DEBATE | Issue 16 | 2015

debate ISSUE 16 | JULY 2015

CREDITS EDITOR Laurien Barks laurien.barks@aut.ac.nz SUB-EDITORS Matthew Cattin Amelia Petrovich Julie Cleaver DESIGNERS Ramina Rai Logan Gubb CONTRIBUTORS Amelia Petrovich, Matthew Cattin, Julie Cleaver, Naomi Currie, Kieran Bennett, Matthew Rosenberg, Ethan Sills, Conor Leathley, Daniel Vernon

Illustration by Nicole Roodbeen

ADVERTISING Harriet Smythe hsmythe@aut.ac.nz

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATORS Logan Gubb, Grace Won, Nicole Roodbeen, Finn Clark, Kerryn Smith, Rob Lewis, Ellen Mckenzie, Kwok Yi Lee, Hiram Vaeau Contributions can be sent to

lbarks@aut.ac.nz PRINTER Debate is lovingly printed by Soar Print

Debate is a member of

the Aotearoa Student Press Association (ASPA)

This publication is entitled to the full protection given by the Copyright Act 1994 (“the Act”) to the holders of the copyright, being AUCKLAND STUDENT MOVEMENT AT AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY INCORPORATED (“AuSM”).

Reproduction, storage or display of any part of this publication by any process, electronic or otherwise (except for the educational purposes specified in the Act) without express permission is a break of the copyright of the publisher and will be prosecuted accordingly. Inquiries seeking permission to reproduce should be addressed to AuSM.

Pg 3 Editor’s Letter

Pg 20 Not-at-all-bored Games

Pg 4 Advocacy: Discharge Without Conviction

Pg 22 It Ain’t All Bad

Pg 5 Vice Prez Sez

Pg 24 Google Cardboard

Pg 6 Information Overload

Pg 25 Cool Shit

Pg 8 Back to Basics

Pg 26 Streams of Ecstasy

Pg 10 Why You Should Stop Watching Porn

Pg 28 Are Machines Our Gods?

Pg 14 Plugging In

Pg 30 Reviews

Pg 16 In Short

Pg 33 Recipe

Pg 18 Golden Oldies

Pg 34 Puzzles cover illustration by Hugo Christian-Slane

CITY CAMPUS

SOUTH CAMPUS

Level 2, WC Building

MB107

ph: 921 9805

ph: 921 9999 ext 6672

Mon-Thurs: 9am - 5pm

Mon-Thurs: 9am - 3:30

Fri: 9am - 4pm

DISCLAIMER Material contained in this publication does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of AuSM, its advertisers, contributors, Soar Print or its subsidiaries.

DIRECTORY

AUSM.ORG.NZ

NORTH SHORE CAMPUS (Temporary Location) AE112; Office D ph: 921 9949

GOVERNANCE & LEADERSHIP April Pokino april.pokino@aut.ac.nz

MANAGEMENT Tuhi Leef tuhi.leef@aut.ac.nz

VOLUNTEERS Romulus Swanney rswanney@aut.ac.nz

STUDENT MEDIA MANAGER Victoria Griffin vgriffin@aut.ac.nz

CLUBS Josh Tupene jtupene@aut.ac.nz

ADVOCACY Siobhan Daly siobhan.daly@aut.ac.nz

10:30am - 1:30pm

FACEBOOK.COM/AUSMDEBATE

EVENTS Carl Ewen carl.ewen@aut.ac.nz

Technology, particularly the social media end of the spectrum, gets quite a bit of flack these days, and is blamed for a number of things. Heck, I can definitely raise my hand and say I’ve voiced an opinion or two of a negative nature.

And who can really blame me? I’ve seen kids get bullied, I’ve seen attention spans plummet, and I’ve seen young ladies and gentlemen agonize over the bloody angle of a profile picture. The list could go on and on, but I don’t think it needs to; we all know the problems. We all love to have a solid whine thrown in between Facebook checks and Instagram updates.

What we often forget to do (according to observations I’ve made in my own little world), is actually celebrate the good that social media offers us. I had the privilege of sitting down and talking to a collection of senior citizens about technology this week, and despite their frustrations with the logistics of their devices, they unanimously agreed on one thing: technology connects humans, and that’s “freaking wonderful, G” (I lost my interview notes - quotes may not be 100 percent accurate). Whether they marvelled at the ability to keep in touch with friends and family, watch the latest film in their own home, or simply tap a button and see the world’s news, these golden oldies were thoroughly impressed with how much technology has brought people together.

E D I TO R ' S

L E T T E R

Illustration by Grace Won Hello hello!

It’s theme week again here at Debate! Better yet, this week’s theme has an origin story. One that goes beyond a Debate writer shouting out “TEN THEME!” or “SUPERSTITIONS THEME!” and being met with a round of enthusiastic applause and joyous weeping. The Digital Age themed mag has actually been in the making for quite a few weeks, with the idea sparked by a visit Ramina and I had with members from the design faculty here at AUT. The third year design class was instructed to design a poster that promoted the “Digital Detox Day” the States has annually. When our eyes saw the haunting/talented/giggleworthy (in a good way) pieces, we just knew we needed to feature as many as we possibly could in the mag. Thus, the Digital Age theme was born. Instead of asking illustrators to be inspired by writing like we usually do around here, we swapped places. We sent pieces of art to our writers and asked them to come up with articles inspired by the poster they were looking at. Artsy, right? That means every piece of illustrated art that you see in this mag, from the cover onward, is the result of a ridiculously gifted design student’s assignment.

This kind of collaboration makes me giddy about my job. In my opinion, the more people we have contributing to the magazine, no matter what form that contribution takes, the better. It turns these pages into a beauteous team effort, and who doesn’t love that?

I couldn’t help but grin at how excited a lot of them got about it. It’s something I take for granted, I guess. Something I even criticize with the mentality of “So you can instant message someone for hours, but you can’t have a proper conversation with me when I come over?” Sure, some of us may have overshot the goal; become so upswept with the influx in communication options that we ditched the basics and started to prioritize virtual communication over physical.

However, there’s plenty of us who haven’t - and there’s plenty of criticism coming from all kinds of generations and backgrounds being fired to smack some sense into the more zombie-like folks. I truly think, if monitored and kept under control, technology has offered a lot more good than it has bad on the communication front. Part of me can’t help but think that if we communicated in person like we did on social media, there’d be a lot to gain. Sure you’d get a few assholes (maybe more than a few) and creepers poking you now and again, but you’d also get lovelies giving you advice, old friends you haven’t seen in ages randomly contacting you and saying ‘let’s be friends again!’, and people you barely know showing you photos of a recent trip they took to a waterfall. Sure, it’d be weird as hell, but I think it’s a good weird. The kind of weird that would bring people together and make them a little more comfortable with one another.

So, here’s to you, social media. You get a lot of criticism (deservedly), but you also earn a gold star now and again.

Thanks for keeping us humans connected across the globe, making sure we’re up to date with the news, and giving us a forum to show our classmates and extended family how good we look in our town outfits.

Have a good week, Laurien 3

DISCHARGE WITHOUT CONVICTION Discharge without Conviction (often

However at the end of the day, this is

If your application is declined, you will

called a s106 application under the

solely at the discretion of the Judge

be sentenced in the usual way.

Sentencing Act).

on the bench that day hearing your application.

The Judge may decide that you should

THE RULE

PROCESS

still be punished for your wrongdoing

1. You must plead guilty or be found

The application must be in writing and

(which you admitted by pleading guilty,

guilty to be eligible for a discharge

there are criterions and requirements

or have been found to be guilty). In

without conviction application.

for successful application. Therefore,

this case, you may be ordered to pay

2. The court must be satisfied that the

you will have to seek help from a lawyer

reparation for any physical or emotional

direct and indirect consequences of a

for a discharge without conviction

harm caused to the victim of the crime,

conviction would be out of proportion to

application.

or to make a donation to charity before

the gravity of the offence.

discharge without conviction is granted.

HUH?!

They will be able to assess your case and

You may also be asked to attend

tell you whether your case is eligible,

programmes such as a defensive driving

and if so, what your chances are.

course

Basically once you plead guilty or are

or

an

anger

management

course to prevent you from re-offending

found guilty after a Judge-Alone Trial

If you are successful, you are basically

(i.e. Not Guilty Hearing):

acquitted of the offence and you

1. The offence must not be very serious,

will not get a criminal conviction on

If you need legal advice on any criminal

AND

your records. This means you can say

charge you are facing OR are a victim

2. There must be direct and/or indirect

“no” when asked “Do you have any

of a crime and don’t know where to

consequences

criminal convictions?” by, for example,

start, CONTACT US on advocacy@aut.

convicted, AND

a

ac.nz with your details and concerns.

