Final Blog Post

 Technology has an affect on everyone in today's world. Whether that impact is healthy or unhealthy, we can mostly say that all types of technology have helped us in some way. Everywhere we go, there is technology around us. The amount that one consumes can be a negative, unless they are using it as a benefit. 

As shown in the video, technology was hoped to be our "savior." I do not think that technology has saved us by any means, if anything, it has hurt the world. Cyberbullying happens all the time, attention-spans are being lowered each day, fake news has a large opportunity to be spread around, cancel culture exits. There are many downsides to technology. 

My relationship with technology began when I was 11-years-old. I received my first iPad, I can confidently say my life has changed ever since that moment. There was no more passion and going to the backyard to play football, coloring different drawings with my sister, and the wish to play board games with my family. Once I received the iPad, I was introduced to a whole new world that I was not used to before it.

Since then, technology has been with me everyday. From running home from middle school to play games or watch YouTube on my iPad, or leaving my college class to hop on a video game with my friends all around the country, it is always beside me. Looking back at it, I wish I cherished the moments without technology a little bit more as I now realize I am, "warped" in the world of technology and it most likely will never leave me until the day I die. Life was simpler without it. 

As I am writing this, I feel that my relationship with technology is healthy. I use it too connect with friends and family hundreds of miles away from me, use it for homework (wouldn't be writing this without it), and I use it as an escape from the real world. 

In the past few years, I have realized what type of power that technology gives me. In my sophomore year of high school, I created an Instagram page about NASCAR to share my passion with others, as nobody in my high school was a fan of the sport. This gave me the opportunity to meet new people who shared the same passion as me. Since then, my page has reached over 53,000 followers, and in the last 90 days alone, over 10 million people have viewed my thoughts and content that I share online. I can't even put a picture in my head of how many people have seen something that I have posted online, I have the opportunity to influence many other's thoughts just by clicking a button online. 

In fact, technology is the entire reason I am in this class at High Point University. This college offers a degree in Social Media and Digital Communications. My goal when deciding my college choice was to find a school in North Carolina to put me closer to the heart of NASCAR, and find one where I could learn about social media hoping to be a PR rep or journalist in NASCAR when I graduate. If I did not use technology to create my social media page, who knows where I would be right now. 

With that, I feel that I have to appreciate technology in some way, however, there are lots of unhealthy traits that I have with technology, such as the amount of time I spend on it.  My daily average this week spent on my phone is 2 hours and 43 minutes, thanks to it being finals week. That number is down 71% from last week. I do not do anything to prevent myself from leaning to technology, I fall asleep right next to my phone and when I wake up, it is in my pocket within minutes and will be there all throughout my day. The first thing I do in the morning is check my phone, once I finished checking my phone, I get out of bed. Those are awful habits that I can attempt to fix if I were to wish to escape from technology constantly being around me. 

I can't answer the question, "Do you think you are giving technology the appropriate amount of time in your life?" I do not know what the appropriate amount of time would be. It is hard to imagine what technology is useful and what is not. Some of the time I spend on technology is for the better, such as

connecting with my family and friends, and the countless hours of video games is for the worse. Or is it? While playing games, I am talking to my hometown friends who I do not get to see everyday. Would that make it "okay?" 

My online footprint is interesting to think about. My mom taught me, "Don't post anything on social media that you would not want Mimi to see." I can confidently say that I have always followed that rule. When it comes to my online footprint, there are multiple ways one knows and sees me. My friends from home see my posts and view them as a friend would, then there are the people who follow me from my NASCAR page who see me as the journalist who provides them NASCAR news. I have always had a public account, therefore there are people who I have never spoken one word to in my life who follow me. With this, I need to be careful of what I share online. If an employer were to Google me, they would find photos from my Instagram page which 90% of them are me at a racetrack. I do not upload any photos that have to do with partying, that could create a bad image. 

