Category Archives: ENG 1101

Apps help but not really.

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My thoughts about these happiness apps are a little diverse. In one side I think they are might be good to collect data such as a person’s location where they live, their gender, ethnicity etc. and see how that affects their wellbeing. Meaning, if they have economic stability, enough resources provided by the government and so on. However, I also think that the apps are not enough for a person to reach happiness. Yes, it gives some tips of what can be done to feel better at the moment. Although, it doesn’t give you exact processes that would help you solve the problems that may be affecting your happiness. Here are some thoughts about some of the apps:

“Track your happiness” is the app that makes you take a survey at the beginning asking you about general information about yourself, like gender, ethnicity, age etc. then this app sends you surveys to your email where at the beginning of the day, the middle and at night. In each of these surveys there are about 15 questions that ask you what you are doing, how do you feel, etc. At the end of each survey this app collects the data and graphs it in correlation with your happiness and activities accordingly. I think this app is not so helpful to improve a person’s happiness but more like to collect information of how people’s happiness is affected by their environment and daily activities.

“Happy habits” is an app that you can download to your phone and this app contains a series of activities that you can do to increase your level of happiness at the moment. I first took the survey with 119 questions, which at the end gave me a detailed summary of what are my characteristics as a person and how i could improve in them to be happy. The summary about the characteristics measured them from low, average and high. The characteristics measured were: optimism, illness susceptibility, locus of control, compassion, trusting of others, affiliation, pleasantness, emotional stability, conscientiousness, assertiveness, self-confidence, gratefulness, approval seeking, and playfulness. Mines ended up being sort of accurate I would say, and the advice that they give is realistic. Asides from the test this app contains information that educates people about cognitive psychology, which is the approach the application takes. Moreover, they have meditation techniques and activities that are in fact relaxing and help improve happiness. I have tried meditation before and I can say that after it I would always end up relaxed and feeling fresh in mind and body.

Emotion sense app claimed that they were going to collect data from my phone including my location, texts, calls and more. When I read this, I immediately went back and did not agree to the terms and conditions. I already don’t trust facebook and some other websites that have my private information. I obviously wouldn’t like another app to get this private information from me. I would feel very uncomfortable with someone reading my messages or spying on my calls. Not that I have anything bad or embarrassing to hide but I just like the fact that I can keep some things to myself.

My Happy Place: Central Park

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Out of the many places I have visited in New York my favorite place that brings me happiness is Central Park. Central Park is a calm place full of nature located right in the center of the chaotic city of Manhattan. I have lived in New York for about 15 years and I still have not visited all of central park because it is huge. My goal is to someday finally say that I have been all around central park.

In my opinion Central Park is one of the most beautiful places in New York City. It is gorgeous year around, it is always perfect to go to central park. In the summer anyone could go take a walk, ride bikes, roller blade, claim rocks or even just sit down on top of the huge rocks overlooking at the skyscrapers enjoying a picnic. In the fall the leaves start to change colors and start to fall down. Taking a walk down the park hearing the crunching noise of the leaves on the ground while looking over the trees made up of all the different shades of red. In the in the winter the tress get covered with snow. It seems as if you were walking down a winter wonderland. I love watching people playing with the snow such as snow ball fighting, making snowmen, or making snow angles. In the spring flowers start to bloom and trees come back to life. Central park started to bloom back to life with delicate pastel colors such as lavender, pinks, yellows, and greens. It doesn’t matter what season of the year it is I will always love to visit Central Park because of the beautiful view of nature and the tranquility it transmits to me.

Not only does it look beautiful but it also has a lot of sentimental values. Ever since I could remember my parents used to take me and my siblings to Central Park on their days off. My siblings and I used to run around playing tag in the play grounds, racing up the rocks, committing on who learned how to ride a bike faster. I also remember going to the zoo and feeding the animals. After a long week of parents working we took a day off to go relax and spend time together sitting in the grass with snacks enjoying the beautiful weather. Once we got a dog we used to go take him for walks and try to teach him how to play fetch but he never learned.

As time passed we all grew up and stopped going to Central Park as frequently as we used to. Still to this day I love going to Central Park on my free time because it brings back childhood memories. I also love going to just take a break from all the chaos in my life and just sit down and enjoy nature. In the winter I also go to the ice skating rank with friends. Central Park is a place that makes me happy because there is endless things to do. It is also a place that has a lot of sentimental value.

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hAPPiness Tracking and Promoting

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In Flow and GPS 4 The Soul are some interesting apps that has the same purposes. It’s purpose to track happiness and promote it. How does it work(?), one might ask. Does it work(?) or is it all a scam for your money(?) At first I was wasn’t really surprise about all these tracking and promoting happiness apps. There are millions of apps being developed right now as I am writing this blog.  I was however, annoyed when I first downloaded the apps. It’s basically ask me what I am doing and How I am feeling doing it. This is what most of the apps asked me to do. However I came across Happify. It is unlike the other apps. It better and much fun then just asking me questions.