3. The consequence MUST outweigh the

application form for your visa, or at the

seriousness of the offence.

airport.

on

you

if

you

are

prospective

employer,

on

the

in the future.

Sticking to the theme of this week’s “The Digital Age”, we can all learn, together, five Māori words for digital things. They say an easy way to learn the language is to learn a word a day. These can be ours.

The first is the one thing we all use everyday: waea pūkoro (Cell phone). Next is something we use most days: pukamata (Facebook). Ipurangi is a very important word for this generation, it means internet. I couldn’t imagine studying without it. The next thing is like my baby. I take such good care of it: rorohiko pōnaho (laptop computer), I’m not really a desktop girl. The last word for you guys to learn it my favorite toy to play with. It is a pū whakaahua (camera). If you can learn one of these words, I will be super proud. I will be trying myself, so don’t worry.

Librarian of the Week

V I C Eof PtheR Week EZ SEZ Librarian Kia ora Kouto,

Librarian of the Week

My favourite whakatauki is “Ehara taku toa, he takitahi, he toa takitini”, which means my success should not be bestowed onto me alone, as it was not individual success, but success of a collective. This is something I never understood until I graduated with my degree.

It is Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, which is Maori Language Week! This year, it is taking place from 27 Hōngongoi to 2 Here-turi-kōkā (27 July to 2 August). This is a time where we can all celebrate the first language of New Zealand, and one of the three national Business SYstems languages. Every year there is a theme. This year’s is Whāngaihia Whakataukī are proverbs.

TheyInformation play a large role within Māori ngā mātua, which means helping parents to pass Te Reo on to culture. They are used asManagement a reference point in speeches and also Business Information SYstems spoken to others day by day. It is a poetic form of their tamariki. as guidelines Management the Māori language often merging historical events, or holistic Business Information SYstems I truly do wish it was my first lauguage and I spoke it naturally. It perspectives with underlying messages which are extremely Management sounds so beatiful when it is spoken. Unfortunitly I do not know influential in Māori society. how to speak Te Reo Māori, though I did try to learn it in my first year of uni. I found it so hard. Before that, I tried to learn it in high Feel free to contact me on urshula.ansell@aut.ac.nz if you have Kia Ora! Let me introduce myself: My name is Sanya and I school, but for some reason the teacher in charge at the time said any questions or need help with anything. I hope you all enjoyed recently joined the team of Liaison Librarians at AUT. We ar no to me.

Re O-week last week!

Kia Ora! Let me introduce myself: My namehere is Sanya and I teaching, learning and research support to to provide

SANYA BAKER

SANYA BAKER

SANYA BAKER

recently joined the team of Liaison Librarians at AUT.and Westaff are across the University and you can find he students Kia Ora! Let me introduce myself: My name is Sanya andhere I to provide teaching, learning and research support to from us by using the Subject Guides on the Library website recently joined the team of Liaison Librarians at AUT. Westudents are and staff across the University andIf you can find help management or business information are studying here to provide teaching, learning and research supportfrom to us by using the Subject Guides on the Library website. systems then I am here to help you, in particular.

Have you noticed that your usual methods of finding students and staff across the University and you can findIfhelp you are studying management or business information from us by using the Subject Guides on the Library website. information your assignments are taking upusual far too muchof finding systems then I am here to helpfor you, in particular.

Have you noticed that your methods If you are studying management or business information time? This is a sign that you could benefit from spending information for your assignments are taking up far too muc systems then I am here to help you, in particular. time yourmethods Liaisontime? can show you benefit how to Have you noticed that with your usual ofLibrarian! finding This is aI sign that you could from spending information for your assignments areinternet taking up more far much time withtoo your Liaison Librarian!

I canteach show you how to search the open effectively and also Have you noticed that your usual methods of finding time? This is a sign that you could benefit from spending search thesources open internet and also teach yo you about using information that more are effectively specific to information for your assignments are taking up far too much time with your Liaison Librarian! I can showabout you how toinformation sources that are specific to your using your area of interest.

Want to find out about a particular time? This is a sign that you could benefit from spendingsearch the open internet more effectively and also teach you area of interest. Want to find out about a particular time with your Liaison Librarian! I can show you how to about using information company or industry?

I can to show you how to search local sources that are specific your company or industry? I can show you how to search local search the open internet more effectively and also teacharea youof interest.and international databases that were created Want to find out about a particular and international databases thatespecially were created especially fo about using information sources that are specific to yourcompany or industry? for this purpose. to peer-reviewed research research article I can show youNeed how this toaccess search local purpose. Need access to peer-reviewed area of interest. Want to find out about a particular and international databases that werestatistics? created especially for you or current statistics?

I canthe show you places the best places to look articles or current I can show best company or industry? I can show you how to search local this purpose. Need access to peer-reviewed research and how toarticles narrow down your search to get exactly what y to look and how to narrow down your search to get exactly and international databases that were created especiallyorfor current statistics? I can show you the best places to look want. what you want. this purpose. Need access to peer-reviewed research articles and how to narrow down your search to get exactly what you or current statistics? I can show you the best places to look Business Information SYstems want.

If you have a quick question, please send me an email or and how to narrow down your search to get exactly what you If you have a quick question, please send methe ancontact emailinformation or leave a voice message using on Management want. leave a voice message using the contact information on If you have a quick question, please send me emailI’llordo my best to get right back to you. I am also thisanpage. leave a voice message using I’ll thedo contact information on available one-on-one research Just send this page. my best to getfor right back to you. I consultations. am also If you have a quick question, please send me an email orthis page. I’ll do my best to get right back to you. I am also me an email with the outline of your question and the days available for one-on-one research consultations.

Just send leave a voice message using the contact information on available for one-on-one research consultations. Just send and times you are available. getdays in touch and we’ll s me an email with the outline ofthat your question and I’ll the this page. I’ll do my best to get right back to you. I am also me an email with the outline of your question and theup. days something and times that you are available.

I’ll get in touch and we’ll available for one-on-one research consultations. Just send and times that you are available. I’ll get in touch and we’ll set me an email with the outline of your question and the days something up. set something up.

I look forward to meeting you. All the best for your studies and times that you are available.

I’ll get in touch and we’ll Kia Ora! Let me introduce myself: My name is Sanya and I setand I Kia Ora! Let me introduce myself: My name is Sanya AUT. something up. the team of Liaison Librarians at AUT. We recently joined are forward toI meeting I look you. Allto themeeting best for your studies at best for your studies look forward you.

All the recently joined the team of Liaison Librarians at AUT. We are here to provide teaching, learning and research supportAUT. to Sanya Baker at AUT. hereIstudents to provide teaching, learning research support look forward to meeting you.

All the and best for your at to and staff across the University and you canstudies find help Liaison Librarian students and the Guides University and you website. can find help AUT. from us by staff usingacross the Subject on the Library Sanya Baker Sanya Baker you studying or business fromIfus byare using the management Subject Guides on theinformation Library website.

Liaison Librarian Sanya Baker systems then I am here to help you, in or particular.

Liaison Librarian If you are studying management business information sanya.baker@aut.ac.nz Liaison Librarian systems then I am here to help you, in particular.

Have you noticed that your usual methods of finding 921 9999 ext 8815 sanya.baker@aut.ac.nz information for your assignments are taking up far too much City Campus Library, Room WA301 time? sanya.baker@aut.ac.nz This is a sign that you could benefit from spending 921 9999 ext 8815 5 time with your Liaison Librarian! I can show you how to 921 9999 ext 8815 search the open internet more effectively and also teach you City Campus Library, Room WA301 about using information sources that are specific to your City Campus Library, Room WA301

Librarian of the Week

SANYA BAKER

Information Overload Amelia Petrovich | Illustration by Nicole Roodbeen

I’m trying really, really hard to write an article right now.

I have it open as a window on my laptop, but it isn’t the only thing running. Behind it sits my newly finished essay, itching to be read, tweaked and gazed upon. Down the bottom of my screen sits the Safari icon (yes I still use Safari, you have the right to remain silent about it), my browser chock-full of tabs and notifications that need to be cleared. I’ve even got my phone brushing my elbow, it’s not vibrating right now but there’s probably umpteen messages sitting in the inbox I should have a look at. So many distractions and yet I am doing so well at persevering and staying on task… …except I’m also lying.

Sure, I typed that paragraph, but I also checked Facebook, made sure I had no new emails, scrolled through The Herald and felt my phone buzz literally five seconds ago. Turns out it was someone informing me they’re in a lecture, how riveting! The blessings of the information age are many.

