6 THE VOICE, THURSDAY, FEB. 19, 2015

EDITOR SABLEEN MINHAS

lewpoints

‘Text dating’ builds false perception

elationships are tricky. Add the R: of technology and you are

bound to come across some miscommunication.

Nowadays, whether you meet on Tinder or through friends, many, if not most, couples are using their smartphones to get to know one another.

Don’t get me wrong. Getting to know someone via text or Facebook is really great, but it often lacks that organic experience of doing things in real life.

You miss out on the element of genuine human connection and can’t properly build chemistry.

That being said, a good idea when meeting someone online is to meet him or her in person right away.

The longer you wait, the higher your expectation of them will be and you may be disappointed when you finally interact with them in the flesh.

Smartphones make it so easy to be in constant communication with someone.

Being able to inform them of everything that you’re doing lacks intrigue - and when you see them at the end of the day, you may find that there’s nothing left to talk about.

When commu-

nicating via text, it’s easy to create an image for

yourself. You can

spend time

crafting a

perfectly worded |

response instead

of saying the first OPI N ION thing that comes

to mind. It’s JULIA WICKHAM common to

misinterpret the

tone that you are 6 4 intending.

The idea of A good text daring” or idea when “dexting” may ° sound appealing, meeting but in all honesty, Someone we're missing —_—_gnline is to out. Sitting . around, gluedto meet him our phones, nat OF her in waiting for tha next message is p erson, not only dis- right away

abling, but also exhausting.

But who can blame us?When a hook-up is no further than a swipe away, we get lazy. Romantic ges- tures have gone from handing someone flowers to sending them a

bouquet of emojis.

We have to put the phone down

and start living.

We want to hear from you

Did we get a fact wrong? Tell us. Got a different point of view? Write to us. Problems with something we've said? Let us know.

Journalism instructor

Erica Bulman oversees

The Voice. Email her at ebulman@langara.be.ca

Social media fosters bullies

hen it comes to bullying, We: of us has a clean slate. Most of us have either bullied someone, or have supported a bully in his mission by turning our backs to the situation.

The surge of social media has nurtured the growth of bullying and taken this real-world problem into the virtual sphere. Now, all the closeted bullies can easily come out online and bully their targets without any fear.

What’s worse about cyberbullying is that there’s no escape from it.

One cannot take a detour to avoid the bully standing in the corridor in the virtual world.

Deleting all social media is really not an option because even if you don’t see it, countless others have and will.

If someone says that cyberbully- ing is a teenage problem, they cannot be more wrong.

It’s not just teenagers who experience bullying. In every sphere and age group there is a legion of bullies and cyberbullies who draw pleasure from inflicting mental torture on others.

While cyberbullying in adoles- cents is being addressed, there are only a handful who are giving a voice to the problem at workplaces.

According to Canadian Institutes of Health Research, 40 per cent of workers in the country experience bullying on a weekly basis.

The problem lies in the fine line between bullying and freedom of expression, when it comes to workplace interaction.

What could be the right to free speech for someone, can be easily deemed offensive by others.

So, who is to decide what is workplace bullying and what is an individual’s right to free speech?

Moreover, glorification of the

word ‘professionalism’ in the corporate world, has also contrib- uted to the prevalence of bullying in the workplace.

Whenever the bullied try to raise a voice against bullies at the workplace, whispers of ‘profession-

alism’ are sure to

hush them. |

Though there are guidelines and policies regarding employee conduct, they seem to be not

enough in OPINION stopping bullish —_ SABLEEN MINHAS behavior.

The only way

to tackle such a

wide-spread problem is to raise awareness among all age-groups and increase the implementation of preventive measures.

ANNA DIMOFF and MICHAEL LYLYK comic

Tax Increase can help improve transit

hile few enjoy paying taxes, Wi: of us recognize the

importance of them in building and improving infrastruc- ture.

Unfortunately, that isn’t necessar- ily so with organizations, like the Canadian Taxpayers Federation which is opposing the transit plebiscite.

It’s easy to get lost in the anti-tax rhetoric and think that the govern- ment is taking money from our pockets. This is especially true when the opposing side compares the projected annual tax contribution per household to what that money could buy otherwise, like a trip to Whistler.

The amount disputed between the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ sides is $125 and $258 respectively.

Those claims, however, are based

on the idea that without this tax, we would all be saving up to $5 per week to go on a trip, and not spend it on another beer at the Students’ Union Building after class, for example.

iN

Perhaps the biggest argument against the tax is the notoriously wasteful spend-

OPINION: wtchneny hold DUSTIN GODFREY relevant peason,

This certainly is an issue, and

one that should be tackled sooner rather than later. But it is important to note that the list of waste and redundancies, including the recent news that the organization is paying

two CEOs salaries, don’t sum up even close to the projected $250 million of annual revenue from the tax.

Students should absolutely be demanding better service.

With the length of the line-ups for the 49 bus during rush hour, a good solution would be introducing a B-Line along 41st Avenue, funded by that tax increase, which could remedy some of the students’ problems with transit.

Of course we should be concerned about the way TransLink spends money, and certainly any frugality on TransLink’s part can help reduce the tax amount, but it won’t cover the costs necessary to expand the transit system.

A fairly small tax increase of 0.5 percentage points, however, could be beneficial.

Fil fay ce)

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EDITORIAL STAFF THIS ISSUE:

MANAGING EDITOR/ PAGE 6

Sableen Minhas PAGE EDITORS PAGE 1

Kera Piwowarski-Skocylas PAGE 2 Shannon Lynch

PAGE 3

Nich Johansen

PAGE 4 Alice D'Eon

PAGE 5 Sandy Powlik

PAGE 7 Mary Beach

PAGE 8

Jes Hovanes

WEB EDITORS Vivian Chui Natasha Chang James Goldie Charlotte Drewett Mel Edgar

COPY EDITORS Lena Alsayegh

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Julia Wickham Xiao Xu

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