What changes the world? Revolutions, ideological movements, wars,
epidemics… Just as people have been affected by these incidents that
are significant for human history for many ages, now they are
confronting one of the most important incidents in human history
which is the unprecedented pandemic. Due to the fact that it has been
spreading faster and faster, the pandemic has been affecting our lives
considerably in the last two years.  The pandemic and our responses
to it have been changing our education, economy and health in many
ways.

     Oneof the parts of our lives most affected by the pandemic is

education. In other words, the pandemic has been having considerable
impact on education that can not be ignored. Whereas education was
conducted face-to-face in the past, now education is online as people
do not want to take the risk of spreading the virus through human
interaction with contact. Thus, face-to-face education has been banned
in almost all countries by the governments. This transition has been so
comprehensive that it has fundamentally changed the type of
education and school life. Although the social science lessons have
not been badly affected, lessons which people need to take  face-to-
face such as physical education, music and art are badly affected by
this process yet, due to the risk of the virus spreading in crowds,
students cannot take the lessons which require face to face education.
These students, therefore, have not been able to take as efficient an
education as other students as a result of the pandemic. 

   

    The pandemic has impacted not only education, but also the
economy. Governments have taken some measures to prevent the
spread of the virus, including imposing curfews and closing
workplaces. These restrictions have been so severe that they have led
to changes in the economy. Therefore, despite the fact that
governments have imposed some restrictions on some business areas,
they have not made restrictions on some fields. Such restrictions have
devastated the food industry, for example, as it has lost many
customers due to restrictions. Some business areas which applied
restrictions, consequently, have been affected negatively due to the 
pandemic and some employees have been fired. Because of this, the
economy of the countries and people who have been fired have been
getting worse since the restrictions started to be implemented. 

The most important impact of the pandemic has been on health since
viruses cause damage to the human body. Different types of viruses
lead to different effects. For instance Covid-19 restricts breath, and
causes fever and tiredness. It is so harmful that it can cause death. The
thought of people getting sick and dying has made them so afraid of
the virus that their mental health has been affected. Also, because of
restrictions and the presence of the virus not being able to meet any
person has made people feel lonely and their mental health has
suffered as a result. In addition, as people have done so little activity
as they have been staying at home due to restrictions obesity rates in
countries have been increasing . These conditions caused almost all
people and governments to care about Covid-19. Governments,
therefore, have changed their health systems. For instance,
governments have converted some hospitals into Covid-19 hospitals
and shifted and increased the hours of healthcare workers. People’s
health and healthcare systems, therefore, have been profoundly
affected.

