My Relationship With technology

Technology is a really big part of my life every day, especially social media which I am going to be focusing on in this blog post. I use apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok on a daily basis, and I really like using them because they help me stay in touch with my friends and see what they are up to. Even if I'm unable to see someone in person, I can still be connected with them by sending them a message or commenting on their post. This way, it feels like we’re still connected. That is definitely one of my favorite things about technology, however, with that being said, it can cause me to procrastinate during times that I really need to focus on schoolwork or other important things in my life.

One of the best advantages of social media is how easy it is to stay connected with people. For example, I have cousins who live in Portugal and friends who go to college in different states, but we still are able to talk almost every day through Snapchat or DM on Instagram or tiktok. This makes me feel like we’re still a big part of each other’s lives even though we are in far apart places. Social media is also really good for sharing moments from my life with people by posting pictures or videos for my friends to see. It’s a fun thing to do and it keeps me feeling connected to everyone.

Even though I love using social media, I also know that it can be a huge distraction. There have been so many instances where I have told myself that I would take a quick five-minute break from my work, but then I end up scrolling on TikTok for hours on end, wasting the time I had to do my work. After this, I even still have homework or chores to do and have no time. It can get really frustrating for me because I know that I could have finished my work and had more free time afterwards if I hadn’t gotten myself sucked into my phone. Another problem is how difficult it can be for me to focus on things after I use social media. If I have been looking at videos or talking with my friends for too long, it’s hard for me to switch gears and get productive about studying or doing my homework. My brain just continues to want to check my notifications on social media instead of paying attention to what I’m supposed to be doing. At times it can feel like social media is always pulling me away from my real world.

Even though it causes me to procrastinate a large amount of the time, I wouldn’t say that social media is a fully bad thing. It helps me feel close to the people that I care about the most, which is such a crucial thing to me. I have been attempting to find ways to use social media with more responsibility such as setting time limits on my apps or ensuring that I complete my schoolwork prior to me starting to scroll. it's not always an easy thing for me to do, but I’m working on it every day. So overall, social media is something that I really enjoy and tend to rely on a lot, but I know that it can also be a problem if I’m not careful with how much I use it. I’m trying to find a better balance in my life so that I can still have fun with it while getting everything else done at the same time.

In The Age Of AI

      After watching this video about AI and machine learning, I feel that I have learned a lot about the way that this technology is continuing to change the world every day. I think that it is making both good and bad changes. This video shows us that AI has a big amount of potential to be able to help people for many reasons, however, this video has also  brought up a few very serious concerns. One of the cool things that I learned about ai is how it can be used in education,medicine and even certain transportations to make things easier and faster. An example of this is that AI can help doctors to find out what may be wrong with their patients in a more accurate way and it can help them look for treatments that may work more effectively. In schools, AI can assist teachers to give students more personalized lessons that help them with the specific things that they may need help with. Aswell as in things such as delivery and manufacturing, AI can help products be made or delivered a lot faster and with less mishaps.

However, there are some issues with AI that really resonated with me. One of the biggest concerns in my opinion is the lack of privacy. AI has to collect a large amount of data to be able to work effectively. This means that personal information about us can be used against us or even stolen from us. It’s really scary  to me to think about how much governments and companies can know about us by only using our phones. Another big issue is National security. AI can assist in keeping countries safe by predicting kinds of threats or defending against attacks, however it can also be used in bad ways, such as making smart weapons or hacking different systems. It has really made me think about how countries will prevent AI from being used in harmful ways. Another thing that caught me by surprise is how dangerous AI can be with online security. Hackers are able to use AI to take people's personal information, such as passwords or credit card numbers, and it can do it in a way that’s much harder to stop. It's scary how AI may make identity theft a lot easier for criminals to get away with.

Overall, watching this video has made me realize that AI is both helpful but also scary and dangerous. It can do a lot of good and make our day to day lives easier however there are also huge risks that we need to be careful of. We should figure out how to use AI the right way and ensure that it’s safe for everyone before jumping into it.

