Mashable: Instagram just announced two new types of Stories so you can watch forever

Instagram just announced two new types of Stories so you can watch forever
Get ready to see a lot more Instagram Stories. Read the full story | Shared from Apple News

Replication

I'm not a Snapchat user. I'd tried it for all of three seconds and I thought it was silly, so I'd deleted the app (though I still, technically, have the account).

So, when Instagram brought Stories to their network, I was fine with it because it didn't duplicate functions, I could still use Instagram, and it was something of added value (most of the time). It still didn't have as many bells and whistles as Snapchat does, from what I've gleaned, but it's been relatively okay.

And the. Facebook Messenger came out with a stories interface (calling it "My Day"). And then WhatsApp. And now the main Facebook app itself!

 

Facebook just can't quit!

I understand there may be people who use only one of the four apps (though more than likely it's at least two). If you're in iOS and want to use the Messenger feature of Facebook, I believe they're still forcing you to use Messenger (though sideline reading just now, I've just discovered one can actually use it on its own, and that it's an Android thing, too) if you want to chat with your Facebook friends.

As a person who has all four apps, though, it's just plain annoying! I just want one, ubiquitous app! I remember I'd felt kind of fuming when Google decided they were going to spur Photos and Hangouts out of Google+. So, I have a bunch of apps when I used to have just one go-to app.

I don't like it.

Theorizing the unexpected advocate

Theorizing the unexpected advocate

Yesim Darici did not pursue a career in advocacy. She is a scientist – a theoretical and experimental physicist with […]

Read it on news.fiu.edu

This woman is quite a thing. I wish I'd gotten to meet her.

I'd joined the Women's Studies program as a certificate candidate partly because I'd garnered nearly enough credits to get one anyway. I don't regret that decision, because I think it's brought me out of my (still quite hard and all-encompassing) shell a bit.

Seeing someone so tenacious who didn't let anyone stand in her way — though it seems she didn't notice anyway — become the director of a program that allows free thought, forward thinking, and embraces the spirit of debate and public speech is very refreshing.

But then there's this…

The FIU Instagram account had posted a picture of Dr Darici and that seemed to spawn some heated discussion on the worth of a Women's Studies degree (since the degree program itself is an option as well; the certificate was what I'd gone with, though). It was a little tense, partly because people were borderline throwing flip-off emojis (and even the Instagram account curator had hashtagged "smh").

It embodied the spirit of relatively civil discussion, though, and so that's what makes me a little glad on it. The person who'd initially instigated it, he even seemed to understand a little better why people defended the program (since he saw it, and generally seees things, as if you can't see a direct job correlation to the degree program, the degree program is worthless).

That's rather like my degree, Sociology and Anthropology. I'm nowhere near a professional anthropologist, nor am I a linguist officially. I do put my skills to work, and they help me as far as understanding people and the world. And then my certificate has helped me in expressing those thoughts a little more cogently.

So, thank you, FIU, for renewing my mind.

And now that I'm working, I can actually give back sometime relatively soon.