I used to reckon that as long as stuff got done, what I checked, updated and replied to along the way didn’t matter too much. I’m now starting to wonder if this media multitasking is developing into a very real, very debilitating habit. The other night at home I suggested watching a movie, I suggested it and yet I was the first person to grab my laptop and phone before I snuggled down onto the couch. I watched the movie, sort of, in between glances down into glaring screens and frequent check-ups of just about every social networking site I’ve connected to ever. It was a pretty nice movie to watch in the end, but I wonder if I might’ve enjoyed it more if it was the only thing I was watching.

Perhaps, unsurprisingly, I’m not the only strung-out wee human with a tendency to dip into a thousand things at once. With things like iPhones and

tablets making media engagement crazy simple and available all the time, more and more people are flitting from app to inbox to work tasks and back again, doing a little bit of everything but ultimately not a lot of much.

A study at Michigan State University looked into links between silly amounts of media multitasking and the way the brain works, suggesting that this growing tendency to flit between activities might present a “unique risk factor” for mental health problems like depression or anxiety. The study was pretty similar to that of Kep Lee Koh and Ryota Kanai from The University of Sussex.

D o c t o r H a l l o w e l l s ays that feeling connected and up to date at all times is often “like a dopamine squirt” for us, but it’s a high that doesn’t last forever.

These guys examined the brain structures of 75 adults who’d answered questions about their media usage, finding that people who reported using more devices, had lower grey matter density in their anterior cingulated cortex. In human terms, this pretty much means that those of us who do a lot of media multitasking are damaging the bit of our brain that controls the way we process the world and how we experience emotion. We’re basically putting ourselves on a fast-ass car down Struggle Street. That’s what’s up.

According to Dr Hallowell and John Ratey from Harvard University, being constantly washed over by a tidal wave of content and status updates might also lead to ‘psuedo-attention deficit disorder’. This is basically what’s been going on with me and my whole “I must watch a movie, but also check a billion emails and type out an A+ essay at the same time” thing, and apparently can lead to a decreased attention span and a frustration with projects that require intense concentration. Doctor Hallowell says that feeling connected and up to date at all times is often “like a dopamine squirt” for us, but it’s a high that doesn’t last forever. Our dopamine receptors dull over time, so while you might get a bit of a rush from a cheeky Instagram check five times a day, those five times could easily become ten, twenty or thirty in your brain’s quest for happy dopedup feels.

Distraction in itself isn’t a bad thing, back in the day it actually used to be pretty important for survival. If you were in the zone foraging around for food to haul back home and a bear showed up, it would be in your own best interest to react to this sudden distraction and change what you were doing. The problem is, the world is now full of distractions that are essentially meaningless- Facebook may devour your self-esteem and motivation, but it’s not going to eat you.

I don’t know about you but I’m pretty keen to suss what we can all do about this. I mean, this article isn’t even done yet but I’ve scrolled through Yik Yak a couple of times already (someone’s post about it being Christmas in 6 months and 20 days just hit 38 up-votes, AUT’s Yak game is getting weaker). The fight to reclaim our collective attention spans doesn’t seem easy, but I’ve been doing a bit of (not-distracted) Googling and thankfully it does look like there are a few things we can fix… If we can stay focused long enough to fix them.

7

BACK TO BASICS Matthew Cattin

I had a bit of a moment in my recent travels - a wee epiphany I suppose you could say. Granted I was a little foggy on the warm buzz of honey whiskey… But my thoughts were clear, and the memory is crisp and perfect.

After near a month in the South Island, I had found myself in the warm embrace of Nelson – my last stop before the journey home. With my full time travel companion (Jared), and a lovely Irish lass (Deirdre) we picked up along the way, we set our sights on the Abel Tasman National Park. With a fine gap in the weather, it felt like the holiday away from our holiday, a few nights camping at park’s beautiful beaches after a month of rugged mountains and road living.

We set off on a sunny autumn afternoon, our packs laden with unnecessary luxuries, including a hardcover edition of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, a bottle of whiskey, steamed puddings and a hammock. Without raincoats, and with limited warm clothes, we were obviously quite prepared for hiking’s worst-case scenarios.

We walked for about two hours in the sun before arriving at our campsite. It was that beautiful time of day… The golden hour between afternoon and sunset when life turns to long shadows and warm colours. Just perfect. With nobody else in sight, we had the pristine beach to ourselves, and after a cheeky dip and tent setting, we sat on a couch built of driftwood and watched the sun sink into the sea.

With warm whiskey in our bellies, we headed back to camp and started a fire. As the moon rose over the trees, we cooked an unreasonably delicious camp meal with the

wekas scrambling about our feet. It was there, in front of a blazing fire, with hot food, good company, and nobody else around, that my slightly tipsy revelation washed over me.

It’s hard to explain, because there really was nothing to it. It was simply a feeling of… well hey, this is it! In that moment, everything on earth made perfect sense to me. I was completely and utterly satisfied. My senses were each fulfilled by the most primitive of satisfactions. I was warm, fed and with friends. It was the holy trinity of human needs, and in that moment, I realised how incredibly basic happiness can be, yet how rarely I think to get myself in that space of uncomplicated back-to-basics beauty.

In that glorious warmth, I realised two things. One: that level of satisfaction was so easily attainable, so simple, yet so damn good. And two: I do not get it enough. And nor, I think, do many people.

As a society, I feel we have become too dependent on technology as a primary source of entertainment. There is always a film to see, a smart phone to fiddle with, a message to send, a photo to snap, a game to play. It’s honestly so rare that we leave it all behind and get back to just being simple, unattached human beings.

Obviously do whatever makes you happy/fulfilled/satisfied in life. But for me, I realised that primal and pure happiness came as a by-product of doing absolutely nothing. So grab a few friends, light a fire, leave your shoes and cells at home, and see if it works for you.

9

WHY YOU SHOULD STOP WATCHING PORN or not start

By Julie Cleaver | Illustration by Finn Clark

After Facebook and cat memes, pornography is perhaps one of the digital age’s most notable inventions. Porn is everywhere, not only on the 420 million pages dedicated to it online, but seeped throughout all of popular culture.

Get this, 90 percent of eight to sixteen-year-olds in the U.S. have watched porn. Also, one pornography website in the U.S. gets 100 million visitors per day, making it accountable for two percent of the total Internet traffic worldwide.

These statistics have made scientists and psychologists cum to the realization that some serious research needs to be done around the impacts of porn. The results of these gigantic studies showed that porn is a huge problem, and it is penetrating the lives of men and woman everywhere in negative ways.

Firstly, what does porn consumption do if you are in a relationship? Different studies have shown that watching porn in a relationship has negative effects on people’s intimacy, communication and general happiness with their partner. Alarmingly, men and women who watch porn alone when in a relationship are 50 percent more likely to cheat on their partner than those who watch no porn. Also, porn makes people less keen to have sex with their partner, which causes all sorts of issues.

Additionally, a study conducted on rats showed that having different sexual partners every day led the little critters to being less aroused, and the males not lasting as long.

However, if a rat had the same sexual partner, its arousal slowly increased over time. Scientists call this phenomenon ‘The Coolidge Effect’ and say that the same trend occurs with humans. So even if people are watching others have sex, different people are constantly stimulating them, resulting in them being less aroused over time.

But what if you are single? Does porn still have negative consequences? Various studies say yes. Watching porn, particularly for males, can sometimes result in feelings of social anxiety, isolation, low motivation, erectile dysfunction, concentration problems and negative self-perceptions. It can also skew people’s perception of sex. Ran Gavrieli has an excellent Ted Talk called “why I stopped watching porn” which I highly recommend watching, even if you don’t watch porn like myself. Gavrieli said that after watching porn, instead of imagining fantasies which were exciting and founded on mutuality, he started to dehumanize sex and make it all about domination, penetration and conquest. He says porn is not big on gentle caressing, hugging, kissing or intimacy: it’s all about getting it in the hole(s). Also, hundreds of porn scenes were analysed across 50 top websites, and 80 percent of them contained acts of physical aggression towards women. Porn therefore damaged his views on sexuality, intimacy and women.

As porn is free, easily accessible, stimulating and endless, scientists say people who watch it are highly vulnerable to addiction. A Reddit group called NoFap is a porn addiction community committed to pornographic abstinence. NoFap has a mind blowing 80 000 members, 59 percent of whom watch 5-15 hours of porn a day. 90 percent of Fapstronauts are straight males and 50 percent are virgins. Studies done on NoFap members have revealed major breakthroughs in the ways porn addiction is affecting people’s mental health.