In happily, It looks more developed and more efficient due to it having activities for us to do. One of the game, have us clicking on hot air balloons with positive words to make them go up and if we clicked a negative word, the balloon would go down. It’s quite a learning tool too. I played the game and as the level goes up, the words became outside my vocabulary. I learnt a feel positive words and also some negative words. Happify is free for it user, however for full access, a 15 dollars fee each month is required.

This tracking and promoting happiness reminds me about the first article we read for this class. I remember myself disagree with the fact that the government is trying to track people happiness , but agree that they trying to promote happiness however by picking sides. Since these apps are self-help apps that a user are willing to download it, I am fine with them tracking ones happiness.

 

 

Happiness App?!

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In today’s world, people have managed to create websites and apps about promoting happiness. Technology is improving so much that it started making apps which can tell a person what he’s doing wrong in his daily life. The sites and apps created clarify the right path to happiness which have a lot of great points about how to reach happiness.

To my experience, I believe that the app Happify is the most accurate to pursue happiness. I’m not the only one that says it, websites and articles say the same about this app. For example, The New York Times article, “Positive Thinking, With a Little Help From Your Phone”, which  quoted, “Happify is perhaps the most sophisticated positive vibes app available now. The idea of this free iOS app is to train you into thinking positively and feeling happy by engaging you in various “tracks” with different goals like improving your confidence or seeing new possibilities”. Through all the apps for happiness I went through, I thought that the “Happify” app was the one that actually could really help with a person’s journey to happiness. It does several things that the other apps about happiness don’t actually do. Even though I’ve used it for only three days, I’ve meditated, which I really enjoy, and I’ve played games which I also enjoy.

This app starts by asking you questions about your life and from there it puts you on a basic track. Each track includes quizzes, games and activities that guide you to seeing more positive aspects of your daily life. The app also makes you see your happiness level to help you make better choices in your daily life to become happy. I also has a page with comments and photos of other people to encourage you in your life and you can do the same.

I find it fascinating how these apps are actually able to help others and monitors their happiness. I think it is a helpful and very successful way to help people and their well-being. Although these happiness apps have great aspects, I believe that people will not be able to reach happiness only through technology. I think that the journey to happiness could only be reached if the person himself puts some efforts into finding a better, positive, and healthy way to reach happiness. Technology can help in some ways but however cannot actually make a person completely happy.

Many of the apps about happiness don’t actually help a person in their journey to happiness but they are more like computers checking for a data to manage. Also, these apps, unlike humans, don’t know about the well being of a person. Therefore, a person shouldn’t actually rely on a app to make them happy but something “real” like themselves.

My Happy Place!

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New York has a lot of wonders and even though I travel a lot, to some extend, this city has beautiful aspects. I’ve explored New York City a lot, and some places have really stood out to me. However if i was to choose one, it will be 14 ST – Union Square. Not only that specific spot but also the surroundings of it. I love diversity and Union Square is a place in which a lot of diversity can be found.

In most places I’ve visited, New York City has been the only one with so much diversity, and it is best shown in Union Square. Whenever I need to calm down or have a laugh, or just walk around, Union Square is where I find myself. Not only is it beautiful, but it is surrounded by things to explore. It is a place where a person can shop, go to restaurants for a new taste, explore beautiful parks, see different kind people, and learn about different cultures.

In Union Square, I’ve actually seen many things. It is my favorite place in New York City because it is the only place in the whole city where I don’t actually feel like a stranger. Its a place where I could hang out with my friends and have a blast. its a place where i see great fashion. It’s my favorite place to shop in. Its a place where I could read, take my mind off of unhealthy things and just be me.

I also love the history of it. I find it amazing that it used to be a burial ground just like most parks in New York City, but it still fascinating. It also has statues of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Mohandas Gandhi, and Marquis de Lafayette to show respect and I’m a person who loves their history.

Most of all, I love this square because it is just beautiful, the first place I visited when I arrived in the U.S. on 2009, and where I made a lot of memories.

Serinity & Peace

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ThePodHotel

When asked what is you happiest place in NYC? When I am feeling stressed or down and want to be alone my happiest place is a place called the pod on 51 street. The pod is my happiest place because it may seem odd, but it’s a hotel that I go to and not to get a room, but they have a roof top where anyone is allowed to go to and I go there almost every other weekend especially in the summer time because it’s a place where you can sit, think, relax and chill with anyone. I considered it my happy place because it’s where I go when I am cruising on my skateboard and I go up to the roof listen to my music and think about my life in general. I sometimes even do my homework there because they have free wi-fi and it’s a place for me to sit down and be alone with no worries.

