Internet & privacy

Like you, and everyone else, I use the internet at least 4 hours a day for a range of different reasons. One might be to watch shows, movies, research, submit homework or just simply to chat with friends.

More and more everyday, we become addicted to the internet and more specifically - social media. It's not wrong, it's only normal that we'd become addicted to networks that allow us to not only keep in touch with all our friends, but also allow us to communicate with others and make new friends online.

A while back (not too sure when), people started to use bluetooth, and they'd wait on bluetooth to find someone to send a beep to or send romantic love songs to - even when you didn't know them or hadn't seen them. Internet developed a little bit, and Messenger (MSN) became the new trend. It wasn't an unfamiliar practice back then that random people added each other on MSN, spoke and became friends,  and it was quite rare to ever end up meeting these people as most of the time, they didn't live in the same country and if they did, you didn't share the same background or social group.

Today, people meet through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Kik and more recently, even in Whatsapp.

I for one, don't condemn such relationships. It's quite exciting and interesting to meet someone online. Most teenagers won't admit it but it's much easier to get along even with the people you know online rather than face to face. It gives you more time to think and process your thoughts - so imagine the adrenaline rush we teenagers get at meeting people online and getting to show them a side to you that you can't or don't show the people you interact with face to face everyday!

Now I do however think it's important to set limits to these types of relationships. So I'm just going to set out a few notes below, precautions one should take before engaging in any type of relationship online:

1) The first rule is to always check the person's profile. Tells you a lot about their intentions ie. some people will start fake accounts to speak to you and it'd be obvious through their lack of interaction with friends who live in the same country they claim to live in.

2) It's always a good idea to suggest skyping with them. It's hard to fool someone on skype and well - if they were dangerous.. they wouldn't really feel comfortable skyping really.

3) The cardinal rule - I think this is one of those really important things to keep in mind - is to never share secrets and personal info online. No, I don't mean your name, your age and your photo, because let's face it - those are very easy to obtain and don't really pose a large threat in this day - but it is your privacy that is at stake when you begin to send them messages recounting your personal encounters and secrets. 

A friend that I knew face to face once wouldn't send me any of her personal encounters online, saying that anyone could take a screenshot and publicize it. Never had that situation occurred to me - and today I think it's important to repeat the message. 

I know it's a long shot - but sometimes, in rare moments, one may fool you online and make you send them incriminating secrets only to publicize and spread them, making for an unwanted scandal. 

I stress this issue as in the Arab world, things get around so quickly, and it's extremely important to just make sure you know where you're storing your secrets. 

I hope this post finds you well, and stay safe on the Internet! 

Do good

Too often, way too often, people misinterpret the act of doing good.

I don't blame them, we are all under this idea that doing good is to give food to the poor, to provide an education for an orphan, or to put shoes on a barefoot child's feet.. But the question that arises is,

Is that the only way to do good?

We are not all capable of giving out money, some need that little bit of money they get to live their own lives, others have a family to take care of... So how does one do good when they can't abide by society's rules for "doing good"?

Let's look at this example.. A friend of yours is always there for you, is always helping you become the best person you can be, advising you with only good intentions.. Would you say they're doing good? Are they servicing the society?

Some, most actually, would probably define this person as a good friend, a good person maybe, or even just a kind-hearted person - but what most people miss, is that providing a steady, reliable helping hand for those in need, even when they are in need of things not including money, food, clothes, an education, is still a service.

You're helping create a more established society, one that is based on trust, honesty, reliability, loyalty.. Is that not a service to your society? To your people? Are you not helping someone - doing good? 

So..

Is doing good to travel to a third world country and helping out at an orphanage?

Yes. 

Is doing good keeping the door open for someone while entering/leaving a place?

Yes. 

Is doing good paying the fees for an orphan's education?

Yes. 

Is it doing good to be there for a friend?

YES!


Keep it in mind -

To do good has no/sees no limits. 

Measuring death

This is an old post I wrote on facebook back on the 13th of August, 2014.