   In conclusion, the impacts of the pandemic have changed people's

life and the whole world since health, education and economy are the
most basic things in human life. The world is getting worse and unless
the spreading of the viruses is slowed, the world will continue to
change badly.
 COVID-19
What changes the world? Revolutions, ideological movements,
wars, epidemics… Just as people have been affected by these
incidents that are significant for human history for many ages, now
they are confronting one of the most important incidents in human
history which is the unprecedented pandemic. Due to the fact that it
has been spreading faster and faster, the pandemic has been affecting
our lives considerably in the last two years. The pandemic and our
responses to it have been changing our health, education and economy
in many ways.
The pandemic has affected our lives considerably in terms of
both mental and physical health. Initially, the COVID-19 virus caused
many restrictions and lockdowns whose aim is to prevent the spread
of the virus since the disease is transmitted from one person to
another quickly. These restrictions, therefore, have led to many
psychological disorders due to the fact that people have gotten lonely
in social isolation. That is to say, people are deprived of the
opportunity to talk to and meet with each other. Thus, they suffer
from lack of communication and social life. For instance, many
studies which have been conducted by researchers indicate that the
number of cases of depression have been increasing during the
pandemic because of the extended period of lockdown. In addition,
the pandemic and restrictions have not only affected mental health but
also physical health. It has contributed to the boost in the number of
overweight people because of overeating and staying at home for a
long period of time. Also, other effects include high blood pressure
and heart attacks resulting from poor diet and inactive lifestyle. As a
result, people have experienced mental and physical problems of the
lockdowns.  
Education is another of the parts of our lives that has been most
profoundly affected by the pandemic. The pandemic has disrupted
education since closed areas such as schools are potential risks for
people. At first, schools were closed by governments so that fewer
people would be infected with covid-19. Then, officials tried to
compensate for their loss with online education. Although online
education has some advantages, it is not adequate in terms of
infrastructure. Moreover, the online education system decreases the
quality of education. For instance, some students can  cheat easily on
online exams and get marks unfairly. On the other hand, in spite of
the fact that the government helps some people who need some
devices to attend their lessons, according to  some studies 21% of
students in Turkey cannot access online education due to financial
reasons. Education, consequently, has been affected by pandemic in
so many ways that it can be considered to have been changed
fundamentally.
Obviously, the most crucial effect of the pandemic is that it has
caused the economy to deteriorate. Whereas under normal conditions,
the economy in a country can improve with markets and businesses, 
nowadays some businesses have had to reduce the number of their
staff, while others have gone bankrupt. According to surveys, 35% of
small businesses in Turkey have gone bankrupt due to the fact that
craftsmen and working people couldn’t make money or sell anything.
For instance, in  Turkey tourism was one of the major sources of
income before the pandemic and the restrictions that aim to reduce its
severity; however, as tourists have stopped coming to Turkey because
of restrictions, revenues have been affected by the pandemic
considerably. Many studies show that Turkey’s income which was
gained from tourism in 2020 decreased by 65% compared to previous
year.  In addition, this situation has also changed the entertainment
industry. For example, many concerns and sports competitions have
been cancelled. Additionally, musicians, actors and athletes have not
been able to earn as much money as they had earned last year. In
short, the pandemic and the restrictions it necessitated have devastated
the economy. 
To sum up, the pandemic has led to negative consequences in
terms of health, education, and economy. We have to acknowledge
that everyone has been affected by the pandemic and restrictions;
however, we have to endure this situation until it finishes. Otherwise,
we will put up with more severe and stricter restrictions in the future.  
THE EFFECTS OF PANDEMIC 

     What changes the world? Revolutions, ideological movements, wars,

epidemics… Just as people have been affected by these incidents that are
significant for human history for many ages, now they are confronting one of
the most important incidents in human history which is the unprecedented
pandemic. Due to the fact that it has been spreading faster and faster, the
pandemic has been affecting our lives considerably in the last two years.  The
pandemic and our responses to it have been changing our education, economy
and health in many ways. 

     First of all, the pandemic has affected education directly.  Governments have
taken certain precautions which result in the closure of schools and curfews so
that the spread of the virus is slowed. Students, therefore, are deprived of
education, which has contributed to decreasing students’ motivation but has also
led to the creation of new areas for learning. For example, online classes have
been created and due to this, students have been affected by this in terms of
hormones, which impact psychology so negatively that they can even cause
depression. In addition, having to work alone and stay away from classmates
affects people’s moods directly due to depression hormones. Thus, the
pandemic has had a negative effect on students’ education. 

     Whereas the pandemic affects education directly, the indirect effects on the
economy also should not be ignored. Some workplaces have been closed during
the pandemic because governments have taken precautions in order to prevent
the spread of the virus, resulting in declining income and, thus, layoffs. The
unemployment rate, consequently, has increased. For example, the tourism
sector  has suffered from travel restrictions and hotels have been closed.
Because of all the negative impacts, governments have decided to grant
financial assistance to businesses which are generally small workplaces in the
form of monetary grants. Despite this assistance, countries' economies and
people’s wellbeing have been damaged considerably. 
      

     In addition to educational and economic effects, the pandemic has also
affected people’s health. There are certain physical effects which originate from
the pandemic. For example, the lungs can be easily affected by viruses because
viruses generally have a considerable impact on the respiratory system. As a
result, those who are affected by viruses have trouble breathing because viruses
reduce the vital capacity of the lungs. Moreover, corona patients are likely to
become overweight because of medicines due to the fact that these types of
medicines cause slowing metabolism. Beside the physical effects of health, the
pandemic also affects psychological health. Due to curfew, people have had to
stay home and this condition has influenced their mental health. For instance,
people have become so isolated that they have not been able to maintain their
social health. For this reason, people have gotten depressed and suicide cases
have increased. Thus, the pandemic has devastated people’s physical and
psychological health.        

