Lessons Learned

The blogging process that our class has gone through over the course of the semester has been unlike anything I've done in a class before. Being someone who, like most of you reading this, doesn't ever write unless I am forced to for a class assignment, this was a difficult assignment for me. Although I've complained plenty about this assignment throughout the semester I think it did provide some good lessons for me.

First off I think It would have been easier had I chosen a single topic and done a series of blogs on it throughout the whole semester. I think I spent more time deciding what to write about for each blog than actually writing it.

Second is that if something is interesting to you, if you write about it you expand on it much more than if you just sit and think, it also causes me to have more questions than if a certain subject just crossed my mind. Which is a great lesson to learn for future use. If you've learned anything that surprised you from this assignment post it in the comments.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

In the last Issue of Time Magazine, as pictured below, there were several articles discussing America's soon to be President. The articles were full of people's opinions and the overall feeling that no one really knows what to expect. After reading a few of these articles and Matt Brownlow"s Blog on the subject I decided to share my opinion on our future President.

The Good: One way to look at President elect Trump is that he is a very successful business man, as exemplified by his vast wealth. And that if he is somehow able to apply that knowledge to his Presidency he could possibly help out our economy out quite a bit.

The Bad: Another way to look at him is that he has no political background whatsoever, and is completely out of his element in the position of President.

The Ugly: Finally one can see that in the past 17 months during his campaign, there have been many, many instances when Trump has been completely disrespectful to other cultures, races, and religions. He has even gone so far as to make fun of a man with a mental handicap. this, in my opinion, has definitely been my biggest problem with trump.

I'm no political expert these are just my thoughts from what I have heard, observed and read. In my opinion I think we will see a little of all of these aspects during the next four years, and I hope for the best. What are your thoughts on whats to come for our country?

The Season of Giving or the Season of Buying?

After reading my class mate Vanessa's blog about why we buy gifts for our loved ones I started thinking bout how I buy gifts for my friends and family. Ive noticed I always have planned to get get my loved ones small gifts as December approaches. Being a college student without a lot of expendable cash, I often just make every ones gifts by hand. Most times however by the time Christmas day rolls around I have doubled the original amount I was originally planning on spending for each persons gift. So why does this happen?

Looking at my own self I think that I start small, shopping online and around town, then I start searching for that perfect gift. Soon enough I find it but it's out of my price range so I make one exception. then I feel bad about spending more on one family member than another and son enough everyone is getting bigger and better gifts. I think this happens to everyone but just with different causes so if you are falling victim to this over spending on gifts let me know in the comments along with what you think causes it.

Are Advertisers Hurting Themselves.

As we all know, having gone through almost an entire semester of consumer behavior, There are more ads in today's world than ever before. with people seeing as many as 5,000 ads a day we have been asked this semester how we can cut through the clutter? I pose a different question are advertisers going to far? As we are sent ever increasing amounts of messages, as consumers, are we going to hit a point where we ignore all the messages we see.


There are already many types of messages that nearly everyone ignores, such as banner ads, so will there come a time when this happens to all types of advertising? I realize that advertisers are constantly discovering new vessels to transport their message whether its on video games, product placement in our favorite movies or subliminal messages. But speaking from my own point of view I already ignore almost every ad I see. It gets about two seconds for me to see what its advertising and if I'm confused or not interested it is out of my mind. What is your opinion are ads ever going to be entirely ignored or will the advertisers always be able to find a way into our minds.

Always Listening

In one of my earlier posts, I mentioned a relatively new Amazon product called the Amazon Echo. I find this product very interesting and a little creepy. Typically this device is placed in one's kitchen or living room, if onewants, one can get an aditional "dot" and place it in every room. When one says "Alexa" it starts listening. One can ask it any question and it will google answers, or one can have it turn on music, even make online purchases for you. In the picture below is a list from Amazon of other suggested uses.

