The following originally aired on KCBS.

By: Bianca Brooks

Becoming a victim of online vanity was easy. I just Photoshopped my blemishes and told a few white lies. My problem became drawing the line between who I really was and who I pretended to be.

When I joined Tumblr, a photo blogging site, I admired all the “beautiful” people. I too wanted to be “internet famous” with cool clothes and a high-resolution camera. How could I resist a world where it’s easy to “add” who you love and “delete” who you don’t? I said I was born in Hollywood instead of Orange County to sound more “glamorous”. One of my friends only uses headshots in her pictures to disguise extra weight.

My sister finally explained that people who are “loved” on Tumblr rarely live up to their images in reality and told me “get a grip” because this was only virtual appreciation and beauty.

It was a while before I became honest with myself and realized the internet constantly contributes to people’s insecurities. Now, I only offer myself, flaws included, and surprisingly people don’t mind.

My followers haven’t unfollowed me because my teeth aren’t perfect or my hair isn’t done. Maybe these insecurities were just virtual, too.

Could Google be warping our perception of reality? That's what the authors of a new study suggest is happening.

Because Google relies on popularity of links as part of its top secret search algorithm, information that is popular but not necessarily factual is rising to the top. A USA Today article quotes study co-author Dietram Scheufele of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, as saying that Google's search suggestions are likely shifting our view of science, politics and more:

"I don't think Google is making us 'stupid' but we do see the potential for a self-reinforcing spiral in search suggestions away from the most accurate information towards the most popular," Scheufele says.

From an anecdotal standpoint I can tell you that I experienced just such a Google encounter last night. While looking up information on a certain literary journal (that shall go nameless) I saw that one of the top three suggestions after it's name was "scam". This led me down a rabbit hole that raised more questions than it answered, arguably a good thing. Yet I came away feeling like this is one of the major flaws in our current organization of the web. Few resources exist online to weigh the opinions that are offered: other than the popularity of those opinions. A feedback loop of the worst kind.

In yesterday's electronic version of the New York Times "Media Equation" columnist David Carr caught my eye with the headline "Taylor Momsen Did Not Write This Headline" (and I don't even watch Gossip Girl!). The article wasn't even about Ms. Momsen:

One more fact about Ms. Momsen: she has nothing to do with this column, let alone the headline. But her very name is a prized key word online — just the thing to push my column to the top of Google rankings.

Carr's column goes on to be a fantastic diagnosis of the problem that's facing not just modern journalism, but every reader on the web. Sensationalism has always sold-- "If it bleeds, it leads" -- but we're facing a crisis of facts. Consensus reality appears to be breaking down faster than the Gulf of Mexico is filling with crude oil. Or perhaps something more frightening is occurring: perhaps our consensus reality isn't breaking down, it's just no longer reality-based.

[If that's so, can I get the reality with Super-Heroes in it?]

Do you remember way back when fame came to those with talent? Way back when you had to be an actor, an author, a philanthropist, an athlete, a politician? Then around the 90’s, cast members from MTV’s “The Real World” started slowly appearing in the mix with actual celebrities. Fast forward to today. Now we have a group of famous people who are known for basically hanging out on camera.

It upsets me that I can recognize Jon Gosselin, Kim Kardashian and “Snookie”. But I, personally, can’t identify their talents. It seems they are famous because of these things: Kim Kardashian is famous for filming her intimate moments with Ray-J. Snookie is known as the girl who got sucker punched at the bar. And besides his marital troubles, Jon Gosselin is famous for fathering eight children.

I had the opportunity to audition for a dating reality show. The production company was looking for single contestants who were willing to try dating—on air. When I arrived for the taped Q&A session, however, I realized how far we have come from and how far people are willing to go be famous. I was asked to lay out my entire life. For instance... “Tell us surprising things about yourself or your past that most people don’t know."  Or  “Tell us your unique life story in 50 words or less."  After my interview session, I started to have nightmares about being introduced to the world on such a medium. You have no control over how you are presented or how you are perceived. What if I get punched on TV, like Snookie?  I haven’t been called yet to appear for the show. But one thing’s for sure…I’m not waiting for the phone to ring.

There are lots rappers that we can listen to on the radio in this generation. Let’s be real though, some artists are very ignorant. Gucci Mane, Oj Da Juice Man, Plies, Rick Ross, Lil’ Wayne, and many others can be put in this category. What makes a rapper ignorant is the stuff they say that is just not acceptable. Some of the things that they rap about are getting money illegally, having different females every night, killing people, and a lot of negative stuff that shouldn’t be promoted and showed to young people. Don’t get me wrong, most artists have good rhyming patterns, good flow, and good songs, but most show crime as a positive thing. Rappers claim to rap about there life style and how they make money, but hearing the same thing can get boring. There are rappers who never lived the life they claim to have lived in their lyrics. The rapper Rick Ross rap about drug trafficking and killing people, but he has never lived this life. He was a security guard in a prison; this is far from being a drug dealer.  Read more...

There’s been a lot of buzz lately in the realm of video games -- augmented-reality games are coming to life! So what’s the big commotion? The videos below should explain it all better than this post itself can.

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