It's Tea Time!

the most unqualified and unorganised tea sipper and spiller in the universe. don't take me too seriously.

[spillthedigitea]

The Tea tastes better in China

The Great Firewall of China. An extremely fascinating conversation. One on hand, Westerners assume that our media, especially the social media’s of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, are the ultimate, monopolised industries in the world, without considering the 1.3 billion people who literally can’t access it in the first place. 

The Chinese Government’s allow their citizens to have social media accounts, however, these are on completely new and different platforms that are potentially able to compete with the likes of Facebook. China is the second-largest economy in the world, behind the USA (2015) so there is bound to have a rapid rate of technological developments and a movement towards a new media. Chinese citizens do not have access to our “normal” social media or even websites like Wikipedia. The Government has built a giant firewall against their people. But is it really affecting them? 

I was employed for a couple of months at a sports centre that was recently bought by a Chinese couple. I was informed and educated about how to use the platform “WeChat”, which is China’s “WhatsApp”. It was 100% written in Mandarin, and my bosses worked really hard to build their advertisements up on the application. That meant that I needed to learn how to navigate through, not only an application that I didn’t know existed, but one that was entirely in a language that I was unfamiliar with. 

I made the assumption “But this is Australia, and I, a social-media student, have never even heard of WeChat. This won’t work, we should try Facebook.” But much to my surprise, and a surprise it was, we had 300% more traffic in the first week of using WeChat in comparison to Facebook! Everyone had a unique code that they shared with us and 428/500 new guests that week was from WeChat. I was amazed! 

China has not disadvantaged their citizens at all with limiting their social media, in fact, these new platforms can soon become the dominant platforms. Such a new concept developing as we speak! Let us look forward to the future! 

And that’s the tea. 

Tea of the week: Oolong. S-oolong, reader. I’ve had a wonderful time creating this blog.

[spillthedigitea]

Gaming Communiteas

Play, something all of us participate in from time-to-time. Play gives us an opportunity to use our imaginations, enter a dystopian reality, unlike our day-to-day lives. Games provide people with an escape from their reality. Games come in many different styles and formats including console, mobile, and even real-life sports, however, I will be discussing the communities and the social aspect of the gaming culture. 

‘Playing a game and belonging to a community are two very important factors in someone’s life. If people fall in love with something, such as Mario Kart, they can go online and find communities where there are weekly races against other community members all through their online servers. This can occur in many games! People make friends and meet new people through the video-game chat or talking about their games to an individual. I’ve certainly met a lot more people in the “Sims Elite” group on Facebook where we all share our Sims experiences, it’s really cool! 

Another community in the gaming industry is for sports teams. Joining a community of other people your age that have the same passion for something – meeting up every week for training and competing (either socially or really competitively. Socially is much more fun) and making new friends along the way! Digitally, gaming unites people in ways that the internet has never been able to before. The beauty of meeting someone through a video game is the anonymity that can come alongside the game. 

While playing a role-play style game, where you are transformed into a character or an avatar of yourself, you become the person you ideally want to be based around the game and the conditions surrounding you. For example: in Fortnite, you might want to come across as this bad-ass 360-no-scope daredevil where in reality you’re just sick of taking the train to work every day; or in Animal Crossing, where you work hard as a mayor in your town to make it the most incredible town you can design, while investing your life-savings into Tom Nook to build the perfect house (and by life-savings I mean Bells (in-game currency), not real money. 

I am so extremely fascinated about video game culture, and game culture in general, and how people use it like you do a movie or book – however, have that interaction in the middle where for once, you are still yourself, but you have developed that character into hours of dedicated hard work that gives you that escape from reality for a couple of hours, or days….or weeks. 

Now, I have a lot of Nintendo Switch games sitting there collecting dust, I think it’s playtime! 

And that’s the tea. 

Tea of the Week: T2′s Sticky Honey Chai. Enough Said. 