Scientists found that porn addicts’ brains looked exactly like the brains of drug addicts. They also discovered

11

that like most addictions, the habit controls people’s lives, stopping them from doing other things. Their addiction negatively affected their ability to find a partner and 75 percent of Fapstronauts are single. For the 25 percent of them in relationships, watching porn so rigorously negatively impacted the quality of sex with their partners. Also, porn addiction caused the majority of Fapstronauts to have anxiety and depression. Although NoFap only resembles a small percentage of the porn watching population, porn addiction is still a massive problem that would not have existed without cheap computers, smart phones, and highspeed broadband.

On a different note, when arguing about controversial topics I often take the stand that ‘if it doesn’t hurt anybody, it is okay.’ People marrying who they want does not hurt anybody, therefore it is okay. So if watching porn didn’t hurt anybody, in my opinion, it would be okay. However, as we just discovered, it can hurt people who watch it, and as we will now discover, the ramifications of watching porn can harm many people. According to a huge study done by Covenant Eyes, 17 percent of males in porn wear condoms.

Since there is so much unsafe sex, this has led to 66 percent of performers having herpes and 7 percent having aids. Plus, around 50 percent of porn stars take hard drugs such as ecstasy, cocaine and hallucinogenics, “because they can’t deal with the way they’re being treated”. Ex-porn star, Tayna Burleson’s words, not mine.

The average life expectancy for a porn star in developed countries is 50, around thirty years lower than the national averages. The reason they die so young is due to the sexually transmitted diseases, acts of violence and suicide. The porn industry is brutal, and when people consume porn, they are creating a demand for it. This demand is supporting the industry, paying for it to continue existing.

Then there’s a whole other realm of ugly that is so dark it’s hard for me to even type. Child porn. Rape porn. Violent porn.

It’s evil, but it’s out there. Anti-pornography campaigner, Gail Dines, says that she interviewed a number of child sex offenders in prison and they all regularly consumed child pornography.

"What they said to me was they got bored with 'regular' porn and wanted something fresh. They were horrified at the idea

of sex with a prepubescent child initially, but within six months they had all raped a child.”

On a wider level, Dine also believes that porn is causing people to have a negative and violent view towards women in general.

“I am not saying that a man reads porn and goes out to rape," Dines says, "but what I do know is that porn gives permission to its consumers to treat women as they are treated in porn."

And it’s not just males whose views get changed. If society collectively agrees that women are sexy when they are submissive and one-dimensional play objects, than women will embody that persona to feel sexy. This is unfair, because women should be able to create their own sexual identities based around mutuality and confidence, not domination and submission (unless they want to).

Lastly, pornography is a 13.3 billion dollar industry in the U.S. alone. So explicit websites are making people very, very rich.

If you are like me and the thought of a filthy fat cat lounging around a pool surrounded by strippers and booze infuriates you, then perhaps you should think twice about your internet usage.

All arguments aside, every individual is fully entitled to make their own decisions. No one should tell you how to live your personal life, ever. However, in order to make properly informed decisions, all pieces of evidence should be analysed. From what I have gathered, porn has negative consequences on a large number of people, therefore I personally do not condone it. If you have assessed the facts and still like it, then that’s your decision. But who knows? Even if I couldn’t change your views, perhaps one day some good old-fashioned, heartfelt missionary might be able to.

13

PLUGGING IN Naomi Currie | Illustration by Rob Lewis When I was a kid, computers were limited and you were considered rich to own one. It wasn’t an everyday device.

Not to brag, but my family owned a musty, creamcoloured box. I remember the solid square plastic that held the modern era of digital platforms within its digital descendants. I don’t know about you, but I remember clicking away on Minesweeper and playing around on Microsoft Word. Yes, I played on Word. The days I pretended I could type, and type fast like the Flash.

Within my confession lies my innocence and unknowing knowledge that one day, computers would accomplish digital connections on a global scale.

For the longest time, I didn’t have access to the internet at home, and I felt like I was missing out. I wanted in. I figured everyone had access, and having internet was the bomb; this was my way into the cool kid’s club. Unfortunately, it wasn’t cool, and fortunately, I was too cool for the cool kid’s club. Or at least I thought so.

The Era of Digital Platforms has expanded so much, we have trouble recognising what’s real. Whenever I search for something on Google I get shown six different options, and it turns into a riddle where I have to figure out which one’s the correct answer. Google is like one of those friends who you ask a question, and they think it’s a great idea to answer with a serious face, followed by my most hated word, “Jokes.” Google is a two-faced bastard, and sadly the idol for many.

As a kid who’s seen computers go from limited capacity devices to computers the size of your hand, there’s a process in place. A social system we are all a part of, and the dangerous part is that many of us don’t realise it. We’ve been sucked into it and we can’t get out, and quite frankly most of us don’t want to. The digital platform is engrained into modern culture that the internet is how we connect, how we talk, share, and gain knowledge. To put it simply, the internet is addictive.

The first time we experience the computer and its marvellous facilities, we’re hooked. We don’t know it, but we are. We’re a little naïve as we plug into the internet for the first time, whether you’re seven years old or twentythree. We see things that excite us, stimulate our brain into overload, and are satisfied that we are not alone.

We’re doing what everyone else is doing, and we fit in. It wasn’t about being in the cool kid’s club, but fitting into society’s ideas of what we should be doing. We’ve been provided with the sense of independence accompanied by necessity. We’ve learned to need technology.

After we’ve experienced the dangers of beauty, we have a choice. This is the moment we choose to cross the threshold, or not. Do you take the blue pill, or the red pill?

Once you cross the threshold and go down the rabbit’s hole, it’s difficult to get out. There might as well be a neon sign saying, “Congratulations! Welcome to the club.”

The effects we never saw in fine print spring out of the shadows. The illusions get to us as we tend to believe what we see, and our addiction drives us. The lucky ones are able to moderate their addiction, while the rest check Facebook in the morning, before lunch, after lunch, before dinner, and before bed. In the end, some people don’t log off at all. It makes me wonder if they don’t have a purpose in life. Maybe it’s me that doesn’t understand what life is about. Perhaps we should accept addictions as an essential piece to life and our ever-expanding knowledge.

Some may disagree and say you can go without technology. By all means, cut yourself away from the digital world. Some may think I have it wrong altogether.

I say people have gotten soft because of convenience.

Convenience is why we take the internet for granted, as well as the devices we need to use internet. I’m sure you’ve had to endure the days when the computer freezes, crashes, or the annoying times when you can’t figure out why your internet isn’t working. When my computer freezes, I stare at the screen willing it to change, when it crashes I have an internal panic attack, wondering how I’m going to finish my assignment, even when I don’t have one. Our expectations of digital devices have a hold on us. The predicament of addictions is withdrawals, like we have a new primal need thanks to evolution and conditioning. The conditioning of convenience and pleasures.

In the end, we are all suckers for stimulation. The pleasures of the internet gives us the high we need to last the day, and we take the chance that the negatives we’re aware of will fade.

IN SHORT

Greece Advised To Hold Down Power Button For A Bit Kieran Bennett Following yet another large default on international loans and increasing civic unrest over austerity measures, Greece is now accepting advice from anyone who offers it. The government was recently approached by Eric Clarkberg, a computer technician from Chicago who told Greece that they should perhaps try holding down the economies power button for anywhere from 5 to 20 seconds and wait for it to shut down completely.

For several months prior, Greece was faced with heavy difficulty in terms of paying back large loans from other countries in the European Union. This is even after parliament voted to impose austerity on some of its more frivolous services like healthcare and pensions for the elderly.

The move somehow proved unpopular with citizens, however, who were quick to revolt and show their displeasure. The response from Greek government was to send a man with a kind looking face to a press conference and have him make tsk noises and shrug.

Now, however, the Greek government has passed yet another loan repayment deadline, failing to pay back any of the money it owes to Germany. This has left Greece in a difficult position as it now must make the decision whether to impose more austerity on ridiculous services like clean water, or exit the European Union and do its own thing.

Before making such a decision, Greece has sought advice from a variety of sources and Mr Clarkberg's advice is being hailed as a solution that may save Greece with many economists amazed at the simplicity of turning Greece off and then back on again.

The response from Greek government was to send a man with a kind looking face to a press conference and have him make tsk noises and shrug.

Mr Clarkberg has been quick to discount any genius on his part, saying to media that he only suggested what most technicians would and that any recovery would be based on how many toolbars Greece had installed. He then went on to say that he hoped the reset worked and was happy to offer the solution to any other country.

