The QuaranTEENS

Last week I started to really keep my phone away, like I never did since I got my first phone. It was hard the first couple of days, in a way, but then it got pretty easy. Of course I couldn’t keep every digital technology away. I’m especially talking about my computer, but as I might have said earlier, I mostly use my laptop for homework, projects and stuff that don’t imply social medias, or games (I don’t really play videos games for that matter). Though it’s a little difficult sometimes (especially because there are some close friends that I would like to talk to or stuff that I sometimes need and can’t get on my laptop such as my iCloud mails or the iOS app called “Books”), it has already brought me some very positive “feedback”. As an example, I don’t spend half the morning on my phone in bed checking Instagram, Snapchat, etc. I also bought an alarm in order for me not to have to use my phone, and wake up fast. I also got used to getting to work more easily. What’s a little weird is that I used to be on my phone all the time and days would just fly by, and I would just ask myself how time could go by so fast just by spending it on a phone. It’s a good thing that I am doing this because now I know where to find the time I need to do things that matter.

I really think it’s a good thing if you want to try that. It really stimulates your brain and you really get to enjoy your free time. For example, even though I didn’t really try it yet, I do think that conscious thinking is the best way of spending your time.

Brahms.

This week I’ve been out every day. Day and night… I wanted to talk about something much more important than that.

I don’t know if you’ve been following what’s going on in the USA? I’m not going to hand over the video, but I think you’ve all heard the story of George Floyd… Since then, the Americans have rebelled, and that’s normal. Even in France with the story of Adama Traoré who died in 2016, demonstrations have been organized… Personally, I find that people react late, but really late. After it’s better late than never, but this problem is the same as in France, but not with the same violence. In the United States, the police are violent, but even more so with blacks, who risk their lives each time they are controlled. In France, it is violent, but especially with people of colour. Anyway, people are finally becoming aware because now it’s filmed. It seems to me that it was Will Smith who recently said this sentence: “racism hasn’t changed, it’s just being filmed now” and it’s totally true. Fortunately, this arrest of George Floyd was filmed because otherwise it would have been a case that would have been hushed up again by the authorities.

Besides, very very important point, in France a deputy (I think?) wants to pass a law to forbid the filming of police forces ?! Already that filming them is quite complicated in view of their aggressiveness (despite the fact that we have the right), why forbid it ?? Another stupid idea.

Getting back to the international scene, Anonymous has made a comeback (after a long time). If you don’t know who they are, you can find them on the internet (there’s a lot of information about them, especially at the moment) but basically, they’re a group of hackers – called top 100 hackers in the world – who act anonymously and fight for liberty of speech… and other many values… so they made their comeback by announcing a message related to police violence and the George Floyd affair. After other events such as the hacking of police radio to play the song “Fuck Tha Police”, or the revelation of compromising information from Minneapolis city police officers, but none of these acts were claimed…

Since Saturday the parks have opened again. From today we can go more than 100 km away and in outdoor cafés or restaurants. Thus, life resumes a more normal course and we can progressively return to earlier habits. Since Saturday I have met a lot of friends of mine on docks or in parks. We can see that most Parisians are not afraid by coronavirus anymore. They appreciate to be free again. It could mean that the health crisis is over. Moreover, in some countries sport competition is back as it is the case for football matches in England, Germany, and Spain (resumed on 11 June). F1 will resume on July 5th with the Austrian Grand Prix. Cycling may be able to resume in August. So we can see that the sports programs will resume.

As of today, a mobile application called Stop-covid is available. This application should help to reduce the transmission of the virus but raises the question of medical confidentiality. Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe invites citizens to use it to protect themselves and others. This application could avoid a second wave of this pandemic if people are convinced to use it.

Air bridges between England and certain countries should be established. The British government is reportedly considering introducing air bridges with certain countries to avoid quarantine for travelers entering the country. Those arriving from Greece, Australia and Portugal could thus benefit from it.

Last week there was the launch of the Space X rocket by Elon Musk. It was broadcast live and it was nice to watch. This event proves that from now on a private entity can go into space. It means that independent undertakings can compete with member states monopolies in the space race. It also opens the way to affordability of spatial travel. So maybe (soon?) we can take the rocket in the same way that we take a plane?