When I first heard about this I was kind of creeped out, I don't know much about the technical side of computers but it seems to me if someone, for example a burglar, wanted to hack this device and listen to all of one's conversations, they could find out when one is going to be gone and whether or not one has a security system. It seems to me there could potentially be a lot of problems that come along with this device and the more you connect it to your house the more danger it poses if it does get hacked.

On the other hand just the other day one of my classmates was telling me he had read articles about how our phones are constantly listening to us. Then another student at the table said she is often talking about a certain movie and then she will see adds for that movie the next time she is on her phone, and yet we all have a phone so maybe this product wouldn't be any different. I do think this is a very cool product that would be very useful, but I probably won't be getting one anytime soon. Do you think the Echo is a possible danger, or just a use full tool that makes life easier?

How Not to do Sales

One of my favorite clothing stores is Eddie Bauer Their products are extremely durable and comfortable they re however quite expensive. So when I first started shopping there if I wanted to buy something I would wait, and only buy if I could get if for 30% off or more. However, I started to notice that every time I go into their store or get a catalog from them it seems everything in the store is always 30-40% off. Over the past four months I've been in the store once and received two catalogues from them, and wouldn't you know 30-40% off every time.

In case you were wondering this is
terrible sales practise. The purpose of a sale is to get people excited about getting your products for a cheaper price and bring in more business. By having a store wide sale for months at a time you are just sending the message to your customers that the real price of you products are when they are marked 30% off.

This creates a problem now for them because if their other customers like me find their products to expensive I now only make purchases from them if I can find items marked down by at least 40%, even then I feel as though after realizing these facts I am less likely to buy from them.

If they want to fix this it is my opinion that they need to lower the regular price on the products, and when they do have sales only sell certain items at discounted prices, rather than everything in the store.

The Big Nudge

Its that time of year again where every store one visits seems to be having it's biggest sale ever, and everyone is constantly scouring the Internet and searching store to store for the best deals. Sense 1952 Black Friday has marked the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. Everyone knows that black Friday can get crazy, sense 2006 there have been seven reorted deaths and 98 injuries, but in my oppinion it is probably one of the greatest nudges that has ever been implemented. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)

All of these store are advertising about how much money consumers are going to save if they buy products on black Friday, and the consumers eat it up. But if you are spending money even if you get something 50% off you are still spending, which is the opposite of saving. The mannor in which all of these stores and online site frame their advertising is fooling consumers into spending money where they souldn't and because they get such good deals they buy fancier items than they normally would and end up spending more than normal anyway.

Will Amazon Take Over

What started as a site to get books online for cheap prices, and a company that took over a decade to turn a profit has now turned into the largest online retailer in the world. Although their sales aren't as high amazon is already valued at 120 billion dollars more than Wal-mart is, and Wal-mart is 32 years older. Anyone remember the book retailer Boarders? because it was amazon who drove them out of business, and now many are questioning if malls are going to be next.

Amazon now sells just about anything you can think of, and if you are a Prime member you can get most items in just two days. For many people, including myself, it is much easier to order something on amazon and have it brought right to my door than it is to drive to any given store and hope they have what I need.

You'll also notice that if you are a Prime member you now get Prime Music and Video. Prime video is a similar service to Netflix and Hulu. and Prime Music give access to many songs for free and the rest can be purchased just like on iTunes. They also released  new product last year called the Amazon Echo that is essentially a better version of Seri that you place in your home and can speak to.

There are still many people who like to go out and see items in person or try them on before they buy, but even a few years ago i could never have imagined buying certain items online, such as TVs or musical instruments, and now these items are common place buys on the Internet. So who can say what we will be buying on amazon in the future. What is your opinion will amazon eventually become dominant in all industries as it has the book store?

http://www.newsweek.com/2016/07/22/jeff-bezos-amazon-ceo-world-domination-479508.html

Is Language really Worse than Violence

Spoiler Alert: If you are a fan of The Walking Dead and you haven't seen the first episode of season 7 you should turn back now.