Sources close to Mr Clarkberg have also said that he now regrets offering the advice as Greece keeps ringing to get him round to set up the DVD player and asking where the internet has gone.

VOX P O P S T EC H

C H LOE

N ATAL I E

T H O M AS

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen on the internet?

Some very inappropriate videos that should not be on Facebook. You know, just from that one friend popping up on your newsfeed unexpectedly.

What kind of technology do we need to invent in the next ten years?

Technology’s always getting better and upgrading, we kind of have everything already. I’d like a personal temperature adjuster though!

What’s your most recent text message?

“Quick hello after class :)”

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen on the internet?

Certain kinds of Japanese advertising, I saw one on a Youtube video that was sexual and innocent in the strangest way but it turned out to be for ice blocks and not an actual sex ad.

What kind of technology do we need to invent in the next ten years?

Robots that clean your house but pick up stuff as well and can do things like load a dishwasher or hang washing, What’s the last photograph you saved on your phone?

This creepy road-safety ad saying ‘cross with the green man’ where the green man is this green ghost thing with one arm around a pedestrian.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen on the internet?

A video of people severing their genetalia.

What kind of technology do we need to invent in the next ten years?

Functioning Artificial Intelligence or readily available diet pills that make you beautiful.

What’s the last photograph you saved on your phone?

A picture of Jake from Adventure Time making bacon pancakes.

JA D E N

E L AI N E

J E R E M I AH

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen on the internet?

I’ve seen a lot of weird shit, can I give you a list? Probably mainly ‘Tub Girl’ though, that was the weirdest.

What kind of technology do we need to invent in the next ten years?

Teleportation would be pretty sweet.

What’s your most recent text message?

“In the lecture, where u at g?”

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen on the internet?

Trypophobia, all those photos together of really gross, creepy things.

What kind of technology do we need to invent in the next ten years?

3D things, holographic stuff.

What’s your most recent text message?

“Coz I’m protecting his sexuality”

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen on the internet?

Trypophobia, as well. That’s so creepy.

What kind of technology do we need to invent in the next ten years?

I reckon Artificial Intelligence that can work in dangerous places so they could go there and do work instead of real people.

What’s your most recent text message?

From my friend about a P.C game we both play.

17

GOLDEN OLDIES In the spirit of The Digital Age theme this week, we thought it’d be fun to hear what some of our loveliest and adorable elders had to say about their thoughts on technology. So Laurien popped down to the Crestwood Retirement Village in New Lynn to have a chat with some of New Zealand’s finest. She was offered much tea, many life lessons, and lots of giggles in the process.

JEAN AND REG:

JOSEPH

What kind of technology do you use?

We have an ipad. Never had a computer.

What kind of technology do you use?

I’ve got a few things, my youngest son used to show me how to use things. I don’t know about my oldest son, he’s in America so I don’t know what he does. The only technology I’ve got, it took me a long time to even get onto this (points to remote), I used to get lost. I still do a lot of writing (gestures as if he’s writing with a pen and paper). My two boys were always say to me “get a computer, Dad, get with it!” But I still haven’t got one. I was thinking of getting one. I don’t know where to start. I went to a computer class and the tutor said “Do you have a computer?” and I said “No” and he said “Well, what are you doing here?”

And what do you use the ipad for?

Just emails.

How long have you had it?

I’ve had the ipad for about 15 months, and I didn’t use it for a long time anyway. Reggie uses it more.

What are some of the positive aspects of having so much accessible technology?

Well I imagine keeping in touch with people. Everyone is so scattered these days, all your relations, so keeping in touch with family and friends, and being able to see them on the computer. Well, I don’t do that, my son does. It’s also good having entertainment for Reg. You can find anything you want. Music, films, dancing, how things are made.

Information.

And what are the negatives?

Well if we’re talking about smart phones and things like that, a lot that would worry me is how children connect all the time, they’re being bullied, and how people can track you down easily – that’s a big thing. Privacy is almost gone, people give it up too readily. Sometimes you’re giving it up when you don’t know.

If you could take once piece of technology back to the time when you were my age, what would you take and why?

Jean: TV? (to Reg) Would you take the TV? Reg: I think the ipad, because you’d have questions all the time and it’d be an enourmous effort to find the answers, whereas if you had an ipad, you could just tap it and there it is.

(As I was typing his answers up) I wouldn’t be able to do that (type). My first wife was a typist and she could do that. Of course, I bought her a type writer.

What are some of the good things about technology?

I reckon it’s a good thing in some ways. It sort of categorizes things and files them away so you can find them later on.

Whereas before you were always hunting. Hunting through the pages. Where did you put that, where did you put that… we used to have that at work sometimes. I used to say to some of the junior staff “Where did you put that report?”

“I haven’t seen it, Mr Thompson.” “Yes you have I saw you reading it.” “Ohhhh, I think so and so’s got it.”

And what are the negative things?

Well, I think it stops you using your brains; stops you thinking about things and working it out in your head first. My youngest son is always saying “I’ll look it up on the net.” And I say “why do you want to look it up on the net, you should know that.”

My boys say “get a computer, Dad.” I say I’ve already got one.

EVE

JULIET

What kind of technology do you own and use?

That computer there, and this thing here (points to tablet), which should have been an ipad, but turned out not to be because I didn’t know what I was buying. See, you can be sold something that you don’t even know you’re buying. I have a brother who used to work for Microsoft in London, and then he worked for the Times newspaper, online stuff and whatever. So I have very good credentials, but know nothing.

What kind of technology do you own?

Apple (computer), PC laptop, ipad, ipod, digital camera.

What do you use the almost-ipad for?

(Giggles) I use ‘contacts’ a lot, I sort of text my nearest and dearest kind of. I can use it in Australia and all around the world. I just went on a world trip and I could do it everywhere!

And I didn’t even tell them I was going, all I had to do was pay a little more. And I use the camera. But I’m not sure how to download it onto…what do you call it? USB. What are some negative things about technology?

For instance this thing (tablet)…it’s a mystery what the hell’s happened here. Every day he (grandson) can get on it, then all of a sudden it’s got something wrong with it. And I don’t know whether to go on Samsung, or take it to Sylvia Park to get help. Though, I can look it up on the computer what I should do. What do you call it…I can Google it and see what the problem is. And even I can Google how to do that (USB). Lots of my friends do far more than me on their machines. This Chrome and that. But every time I go, it says “This page is not available.” So all of a sudden, I want to smash it across my knee, it’s very frustrating.

And what do you use the laptop and computer for?

My laptop, I more or less play cards on that, some photography. You see, I made the mistake, with the Mac…I took the SD card from my camera and put it in the wrong slot, which means I can’t use my CD drive anymore. That’s why I sort of use both. My ipad is the first thing I look at in the morning, and the last thing I see at night. You got the news, you can choose what you listen to and what you don’t. It’s your connection to the outside world. I would hate being here (retirement village) without it.

Do you know what Tinder is?

Yeah! I get my books from Kinder.

No, no Tinder. With a T. Oh, no then. I don’t know what that is. (explain it) Some people are all for it, others not so much… what do you think?

Yeah why not! If that’s the way you meet somebody, yeah great! I mean, I think I’m a bit too old to do that. But yeah, if it works, and you’re safe, then great. You’re only young once.

If you could go back to when you were my age, and take one piece of technology with you, what would you take?

I’d probably take my ipad because, well, I lived out in the country, so there wasn’t much life. And I would have enjoyed catching the news, or looking at peoples’ photos.

And I might have gone on a dating site!

What would your tagline be if you went on Tinder?

Hmmm…’Must like dogs, must like photography.’

19

Board Gaming Level 9999

By Kieran Bennett | Illustration by Ellen Mckenzie

When I was just a wee lad, I have many a memory of spending time with my mum. She wasn’t a huge fan of video games like I was, nor did she watch huge amounts of television, and of course we lived in Auckland so it rained like nobody’s business. This meant we kept having to make our own fun, and to my mum that meant Connect Four and Trouble (or Sorry! If that’s the version you played). We'd bust out those boxes and have a few games and a total blast.

And by ‘a few games’ I mean she destroyed me with the fire of a thousand suns and by a ‘total blast’ I mean, well, actually we did have a heck of a lot of fun. So now, roughly 15 years later, I have just spent 70 dollars on a board game about firemen, and I solely blame my mum.