Since the beginning of the digital era, many people were scared of technology’s influence on our daily lives. Especially with the creation of more and more addictive smartphones. Of course, it’s not only the smartphones themselves that are being criticised, it’s also social media, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok, videos games and other addictive content easily accessible on the web. But is it really true? Well, many studies on that particular subject were published saying they are, and of course, I relate enormously to that problem. Let me tell you why:

I realised, maybe just in time, that I really spent to much time on my phone (and I’m just about certain that more than 40% of the people reading this can also relate to that “obsession”) and especially too much time on social media, seeking for new content, whether it be memes, math problems or physics facts for example. I also had to know how much time I spent on my phone per day, per month, over a year. And I realised that this was enough. I figured I spent approximately 2 days and a half per week on my phone. Over a year, that would mean living less than 261 days in a year instead of the usual 365. I know what you might be thinking “Yes, but you realise we have been confined for almost 2 months and can only get that data from the last month”, but this is just a sort of excuse that may make you feel like it’s worth it to spend that much time on a incredible, yet very addictive device. Last week, I spent a total of 61h on my phone, meaning approximately 8h42 per day, somedays reaching a total of 13h!

Now, it’s too soon to say whether I will considerably reduce my screen time, and if I’m going to keep that promise to myself, but for a few days, I’m trying to reduce it as much as I can. I went from almost 9 hours to 1h36 this Friday (that was my lowest), then Thursday, Saturday and today (Sunday) were about 4 or 5 hours. In order for me to achieve this, I try to read or to work. I am not used to reading books. But know I think I understand how much they bring, what real value they have. I tend to imagine a book like a box that either has lots of information, that you can grab when opening it, or a whole world of imagination spreading in the room as if I already were in a dream. But that’s just how I got started with reading. I have other books (that I need) to read. By the way, I have never read any book written in English until now. This book is called “The Magic of Thinking Big” written by Dr.David Schwartz (it’s a motivational book, and it does work!). What’s even better is that fortunately for me, I really start to enjoy reading! (even if it’s just one book over more than a year, I have already read books for pleasure before, just to let you know that I already knew what reading a book for pleasure is 😂).

What books would you recommend me to read?

Brahms

As the title of the article can show, today we will be dealing with police brutality. For years some police have been killing people of colour and black men and women without being threatened by them. They make use of different types of brutality, it can be an assault, battery, torture or even murder. They harass minorities, they arrest people with no justification, intimidate them, and abuse them verbally because they have the power to do it and consider minorities have no rights.

Before writing this article I wanted to make some research about the latest police brutality and I was shocked to see that during the last decade over 80 Black men have been killed by the police. (link of the article: https://newsone.com/playlist/black-men-boy-who-were-killed-by-police/item/25 )

George Floyd was killed by the police on the 25th of May 2020. He was accused of paying with counterfeit money, let us admit it is true, that doesn’t give a reason to threat him as he was threated. Make use of excessive force as he did is wrong no matter the crime he commited. Pressing someones neck with your knee for over 5min for a counterfeit is wrong. Some people say we shouldn’t make a generality and considerer all police people are the same, I don’t know what to think of that because while George Floyd was on the ground begging for help the other police didn’t move, didn’t oppose or even tell his colleague to stop. People have the right to riot and be angry with all what is happening because George Floyd isn’t the only case, minorities are being killed on daily basis. It didn’t start today and it won’t end today. People need to be threated like humans no matter their skin colour or racial background. People should stop telling others not to consider all police are bad but they should tell the police to stop thinking every person of colour is a criminal or a threat to them. People should also stop telling minorities how to react when this kind of things happen, this shouldn’t be minimise in any kind of way, and minorities are not victimizing themselves, they are victims!

That doesn’t only happen it the US but also in France, during the lockdown several young boys were wounded or killed by the police. Each time such a thing happens no one askes why the police is being so brutal, they instead blame the person whom is dead or wounded, presenting them as criminals and searching for things they commited before. I agree some people behave akwardly, some commit crimes and that’s why the call for the police, but the police work is to arrest them so they can be judged later on, not to kill them or maltreat them. Adame Traoré was killed in 2016 in the police station, we was threated and was chocked the same as George Floyd but no one was there to tape what happened. Zyed and Bouna were killed in 2005, they are accused of theft, they were running away from the police and got electrocuted in an EDF plant. People keep commenting and saying if they ran away is that they had something to reproach themselves, I do not agree with that, yes they might have stolen things but that doesn’t give right for the police to chase them until they got to an EDF plant, knowing the risk the police could have let them run, and them search and go and arrest them later on. Théodore Luhaka was brutally arrested and isolated from his friends by the police, he was tortured,brustalised and humiliated in the police car. That aren’t the only cases of police brutality in France, they are much more, but the victims are always presented as criminals so people consider that what happened to them is deserved.

Trump said “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” , that just shows how some stupid and racist people think, because that is justifying the killings that have been happening and those that will still happen. Police is made to protect people and enforce the law not to kill because people are looting, rioting, stealing, they can kill if the person is a threat to their lives, but in many cases the people they kill didn’t represent any threat.