[spillthedigitea]

Public Health-ea Campaigns

Get it, healthea? Like, healthy? Yeah?... Yeah, I admit that was a stretch. 

I feel like I’m saying every week that social media is powerful, and I’m going to reiterate again. This time, I’m going to be discussing in regards to publicising health campaigns and creating a new space for communities to unite with similar health experiences. 

I will be talking about the ALS #IceBucketChallenge and also with my own experience with online communities that I connected with to help my clinical depression. Please take this as a warning just in case.

The ALS #IceBucketChallenge struck the world by storm in 2014. Participants in the challenge had to dump a bucket of ice and water over their head as a way to mimic the pain and intense suffering people diagnosed with ALS experience. The challenge was to do it or donate. 

It gained mainstream popularity in June 2014 in the United States when the Golf Channel (finally something exciting about golf #sorrynotsorry) televised it, and it became a challenge set for celebrities and the general public alike. It was funny to watch reactions, you could watch them all day long. Justin Timberlake, members of One Direction, even former President George W. Bush participated. Those who declined to complete the challenge would hopefully donate to the cause instead, as their way of forfeiting. Barack Obama is an example of this, contributing $100 instant of participating. 

With the influence of celebrities, people in publics and communities started participating in the challenge themselves, including myself and my dance crew. We also donated $50 to the cause! The pressures of being on social media and the low barriers of entry contributed to the success of the campaign, which lead to more than 2.4 million tagged videos being published to Facebook alone. People now gained knowledge about ALS, and it’s now easier than ever to donate! 

Another side of using social media for health, online communities and pages uniting people with similar problems, diagnoses have been extremely helpful for many people to make friends, learn more about a topic and feel a sense of belonging to a community. 

I, unfortunately, had to leave a community on Facebook I was a member in for my clinical depression. For me, I used the community to seek help and find new information when I needed it, and it would be extremely helpful. It helped me find a strength in myself that really inspired me to keep going, and to not let the mental affect the physical, if you know what I mean. These lows would cause me to isolate myself and cover myself with a mask if I was going to see my friends or family, however, this mask didn’t need to exist online, so I was confident that this group would always help me. Until it didn’t. Some members on the group began invalidating other’s by posting pictures of themselves, their harm, while graphically explaining how they have it worse. The group became toxic and was no longer my safe space. I removed myself from the group to avoid receiving any more messages. 

But just because one of my experiences is a bad one, doesn’t mean that it is negative for anybody else or for the other communities I am proud to be a part of! 

Stay health-ea, kids! 

And that’s the tea. 

Tea of the week: Coconut Tea! Makes you feel like you’re a part of a tropical dream.

[spillthedigitea]

Crowd-spilling (sourcing)

This one was a little bit harder to integrate a “tea-spilling” pun into the topic, although I think I did a pretty good job! 

The power of the internet is extraordinary. Being free to make and share content, opinions, and choose what content you consume is a wonderful concept. 

People join communities, networks, and publics that support their loves, interests, and opinions online, and source and share information that is important to them. 

In the heart of a tragedy, people unite for comfort, support, and compassion. During a natural disaster, for example, the Woolsey Fires in Southern California in 2018, social media was the most powerful tool and form of communication with not only the communities suffering but also to the publics watching through the screen.

Crowdsourcing content has revolutionised since the rise of New Media, including Facebook and Twitter. Amateur, witness generated content was never validated as a reputable and legitimate source to the News media, however, this content can be shared online at such a rapid rate it has become legitimised. Victims sharing their images, videos, and stories on their experiences with evacuation, losing their homes and travelling through the wildfire made a lot more information accessible and much easier to navigate through to make sense of the situation. This works for any situation. Crowd-sourcing content through social media can be used to make sense of a situation. 

Also, the concept of social-mapping has become more prominent recently through technological developments. Social mapping provides a platform where people are able to identify where content has been recorded and published. This has become a valuable tool to see the level of severity and track the location of the tragedy without needing to be in the location. 