For years board games to me meant Connect Four, Trouble, Scattergories, Yahtzee, and maybe if we were feeling particularly masochistic, a game of Risk. Board games were hardly a staple feature at the Bennett family table and to me they just weren’t very interesting. Video games had more depth, more stuff, and more fun. That is, until I was taken in a shop by a friend of mine and was exposed to a whole new world of games. Lying before me was shelf upon shelf of board games that were quite unlike anything I had seen. These were games that occasionally had dice with pictures instead of numbers, games with more than one board, but most importantly, games that looked crazy awesome. That day, I bought a copy of a game called Elder Sign. In it, you rolled dice to complete adventures and earn items all with the purpose of stopping an alien being from destroying the world. Connect Four was left in the dust.

Board gaming is fast becoming a hugely popular hobby, with the number of the board games printed and developed increasing every year. Indeed, the section of crowd-funding website, Kickstarter, devoted to games is now almost half taken up by table top games. Some of dubious quality, but nevertheless, the point stands. Youtube channels and websites centred solely on the hobby have sprung up too. Some, such as veteran site, Board Game Geek, have existed for years and function as a kind of encyclopaedia/forum/user content mega site. While others such as Shut Up and Sit Down are centred on reviewing board games in short, narrative videos.

The height of reviewing comes from Youtube channel, Rhado Runs Through, who will review a new game almost every week. For a few hours. Basically, board games are now a little more than just going up the ladders and down the snakes.

It’s essentially impossible to pinpoint exactly where the craze took off, however a prime suspect is what is known as EuroStyle games. Originating from Germany, France and other European countries, these are games centred (usually) on trade, money and negotiation with significantly less luck than other games. Translated and released for a Western market, they proved insanely popular. The biggest of these being Settlers of Catan, selling to date over 15 million copies and translated into 30 languages. Again, like any cultural phenomenon, it’s difficult to say for sure that this is what sparked the interest in more complex board games, but it certainly helped. Soon after we had more companies setting up and releasing more games to feed a hungry market, and like any market, it grew.

And now here we are. I currently own around 20 different board games, plus games that would be considered classics (like Connect Four), and I’ve still got my eye on more of them. Still, that all important question has not yet been answered. It’s all good and well that these games are popular, but why? What could possibly compel me to find such incredible pleasure in rolling a few dice and moving coloured cubes around a board? Let alone everyone else who contributes to a 700 million dollar market? In short, other people. There is nothing quite like that tactile, face to face experience of playing a physical game with other people. It’s just like playing sport, but with less sweat and my parents aren’t bitterly disappointed in me.

My disappointing career as an athlete aside, I can’t help but think that that is why board games have become as popular as they have. While playing a game online is awesome and everything, you can’t see your friends online, you don’t get that incredible atmosphere online and more importantly, you can’t rub it in your friends face that yes, Sam, I just stole everyone’s wheat suck you lil bitch, online.

And for me, all of those things remind me of my mum, and Connect Four.

21

IT AIN'T ALL BAD

By Julie Cleaver | Illustration by Logan Gubb People love to complain about the internet. We drag on about how Facebook is wasting our time and making us anti-social. Then there’s the whole “everyone is always looking down, no one is present” argument. Plus we are all narcissists now, with billions of selfies circulating the web in all their ‘look at me’ glory. There’s definitely a lot wrong with the internet and the way we are integrating it into our lives, but it’s not all bad. The World Wide Web and technology are bringing SO much good to the world, and I think all of its positive effects need to be remembered.

First of all, the internet is saving the lives of people in Africa; can’t get much better than that, right? This is because in parts of Africa, farmers are using the internet to research information on how to save their crops. For example, Zack Metere from Kenya has a potato farm and his crops started dying. He then Googled how to fix them and discovered that it was a simple problem- ants! All he had to do was sprinkle wood ash on his crops and viola: they grew perfectly.

This is such good news, as with a universe of knowledge at people’s fingertips, like Zach, peoples’ quality of life may start to improve.

To bring it closer to home, the internet is also doing a whole lot of good in developed countries. For example, do you remember last summer when everyone was posting selfies with no makeup? Believe it or not, that campaign actually raised eight million pounds for cancer research in just one week! So even though there is a ton of ‘slacktivism’ on the internet, where people like a page or cry when watching Kony 2012 and feel they are doing good, there is also some concrete charity going on.

“The internet is saving the

lives of people in Africa;

can’t get much

You might be thinking “I didn’t know they had internet in underdeveloped countries.”

And that’s totally fine, a lot of people assume the same thing.

But in most underdeveloped countries, many people actually have access to the internet!

According to Mark Zukerberg, approximately 2.6 billion people do. From personal experience, when I was in Cambodia I stayed in the middle of the countryside in the Kandal Provence. When I was at the local fish market, there was a little shack selling Apple products, I kid you not. Some of the local children didn’t even know how to say ‘hello’, their only English was ‘iPhone’. Also, right next to the rice fields and Buddhist temple, there was Wi-Fi (albeit terribly slow).

better than

that, right?”

Plus, the internet is only going to keep growing and becoming more accessible in the third world. This is largely due to the fact that Google announced that they are donating one billion dollars to bringing up the internet in the third world.

The online environment also makes citizens and companies play on a more level field. If you have a song that you want to get out there, you no longer need to have a record deal to get it heard. Chuck it on YouTube, promote yourself and see what happens. Even though it’s hard to be noticed among a sea of content, at least now it’s possible.

The internet has also made knowledge more accessible. If you want to learn about anything, like ANYTHING, Google it. Before we were limited to books in the local library, but now we have a continual stream of updated information available to us at all times. We currently have the option to learn or do anything; our only limit is our own laziness.

Lastly, the internet connects people.

You can make a friend from Turkey in a chat room and see what life is like over there. You can keep in touch with your friend who moved to Australia last year. Plus, there’s Google translate, blogging, the big FB and a whole bunch of other recourses that are connecting humans on a global scale. This is a big step in the right direction, and I think the net is helping break down barriers between countries and people across the globe.

So next time you complain about how boring your newsfeed is, just remember: the internet is saving underprivileged African lives, raising money for cancer research and connecting people all over the world.

That is all.

23

GOOGLE CARDBOARD Matthew Rosenberg It's always good to catch up with Louis. He's the kind of guy who always has something on the go. As I pulled into his driveway on that fateful day in October, little did I know that my life would never be the same again. The warm Waikato sun beat down from above and created tepid vibes for all. Inside, the chat was so fresh I could have been forgiven for thinking I was at a rock salt factory. Louis told me about all the creative projects he was currently working on, and I wasted no time in whipping out my camera when he provided me with a demo of some new program he'd been trialing. I know little about technology but he had me frothing.

Then he hit me with it. Two words that would change how I saw the world. Google Cardboard.

It’s been a while since I last had fun with cardboard, but as a kid, you can have an absolute blast with the stuff.

You can make forts with it, draw on it, and give your cat rollercoaster rides in a banana box. It’s a material that can define your formative years. Something that you can look back on and say “I wouldn't be where I am today without you”. It definitely played a big role in my childhood - and I once got stuck inside a big zip-up bag when I was only three years old (unrelated).

“But what is this Google Cardboard?” I hear you ask.

Quite simply, Cardboard is a virtual reality experience at a price so fabulous you could fill a trolley with the stuff and still have clams left over for chocolate milk. It’s a DIY approach to VR, a cheap holiday, and a whole lot of banter all rolled into one.

Here's how it works. Google Cardboard is made up of two different components and the first of these is a free app.

Now you've probably heard it said before that 'nothing comes for free these days'. Well, I hate to break it to you but that is actually low-key fictitious. Google Cardboard has your back, homie. If you have a smart phone, you're essentially 50 percent of the way there. This also means that you are half way there and making really good progress. Keep it up, friend.

Cardboard was invented by a couple of salty characters named David Coz and Damien Henry. Because they were such decent lads and had everybody's best interests at heart, they designed the actual headset but provided no official manufacturer for the product. As a result, you can hop on eBay and grab yourself a cardboard headset for only $2.71. I got mine from a guy called MindBillion and it actually turned up, which was a big bonus.

Once you have assembled your headset, you're ready to go. Open the app, slip your phone into the back of the cardboard, and peer through the lens. Before you know it, you'll be strolling through the streets of Paris or getting lost in the Great Barrier Reef. It's unreal. What makes the experience all the more special is that every movement you make in real life is reflected on the screen. As you look upwards with the headset plastered against your face, your perspective within the app changes and voila, you are suddenly gazing at the Eifel Tower.

It's the cheapest holiday out. So what are you waiting for?

Hop off that snapchat and go see the world.

COOL SHIT

As much as we heart technology and all the good that it does for is, we also think it can be pretty beneficial to detach from it every now and again. This week we’ve got three giveaways to motivate you to put the phone/laptop/ipad down for a moment, and bask in the glory of a few detoxifying hobbies.

