Someone needs to burn this place to the ground

Last week Josh posted some of the things he wished would disappear for the new year 2014.  That got me thinking, and I tried to figure out what I would like to disappear for the next year. Thus, for my first (mostly) non-running, non-science post, here is my HIGHLY-IMAGINATIVE list of things that I would like to disappear (or at least be reduced by a lot) for the next year.  Some of these have become so amalgamated with our society that they are unlikely to go away, but hey, I can imagine.

1.  The selfie.  Okay, now this is a huge stretch.  The concept is not new: take a picture of yourself and upload it to one of the many social media sites.  Somehow, though, the selfie seemed to grow exponentially this year.  Now you can upload a photo, throw it through a filter, add a caption with a #hashtag or a few, and there you go, you have a selfie.  2013 has been called the "Year of the Selfie", and "selfie" was even The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year. Celebrities, political figures, and almost everyone are all guilty of a selfie or two.  And that's fine.  One or two.  Maybe even more if they are spread over a longer period of time.  But very frequent selfies (daily or more often than that)? A little too much.  If I know what you looked like a couple of hours ago, chances are you look pretty similar now.

2. Sequels to movies that don't need sequels.  Take a look at how many movies today are sequels as compared to earlier decades.  This image, although a couple of years old, shows a decent comparison.  In addition, look at the list of movies that have made over a billion dollars worldwide (this doesn't include totals adjusted for inflation).  The movies that aren't sequels to something are:

 -Avatar (plans for THREE (?!?!) sequels, the first of which is set for 2016)
-Titanic (no plans for a sequel...) 
-Skyfall (kind of a sequel? Third movie with Daniel Craig as Bond, but the story line doesn't follow directly)
-The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (a prequel based on a book...did it really need to be split into three?)
-Jurassic Park (had several sequels)
-Alice in Wonderland (plans for a sequel in 2016)

Fine, the movie industry is huge and makes billions of dollars each year, but some movies really just don't need sequels.  Especially The Scorpion King.  (...oh...spoke too soon...)

3.  Smartphone addiction.  Despite being behind on technology, I have no problem with smartphones.  I still have a flip phone with a keyboard and it does what I want it to do.  The upgrade will come eventually but for now, I'm happy. Mostly, with this one, I'm looking out for everyone else.  With the near ubiquity of the smartphone now, a host of problems are also emerging and become more widespread, ranging from "text claw" (present with previous phone generations, but more now) to sleep problems due to being "wired" right up until bedtime.  It doesn't help that you can now do anything online, anywhere.  Every once in a while, disconnect.  That late night or mid-night email can wait until morning. 

4.  Candy Crush Saga.  This addictive game became widespread this year, and it needs to stop.  I get it; you're stressed (maybe at work), you want to take a break, you play this game.  But a short break turns into a longer break which turns into "s*** I got absolutely nothing done today. I'm going home".  If you want to play on your own time, that's fine.  But there is a reason why work is called "work". The majority of us can't make a living on Candy Crush Saga.  More importantly, I won't join just so I can give you some lives and feed your addiction!

5. Hashtag abuse.  Just like the selfie, most of us are guilty of one or two.  And one or two are fine.  But abuse of hashtags has become common, between using way too many (I'm eating a donut! #yum #frosting #sprinkles #sugarrush #diabetes #toomanyhashtags #hashtag) or using long ones that make no sense (#reallylonghashtagbecauseIdonotknowwhatIamdoing).  There was a Late Night with Jimmy Fallon skit a few months ago poking at this topic.  Don't abuse the hashtag.  It's ridiculous.

If you're taking a selfie on your smartphone and playing Candy Crush as you're reading this, I apologize.

 In a few hours I'll be competing in my 29th (and obviously final) race of 2013, my hometown Twilight Run 5K.  Times have historically been fast since it is not a true 5K, but at least they warn us ahead of time.  It's been a good year, and hopefully 2014 will be even better.  Happy New Year!