Aside from crowd-sourcing, the idea of crowd-funding has become a lot more accessible and simple through the use of social media and other online platforms. It has become really easy to set up a petition with donations or to arrange a fundraiser to raise money for any cause. These links can be shared on social media and people can donate their time, money or goods (depending on the fundraiser) with a few clicks of a button. Needless to say, crowd-sourcing is an incredible concept with social media being the most efficient tool to make this successful. 

And that’s the tea. 

Tea of the week: Balinese Lemon Tea. I’ve just been to Bali so get ready for a few weeks of radical teas.

[spillthedigitea]

T(ea)rolling

(gif originally posted by demiholbrook-blog-blog)

This post is about Social Media misuse and T(EA)rolling. Yes, I will be inserting lame shittea puns in my posts. *pauses for laughter* ...nothing? Okay.

Trolls. No, not the ones that live underneath bridges waiting for an innocent pedestrian to exploit. Similar though! They just unfortunately also have an internet connection.

I’ve had my fair share of experiences with online trolls, even people who were my friends turned into different people once they were online. Facebook was a sucker for it back in the day (I say as my twenty-year-old self sips a coffee and complains about my poor posture) with the whole “like for a like and rating” phase that most adolescents went through at some stage in their lives.

My favourite post about me was from one of my best friends, Ash. After coming home from primary school one Friday (Grade 6 y’all we were 12), she posted “Like if you think [my name] is fat and ugly.” That’s it. That’s all she posted. My so-called best friend turns to Facebook to post something degrading and hateful. Then the typical shit happened, parents got involved, school got involved, we learned about cyber-bullying etc etc. 

This isn’t a sob story, nor am I asking for sympathy. Heck, we were 12. That was almost 9 years ago. But the post, the betrayal, and amount of likes it received really put it into the perspective of how dangerous putting yourself out there on social media can be.

Government’s want to have laws and regulations on how people use social media, even with the concept of being a ‘digital citizen’ however it is virtually impossible to restrain a...fish, that's deep in the dark ocean that can’t be seen or caught. Yeah, that's a good metaphor!

Facebook is one thing. Most people actually use Facebook with their real name and images of themselves on their profile, keeping safe in their social bubble of friends and family who, unlike 12-year-olds, are kind and supportive. However, once you post something publicly, even a comment underneath a post, you become stripped of any protection you once had and become the subject to one’s entertainment.

The beauty of Facebook is that (most, not all) accounts generally are real. Real names, real faces, real people. It’s suddenly when Harry Styles becomes digiteaspiller1 (I like to think he’s a fan) where the power to troll and cause conflict becomes oh-so more real. You suddenly don’t have a name or a face. No one knows it's you, it’s anonymous. The likes of Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, people can hide behind different walls and personas and trolling and tear into people for attention or gauge a reaction from the victim. 

It suddenly becomes too real, people get bullied everywhere they go. They choose that not living is better than being constantly harassed and abused online and off, and that’s the harsh reality of it all.

Government’s can try and regulate all they want, but there will always be gaps where they just can’t find the people causing all of the trolling and conflict. This is a dark form of trolling, cyberbullying, which can lead to police investigations if serious enough.

I think the next stage in moderation is education. People need to be informed and aware of social media trolling and how to report, block, and appropriately handle the situation. Teaching children at a young age nowadays is vital for their safety and security when their entire worlds will be on devices. If we all learn to be citizens online like we are offline, we will hopefully create an improved cyber-society where those pesky trolls feel outnumbered, to the point where it no longer provides entertainment to them.

Trolling can also be identified in meme culture, which is all the rage nowadays. Trolling doesn’t always mean a serious, sad, or angry reaction, but it can also just be a little annoying meme that everyone shares and has a giggle over.