      In conclusion, the pandemic has an effect in terms of education and the
economy as well as health. Obviously, the pandemic has changed the world and
it will continue to do so. The pandemic, therefore, has so many effects that the
pandemic should be taken seriously. Otherwise, these effects will continue to
pose a threat to people’s wellbeing.  
 The Pandemic Effects
 What changes the world? Revolutions, ideological movements, wars,
epidemics… Just as people have been affected by these incidents that are
significant for human history for many ages, now they are confronting one of
the most important incidents in human history which is the unprecedented
pandemic. Due to the fact that it has been spreading faster and faster, the
pandemic has been affecting our lives considerably in the last two years.  The
pandemic and our responses to it have been changing our health, education,
social life, and economy in many ways.

  The effects of the pandemic on people's health both mentally and physically
are considerable. Because of the danger of the virus spreading, people have had
to stay at home for such a long time that they have been impacted severely,
resulting in them having so little hope and so few social interactions that they
risk depression. A curfew, therefore, needed to be implemented in order to
quarantine people worldwide. Although people liked staying at home at the
beginning of the curfew, they have felt lonely, leading to a decline in their
mental health. Thus, this social isolation poses the risk of depression. In
addition to mental problems, the pandemic has caused physical problems,
which  originate from inactivity. In other words, some physical problems have
emerged due to motionlessness as people must work and also students must
attend online lessons during the day at their home. The pandemic, consequently,
has affected people in terms of both mental and physical health problems.     

   Moreover, the economy has been influenced by the pandemic. Shops,

companies and all types of jobs have been closed during the pandemic due to
the imposition of curfew that is designed to slow the spread of the virus. Thus,
employers have earned so little money that some are even struggling to survive,
resulting in not only employees losing their jobs but also in increasing
unemployment rates. In response to this crisis, governments which have to look
after the people have given financial support. Besides, the government has
promoted vaccination studies and brought so many vaccines to their countries
that they have spent so much money that they have already used their annual
budgets. During the pandemic, a lot of money has been spent by governments in
spite of the economy getting worse. In short, the pandemic and the restrictions
that have been necessitated by it have devastated the economy. 

  In addition to economic problems, the pandemic has led to educational

problems. The pandemic has caused a change in the education system in that it
is continuing online. Online education, however, is not effective for some
students that have mental problems and are unsuccessful in their lessons
because online systems are required to attend lessons and exams are taken on
the computer and mobile phone. That is to say, students should look at the
screen which causes eyes and physical problems during the day. Thus, the
pandemic has made getting an education more challenging. 

  Also, the pandemic has restricted social life despite the fact that social life is
very significant for people. Places that are so crowded and small that viruses
can spread easily have been closed by governments to slow the spread of the
virus. In fact, entertainment events have been banned due to the danger of
crowds because crowded indoor places facilitate the spread of the virus. Staying
at home for a long time has led to feelings of social isolation, resulting in some
health problems such as anxiety and minor depression. In addition, people have
been struggling getting bored living and working at home involuntarily. As a
result, the pandemic has contributed to serious social problems. 