For those of you who have ever watched the TV series the Walking Dead you'll notice that the characters in the show, although in the most terrifying and dangerous situations, very rarely use obscene language. This is due to the fact that AMC doesn't play R rated movies or TV series without editing them. However, if you have seen this series you'll undoubtedly have noticed it is extremely gruesome and violent, and in my opinion even more so than the popular HBO series Game of Thrones. But in the latest season of The Walking Dead the writers really out did themselves, by showing not one, but two of the main characters getting their heads smashed by a man with a baseball bat. On one hand I give props to the makeup and special effects crews for making the scene looks so realistic, but on the other hand this was not something I wanted to see, or for that matter could even believe they allowed on TV. Keep in mind the series is rated TV-14.

This led me to question why people are so quick to protect kids from the "bad" language that they no doubt use and hear with their peers on a daily basis, and yet no one has a problem with the extremely graphic violence in these TV shows. In my opinion the extreme violence in these shows is as bad or worse than bad language, and eventually the rating system will have to be updated or the shows will have to showcase less graphic scenes. Anyway, if you scroll down you can see the image of this graphic death below.....



                                                                                                                                                             

Just kidding! This is a Lego parody someone made, if you really want to witness this scene you can go on YouTube and search "Glenn and Abraham's death." If you do, let me know what your thoughts on the matter were. Do you think that kind of violence on TV is okay?





http://www.cosmicbooknews.com/sites/default/files/lego-walking-dead-glenn-abraham-death.jpg

What Happened to Hobbies?

A few years ago, after I had moved out of the dorms and into my first apartment, one of my roommates, an art student, would always bring home his latest creations, whether it be a knife he had forged or a mug or a painting, I would always think "wow look at this awesome stuff he is creating, why don't I ever make anything cool like that?" However, I would tell myself he does these things in his classes and I don't have time for that. One day I actually looked at how I spent my time though, I noticed I was spending a large amount of my time ether on social media or watching Netflix. So I decided I was going to pick up a hobby and try to create something with my time rather than just watch TV and scroll through social media with all my free time. Two years later I find myself able to create just about anything out of wood, I've built end tables, rocking chairs, carved chess sets, and many other tings. I can also now play the guitar moderately well and am now attempting to learn to play the piano.

So you may be asking what point am I trying to make here? I've spoken to many friends and classmates who tell me they are too busy to have a hobby of any sort, yet when I ask those same people if they know of any good Netflix series they will immediately tell me about three different series and about the time they binge watched a whole series in one weekend. In 2015 the average time spent on a Netflix account per day was one hour and 33 minutes. At the same time the average American spends 4.7 hours a day on their phones.  Now I'm not saying you should swear off Netflix, or stop using your phones, because watching an episode or movie on Netflix from time to time can be very relaxing and fun! And Smart phones can be great tools. However, spending hours on social media and watching Netflix all day are not healthy physically or mentally.

Having a hobby on the other hand, whatever it may be, can be very beneficial. A hobby can help you develop your creativity which could transfer directly to your work. It can also increase your confidence having skills outside of work might prepare you to be ready for a change in your career. Hobbies can also help you grow as a person and truly discover who you are and what you want to do. 

So next time you are planning a day of Netflix think what else you could be doing or maybe even what you've wanted to do for a while but haven't had time.

http://time.com/4186137/netflix-hours-per-day/

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/informate-report-social-media-smartphone-use/

https://www.govloop.com/community/blog/5-reasons-everyone-hobby/

Nudge Toward Conversing

In last weeks class spent trying to find Nudges in Jabs hall My partners and I noticed that the main lobby area in Jabs was designed so that you have to sit with others. All the tables are made for more than one person  and in close proximity to each other. We thought they purposely set up the lobby like this because they wanted people to engage with each other and communicate. Although this is a good nudge we found problems with the space that could be improved. We all noticed that when working in this space between class periods it gets extremely loud and you essentially can't accomplish anything. Also if it is mostly empty we noticed that you can hear people working in the lobby throughout the entire building.

While reading Creative Confidence one of the examples of creativity they provided was called a digital yurt, which is basically a circular enclosure with a table in the middle that is covered in paper. The purpose of these are to inspire, or nudge, people to collaborate with eachother and be creative in a public space that feels private.