In saying that: I would have never been able to complete this post if it wasn’t for this reference linked below. Not only is it the most engaging, thoughtful, and overall incredible source I have ever read, but the most informative, inspirational piece ever to exist in the world.

http://bit.do/superimportantreference

And that’s the tea.

Tea of the Week: Chamomile. I need sleep.

[spillthedigitea]

Culture Jam on a scone with a cup of tea

Sorry, the opportunity was there. After all, I’m all about tea spilling. 

Culture jamming is an act of, well, activism. It’s an extremely visual and artistic form of protests against big name brands, especially in the Western world. 

It uses irony and satire to recreate a brand’s advertisement to be more, realistic. For example, changing McDonald’s to McDiabetes or changing Facebook to Fakebook. I understand that these artists are protesting against big name brands for sh*t that they cause or have a detrimental effect with, but the reality is that these types of movement are just not big enough for people to care. 

Yeah, it’s funny to scroll through culture jamming content and ‘join the movement’, but these brands are big huge multi-million dollar companies. They don’t care that some indie artist is calling their food unhealthy or stating their products are made in sweatshops or through child labour. I’m literally wearing Nikes as we speak. The idea that these people want to passively fight with me based off a decision I made doesn’t come to mind when I tap my debit card at the EFTPOS machine. I will still eat McDonald’s, I will still drink vodka, I will still use my apple product. The choices I have made, the brands that I support, the food that I consume, that’s me. 

Yes, advertising influence is there. Companies keep secrets, but nowadays the idea of ‘boycotting’ businesses are so farfetched because these businesses and brands are that damn powerful that a little protest can be swept under the rug. Does me wearing Nikes mean that I am a bad person that supports child labour? Of course not. I looked up ‘Nike child labour’ on Google and these articles were from 1970-2000. Much like social influencers, such as Jeffree Star and his racism scandal, the media holds on to people’s and business’ pasts as if no one can ever grow or develop into something greater or better. People change, businesses innovate to fix the problem. 

Contrastingly, the world we live in today is so commercialised that it was fascinating to see a break in that. But it’s just like when people make fun of ‘hipsters’ for being ‘different’, ‘unique’ and ‘not following the mainstream’. Have these people eaten at McDonald’s before? Drank a Coca-Cola or Pepsi branded beverage? Constantly worn sustainable and eco-friendly clothing? These so-called ‘sins’ are inescapable. No matter what, people will continue to purchase from these companies and feed the economy and market. After all, it’s these businesses that keep the world spinning, are they not? 

Banks can crash. Capitalism is flawed. This isn’t new information, however as a human society, or at least, me as a human, I’m less worried about the chance of consumerism and branding becoming pointless and useless and more worried about my own life, and how I live it. I strive for happiness, and sometimes that happiness comes in the form of 24 McNuggets. It’s selfish, but aren’t we all?

 Live your life. Don’t care what others think. You want to wear those shoes? You want to save up for that handbag? Do it. Culture jamming will always be there and yes, it can be graphic and change your perspective, and that’s okay! You do you. Fight the power, or just, wear that shirt. 

And that’s the tea. 

Tea of the week: Twining’s English Breakfast. 

(Now I’m gonna go and bake some scones. Peace.)

[spillthedigitea]

Politea vs Social Media

Politics. What a deep, dark word. The idea that gives communities the opportunity to divide towards different views, opinions, and, ultimately,  political parties. Politics plays a vital role in the world’s varying cultures, values, and ethics. Without politics, the world would stop spinning! Ah! We wouldn’t have the likes of Trump or Pauline Hanson have any control over any communities, what would that feel like?

The younger generations know politics through the beautiful art of meme culture. Tony Abbott eating an onion, Pauline Hanson whipping off the Burka in the House of Representatives, and most recently, the extraordinary eggboi vs Fraser Anning. 