  In conclusion, the pandemic has had effects on our health, education, social
life, and economy in many ways. Unfortunately, according to the experts who
are doctors and sociologists, the pandemic and problems which are caused by
the pandemic are going to continue. That is to say, people will encounter
problems in terms of health, education, social life and economy. People,
therefore, should learn to solve these daily problems and live with the new
normal life conditions. Otherwise, the world will be an uninhabitable place for
humans.   
What changes the world? Revolutions, ideological movements, wars,
epidemics… Just as people have been affected by these incidents that
are significant for human history for many ages, now they are
confronting one of the most important incidents in human history
which is the unprecedented pandemic. Due to the fact that it has been
spreading faster and faster, the pandemic has been affecting our lives
considerably in the last two years.  The pandemic and our responses
to it have been changing our health, education and economy in many
ways. 
 Like all pandemics, this one has been directly affecting health since it
started. Physical health comes to mind first. It must be protected with
some protections which are necessary like using masks and restricting
lifestyle. Nevertheless, restricting lifestyles makes people inactive,
leading to some other disorders such as obesity, high blood pressure
and heart disease. This unprecedented pandemic has affected not only
physical health but also mental health. People who have been staying
in their homes for almost one year do not have the social life that a
person needs, and feel so lonely and isolated as a result that they are
prone to suffer from anxiety. Due to this anxiety, people are more
confused and less confident about the future. People's health,
therefore, has been influenced considerably both physically and
mentally. 
  In addition to health problems, the pandemic has led to changes in
the education system. The first change is that education has moved
online resulting from the closure of schools. From elementary school
to universities all educational institutions have adopted an online
system on a national scale. Another change is students’
responsibilities in terms of attending the class, assignments and
exams. In online education, the students can attend classes wherever
they are, which is a useful and comfortable opportunity for students
and teachers. Additionally, assignments for which students are
responsible are done and checked on electronic devices. Moreover,
exams that used to be done face-to-face in the past, they are taken
online during the pandemic. The pandemic has caused so many
different conditions that the education system has changed
fundamentally. 
  The pandemic has influenced the economy as seriously as it has
impacted health and education. Different kinds of sectors have been
influenced differently because of the pandemic. For example, the
medicine sector has developed whereas the tourism sector has been
devastated. Because of changes in consumers' habits, many
companies, consequently, have likewise changed their routines and
made new regulations.  For instance, many companies have started to
use online service and shopping, resulting in many new employment
opportunities. On the other hand, many companies which have been
affected badly because of the pandemic have gone bankrupt, leading
to large-scale layoffs.  These are the reasons why many people are
unemployed and unemployment has increased during the pandemic.
As a result, the pandemic has influenced the economy both positively
and negatively in many ways.
  To sum up, some changes have been experienced in different areas
such as health, education and economy because of the pandemic and
our responses. These changes are our new normal in spite of the fact
that some people do not want them. Life is continuing and people
have to get used to it even though sometimes it can be hard, especially
nowadays. 
OBESITY
With the expansion of technology, incidence of suffering from some diseases
have been increasing rapidly. Primary disease that increased with technology
might be obesity. Simply, having a body mass index (BMI) over 30 or more
defines if a person is obese or not. BMI can be calculated by taking a person’s
height and weight into account, yet it has some limitations because it doesn’t
differentiate the distinction between excess fat and muscle. So how can we
identify if a person is an obese? There are some indicators to specify obesity
such as measuring waist size, snoring at night, having heartburns and achy
joints. In addition, obesity can lead to numerous issues for both mental and
physical health, nevertheless the preeminent effects of obesity are a decline in
self-esteem, getting accustomed to an indolent lifestyle, diabetes, high blood
pressure, bone and joint pains.
Initially, it is substantial to know that it is easier to prevent being an obese than
get rid of obesity. In order to prevent being an obese there are some certain rules
to follow. For instance, obesity can stem from an indolent life style, which
might be hard to break, so a healthy and energetic life style that includes
physical activity should be taught to children starting from a young age.
Moreover, if a person eats junk food in a regular basis, the amount of excess fat
and processed sugar s/he takes causes hazardous effects to digestive and
cardiovascular systems. Having a balanced diet has imperative benefits. Besides
of embracing a healthy life style and preventing to eat junk food, there are
regulations that government can enforce. Since a proper lifestyle depends on the
environment we grow up, by using precise rules governors can change the
attitude to eating healthy. If an administrator had created advertisements that
promote healthier eating, better acces to weight management programs and seen
obesity as a major problem, the numbers of people who are obese would have
dropped ultimately. This indicates that actually obesity not just result of the
people but also the governors.