I think these yurt stations would be perfect for the first floor lobby in Jabs hall. They would be even more of a nudge toward working with others, which is already being nudged in Jabs, and on top of that they would solve some of the noise problems faced when trying to work in the lobby.

Nudge Toward saving

In the book Nudge the authors state that the average American credit card debt as of 2008 was $5,000. A study done in 2015 https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-card-data/average-credit-card-debt-household/  the average American House hold credit card debt was $15,675. The average debt nearly tripled in the last seven years. The authors of Nudge also say that Americans are saving less and spending more than ever before.

http://static.parade.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/credit-cards-ftr.jpg

After reading this section on money in Nudge, and reading Sonja Jacobson’s blog about how much makeup women buy (http://sjacobsoncbexperience.blogspot.com) an idea came to me that could possibly help people that are over spending on non-essential products, and save more money.

Imagine a credit card where every time you buy a non-essential item, whatever the cost, that same amount of money is also set aside into a savings account. A card like this would not only force people to think a lot more about their purchases but also create more savings for consumers.

Now I realize many consumers would be terrified of a card like this and would not want to use it, but for the people out there that are genuinely trying to save more and spend less it could be a great tool. I myself spend way too much money on backpacking equipment and am planning on implementing this strategy in order to help myself not spend as much money. Whether or not I actually follow through is yet to be seen but I know I would be much more likely to do it if I actually had a card like this.

Finding a credit card company that would make a card like this is another trick, considering that if people are thinking more about how much they spend they will likely spend less, and credit card companies make their money off of people who spend too much money so they might not be very excited about this idea. However if you are a person whose trying to save more, or spend less, or both this might be an idea you can try. 

Problems With Being Too Popular

Last month I was lucky enough to be invited to join my parents on their vacation. While on this vacation I got to see Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon, which is another National Park. Both of these places were amazing and beautiful. Unfortunately however, both were outrageously crowded. We were actually able to go to Zion twice and no matter what time we showed up the park was so busy that we were forced to park outside both parks and take shuttles into them. All the while I was thinking the summer is over students are back to school and it was during the week I was expecting the parks to be sparsely populated during my visit. So why are these parks so busy even during a time of year when most people are back to school or working?

 As recently as 2013 Utah launched it “Mighty 5” campaign to promote its five National parks since then attendance to the parks in Utah has raised by nearly 20%. In addition to this there was a new marketing campaign across the U.S. in 2016 The “Find Your Park” campaign. This is an effort by the Parks to spread the word or raise people’s awareness of them, and at the same time celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the parks service.

Although the parks are probably happy that these advertising campaigns are working, very well I may add, because they are bringing in bigger crowds than ever before, it is my opinion that the parks have been ruined by the massive overcrowding. Maybe it’s just because I’m from Montana and I’m used to being alone when I go out into the mountains and wilderness but these crowds take away enjoyment of the experience for me. Having to wait in line for an hour to get into a park then be constantly surrounded by hundreds of people isn’t my idea of a good time. Often times in during my visit to Yellowstone this summer it took longer to find a parking spot then it did to actually go on the hike.

The end of the delicate arch hike in Utah’s Arches National Park.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiL1YWdjdPPAhUH02MKHfRTB4sQjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Freagangirl.com%2Fnational-parks-americas-overcrowded-bumper-to-bumper-stress-test%2F&psig=AFQjCNEit1HAiKaIkVYFsEmfTssg4QmyVA&ust=1476287370740872

I hope that the parks service is able to maintain the beauty of these amazing places around the country but I fear that eventually this over popularization of our National Parks will degrade the ecosystems and ruin the parks permanently.