EOTO: Online Influencers

 Online influencers have had a huge impact on our day to day lives in this age, especially in the way that we think about things such as fashion, health, and even political views. Influencers can influence things we wear, the kinds of products we buy, and even the way we take care of ourselves. An example of this is, a lifestyle influencer may recommend a new skincare product to its viewers, and a fitness influencer may share a workout routine that encourages people to try it out by showing the results. Influencers also often promote trends such as new diets or healthy habits. Sometimes they show their viewers a "perfect" version of their lives, which can make people inclined to buy expensive things or try to meet unrealistic goals to achieve what the influencer is putting out there, such as things like always looking perfect or having an ideal lifestyle.

One of the benefits of having influencers is that a lot of them are beginning to speak more openly about things like struggles with body image and mental health which is a big issue especially in today's world because of the people having the persona that they have a “perfect” life. Certain Influencers have begun to normalize the discussion  about how we feel mentally sometimes and they have pushed to embrace all lifestyles and people as beautiful. This has been extremely helpful for some people who might have dealt with self-esteem problems or feeling like they weren't "good enough." By showing that people can be beautiful and healthy in all kinds of  sizes, influencers are now encouraging people to accept themselves for who they are which has helped people immensely.

Influencers also have a large amount of power especially when it comes to spreading awareness about important problems in our world, such as climate change or racial equality. Certain influencers have started to  use their platforms to encourage their followers to get involved in social issues, vote during elections, and support peaceful protests. This can be a really good way to get younger crowds involved in important issues, especially because many younger people tend to trust influencers more than they trust traditional news outlets.. Influencers can help make the world more aware of important things By telling their opinions and giving information.  

With all of this being said, there are still some risks when it comes to influencers and the impact that they have. For example, not every influencer is trustworthy, and some of them might spread misinformation or push political ideas that have bias and may confuse people. Because many young people follow influencers very closely, it’s crucial to be careful about what we see and believe in. Some influencers may share false or biased information with their audience just because it may support their own opinions. This can make it a lot harder for people to make informed decisions of their own. This is especially happening when influencers are talking about politics. At times, influencers get paid by political campaigns to tell their followers to vote for a certain party, and this can make people pressured to follow a certain viewpoint without understanding it fully.

Online influencers are overall a very important part of our lives in todays age. They help us make better choices when it comes to things such as health, body image, and even social issues at times. However we also still have to be careful about it because not everything that influencers share is always true or helpful. Influencers have a ton of power, especially over younger viewers. Therefore it’s crucial to think closely about the things that we see online and to be sure that we are getting the information we see from reliable sources.

The Lens Of The Diffusion Theory

 Types of Social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, have become popular because it’s a simple and easy way to be connected with your friends, share pictures with people, and find out what’s happening in the world or with the people around you. When social media was first starting up,only a small certain number of people used it, who were mostly called innovators,but then soon after other peoples, called early adopters, started using it too because they saw how fun and useful it can be. As more and more people started using social media, it became mainstream, and eventually even the late adopters started. However,Some people have still not joined it. The reasoning for this a lot of the time is because they don’t see a need for it.

Certain people became early adopters because they liked the idea of being able to stay connected or sharing their lives, but others have been hesitant. They may be worried about privacy, being addicted to it, or they may just not feel like they need to use it. Social media can be very addictive and can make some people feel anxious or bad about themselves. It also collects a lot of personal data from people and some people find this scary.I personally decided to join social media because its an easy way to stay in touch with people that i am close to and share with them what I’m doing in real time, however, i acknowledge that it could also take up a lot of my time because it is addicting as well as, I know that sometimes it can make me feel left out or stressed by seeing certain things. Sometimes, I may log off of social media because I don’t feel like I need to use it at the time or because I’m concerned about my privacy. Overall, I think that the negatives such as stress and privacy risks potentially outweigh the positives for a lot of people but for me,the benefits of staying connected make it worth it.

Using alternative media sources

         At times, I have wondered why I don't hear a lot about anti war opinions in the main news sources that i use.  If you look online, you can find sites such as Antiwar.com and The American Conservative. These websites give us very big critiques of the U.S. foreign policy, however these voices are missing from major news outlets a lot of the time. One reason for this is because large media businesses are owned by large companies, and many of these companies are connected with the defense industry. Companies like these usually get money from military spending. Because of this, they are not as likely to promote views from antiwar. In addition to this, both of these big political parties in our country have supported interventions in the military, they have mainly done this after 9/11. This makes war feel like a collaborative problem. This means media outlets focus a lot of the time on stories that support military action. This leaves basically no room for people's voices who disagree.