On the other hand, if we were obese essentials would still be the same such as a
healthy diet and being active, but in addition it would be comprised of more
restrictions on calorie basis and activities depending on the persons capability of
doing them while not getting injured. Doing physical activity on a regular basis
can ease the pain of joints and bones. Eating sufficient food in the right time is
important too especially for a metabolism boost . A fast metabolism can
accelarate the process of burning the excess fat. Likewise, proper food can aid
to maintain the blood pressure and the risk of diabetes. As a last option, an
obese person can also consider getting a surgery too if their body is convenient
sufficient. Furthermore, hormonal treatment and weight-loss medications also
have been proved to help by specialists. Hormonal treatments are a novel
development in the field of medicine.
Finally, in order to prevent the effects of obesity in the psychology of a being
people have to enhance their notions about obesity. We should perceive obesity
as a disease and we should not judge the patients in terms of negative feelings.
An obese person can be seen as a fragile glass that can hold themselves together
but when it breaks the cracks can go deeper below the surface.
Overall, It is crucial to comprehend that human body is a susceptible
mechanism which we should preserve carefully. Obesity is a disease that is
diffusing due to the emergence in technology. We should stay active while
eating adequate amount of healthy food. If we are obese there are new solutions
to sustain success of health. Last but not least, acknowleding the underlying
reasons for each person who are obese and comprehend the issues they have
been facing makes a radical effect to them.
DISNEY PRINCESSES
In modern era, due to the emergence of the recognition to women rights, the
distinct gap between sexes are narrowing. However, in reality there are still
issues in lot of young girls’s minds. Some girls don’t want to exceed their limits
and don’t have an interest about their future contingencies. There are many
reasons for their perception about themselves, yet one of the biggest culprit may
be the movies they have been exposed to when they were little. In retrospect,
many of us probably watched at least one disney movie but didn’t realize the
effects of it. Watching disney movies may lead to several negative outcomes in
terms of body image, gender roles, self esteem and future expectations.
Due to the lack of reality in Disney movies, young girls might have an
unrealistic body image about themselves which they might take it further to
accomplish it, even if it poses a threat to their both physical and mental health.
Most disney movies delibaretly display princess’s body as fragile,delicate and
thin with big eyes and beautiful voice, whereas depicting the antogonist who is
usually also a woman as ugly. This aspect can shape a false concept in a little
girl’s mind like only beautiful girls can be good, so I must look as well.
Another negative effect is the depletion on the self esteem. If a girl doesn’t
achieve her unrealistic body image this may cause to conflicts at her mind.
Being an adolescent already decreases the confidence of an individual, if this
integrates with false implications from the past, low self esteem becomes
unavoidable for a young girl.
Furthermore, as disney movies picture a princess’s happy ending with a prince
married happily after, girls may experience deficiency in their future
expectations. They could wait for a prince in order to be happy instead of
finding the happiness in themselves. Disney movies don’t give a message
saying all you have to enhance is yourselves, they do the opposite by portraying
marriage or being with someone as a final goal in life.
Lastly, these movies make false impressions in gender roles. They see woman
as a weak creature that needs to be saved by a man. We never see a prince that
is saved by a woman. Stems from this impression, girls become reluctant to
using their inner power. Likewise, in real life both gender or actually it
shouldn’t be just subordinated to gender humans in general, consummate their
weaknesses by helping each other. This should be bidirectional.
In conclusion, disney movies cause a lot of issues in a growing girl including
both mental and physical damages. Comprehensively thinking it would be better
for us to teach young girls how to stand up for themselves, how to love
themselves instead of letting them watch unreliable movies. As a woman I
believe being an example is much better. Moreover, uniting while being aware
of our capabilities is crucial for our world to be better.
 MASS PRODUCTION

Mass production, which is also known as flow production is the

production of large amounts of standardized products. This term was
popularized by Encyclopedia Britannica in 1926 and it’s a great part of our
lives and industry since then. It caused many problems as well as it benefited.
Advantages and disadvantages of mass production can be dichotomized to
environment and humanity. It changed our lives in a good way, but it also
ruined the environment. Also, major changes it has made sparked off many
problems in urban.

In the 19th century, when Industrial Revolution occurred, simple mass

production techniques were used in England to make ships' pulley blocks.
These simple techniques had been mostly used for producing engines and it had
required labor force before the engineers developed mass production machines
to produce daily basis products. As the mass production became widespread,
more variety of products have been released. Thus, people started to consume
more than they ever had whether they need to or don’t. However, people loved
the idea and companies prospered day by day. Countries’ that promoted the
mass production economy emerged. As a result, welfare level increased in
those countries.

Associated with rise in consumption, more raw stuff is used in last two
centuries than it has been used before. Using more raw staff requires more
energy and natural resources. There was no apprehension about using natural
sources roughly at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution due to the fact
that companies that churns out were the minority. More and more factory that
uses mass production techniques have been opened since then and as a result,
consumption of nonrenewable resources became a major issue. According to
the study that was done by the International Energy Agency, predicted fossil
fuels will constitute 59% of the total primary energy demand in 2040, despite
all the aggressive climate action policies. Authorities regard mass production as
the major fact that causes consuming earth’s energy sources rapidly.