The power of social media influencing politics, in my opinion, can be extremely strong when the politician’s use it effectively. Unfortunately, many of them don’t. I seem to find more politician’s sharing content that involves serious digs at the opposite party, which yes, does work, but then I have to ask “But what is your party doing different? Tax? New potential laws? What about your views?” And I honestly don’t care enough to do some core research until the morning of the day I vote. As always, I leave everything to the last minute.

One politician that I really would love to see in parliament is Darren Lyons. He is an independent from Geelong who was kicked out of the mayorship position with the rest of our “dysfunctional” council. After “allegations” of misconduct that were never proven true. The saddest part of it all, Darren Lyons was excellent for Geelong. The guy that originally everyone assumed was a massive joke due to his fame and social media presence was elected and he really worked hard on making Geelong a better place. You know that giant Christmas tree that floats in the bay and costs approximately $1 million dollars over five years? That tree alone has brought in some serious profit through our tourism industry. He was making our Mall (where people feel is really dangerous due to drugs and violence), a safe and happy place with food vans, music, and police surveillance. When he was kicked out, he said he would be back, so he tried to come back during the state elections as an Independent for Geelong. 

Everyone I knew was going to vote for him, Geelong has gone seriously downhill. And why am I telling you this backstory? His social media campaigns were absolutely incredible. He had a bright pink van he would travel in that became a Geelong icon during the campaigning. His brand was hot pink all over social media, especially Facebook. Instead of posting fake news and statistics, he posted videos of him talking to the camera about issues that Geelong people suffered from in that moment. Massive Vline train delays (as always)? Within hours posted a video with an action he would do if he was elected. Someone slashed his van’s tyres in front of his home, and he posted a video about feeling safe and secure in Geelong and HOW he was going to do that. In my opinion, that is the most effective way to post any political content. 

Politician’s on social media shouldn’t be worrying about posting disses and digs, instead see the problem and tell the public HOW they’re going to fix it. 

And that’s the tea.

Tea of the Week: T2′s Caramel Brownie

[spillthedigitea]

But what is T(ea)umblr though?

Tumblr is a fascinating platform that I never really touched on until now. My friends had Tumblr accounts in high school, but they made it out like their Tumblr account was a dirty little secret that no one should know about. 

They were anonymous, they disguised their usernames with their themes or niches that people that knew they would have the ability to find even if they tried. In other words, Facebook was the personal commitment for friends, family, and colleagues, and then Tumblr was the mask to satisfy the desire to proudly obsess over Harry Styles or smutty Twilight fanfiction.

But, what is Tumblr? According to the good, old, trustworthy Wikipedia, Tumblr is described as “a microblogging and social networking website”. It provides a platform for users to manage their own blogs, and communicate with others. Is it a blog or a social networking site? I mean, why can’t it be both? Why can’t it be a platform where you can create the most aesthetically pleasing blog and then communicate and socialise with others with similar interests and posts. 

I’m going to backtrack again back to high school because I never thought I was cool enough to create my own blog - the girls in my school made internet friends especially through Tumblr. They found that it was a supportive platform and because they posted so secretly like it was almost a shameful thing to do as a 15-year-old, they really appreciated when there were likeminded people sliding into their DM’s loving the content that was being produced.

Okay, I lied, I had a Tumblr blog. In fact, it’s still active! I picked a swaggy picture of me wearing reflective sunglasses and posing as my profile picture. The reason why I made it? I was procrastinating in high school and wanted to be part of the “Tumblr girl” aesthetic that was so dreamy back in 2013. Within 5 minutes of my blog being active, I was followed by two pornographic blogs and as I hit my home button, I was exposed to images that my virgin eyes were not ready for! I never logged back into it again, scared that the school would report me for the NSFW content that was apparently what I wanted to see. 

Tumblr. Such a beautiful nightmare. Creating a blog that you’re so proud of, and then using the platform to meet new, like-minded people. It’s a happy place for many people. So is it a blog or a social networking site? Yes. 

And that’s the tea. 

Tea of the week: T2’s Pumping Pomegranate