     Another part of this is the "military-industrial complex”. This shows us the close relationship that the government, military, and defense contractors have with each other. This big network can make it more difficult for anti war messages to be seen in today's mainstream media. War stories can get a lot of attention and they can be easier for reporting than talking about peace, which is usually slower and way less dramatic.

     In our country, serving in the military can be seen by people as a sign of patriotism. This means that questioning war can be seen to some as unpatriotic. This makes it more difficult for people's views as antiwar to be taken more seriously. Because of this, websites such as Antiwar.com and The American Conservative are very crucial because they give us a space for these views, however they don’t receive the same attention as the popular and mainstream views. I think that by looking for and being open to look at alternative media sources, as people we can get a more balanced view of what is really currently going on in our world.

EOTO Technology presentations

        I feel that I learned a lot about early technology during these presentations but the thing that interested me most was a presentation from a group member of mine about telephones Because of how intriguing I was about the history of them. It all began in 1874 when someone named Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Before this, people couldn’t communicate from far away. Alexander Bell created the first phone call with his partner Thomas Watson. A few years after this in 1877, people began using phones on a day to day basis  which made it much easier to talk to each other from long distances. As time went on, phones got even more advanced. In 1889, William Gray invented payphones, this was so that people who didn’t have phones at home were still able to make calls. In 1891, Almon Strowger created the rotary phone, which made dialing much more simple. These inventions helped phones become really accessible for people.

     In the early 1900s, people started using wireless phones. In 1946, the first mobile phone service began by Bell Telephone However it wasn't super functional quite yet. The real transition happened in the 1970s when Motorola made the first mobile phone. Then, in 1989, Motorola made the first small mobile phone which was called the MicroTAC and this was way easier to bring with someone. In the 90s, phones continued to get smaller and more advanced. People used them for other things than only calling, they began using them to text and even play games. The Blackberry let people check their email while they were on the go, which was a huge deal for people in business.The biggest change began in 2007 when Apple created the iPhone. It had a touch screen and had apps for all types of things. It completely transformed how we use phones today.

     Taking a look at how phones have transformed from the first phone in 1874 to the iPhone today is really impressive. Phones used to be just for talking, but now they can do everything from assisting us with schoolwork to keeping us entertained.

Why Privacy on Social Media is crucial

 

As a teenager and a college student who uses social media every day for either academic, work, or communication purposes, I’ve recently begun realizing the amount of my personal info that is out there for anyone to see. After watching the TED Talks from Professor Smiths blog about privacy, I found out how our data is being tracked more than I thought. I always knew that being on social media, there were risks to my private info being leaked, however I figured that if I was responsible and kept my social media accounts private, I would be safe. However, I learn now that is not the case which is very concerning. In one of the TED Talks, Juan Enriquez told us about the fact that technology,  especially AI, is getting more and more advanced. It tracks what we are interested in, the places that we go to, and who we speak to online. Our personal data is everywhere, and sometimes we don’t even realize it. Another one of the TED Talks that I watched was by Christopher Soghoian and it talks about  how even the government can have easy access to our data. That’s really scary to me, especially because I often use social media, and find that it is a big part of our life in this generation. In Darieth Chisolms ted talk, she told us about how easy it is for people to overshare on social media, even by accident. Most of us post pictures or stories without thinking twice about it, and it can be hard to take back if we wanted to, even if we delete the content shared. A lot of the time, people can use the info that we post in ways that we typically didn't expect, and it can be dangerous.

To protect our privacy better, I think that we can think twice before we post something and be more careful about what we are sharing online especially if it is part of our personal life. I also think that we should make sure that the passwords we use are secure and strong, to avoid being hacked. We should fight for better privacy rules in social media and push for stronger laws to protect our data. Lastly, We should educate ourselves about privacy because the more informed we are, the better we can prevent our privacy being violated. Privacy is extremely important, specifically for college students like me who use social media on an everyday basis. We need to be more careful about what we put out there and be aware of how our data is being used. By being careful and preserving our privacy, we can enjoy the digital world without as much risk.