Thank you so much.
YVONNE MAWSON
Rotorua
Living in a bubble
Our social media tends to treat us like a neurotic aunty: it only shows us what we want to see.
We mustn't be upset by opposing views or news, lest we close our account and leave (taking our inheritance with us, the precious advertising dollar).
This phenomenon is called, so I believe, the "filter bubble".
A classic example is where a tree-hugger googles "forests" and sees a list of save-the-earth articles. A pig hunter googling "forests", on the other hand, will see a list of articles on likely hunting spots, ads for various camping products, gun sights, ammo and so on.
This bubble leaves us with the impression that everyone else sees the same world we do and has the same opinions we do.
Then we become annoyed when we meet real people, who are inexplicably different to us.
G J PHILIP
Rotorua
We've never had it so good
I can't sit on my hands any longer. All the negative, destructive, rhetoric coming from some of our mayoral candidates needs to be refuted.
Rotorua is an energetic, beautiful and vibrant city offering a very wide diverse range of lifestyle choices, job opportunities, growth and investment prospects and measurably safer than it was three years ago.
The mayor and a small percentage of our councillors have, in the last term, put in superhuman efforts, skills and policies and have engaged with all levels in the community to turn our city around from economically stagnant situation we were in - with great success. The proof is very evident every day. Not for many years have we had the level of economic activity and the vibrancy we are experiencing now. Every sector of our community benefits from their efforts.
We are definitely a city to be proud of with real leadership, skills and vision to secure all our futures.
MIKE STEINER
Rotorua