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/centennial/findyourpark.htm

http://www.hcn.org/articles/arches-crowds-tourism-national-parks-utah

Anchor Points

In chapter two of the book Predictably Irrational, Ariely discusses price point anchors. A price point anchor is the price you are expecting to pay for an item based on the first price you saw that item marked at. For example, I go to the store to buy bread and the first loaf of bread I see costs five dollars I having never bought bread before think okay this is what it costs to buy bread. The five dollars is now my anchor so next time when I go to a bigger store that has many different options and price points of bread I am shocked to see that I can get two loaves for only four dollars at this new store. Because my anchor was so high before, this price is amazing to me and will keep me coming back. So his real point is that all prices are relative, we don’t really know how many dollars a loaf of bread should cost until we see the available prices at other stores. However, the first price we see for any given product becomes our anchor point and that is often what we compare all the other prices we encounter to. I found this to be a very interesting chapter because it happens to me very often. I never noticed this before, so I started to wonder if there is anything else that might be affected by anchor points in life.

What hit me after thinking about this subject was my daily productivity. What I mean by this is how I start my day. I’ve noticed recently that when I start my day off by watching Netflix or YouTube videos, playing video games, or even spending the morning looking over social media, my tendency is to want to continue those activities and I never get a lot done. However, if I were to start my day off by reading a chapter in a book or reading the news, even if it’s for only 15 to 20 minutes, I seem to be much more willing to do my homework and be overall more productive in the day. It’s as though the way I start my day serves as the anchor point for the rest of my day - just as I expect all prices to be similar to the first one I see.

Contrary to the price point anchors though, I’ve noticed my productivity anchor is not as fixed as price anchors are. In the book, Ariely mentions that it takes a long time for people’s price point anchors to change, but with my productivity, I could start the day off lazy and when I come back from class as long as I begin my afternoon doing something productive it will be much easier for me to accomplish all my other tasks. The opposite rings true for me as well though. If I get back from class and watch an hour or two of Netflix, I’m a lot less likely to get much done for the rest of the night.

I have no real proof that this is true for every person, but it certainly is for me. If you are reading this and you are skeptical, the next time you have a big day ahead of you, get up and read the news or a little out of a book instead of spending time on social media or some other time wasting activity. Then continue on with your day and see if it makes a difference for you.

Sugar

I watched a Documentary on Netflix the other day titled Fed Up that was very thought provoking. The documentary was about the problem of obesity in America. This is a much bigger problem than I ever knew it to be. Today in America there are over 50,000 adolescence (under the age of 18) that have type two diabetes.  That number was at 0 a mere 30 years ago. This is the first time that the newest generation is predicted to have a lower life expectancy that the generation that came before it. So with all the advances in modern technology and medical treatment you might ask how this could be possible.

For the past thirty years there have been various scientific findings that show sugar is a leading cause of the obesity problem in America, but every time one of these articles is published or the government attempts to change something in the health standards huge companies like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, or Kellogg will step in and fund scientists to perform research that finds evidence to the contrary of says that there isn’t enough proof. They also make promises that they will make their products healthier or that they will release new products that are healthier for us. So they go out and produce products that are low fat or less calories. But the sugar content is ether kept the same or even higher than it was before.

An interesting point was brought up in the documentary that the last time we so actively and supportively advertised and consumed a product that was so unhealthy was with cigarettes. It took over 50 years after the first research showed cigarettes to be unhealthy for the public to become aware of the dangers. How long will it take for people to realize how damaging the ridiculous number of sugars we consume is to our health?

A study was performed in Harvard that proved sugar was more addictive than cocaine. So with all these products being marketed to children that contain high amounts of sugar these companies are acquiring customers for life because they hook these kids at a young age and they will most likely continue to buy these products for the rest of their lives.

The documentary ends without giving a definitive solutions to this problem to me it seems that every time the government tries to step in and make a change the huge companies That are making their profits off of sugar step in and create a new way to ether distract or deter the government from actually fixing the real problem. So one answer I came up with is that somehow these scientists that know sugar is such a big problem need to find ways just like this documentary to educate the public and especially the parents of our society and from there hopefully they can lead their kids in the right direction.

If you found what I was talking about interesting I highly recommend watching the documentary Fed Up on Netflix it does a much better job than I of explaining this problem.