I can't imagine my families relationship with technology being much different. My parents always have their phones with them and they use social media actively. My parents do not post much on social media, at least not to the extent that my sister and I do. The only difference I can think of would be the amount of time they spend on their phones. My parents do not scroll through TikTok for multiple hours in the day like I do. However, their lives are still influenced with technology everyday. 

EOTO #2- Alternative Media

 Alternative Media is different than your everyday mainstream media outlets. There is no official definition for Alternative Media is there is a possibility for it to change every day. After spending some time researching Alternative Media, I have learned that one term that follows the topic everywhere is "non-corporate." Alternative Media outlets do not care about making money, they rather get each view heard. 

With Alternative Media not being a part of a large association or company, this can make it much tougher for certain voices to be heard. I immediately thought back to a recent blog about the Antiwar website, which is a perfect example of Alternative Media, a non-corporate website with important and passionate voices. 

There are many pros and cons to Alternative Media. Starting with a pro, like what we witnessed after viewing the Antiwar website, writers are very passionate about whatever topic they are writing about. With this, it can lead to more factual posts or stories as these writers will push to get the truth out. Of course, this is not 100% true with all forms of Alternative Media though. When one goes to a news outlet that is not part of the mainstream media, that person usually knows something about the topic they are viewing, the reader will expect the full truth.  

There is always an opposite to a positive, one downside within Alternative Media can be the spread of incorrect information. Alternative Media can be biased at some points, these writers are very passionate that they may exaggerate a story just to try to get a point across.  Alternative Media outlets do not have the top-tier technology and resources that mainstream media has so the outlet will not appear as professional as mainstream media which people are used to, this can create fact-checking issues.  

Alternative Media affects society with every new story that hits the internet. Imagine you read an article from an Alternative Media website, and are completely fascinated by the story, and agree with every word 100%. That piece of alternative media just changed a person view viewpoint and that person can spread their thoughts to friends or family and possibly have an effect on them. Social Media is an example of Alternative Media as well. In today's day, almost everyone is on at least one social media platform. The issue with this is that there is no credibility to what information gets put out. Misinformation on apps like X (Twitter) can be spread like wildfire. 

Different segments of society are impacted by Alternative Media in many ways. People become very passionate about their lives, they argue whether something is right or wrong and stick with their beliefs deeply. Both political parties become affected by the use of Alternative Media, republicans will pay attention to others who have the same beliefs as them, same goes for the democratic party. Depending on how accurate the alternative media is, each party will use what they learn on the internet in defense of the opposite party. 

People have very strong opinions on whether being gay is acceptable in our society. Those who are gay will turn to alternative media and use that community as a way to escape from whatever mainstream media says about the topic, the same goes for straight people who do not agree with gay marriage. Old people versus young people definitely are affected by Alternative Media. I feel that older generations are more likely to turn to the mainstream media and access news there, while younger generations are seeing a lot more different voices with the use of social media. This can shape the way our world changes as younger generations become older. Alternative Media will affect my family and me the same way, my parents do not pay attention to any other forms of media except mainstream media while my sister and I spend hours of our days on social media. 

Diffusion of Innovations Blog #7

 After skimming through the Wikipedia page about Everett Rodger's theory, Diffusion of Innovations, I immediately thought about certain technologies and how quickly or slow they spread through time. In today's day when something is popular, it spreads rapidly. Everyone wants to be a part of the latest trend. Social Media apps are a huge advance in technology, they allow news to be spread, updates on anything going on in the world, and provide a source of communication to friends and loved ones that live far away. 

Threads was a social media app that blew up instantly. This app is created by Meta, which is almost identical to Twitter, now known as X. Elon Musk became the CEO of Twitter, and rebranded the social media networking platform to X. During his time as CEO, he made many changes to the app leaving many users upset. Some of the changes he made were limiting the number of posts a user can see in a day and allowing any user to purchase a verification badge or a blue checkmark on a monthly payment basis. 