'O SOLE MIO Keep your twitching fingers busy with some good old fashioned stirring, mixing, chopping, and dicing. Lonely Planet’s From the Source: Italy cookbook is just the thing to get you started. With 60 recipes gathered from Italy’s top to toe, passed down from generation to generation, you’ll be able to serve up food just like mama (or some Italian person’s mama) used to make. Simply email lbarks@aut.ac.nz with your name, campus, and favourite pizza topping to be in to win.

DOUBLE BUBBLE

OUT & ABOUT

Our friends at Lush have your back this week, and we have one of their lovely gift boxes to give away and help you relax into a state of beautifully fragrant, technologyless bliss. With 100g each of Miranda soap, and Happy Hippy shower gel you’ll be set up for the soak/shower/sponge bath of a lifetime. Facebook message us with your name, campus, and guilty pleasure to be in to win this Lushious gift box.

Student Flights has given us a $50 voucher to give away this week! We figured you could take it and put it toward your next big adventure.

Nothing takes the mind off of technology like getting amongst foreign beaches, buildings, and babes. Plus the flight attendants are going to ask you to switch off your digital devices during take off, jumpstarting your detox without you even having to think about it. Email lbarks@ aut.ac.nz with your name and campus to be in to win.

25

DIGITAL DETOX DAY OCT 9 2015

S T R E A M S O F E C S TA S Y FIND THE STREAMING SERVICE THAT KNOWS WHAT YOU LIKE.

Ethan Sills | Illustration by Kwok Yi Lee

With the world becoming an increasingly more digital place, one of the things being affected the most is television. Yes, for about the past decade now, there have been people putting movies and TV shows up on YouTube, giving people the opportunity to watch grainy, poor quality videos instead of paying a few bucks to see something they want to see.

But in the past few years, online streaming services have burst out of the gate and are beginning to dominate the TV landscape. American services like Netflix, Yahoo, Amazon and many more are producing original content, designed to be released at once and binge watched in a few weeks/days/hours, you name it. It has forever changed how we watch TV. It is killing the DVD industry (which means there’s no hope for VHS to have a comeback, sadly), and traditional channels are experimenting with it: NBC released an entire show online before its weekly debut, while TV3 has tried the same with House of Cards.

It’s the model that made Breaking Bad the success that it was, and now it has fully launched here. Neon, Lightbox and Netflix are the three big streaming services in New Zealand, and they are going to change how we watch TV: in fact, they probably already have.

In case you are a bit late to this game, here is a quick rundown on what these services have to offer to help you choose the one for you.

Lightbox Price: $12.99 Exclusive Content: Wolf Hall, Transparent, UnREAL, Outlander, Better Call Saul Other Shows: A lot of British comedies like Absolutely Fabulous, Black Books, Thick of It and Inbetweeners; a lot of American comedies like Workaholics, Party Down and Seinfeld; an eclectic range of local shows, ranging from Nothing Trivial to Aftershock to Maddigan’s Quest Pros: • Has the best range of exclusive/ new content of the three services.

They get shows from a number of US and UK channels to give you some great variety, and shows that are still airing update weekly so you don’t have to wait.

• Shows are easily split into only a few categories, making it the easiest to find what you are looking for out of the different services.

• -Has New Zealand content, which is a nice touch.

Cons: • If you are not a fan of British comedy, a lot of options here will not appeal to you.

• The only option without movies.

• While it has a lot of new and exclusive content, it appears to have the smallest collection of the three overall.

Neon Price: $20 Exclusive Content: The main attraction here is having rights to most of SoHo’s catalogue, giving you the ability to legally stream Game of Thrones, Veep, Ray Donovan, Fargo, Looking, Girls, to name a few. Also has the full range of Sky Movies, sporting big name blockbusters from last year like Maleficent and Guardians of the Galaxy. Their exclusives include Turn, Vice and Ambassadors.

Other Shows: The British comedies Lightbox doesn’t have (ie Blackadder), Blue Rose, Veronica Mars, Reign, the Kardashians.

Pros: • -The movie line up is fresher than on Netflix, with films released in the last few years as well as a very extensive back catalogue.

• It gives you access to a lot of what Sky offers, namely SoHo and movies without having to pay a lot.

• Has an exclusive contract with Disney to keep all their movies.

• Has the most reality shows of the three from what I can tell: if you are into that, you will have a lot to choose from.

Cons: • It is the most expensive option, and if you already pay for Sky, you don’t get any discount here.

It would, however, be a cheaper option than paying for Sky, SoHo and the movie channels.

• No sports despite that being one of the big draw cards of Sky. • The exclusive content (ie doesn’t screen anywhere else in New Zealand) is much less glamorous than its rivals (I don’t think I’ve anyone seen anyone ever say anything about ‘Turn’.)

• Terrible interface: everything is split up into seasons instead of just by show, and is quite clunky to navigate.

Cons: • A lot of the exclusive content that is available to overseas customers isn’t available to us in New Zealand. For example, House of Cards, Netflix’s flagship show that turned streaming and online exclusive shows into such a phenomenon, isn’t available to New Zealand customers. We don’t even have the same stuff that Australia has.

• They are known to controversially drop large amounts of content each month, namely popular movies and some TV shows. Don’t expect everything to last there forever.

• There aren’t a lot of brand new movies on offer: the newest ones I could find were the first Hobbit movie and Man of Steel.

General Issues: •

•

Netflix Price: Three packages ($9.99, $12.99 and $15.99), with differing options Exclusive: Daredevil, Bloodline, Marco Polo, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Other Shows: All Chris Lilley shows (ie Summer Heights High), Doctor Who, some anime options, a very diverse range of movies, lots of comedy stand up specials and tons of documentaries including Blackfish.

•

Pros: • Great interface – really easy to move between shows/episodes/ seasons and find related content.

• The broadest range of comedy and drama, and has the most ‘exclusives’ of any of the three.

All Netflix exclusive shows will be coming through here and there.

• All their exclusive content is released in one big go, so you can binge watch to your heart’s content.

•

A lot of rights battles means that exclusive content is spread quite thinly across the various platforms. You can find shows like Suits, The Good Wife and Orange is the New Black on two or three services, making it hard to actually know which one to choose.

All three have children’s sections as well if you are living with younger members of the family.

Each one offers a 30 day free trial so you can get a taste of what each one has to offer before you decide to pay. I would recommend making the most out of those 30 days as you can before you have to start paying – also, you will be charged as soon as the time is up, so if you’re going to cancel, cancel as early as possible.

You could have all three services for less than the price of paying for the Sky basic package each month. If you have a lot of data to use per month and a good smart TV/computer/laptop, getting all three would probably be for the best.

27

AR E MACH I N ES OUR GODS? Conor Leathley | Illustration by Hiram Vaeau It is strange to think, in 2015, how ubiquitous technology has become in our lives, and how we have gotten to the point where we almost cannot live without it. We can talk to people on the other side of the world like they are in the same room and no one bats an eye lid. Heck, even 10 years ago you had to turn off the internet just to use the home phone.

There seems to be an almost subconscious fear in regards to our dependency on our technology. Going off the grid is not an option. We must be online, at all times, to keep up appearances; to stay relevant, or we may be forgotten. It is this pervasive use that we have been warned about through film. Time and time again, various stories have shown the various possibilities of what could happen should our dependency on technology continue to progress.

One of the more iconic films of the early 80s was Blade Runner, helmed by Oscar nominated director Ridley Scott, with Harrison Ford in the leading role. An adaption of a Philip K. Dick novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Ford plays the character Rick Deckard, a retired Blade Runner who takes up ‘one last job’. Deckard is tasked with tracking down a group of androids (known as replicants in the film), who have escaped from the offworld colony to which they were assigned. Despite having the appearance of a human being (with accentuated strength, agility and intelligence), they have none of the rights of humans. They are working on colonies that are deemed too dangerous for human lives, and they have a life span of only three years, which is a contingency to stop them from overtaking the human race.

There are powerful questions that are raised by this film.

Is it fair that they are treated this way because they are not ‘human’ (which is ironic, considering how we treat fellow humans)? It is rationalised that because they have no visceral features that are unique to our species, then it is okay to treat them that way. But, what if feelings and the like are developed, which is what happens to one of the replicants. What if we cannot even identify who are the humans and who are the androids? That is the internal crisis that one of the characters goes through, and as the film ends, even the audience is left unsure to what their origin was.

There are two more recent films that spring to mind when thinking of Blade Runner comparisons. Although they are different, they still revolve around the idea of interacting with technology, and how that has an effect on our lives.