When I get to 51 street any feeling that I was feeling before automatically goes away because that’s a place where I am at ease and all my worries goes away. Not only do I love going to the pod, but someone who is special to me or important to me they get the privilege to go to the pod because I want to be memorable to people and I want to give them things to remember. The reason why I want to give them something to remember because someone who I told about the pod and they go there they can hit me up or walk past the pod one day and can say “nay I was by the pod and it made me think of you “which makes me feel good because no matter what they will always remember me.

Also the coolest thing about the pod it remind me of titanic because the way it is set up its small, but the rooms are so cool and huge and titanic is one of my favorite movies, therefore going there reminds me of it and they have so many pictures in the hallways which reminds me of being in an art museum, it makes me feel good and happy because it’s what I dream of having my own place looking like. Also it’s where all my thoughts come into one and I write everything down so I won’t forget.

Lastly the reason why I go to the pod and some may think “you go to a hotel to chill on a roof “it may seem weird to some, but the reason is because it’s a place not everyone will go and say that’s their favorite place. I go there so much the door man know my name and give me free snacks and sometimes I have the option to sit get a room for a couple of hours because my dad brother friend is the manager there, and I have the ability to actually get the chance to be on my own for once and have time for myself.

My Happy Place.

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When I walk into this place my problems seem to disappear. I become happy and ready to explore. The place that makes me feel this way is Forever 21, specifically the one in Times Square. I love this specific Forever 21 out of all the other ones the most is because it has four floors. Other stores have one or two floors but this one has FOUR. The main reason this place brings me joy because since getting a job I am able to buy things on my own, I no longer need to ask anymore. This play always gave me joy because now knowing that I am able to buy what I want, makes this place my favorite place. I loved the store before my job, but going to a store without money is torture. Having to look at all the beauty and knowing you can’t buy it hurts. So now when I come here I have the option of buying something if I want to.

So the first floor is the kind of preppy clothing. I’ve noticed every time I go with someone they never want to look in the first floor, I’ve never understood that. I think it’s best to look on every floor, you’ll never what you might find despite which floor. I like to give every floor a chance. The thing about this store, it get’s better with each floor. So the second floor is split up in different sections based on the types of clothes. There’s the pajamas and comfortable clothing, the bags, the working clothes, the lingerie, jewelry and then one section for everyday wear. I love the fact that they do this because it’s allowing so much just on one floor and there’s so much different stuff to look at.

The third floor is also divided into section based on clothes. There’s the clothes for guys, the kids, jeans, plus size, and night out clothing. One would be surprised, there are some nice stuff in the boys section if you actually look. I really like just looking in the boys section because there stuff is more comfortable. I like to feel comfortable in my clothing and nowadays everything for girls is cut short, which I hate. Even sweaters, something meant to keep us warm is cut. I really hope that trend stops because it’s not cute, not even in the summer. I love the fact that there is a plus size section, I love getting my jeans from there because sometimes the regular jeans don’t fit me. This is the only Forever 21 I’ve been to with a plus size section. It’s good because not everyone fits the regular clothing and it’s good to have one there.

Finally the last floor, where I usually always find what I’m looking for or just find the best stuff. The last floor is more urban and cool. There’s also gym clothes and more bags and shoes done there. Also the clothing that is on sale is down there as well and if you look hard enough you will find something you like in that big section.

So there it is, my favorite place. From the feeling of independence this place gives me to the four floors of heaven, this place will forever bring me happiness. I could be in the worst mood on my way to this place but once I step foot in here I am a happy person.

Astoria Park: my one special place.

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Although I haven’t been to many places, I love to always visit new ones, learn about them and get different experiences from each one. There are places that are not necessarily the best ones to be physically in but the emotions you experienced were wonderful and suddenly they become the favorite place you can think of. Other places you just fall in love with them because of their nice location or environment that make you feel a deep connection. For me, Astoria Park is definitely one of my favorite places in New York City and I think not only mine but to many others as well. According to the article “The Happiest and Saddest Places o New York City, According to Twitter” by Brian Merchant, the New England Complex Systems Institute reports that Astoria Park ranks between the top 10 happiest places of New York.

When I came to the United States 5 years ago I first lived in Ozone Park, Queens. I lived there for a year and then moved to Astoria when I was going into high school. I moved just a block away from the park, and I remember when I saw it for the first time in the summer. I was standing right in front of it, looking side to side, up and down. I visualized the big green trees and the blooming flowers around it. I thought to myself “This will be the place to be myself”. So, it became like that.