We should all condemn what is happening because the people whom are death aren’t just minorities they are human, they should be threated such as humans. By staying quiet we are being condescending, I’m not asking that we should go to manifest or riot, but will should acknowledge and say that was is happening is wrong and it’s enough, we can’t bare it any longer.

It is sometimes difficult to see how time goes by faster an faster. I don’t remember a lot from my early ages, until I was like 11. Some people say that being a child, days are short but on a greater scale, it feels like “eternity”. And that growing up, you realise how time is “accelerating”. I don’t really see it myself, although I think I understand why we slowly start to understand that time goes fast: it’s just that you get to understand time better. Each year you live, you (un)consciously tell yourself “it’s just another year to live”. And you think or maybe have this idea of life where you start only by learning a lot, then you’re just dropped into the active life, with the same routine, going to work everyday, coming back, making dinner and going to bed and so you are just waiting for things to happen (that’s how it feels to me for now anyway). Put some spices in your life!

So, if you think that time is going faster than some time ago, how do we try to manage our time, or even try to slow it down? First, time, if you’re not eternal, has a value. So for example if you have any projects, accomplish them. And if you have none, make a list of things you could do on the long run. Things that matter to you. Examples: learn a new language, a discipline, a science or learning how to cook.

For the most ambitious ones, why not try to plan your life on a decade or more. Think of an ideal job, leisures, where you think you’d want to live, and what kind of big life projects you’ll want to pursue etc.

I realise some of you might be thinking that some of what I say is a little “too much”; but I like telling what I think, and this quarantine blog was really a place where I felt “free” to say what was on my mind and that I wanted to tell when I had the occasion. Thank you for this opportunity of showing how I think to myself and others!

Brahms

It’s been 2 weeks now, since we have been able to go out, the first thing I decide to do is to see some friends and hang out. Afterwards, in my free time I organized myself so that I can do some sport, such as running, but hard to breath with a mask. It is kinda annoying at the begin, having to keep a mask, wash your hands every single time you go somewhere, but I think that I will manage to get over it and see it as a normality. Since we can go out now, many people have asked me what will I be doing during vacations, at first it’s kinda of a weird question since we need to follow the rule of 100km and half of the attractions are canceled, but on second thought WHAT will I be doing during vacation? I thought about it a lot and since there isn’t much to do I will be working in a Franprix and make a bit of money.

This week I went out a lot to see friends, most of them are allowed to go out even more day after day. Now that my parents know that a lot of people are going out they forbid me some time to go out and party with them. But of course, courses are still on and I’m really happy that the teacher’s meeting is soon. I already have my school for next year, everything is about marketing and luxury that’s why I’m not really interested in Parcoursup, and I’m glad about it because when I see everyone stressing for their results… it’s crazy. My driving lesson resumed and I will pass my driving license asap I really want to be able to drive during summer break because I’ll do more things on my own. 

Hello everyone!

I hope you are fine and healthy.

At the moment, we live a little stressful time (for some non) pending the results of Parcorsup. Personally, I am hyper stressed😣 because I want to study medicine but there are a lot of requests but luckily I’m not at the end of the list.

I read the article on a girl who had more than 16.5 overall average but she had refusals in her favorite wishes. To say I was shocked means nothing. I can’t even imagine how she must be disappointed.I think the system is a little unequal, especially for her.

Let’s talk a little about the end of lockdown.

A few days ago I saw on TV that there was a relaxation in some people about Coronavirus,some went to the beach to party, the rest went to soccer games.

Match illégal à Strasbourg: le maire appelle les personnes présentes à se faire dépister pic.twitter.com/fohTWNuRZo

— BFMTV (@BFMTV) May 26, 2020

I find that this behavior is really abused. I understand that containment was difficult, but this is exaggerated😤. We say that we cannot trust the government, but in truth we must also present ourselves as a people we can trust otherwise the pandemic will always be present.

I am a little disappointed that we could not see the takeoff of Space X because of bad weather but I hope we can see it on Saturday 👩‍🚀.

The end of confinement allows us to physically find people we could not have had in the previous period. Even if you communicate with them through the ticket of technological means it is different to have the person in front of you.

In some reunion situation it may be strange to have the impression that the time elapsed has changed something between two people. By bringing them closer together because the separation is great and you realize how important it is to this person, or an indifference in the distance time that you could not explain.

The time that has passed makes us change our relationship into something different, we may also want to be forgiven for something produced as a bad farce, seeing in some people tried to continue despite all this joke that lasts for months because the person is “too” nice.

All this time far apart has brought us in some ways much closer to each other, because we never know until when we can continue to talk with that person.