boiling minds by Diana Assennato

I am a Brazilian journalist and after 6 years of brain hibernation and a frustrating list of jobs I decided to get a master degree in Digital Media to find what is my real passion in life. That means I am back to the university; a place where ideas flow and creativity blossoms each day in a dangerous rhythm. I say dangerous because creativity can be a threaten when not used, and it becomes a burden when its existence is only proved by imagined and never-put-in-practice amazing projects that can change the world. But sometimes (and in my case there were very few in my life) opportunities knock on your door and shakes your world like a wake-up call. Since I heard about the project, Powerful Voices have been being my "move-your-ass" call (pardon my french) and it has already changed me in many ways.

At this point it's redundant to say I didn't know what to expect from this project. I think we all came with different ideas and not many certainties about what could happen during and after our meetings, and I think I speak for all. I got involved because the premise was very interesting, although a bit generic. Social change through social media? Well yes, but... hmmm, let's see what they are REALLY talking about. To be very honest I never really thought about the subject before, although I was always interested in the social power of change. I just kept complaining about how hard it is to get involved in social projects when you are one and alone. 

But since our first meeting I realized this is how many people of my generation feel nowadays. It's hard to put things in practice and convince other people to be part of projects when there's no monetary feed back involved. The easiest way to fight this disappointment is to get used to it and leave that frustration asleep in a dark drawer inside the conscience. But, hey! Why? Under that frustration there is a gigantic world of dangerously creative minds that are just waiting for a chance to get involved in something bigger, and Powerful Voices brought this chance to many of us.

Since the beginning of the workshops I've been involved in three of the projects and I can't really tell which one excites me the most. Specially after our third meeting, last saturday, my mind is boiling with ideas and I keep thinking that there are so many opportunities to change peoples life, even in the smallest aspects. 

Social media, for example, is a subject of interest that is growing in my life. Not only because it is constantly brought to the debate about digital media and media theory during my classes, but also because I find myself trying to understand the logic of the passion it keeps raising in all generations. It is big and will get even bigger, and I can't really imagine what it will became in the world my children will live in. I keep asking myself if it's a bad sign of the digital evolution, that will take all our spare time and make ourselves more and more alienated, or if will be a powerful tool of connection between people. How can we educate future generations to understand the power of it if we are still incapable of dealing with it in a healthy way? How can we teach time management, ethical issues and privacy notions on the internet if we still don't know what this concepts really mean this days? 

In this sense I believe Powerful Voices showed me a way. A concrete example of how we can move beyond the shallow use of social media and interact to take the most out of it. Social changes are closer than we think. And this is only the beginning.

Can't wait for the future :)