--

Always trying to understand why people try and measure death, as if in some cases it could be better or worse.

I'm Palestinian, and what's going on in Gaza is heart-breaking, it really is. But, what's happening in Gaza doesn't erase the fact that in Syria, people are dying too. In Egypt, Libya, even Poland and America. What I mean to say is that death is everywhere, and the fact that a mass murder is happening in Gaza won't change that others are grieving for their loved ones too; Loved ones that were not killed in Gaza, but were maybe killed in a fight with cancer, or an unexpected car crash.

We should acknowledge, support, and cry for our brothers and sisters in Gaza, without forgetting our brothers and sisters in the rest of the world.

And if an actor whom many people loved and laughed because of dies, who's to say people can't grieve for him too? Is his death any less than a death in Gaza, Syria, Egypt? I'm not in the business of naming who should grieve for Gaza and who should grieve for Syria and who should grieve for Robbin Williams, but at the end of the day, I'm also not in the business of pointing fingers and telling people that they should not grieve for a favoured actor solely because people are dying in the arab world.

People are dying everywhere - Never forget that.

A little about trends

Yesterday, I presented a workshop at the Qatar Leadership Conference, a conference associated with THIMUN that consists of 3 days where students can attend a series of workshops, ranging from workshops about THIMUN procedure to MUN tips and then lastly, leadership. 

My workshop was called Set Your Trend. 

Interestingly enough, when I was working on preparing this workshop, I remember constantly thinking about the trends we teenagers set everyday. When I set a hashtag on a tweet or an instagram photo, I don't immediately think about if it'll trend the next day and become something a lot of people use - yet, I find that it does happen, and not just to me but to everybody. 

So when is a trend a positive trend? I gave my workshop on it, I know, but I solely focused on trends that could be used to shed positive outcomes on growing issues around the world, but what about the social trends.. what makes a social trend, a positive one? 

Moreover, what are we as a generation doing to create positive trends? 

The three things I spoke about being the reason teenagers should be setting trends was that I thought well we have time - no kids, jobs or houses to take care of right? And then it occurred to me that we are all a part of a clique, one way or another at school, and we all know that every clique must have one or two people that usually make more of the moves than others (it's true!).. and then lastly I thought, we are the technological generation right? We are the ones who made facebooks at 8 and faked our ages, we are the ones who spend our lives tweeting about it no? 

So why would we not use these utilities to make positive trends?

You are capable of setting a positive trend. You are capable of making a difference, even if it's a small one. So make one. 

At the workshop yesterday, I had the students write up either a cause they would stand for, a trend they wanted to set, or if they had already thought about this - both put together. 

Do the same and start your action plan. 

Set - Your - Trend. 

- I've placed a few photos below of what some of the student responses were. 

Where is my piece of content?

When I was in 5th grade, I use to look at the 8th graders and think "I wish I was in 8th grade, I'd be so grown up". Then I went onto becoming a 6th grader, and my idea of being a grown up became the idea of being a 9th grader. And when I finally did, I became a 9th grader.. I went into an emotional paradox. I was confused, I mean, I wasn't mature, I didn't feel like a grown up and I was still far from growing up. I was barely 15, and my parents still gave me no say in most things. And so, I took the highway and thought, when I am a 10th grader - I will be all those things I thought I would be.

In the summer between 9th and 10th grade, I spoke on the phone with one of my best friends for 2 hours at 2AM in the morning - I remember her asking me, her being a year younger than me, "How do you feel? You're a big girl now!! Personal project and 10th grade!! This is it. Final step before IB" - and I remember using this as proof that it would be MY year, THE year I would finally feel it, I would feel how it is to be old and grown up. I spoke to her about how excited I was, and how many big choices I had to make that year. The truth was, I could already see myself going into the med and field and by the end of 10th grade, I wasn't any bigger of a person. I wasn't any bigger than my body.