Even though more robots and machines have taken the human-being’s
role in producing process, workforce is more needed than it was in last two
centuries. Therefore, a huge rural-urban migration occurred in 1950, when
world goes from primitive production methods to mass production techniques
swiftly. This movement of migration led to many problems such as squatting,
environmental issues and culture conflict. Nowadays, slum areas are still used
by people who migrated from rural in 1980’s and works as a laborer. Alienation
in those areas is a considerable issue in many emerging countries.

Overall, mass production is a type of producing approach that we can not

give up but we have to use it in a controlled manner. Environment is our only
life source and we shouldn’t consume its sources roughly through our desires.
It’s not late to find new ways to produce things environmental friendly and
switch them to the ways we use now.
Is Social Media Beneficial?
“What is the first thing you do in your routine life?” this question is asked for
hundreds of people, most of which replied that it is checking the notifications
coming from the social networking sites. This survey reveals that many people
use social media so automatically that they cannot confine the use of those sites.
It, therefore, is such a serious phenomenon that the experts anticipate that more
people will not be able to restrain themselves in terms of being inclined to use
social media excessively in the not-too-distant future. Whether or not they do
not use social media excessively, many people could not comprehend the
crucial loss resulting from social networking sites. While some people suggest
the view that social media has some benefits on human life, unless people stop
themselves from using those sites persistently, it might result in some damage
on privacy, the accuracy of knowledge, academic success of students, and
relationships. (v: 9, g: 11)
Some people advocate that social media provides the opportunities to express
ourselves. Social networking sites, however, pose some threats in terms of
privacy by using these so-called opportunities. Specifically, by sharing the
photos on Instagram constantly, most people display where and when they are.
Upon tasting them, they need to show what they eat even if it is not an unusual
food. After having visited somewhere, which might be a café or a usual place to
which most people can go readily, they immediately share some photos to
exhibit the experiences. In this connection, there are two significant questions,
one of which is why people cannot prevent themselves from doing it. It is too
difficult to answer this question from the view of those people because they
themselves cannot clarify the reasons for those actions. They, nevertheless, do
not regret continuing to share their photos without reason. The second question
is why the facility of sharing photos freely is supplied. Should they have no
profits, why do the owners of these companies provide those opportunities?
According to some computer science experts, these companies encourage
people to share their photos, ideas, and interests in order to both integrate them
to the market and complement the deficient data for the artificial intelligence
studies, which have people share their photos and ideas without any reason.
First of all, each shared information about someone accumulate enormous data
which is used to integrate her/ him to the market. For instance, if you look for
an advertisement on Instagram, you will see the similar advertisements a few
minutes later. Since your information has already been collected and analyzed,
they try to get you to buy those things. Secondly, the studies done on artificial
intelligence need a number of photos illustrating human faces to improve its
ability of recognize them. Thus, they let people express themselves so that they
attain their aims. All these practices, therefore, violate individuals’ privacy. (v:
11, g: 19)
Some people suggest the view that social networking sites facilitate the spread
of information faster than any other media. However, these sites, mostly,
enables unreliable and false information to spread. Without investigating
ambiguous information, people can be easily manipulated by fallacies.
Especially, parents might have some difficulties to control their children
because the so-called information might be dangerous for those who believe
what they learn. To illustrate, if a child learns something harmful from the
social media, and act accordingly, it might be result in such devastating results
that parents might regret not preventing their child’s access to the internet.
Moreover, the wrong information might damage human health. For instance,
since being healthy became a trend, the bloggers in the social media gained
popularity, and started to give advice about the health. However, some people
suffered from practice of the outcomes of which some people suffered.
Therefore, you should not rely on each advice, which is shared in the social
networking sites, about your health. Otherwise, you might suffer from severe
consequences. Therefore, social media might get your health and children
ruined.
Taking everything into consideration, people cannot offset the use of social
media nowadays, and this excessive usage results in some devastation in their
lives. The violation of privacy and unreliable information are most predominant
outcome in terms of individuals. Yet the impacts of the violation and wrong
information on the individuals, social media is not benevolent for the society.
Therefore, people should be aware of those threats, and strengthen their
relations. If they express themselves to their real friends, there will be no need
to use those sites excessively. Thus, those sites might not have a chance to
manipulate people.
The Effects of Technology on Social Identities
“I share therefore I am” Dr. Sherry Turkle says , a cultural analyst,and points
out how our online personas are being shaped unwittingly by technology. In
retrospect, the concept of identity had been explained based on some internal,
which was derived from psychological background, and some external factors
such as mentality of the society and the authorities. The apperance of
technologic developments, however, transformed the societies from traditional
ones into contemporary societes. Therefore, technology transcended being
internal or external factor, pervaded many people’s life embracingly even if
people themselves who are subjected to this manipulation do not notice. Thus,
technology, namely internet, has a great impact on our social identity even
though it is regarded as if it is just a piece of machine or the way of expressing
ourselves.
One of the main impacts of technology results from globalization. Due to the
fact that internet and social media lead to exceed information and
communication, people are enabled to learn whatever and whenever they want
to know, and they can be made contact with a number of people from
everywhere of the world. This contributes to the fact that people are more
sophisticated compared to the previous times. Wheras the people of previous
times, in general, were more local and knew what their authorities said to them,
people of modern era are universal, and can learn lots of information that the
authorities cannot control. Consequently, harnessing of communities by the
governments becomes much more harder because of the internet. It, yet, does
not mean the freedom of identities, on the contrary, it sets the stage for
controlling initially knowledge, understanding,and the way of expressing
ourselves, subsequently thoughts, feelings, and opinions of societies by the
greater autorities such as big companies; resulting from superficially thinking
instead of deeply thinking. For instance, observing how people share “their”
emotions and ideas, it can be obviously seen how all those are either the same or
remarkably similar due to the fact that people do not comprehend phenomena
properly.
The common ideas and feelings are generated by advertisements, thereby
popular culture, which is the one of the great effects upon identity. In this
connection, advertisements refer not only concrete commercials but also astract
ones such as ideas and images. Since social media creates perfect images that it
is impossible to reach such as being very successful, rich, beautiful, and always
happy, people set extremely challenging goals, thus, they are entagled with
these aims in pursuit of possessing popularity,acceptance, and status. “The line
between person and persona, private and public self become blurred or erased
completely and the so-called self-identity becomes a means of our acceptance
and status.” psychologist Jim Taylor says. As a result, people focus on the icons
which is created by social media intead of their own interests. Thus, this
situation leads to some psychological problems. One of those is sacrificing the
real identity to virtual one. In other words, one can be alienated from the real
society, and prefer only a virtual character. The other one is manifesting herself
or himself as a too happy person by concealing her or his afflictions. Both affect
a person’s self image and identity unfavorably and unawares.
Taking everything into account,wheras technology is the reason for the
transition from the tradition to the modernity, it is not only a tool to
communicate but also the principal component of our new identities by using its
global power and popular culture. That is to say, technology is not to be ignored
the great impacts on our own self images.
 MASS MEDIA