Her (which won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 2013) follows the story of Theodore (played by Joaquin Phoenix) and his relationship with Samantha, the name given to his Operating System (Or O.S), which is voiced

by Scarlett Johansson. The O.S is designed to fulfill their user’s every need, and Samantha slowly manages to fill the emotional void in Theodore’s heart. We love our technology. That much is clear. But should we be IN love with our technology? That is the question that writer/ director, Spike Jonze, asks us.

Which brings me to the 2015 indie hit, Ex-Machina.

Starring Oscar Isaac and Domhnall Gleeson, this film crafts an interesting tale about where our future could be headed. Having won an internal company competition, Caleb (played by Gleeson) gets to visit the recluse billionaire CEO, Jacob (Isaac), who gives him an opportunity to meet a functioning, human-like AI named Ava. Caleb is instructed to perform the Turing Test (named after Alan Turing, who was featured in the recent biopic Oscar winner, The Imitation Game) on Ava, which will reveal if she has the ability to display behaviour that is the equivalent, or at least indistinguishable, to that of a human being. As the story progresses, Caleb begins to develop feelings for Ava which alters his judgement in the Turing test. As the film goes on, the audience may find themselves losing perspective with reality, and begin to question if anyone in the film is actually a human being, or if everyone is AI. It is almost as if the audience is conducting their own internal Turing Test.

That may be a scary thought to some. For all we know, we could be surrounded by AI today who are masquerading as human beings. We often fear abstract realities such as ghosts or aliens, who could walk among us. Yet, it is not so crazy to think that possibly in our life time we could actually have AI among us that would be indistinguishable from the rest of the population. The term science-fiction might become outdated. Call me crazy, sure. People would have said the same thing about the internet 50 years ago.

29

The superhero origin story, similar to The Dark Knight of the same year, tackles post 9/11 and Iraq War themes around surveillance, military and fear. Tony Stark, a hero created originally as an antithesis to the anti-Vietnam movement in the 60s, translates well to this new era, and is brought to life wonderfully by Robert Downey Jr.

IRON MAN

Directed by Jon Favreau Starring Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges

Reviewed by Ethan Sills Can anyone here remember a time before this movie, before Marvel began to take over the world? Strange as it seems, there was a time before Iron Man, a time before we had ten superhero movies a year. Yet 2008 saw our world, or at least the movie parts of it anyway, transition from BI to AI (Before/After Iron Man), as the Marvel Cinematic Universe made its debut.

The plot is nothing spectacularly new: ordinary-ish man has some sort of accident, gains abilities from it, and has to tackle a similarlypowered foe. This formula is repeated for much of Phase One of the MCU, but as it comes in first, Iron Man was able to make a splash, and it is still a stand-out entry in the category. The balance of drama and humour is perfect in this film compared to the later entries, and RDJ is such a good leading man it doesn’t even seem like he’s trying (to be fair, he probably wasn’t for much of it). Plus, the uniqueness of this tech-powered superhero makes him more of a draw than some other heroes (tying into this week’s theme: tick) If you hate Marvel movies for all they stand for, you have this movie to blame for making all their movies happen. I enjoy the movies for what they are though, and even if it isn’t their best entry, Iron Man showed they could take some B-grade superheroes and turn them into successful, decent movies.

It shows various criminal cases, trials and commentary from prior to the leaks, then details the several days the pair spent in Hong Kong where they first met Snowden and recorded the famous interview about why he did what he did.

CITIZENFOUR Directed by Laura Poitras Starring Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, William Binney

Reviewed by Ethan Sills We cannot talk about technology without talking about Edward Snowden. This man leaked hundreds of thousands of NSA documents, and exposed the gravitas of government surveillance and how it was affecting us. Just who he is and what he did is examined excellently in this Oscar winning documentary.

Citizenfour reveals how journalist, Glen Greenwald, and filmmaker, Laura Poitras, came to be involved in Snowden’s leaks.

The best aspect of Citizenfour is how it portrays Snowden. Poitras does not shy away from including scenes that could paint him in a negative but very human light, and in doing so gives us the most detailed look at him yet. Snowden is shown to be funny, intelligent and even laid back, but constantly with the threat of discovery hanging over him. When a fire alarm goes off in the hotel, we see Snowden freeze and look around as though the FBI is about to swoop in. Citizenfour works best in these moments, giving character and humility to someone who has become so synonymous with the digital age and who continues to affect our lives.

The one downside is the lack of any big revelations. It is an unsettling watch, and I spent much of the documentary mesmerised by the fresh light being shone on the leaks. However, I was expecting something entirely new to be shown when really it was just looking behind what already has been. It is the humanity of Snowden that makes Citizenfour such a fascinating watch.

If you don’t really understand what Snowden did or what it all means, you have to watch this documentary. Nothing new is revealed, but it explains the seriousness of the issue in a very digestible way, and gives a persona to this very serious and not easily understood topic.

REVIEWS

Jamie could have done after going through such a life-changing experience, like use it as an emotional backstory on X-Factor to win votes and the chance to be a famous musician for a month.

Instead, Trower has beautifully crafted a collection of poems that draw the reader into the harrowing experience and the ongoing consequences.

I know what you’re thinking. Poetry just became less like something Lorde’s mother read to her as bedtime stories, and more like something out of a Liam Neeson movie.

ANATOMY Poetry Collection Writen by Jamie Trower

Reviewed by Daniel Vernon Poetry. A tool used by white teachers to help troubled inner city kids express themselves, and, the only time it is socially acceptable to snap your fingers in unison outside of being in a gang in the 1950s (see: West Side Story).

But that’s the brilliance of Anatomy. It reads more like a story than an array of hastily arranged poems. You follow Trower’s experience as he paints an authentic and sometimes brutal look at growing up with a life-changing disability. Trower’s use of language and obvious love and respect for the written word shines through the pages, which acts as a real representation of how much work he has put into his recovery and into his love of poetry. He had to practically learn everything over again at age nine, reading Anatomy really leaves you assessing your own drive and ambition in life, that’s for sure.

So do yourself a favor, and purchase Anatomy and experience the Liam Neeson of poetry.

But let me pitch you this: imagine, at age nine, falling head-first into a pile of rocks whilst skiing on Mt. Ruapehu, resulting in a horrific brain injury. Months in a coma and years of recovery, which include learning to walk, read, speak and recover nine years’ worth of life experience. That was the real-life situation Anatomy author, Jamie Trower, found himself in. Now, there are many things *Whoops! Our bad. In issue 15 we gave the wrong address for Rosie! You can find this gem at 82 Gladstone Road, Parnell. We also gave credit to the wrong person because we we're messes. Our sub-editor, Amelia Petrovich deserves the credit for the review

31

AD

RAW PEANUT BUTTER BROWNIE BLISS BALLS These bliss balls are naturally sweetened by the dates and are packed with nutritious almonds, so they make for a great mid-afternoon pick me up. And of course, they are far better for you than an actual Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie! Recipe by PlayBakeSmile.

Preparation time: 40m + cooling time Makes 12-14 balls

Place the dates, cacao powder and peanut butter into a food processor.

•

¾ cup raw almonds

Blend until the mixture resembles a paste.

•

1 tbs cacao powder (you could also use cocoa powder)

•

12 pitted dates

•

2 tbs peanut butter

•

1-2 tbs agave syrup (honey or rice malt syrup could also be used) *If using fresh medjool dates you will probably find that you will only need a tiny amount of agave syrup - or none at all!

Add the almonds and pulse until desired chunkiness is achieved (don't leave it too long or it will turn into a liquidy mess!)

If your mixture is too dry, add 1tbs of agave syrup and pulse to mix through. If it is still too dry add another tablespoon and pulse again. (The mixture should be a little sticky and roll easily into balls) Use a spoon to roll the mixture into tablespoon sized balls.

For best results store in an airtight container in the fridge and eat within a week.

Check out more of PlayBakeSmile's recipes at www.bakeplaysmile.com 33

S

PUZ ZLE

AW E S O M E R O B O T S

KITT

Bishop

Megatron

Clank

Rosiethemaid

Megaman

Walle

Theirongiant

Bender

Optimusprime

Marvintheparanoidandroid

Astroboy

Robocop

Gerty

Mojormotokokusanagi

Data

Doraemon

Circle all the words in the wordfind, tear this page out & pop it into the box on the side of the red debate stands, and you could win this motherflippin’ sweet prize:

Name:

Email:

Roomba Theterminator Sojourner TWO free Burger King cheeseburger vouchers [222 Queen Street] Yipee!

Anywhere Anytime

library.aut.ac.nz

35

AD