Okay, so in my Relationships blog I talked a little about perfection. I said there was no true definition of “perfect.” Well, I stand corrected. Perfection can only be defined through your eyes and your eyes only. Perfection is seen differently in everyone and there is no set definition.

Just because someone is not skinny, doesn’t mean they’re not beautiful. Just because someone does drugs, doesn’t mean they’re a pot head. The only way I think a person can be “perfect” is if they are willing to be vulnerable. The person is willing to show the world who they are through their faults and their strengths. Perfection doesn’t have a true definition because it will always be perceived differently by everyone.

I don’t have your mind, I don’t have your eyes, I don’t have your thoughts, your memories, your anything. But I have mines. And you have yours. We may see the same color, but we don’t “see” the same color. Or we may see the same sky, but we don’t “see” the same sky. What I see as perfect may not be seen as perfect in your eyes.

The media and the entertainment industries may have grasped an idea of what perfection is, but to me it’s not perfect because the medias’ definition of perfect seems flawed. It seems like the media is trying to force upon us what we “should” think is perfect. But it will never happen no matter how much we try because perfection is never seen the same.

I think this idea of “perfection” or being “perfect” in the media world was modified to fit the standards of someone perspective of “perfect” who has power to say what they think. I think the idea of what “perfection” truly means, and I think a key part to discovering perfection, is to live life and to be happy. Are you happy crying over how much weight you gained? Are you happy crying over a boy every girl wanted? Are you happy wasting your money on things you don’t need? Are you happy partying all the time and getting wasted? Are you happy trying to be make someone else feel bad about themselves? Are you happy for hurting people? Are you happy doing things you know you aren’t suppose to be doing?

What are you doing in your life that does not make you happy. Yes you may be part of a popular crowd or you may think something is fun because your friends are doing it, but it doesn’t mean you’ll have fun with what ever your friends do. Remember the people around you do not control your life, you do. The only way to be happy is to do things you want to do. If you want to party, you like partying, then do it. If you think you will be happy loosing a couple of pounds, then do it. Make sure you are doing the things you do for the right intentions.

The definition of “perfect” is perceived differently by everyone because we don’t have the same eyes, and I don’t truly know what you see or feel. To achieve perfection, to define perfection, you have to achieve happiness. Once you have achieved happiness fight for your happiness and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. When you find happiness, then you will find perfection. You will find out the definition of perfection — your definition of perfection.

Four in every five children hide inappropriate internet activity from their parents according to a recent study. 

Of the 400 parents and teenagers surveyed, one in three British parents make no effort to track what their child does online whilst 50 per cent admit they are confident they could track their child’s internet activity with ease. 

Behaviours like minimising internet browsers, clearing internet history and the creation of private email address are all clever tactics employed by young people in order to keep their parents from discovering their online activity. 

30.5 per cent of teenagers admitted using websites their parents would disapprove of, 25 per cent admitted searching for nude images or pornography whilst 19 per cent admitted downloading illegal or pirated music and 6 per cent had used the internet to buy alcohol or drugs. 

It was also found that less than a third of parents set controls on their child’s smartphone and only 12 per cent know the security password allowing them access to the device.

21.5 per cent of parents admitted their children are more tech savvy than they are with 11 per cent of children admitted to knowing how to turn off parental controls. 

“We believe the data will come as quite a shock to some parents, and we hope it will encourage them to take immediate action to protect their children,” EMEA CTO Raj Samani told the Telegraph. 

“It is clear that a huge gap exists between what teens are doing online, and what parents are aware of. Parents must take an active role to ensure their teens are practicing safe online behaviour.”

Almost 21,000 requests for information were made to Google by governments in the first half of 2012.

The figure emerged as part of Google’s recent Transparency Report, with the American government again the most zealous in pursuing data with 7,969 requests.

British appeals doubled to 1,425 during the first six months of 2012, with the search engine giant complying with 64 per cent of these requests.

Dorothy Chou, Google’s Senior Policy Analyst, told the BBC that, “This is the sixth time we’ve released this data, and one trend has become clear: government surveillance is on the rise.