Mass media has been in the lives of every individual since the print media

known was invented. However, the history of the concept of mass media is

based on ancient times when the dramas were performed because these

performs are evaluated as the first broadcasts to a wide audience. Also, that

mass media have an influence on crowds' thoughts has enabled these old

organizations to be effective against administrations of the country in which

they are active. They play a vital role, especially in a modern democracy.

Therefore, it is nothing unprecedented that governments try to control mass

media even they rule a democratic country. Control of the mass media is a

common practice especially in authoritarian governments. However, it is

obvious that this kind of control never benefits the country and the society that

it takes place in. Many bad effect of government control of media can be talked,

but the systematic reduction of the diversity of thought and the inability to

question the state activities are the most important ones of these effects.

First, since government control of media aims to silence those criticizing

the government, it leads the topics or ideas which are in contradiction to

government principles to tail off. Thus, any thought or interest contrary to the

government's view is condemned to disappear even these thoughts are prevalent

among the public. In order to control media, governments may impose a ban on

tv channels, newspapers or websites which give an opportunity to discuss their

acts, or may imprison journalists and commentator who criticize them. This

kind of governmental reacts constitutes great political oppression. Although this

pressure is political, it affects every segment of society in various ways. Since

the public behaves with their intuitions which can be steered easily, their

thoughts change because of this governmental pressure. For example, a

government can convince its public to have three children by making them

watch encouraging tv programs or generating news reports about the benefits of

having three children. Even though everyone in the country wouldn't be

convinced, the opponents would have to be silent and thus, the state would have

been able to manage to impose its own wishes on the public. The government's

media control disrupts the polyphony in the country by causing fear in the

public, which always blocks the development of a country.