Mark Zuckerberg viewed this as a perfect time to create an app that was very similar to X, with hopes that users would transition over to his app. 30 million users signed up within the first 24 hours of the release of
Threads 

Looking through the lens diffusion of innovations theory, Threads caught on and spread rapidly due to the number of people who heard about the release of the app. People told their friends to hop on a new form of technology, and it grew. So many people became early adopters due to the past popularity of  X and gave Threads a shot due to the downfall of X thanks to Elon Musk. 

There is the "late adopters" group to Threads as well. Of course, there are people who do not want to hop on a social media app just for the sake that they are already on many of them, but, Threads had some other turn-offs that pushed people away. If you wanted to sign up for a Threads account, you would have to sign up with your already existing Instagram page. In order to delete your Threads account, people would have to delete both their Instagram and Threads accounts, leaving them with nothing. Of course, the app also had bugs and issues due to it being newlyborn. All of these examples can be downsides of the technology. 

It is hard to weigh a cost-benefit analysis with a new app like Threads. There are many positives that come along with negatives. I think the answer weighs down to each person's interest in social media, whether they are a normal social media user, or an influencer can play a big part in that decision or not. 

Antiwar Blog #6

 I was unaware of anti-war websites until assigned this blog post. Of course, I have seen websites write about wars going on as it is news that needs to be heard around the world when a war has taken place. It is very intriguing to realize that I have not seen or read anything about antiwar thoughts. 

As soon as I opened up the link to the Antiwar websites, I immediately understood how passionate they were before I even read someone's thoughts or story. The way the website is set up shows that these people who are antiwar are passionate as the information is close together, every story is separated into color groups, and different text sizes which makes it easy to get the information across. 

One of the reasons why most people probably have not seen these websites is because the search engine limits who can see them. If any search engine does not agree with antiwar thoughts, they can hide the link that displays these stories and thoughts that they do not agree with. The limitation of views to these websites and the fact that they are so hard to find, it makes it harder for people to spread the word about
the antiwar thoughts. Mainstream media does not produce a whole lot of information about antiwar thoughts, or give much publication to them. A reason for this can be because the news company does not agree with these antiwar ideas, or they just focus on the war happening itself which they can view as hard news. 

I think there are both positives and negatives to this situation. One positive is that there are people out there who are very passionate about ending wars and that they are not the answer to certain conflicts. The negative is that their opinion does not surface to a popular level. Who knows, if these antiwar people can get their stories out to the majority of the public eye, it could lead to as far as a war being prevented. Everyone deserves to have their voice heard. 

Privacy in the Digital Age (Blog 8)

After taking time to watch the TED Talks regarding privacy, I was amazed at how easy it is to gain information about someone just off of daily activities. The government has so many ways to learn about us humans and what we do, honestly, it is pretty freaky. 

In Juan Enriquez's speech, we learned that everything follows us around on the internet. I grew up in an age where my parents always said, "What you choose to put out on the internet, stays there forever." His video confirmed that and actually proved there was a website that was able to identify somebody just off their face in a photo, once again, pretty freaky. 

Throughout Catherine Crump's video, I was most surprised to learn that we are always being, "tracked" in a way. At the beginning of her video, she said wherever we go in a car, we are giving information to ourselves to the government. "If you drive your car around the United States it can reveal that you go to a therapist, attend an alcoholic meeting, if you go to church, or if you don't go to church." This is something I never realized as I was driving around my country, now that I am aware of it, I would think twice about where I am going.

In Christopher Sohogian's speech, it was interesting to know that someone could be listening to a conversation that two people are having through a phone call. That is pretty scary, especially if that was a private conversation that one was having with their closest friend. This can lead to the government obtaining more information about innocent people. In order to avoid this, it is safer to save conversations to have in person rather than over the phone. The government once again won't do anything about these issues, as they are getting "free" information.  

In just a short time of listening to a few people speak about privacy, I learned way more information than what I previously knew about my privacy through technology. Honestly, I am glad I was assigned this blog. I will keep all information learned for future phone calls, drives, and posts on the internet. 