“It reflects laws on the ground. For example in Turkey there are specific laws about defaming public figures whereas in Germany we get requests to remove neo-Nazi content. And in Brazil we get a lot of requests to remove content during elections because there is a law banning parodies of candidates.

“We hope that the report will shed light on how governments interact with online services and how laws are reflected in online behaviour.”

In total requests for user data affected 34, 614 people, with governments seeking to gain access to their search history, Gmail accounts or YouTube videos. 

The Turkish government made 501 requests for content to be taken down, with the US making 273 whilst Germany was third with 247 demands. The most common reasons for removing information or online content are defamation, privacy breaches or security issues.

The report also disclosed the fact that a British law enforcement agency made 14 requests to have information criticising the police removed but Google rejected their appeals. The company also turned down a demand to remove a YouTube video that accused the police of racism.

Take this with a pinch of salt from someone who earns a living using these tools and sites….

Our generation is totally obsessed with social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, which have taken the world by storm. To be honest, what is there not to like? A virtual world where you can express your deepest thoughts, connect with old friends or simply feel important and a part of something, where’s the harm in that? It has loads of other benefits such as promoting businesses, creating a sense of unity amongst people all over the world and can be lots of fun. However, if not used carefully and with caution, things can quickly turn sour and affect your work environment, education and relationships with your partners and/or family.

It saddens me how I’ve watched these cool and trendy social networking sites damage many friendships and relationships over the years. In the real world, perception is everything and how we perceive certain things depends on the individual’s tone of voice, facial expression, eye contact and physical contact, which are all alien in the world of Twitter and Facebook. Sitting with a friend in a coffee shop where she turns around and shouts with confidence “you are one of the dumbest people I have ever met” with a cheeky smile, it is obvious that it is a mischievous joke between friends whereas such a statement similar to that in a social networking site can viewed as a direct insult and can be seen as quite offensive. What we need to understand is that something tweeted or posted on Facebook that was intended innocently may not be always be translated so to a boyfriend, girlfriend or a friend.

Due to this, you would think that people would be more selective over the things they write. Well, apparently not. After a crazy Friday night filled with drinks and adventures, guys tend to head to twitter to tweet about all the fine women and crazy things they have done. Even if it is completely innocent, unnecessary arguments and tensions are caused in relationships due to carelessness and lack of sensitivity. What tends to make it worse is that when your close friends or family members have your other half on their Facebook or Twitter profiles, they naturally will be watching every post like a hawk with sceptic eyes, where the smallest trivial thing may look like a great deceit.

It is not a surprise that Twitter and Facebook is a gossiper’s best friend, they simply need to follow the person or click ‘add as friend’ and they get all the gossips they need. Expressing your life problems and your every move makes it even easier for people to use stuff against you. These days it is obvious that women no longer need to go through their boyfriend’s phone as they did in the past because having him as a friend on a social networking site makes it much easier to snoop.

Not only can Facebook and Twitter fracture and destroy romantic relationships, it can also destroy friendships. If you tell a white lie to a friend about how you cannot come to their birthday party due to a sudden and violent case of flu, do not forget your lie and post on Twitter how you are shaking a leg at the new club opening in central London. Do not forget that you can get tagged in photos or a friend could write on your wall, exposing your whereabouts. This is a very dangerous game to play, especially with friends who have such close access to your social networking sites.

I am not saying that you cannot maintain healthy relationships with social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook but one must be careful of what they expose on them.

Here are a few tips to help you keep your social networking sites whilst maintaining your privacy, friendships and relationships:

Protect your tweets – This allows you to have no limitation of what you want to express but keep in mind that interacting with a friend’s unprotected Twitter account will mean that others will be able to see the interaction between both of you.
Be my friend on Facebook – Make sure that a person must first friend you on Facebook in order to see your wall, pictures, and relationship statuses and so on, in order to protect your privacy from nosey people.
Thoughts over whereabouts – Facebook and Twitter are great for telling people your deepest thoughts and feelings but whereabouts, not so much. This is better in such a case where you may need/want to tell someone a white lie about where you were on Friday night.
Do not friend/follow frenemies, co-workers or your boyfriend’s family – Trust me, it’s easier that way.