I have experienced so many things in this park that I don’t even know where to start from. In the summer it becomes the most magical place to be in every day. I go there to read, think, exercise, or just lie on the grass and stare at the blue sky thinking about nothing. I remember myself going in the spring to do homework or projects. There was also a period of time where I used to run in the track field every night, or go to practice in the day with my school’s soccer club.

Moreover, I used to go there occasionally with my family and friends to just spend an afternoon having a picnic and chatting about our lives. Not to forget that I also appreciate the fact that there are always events going on in the park when its summer. I can go watch movies for free on a big screen and lie on the grass and have a relaxed time. Or listen to bands performing in this opened space. There is also a public pool in the park, although I never go its good for my brother because he loves it. Another great thing about it is that there is always a fair in the summer where you can ride some big games and eat sweets until your stomach hurts. In fall and winter I mostly go to walk out some sorrows I may have and just sit on the pavement next to the river observing how it flows. Whether I am happy, stressed, or sad it’s always the one place that I can go to.

Here is a picture of it at day and night! By the way, I took  my profile picture in the park as well.

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10736106_1509501702637665_129479855_n (different place in the park)

 

Finding happiness through apps

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When hearing about apps for being happy I wasn’t quite sure what to expect honestly. After browsing the websites, I thought they just might provide information on happiness and doing things to make you feel more content but I didn’t really know what else I’d find. They generally took survey’s and asked questions that had to do with your emotional state and what you were doing or where you were. Which I thought was kind of weird because I didn’t think it mattered what I was doing or where I was, I thought the questions would be more about emotional things or personal things. Come to find out that they tell you how you feel when participating in certain activities.

Not only do you check in with these apps but these apps also check up on you! Besides the fact you can update it when you want or add any current emotions or locations etc but they can also ask you throughout the day if you’re okay and to check in when you want to. Which is useful when you think about it. Also on one of the apps you can choose whether to keep your profile private or public and basically if it’s private it’s obviously for your eyes only BUT if it is public other users can comment on what you write and give you advise or feedback. I found this helpful for the simple fact that some people wan’t help and don’t know who to reach out to. Although it would be strangers it is still encouragement, support and helpful advise. When dealing with online places such as these, people feel more open to say what is bothering them and how they’re feeling because it’s not like they know who exactly it is or would have to see them everyday. It’s like a comfort zone I would say for those who would share their thoughts openly on the web. That is if someone was to choose to put it public. For those who would prefer to keep their business private can rightfully do so and reach their happiness goal on their own. Which is okay as well. Everyone is different and uses different strategies which this app is open to doing. On one of the other apps you can also choose facial expressions to show your current feeling. They let you choose the eyes and mouth which can give you different outcomes and you update it through out the day and it shows you on a graph how your moods have changed and whether it’s getting happier or sadder. Another app actually had a picture of Sonja Lyubirmsky which I found interesting since we read a article by her. After trying out these apps I actually found them useful for those who would want to see how their emotional state is and whether it changes because of their surroundings and what they are doing. After discovering what activities it is that actually brings their mood up they can do more of those things and do less of what doesn’t make them happy.

My happy place

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My happy place can be a numerous of places. it can even be the bathroom, while I’m away from my noisy children. a place of comfort, solidarity, peace and quiet or it can be a loud extremely busy place. I guess it really depends on me and what Im feeling at that exact moment. but throughout my 26 years here in New York City, I must say that there is this one place that calms my storms. a place where peace resides and tranquility prevails… and that place would be right under the Brooklyn bridge,on the rocks by the water. 1744 I know that I’m not in the picture but this is the place and symbol of how happy I am when I am there through my children. My happy place with my favorite people. The water can be so calming to my spirit. like music when it beats against the rocks. its as if I’m in communication with mother nature. she sometimes tell me that my waves aren’t as bad as the ones she causes. and then the wind began to roar and the water begins to move. and me,I’m silent and still. she makes me listen. and I leave her with contentment in my soul that I can weather my storms.

 

I really enjoyed the article ” The Happiest and Saddest places in NYC”. it was both informative and accurate. “Land of Extremes” is what NYC was called. That blew my mind. No words could have fit my home town any better. who would think that the “wealthiest execs and the poorest of immigrants” can come from the same jungle. its a harsh reality that we live with everyday. the wealthy walk past the homeless, while they’re seated in front of their lavish apartments begging for money and or food. its the world that we live in today. the people who die from starvation never had the money to eat but the wealthy had the money for treats. there’s a huge contrast between some of the people who reside here. but none the less, we make the best out of it all.I think its great that they’re using the research as a “suggestion box” so that they know where the issues are that should be addressed. but what about the people who don’t use twitter, or who cant even afford to use a tool for social media!? where is their happiness/saddness recorded!?