So I used the previous summer and I thought about the person I was in 6th grade, the person I was in 8th grade, the person I was in 9th grade and person I was then - the 10th grader heading into her 11th grade year. I had changed. Yes, I'd started to see it. The hard evidence that maybe what I always dreamed of had come true, and I just hadn't seen it! But then I looked down at myself and thought "Well heck, this wasn't what I thought it'd feel like when I was in 6th grade" and so I waited.

Here I am now, an IB student, and all I can think is I still don't feel it. I have no definition for maturity, I still can't tell you if my friends will be my friends for life, and I'll never have an answer on what love is. If you watch my reactions you'll see I'm still not in control of my feelings and immediate thoughts.

So tell me, does this point ever come in life? Are we ever really content? Does an age ever make you content? 

I have come to the belief now after years of anticipation that maybe - just maybe - we focus too much on what might happen than what's happening. Too much on the future than the present. I know that personally, I face the problem and I'm only coming to terms with it now - as I'm sure many feel as well. 

- Comment with opinions on the matter and if you feel the same way! :) 

Keep an open mind!

What are your priorities? Family? Friends? Academics? Shopping?

It's a simple fact, well known too, yet people still don't acknowledge or recognize the fact that we all have different priorities. You cannot reprimand someone for keeping THEIR priorities straight just like you are. There is a fine line between being inconsiderate and having priorities.

Too often I see this situation occur:
Person 1: "She ignored me on whatsapp but her last seen changed!!"
Person 2: "Talk to her about it maybe?"
Person 1: "I did, she answered later and said she was busy with family but I'm still angry at her for ignoring me"

You are NOT being ignored because someone was busy. Being ignored is when someone doesn't answer you, full stop. Being ignored does not in any way equate to someone seeing your message and deciding that it is more suitable for them to answer you when they are free to talk to you!

Some people don't like using their phone when with family, when with friends, or when simply watching a movie on their own! It's not rocket science and this shouldn't be an issue for anyone. There should be enough mutual understanding to understand other's circumstances.

In that situation and in many others of the same sort, you need to keep an open mind to what the other's circumstances are.

I personally regard academics as my number one priority - when a friend of mine asks me to hang out on a day I know I will be busy with school work, I will not agree to go out, not because I don't "care" for this friend or that I don't "want" to see this friend, but more because I think it's more important to finish studying!

Keep an open mind! 

- Have a great day! 

Where do I go?

Tell me what I am. 

I am a combination of Asqalan and Gaza, Palestine. I am a child being raised in Doha, Qatar, and an adult with no where else to go. A visitor in the one place I've ever known and a foreigner to the place I come from. 

Tell me where I come from. 

Tell me where I come from. I have no passport to hold, no place to stay and no place to return. 

A Palestinian Refugee. 

I'm a Palestinian, I was born and raised in Qatar, I am under the responsibility of the Egyptian government, and they call me - a Palestinian refugee. People are always so surprised when you tell them that you are in fact a Palestinian refugee, because their minds jump to the refugee camps placed in the countries on the outskirts of Gaza, their minds jump to helpless people, to poor people, to people who were kicked out of their countries and have no where to go. 

I was not kicked out of my country, in fact, my grandparents left it willingly, of course with the intention to protect their families, but it was - by choice. I do not live in a country that shares a border with Palestine. I was never poor, to be frank, I've only ever lived and known a more than modest life. But what I share with the refugees your mind usually jumps to when you hear the word is that I have no place to go. My country does not let me back in, and if I were to for any reason not be allowed to live in Qatar anymore, there would be no country I could enter and reside in without hassles and obstacles that I'm not fully prepared to endure. 

Home. 

Home - of or relating to the place one lives

People are always asking "what does home mean to you?" "where is home?" and in truth, I have absolutely no idea. Can home really be somewhere you are not guaranteed a place forever? Can home really be somewhere you haven't seen or walked the streets of since you were 3 or 4 years old? Can home really be somewhere you're only a passer by? 

Where do I go?

- Accepting any comments/opinions :)