In addition, government activities cannot be evaluated correctly while the

mass media is being controlled by the government. Unless there is a media that

funds the investigator journalists, mistakes of governments don't come to light.

They can act prohibitively against those who disagree with them and they can

easily prevent the media coverage. By doing these, they try to demonstrate the

accuracy of their actions. However, they merely cause that truths are hidden. If

there is a mistake in governmental action, of course, it appears in some time, but

it comes with big incidents. For instance, if a government is unable to manage

its country's economy and it isn't criticized adequately, this kind of economic
plight results in an economic crisis. In such cases, mass media create public

opinion, and in a way, warn the governments. As long as there is only a media

publishing the truths of the government, the people will lead such crises without

knowing what is really happening.

To conclude, governments will always try to control the media so that

authorities will be able to easily spread their ideas and overcome opposition to

them. However, this kind of control affects the production of original thought in

the community so negatively that it gets nearly impossible that such a

community is able to improve itself. Therefore, there is a need to free media

consisted of different perspectives. Also, in democratic governance, the role of

media is enormous in the supervision of the state. They convey facts about the

governments to the public, even if the facts provoke controversy among the

public. Although government control of media is considered to have some good

consequences in addition to bad ones, the fact that the government misleads its

citizens and influence their opinions by distorting the facts will never yield a

good result.

DINSEY PRINCESSES

Disney princesses have been in young girls’ lives since having been
published in 1937 with “Snow White” for the first time. Girls grow up watching
these stories, and they want to be like these princesses in the future. Nonetheless,
the effect of Disney princesses on young girls has been discussed ever since. Are
they appropriate for young girls pedagogically? It is a well-known fact that early
ages, in which one can not evaluate what is true or wrong, are the most vulnerable
times of human life. Scientists have carried out several studies in order to
estimate these effects. Sociologist Charu Uppal has conducted an experiment in
which she had 140 girls from different countries draw a princess without even
mentioning Disney. Nearly every drawing has depicted a white princess, most of
whom resembled Disney characters. Not even one princess was drawn with
traditional outfits from the drawer’s country. Moreover, some girls from non-
western nations have said that, not being beautiful enough, they could not
perceive themselves as a princess. Although some people still do not want to
acknowledge this reality, it has been the visualization a body image, lack of
confidence, and unrealistic expectations.

Disney princesses lead young girls to visualize an ‘ideal’ body image and
assess themselves and people around them by this unreal image. This Princess
perception indicates that the girl’s most valuable asset is her beauty, and it is
considerably more important than intelligence or social skills. Eventually, in their
small world, being beautiful starts to be the most significant goal to achieve and
young girls start to be obsessed with their own and other people’s physical
appearance. Willing to judge people on their ‘beauties’, they reach untrue
conclusions about others which leads them to lose their friendships.

Disney princesses generate a lack of confidence among girls. Having

grown with these princesses, girls tend to underestimate their abilities and think
they are not smart enough to deal with their daily life issues themselves. Girls
learn from these princesses that while waiting for the man who would come and
save them, girls had better be sweet and soft. Therefore, instead of getting
involved in their problems, they believe that they need to be saved and rely on
some heroic male figure in their life, just as beautiful but unintelligent princesses.
Although newer princesses such as Elsa and Merida exhibit more independent and
braver characteristics, the common princess idea is not likely to change soon.

Besides the effects of Disney princesses on young girls’ present life, they
implicitly affect their future lives with the unrealistic expectations which they put
their young minds. Watching these cartoons, girls want to be like these princesses
and expect the real world to be innocent and easy like the one in the cartoons.
Furthermore, rather than letting girls make their own objective judgements, these
shows lead them to label people around them as either fully evil or angelic, and
when a person who was previously labeled as an angel misbehaves or vice versa,
they began to suspect their perception. Consequently, girls lose their ability to
assess people’s conduct. Such damage cannot be recovered easily and manifests
itself more with advancing age, ending with a psychological disorder.

In a nutshell, innocent Disney princesses devastate young girls’ psychology

and affect their future lives negatively while showing certain beauty standards,
damaging confidence, and making empty promises. In order to prevent this
destruction, parents need to be aware of the danger and pay attention to the
subliminal messages of the products of the child entertainment industry. While
there is no way for a child to distinguish right from wrong, under no
circumstances, should a child be left alone to access whatever they want; they
must be kept aware of the harm of such products and ideas.