quotes from them, show just how much people are mentally attached to their technology like, “No phone, no life,” and “I feel like I abandoned my phone.” They even said not being online is like having a digital death.

                A few of the ladies didn’t know what to do without tweeting, texting, hash tagging, and all the other social networking they’re a part of. They improvised and bought magazines on the latest celebrity drama. While driving somewhere they had to use the old school way of finding their destination: a map. They weren’t able to decipher it so they had to stop and ask a person where to go. Not being able to text and drive, like one of them usually does, caused one lady to scrawl out her to-do list on a notebook.

                An additional comment one of the women made was she believes some things you just can’t say to another in person. It makes it easier to communicate sometimes if you just text them. People should feel like they are able to say anything aloud to each other.

                Technology also has benefits. For example: it makes financing more manageable. You can now swipe and pay for items with your credit card using a machine that you can hook to your phone. Another perk about it is it makes communications easier. Also, it can help make learning simpler like the computer program, Rosetta Stone does.

                In some ways I believe technology is destroying human behavior, but in others it’s giving the human race advantages. People shouldn’t depend on technology, and if you do, maybe you should consider going on a digital diet. Technology makes social interaction harder, takes face-to-face socializing away, and you may become socially detached. One advantage is it makes life easier, but then again it can also make life harder. I think if we keep progressing the way we are with technology, we will start to depend on it for everything.