Printing Press EOTO

The Printing Press is a piece of technology that has so much history, that it would be impossible to mention all of its importance.  There is no official record of when it was invented, however,  the first official printed book, The Diamond Sutra, was created in Dunhuang, China. It was believed to be born around 868 A.D. 

Furthermore into the future, a wise man named Johannas Gutenberg continued the evolution of the Printing Press. When speaking about the history of the Printing Press, you'll often hear the term, "Guetenberg Press," this is what Johannas Gutenberg's invention was called.

His version of the new style of type began in France in a town called Strasbourg around 1440. In order for his creation to work properly, he handmade the ink his press used, which was designed to better fit on metal. 

Around 12 years later, he created a bible known as the, "Gutenberg Bible." The book consisted of over 1300 pages. This piece of writing was made in Mainz, Germany, where Gutenberg located after France. He finally accomplished his invention of the Gutenberg Press here as well. 

After this, his invention was brought all around Euroupe and became one of the largest innovations throughout history.  Italy, Spain, and France were the next few countries to get their hands on Gutenberg's creation. 

In Paris, France, education was benefited with his creation. Textbooks and reading books were created by librarians all thanks to Gutenberg. Speaking of books, this is a convenient way to welcome the next topic: how the printing press changed the world.

As mentioned in the previous graf, books were created for students. Think of how many opportunities the press welcomed to earth, it can go on forever. With the invention of text on paper, it can go as far as building cars, tools, pretty much anything included with an instruction pamphlet. (also was created by the printing press)

Before this, there were no books that could be made as fast and efficient as they could with the printing press. Handwritten books probably took forever to make, the printing press solved that. 

People were able to transfer information quicker, and were able to print important thoughts and creations with the printing press. The creation of it also gave everyone a chance to have their word spread around, if they wished to produce a book. 

With Gutenberg's creation, news was able to spread around faster. Newspapers were created with a printing press. It highly improved the flow of communication around the entire world. This was highly useful when wars were going on. 

Essentially, the world became smarter after Gutenberg's creation. With books, newspapers, and other articles made, knowledge was able to become more advanced. Without the printing press, us on earth today would not be aware of some of the history in the world, if it were not printed. 

Copying became much more easier with the invention of the printing press. Gutenberg made around 180 copies of his bible, this meant more people were able to access the same book at a time, which is a way knowledge and information spread. 

The Printing Press is one of the key creations of our history and we would not have evolved into the world that we have today without. 

CREDIT: https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/printing-press

https://www.tckpublishing.com/the-printing-press/

U.S Supreme Court (Reflection)

 

After reading about the Supreme Court, I learned many things that I did not know beforehand. It is important to learn about the government that we live in. Knowing how the system works will keep you prepared for future elections and debates. 

One thing that I did not know about the Supreme Court is the history of its beginning.  The first meeting of the U.S Supreme Court was scheduled to be held on February 1, 1970. However, the first meeting had to be pushed back one day due to transportation issues. 

I think the most important takeaway that someone should know about the Supreme Court is being aware of what happens, who is inside, and the basics of how it works. Not everyone needs to follow every news or case that goes on in the Supreme Court, however, it is important to know what goes on. Everyone should know that there are nine justices. Justices are chosen by the president of the United States, and the U.S Senate confirms the list. Another important takeaway from the U.S Supreme Court is that there are multiple branches within. 

The most surprising thing that I have learned after reading the article is that only 115 justices have served time with the Supreme Court. I honestly thought that the number would be way higher, 115 seems small to me. I was also surprised that the first meeting was held in New York. I would have expected it to be in Philadelphia or Boston, never would have guessed that it was in New York. Another thing that surprised me when I learned it last year, was that the president chooses who sits in the nine seats. I learned this last year when taking American Politics, I would have thought that the president would get a say, but others in the government would also get a say that equals out.