Final Blog Post- My Relationship with Technology

It should be no surprise to anyone reading this that as a 20-year-old college student, technology and social media are heavily involved in my everyday life. I would say my relationship with it so far has had many ups and downs. As we all know, there are many positives and negatives to the world of social media. Throughout this class, we have talked extensively about how much all forms of media and technology have an effect on the government, news, politics, and the world. In this blog, I want to take a break from addressing the media's effect on the world and take a deep dive into my personal relationship with technology. 

Before writing this blog post, I decided to watch multiple videos and read tons of articles describing other people's experiences and feelings in the age of social media. The first video I watched was the 1964 World's Fair in New York — called FUTURAMA Video. This video however slightly accurate, made me laugh. I think it is interesting how people from back then really glamorized technology and a world of internet advances. Although I can't imagine my life now without it, I don't think it is fair to say it always has a positive effect. This is especially captured in the second short film I watched titled Tears For Fears. It shows a darker side to our generation of internet-obsessed individuals, which is very important to talk about.  

So how would I describe my relationship with technology, and is it healthy? As I said before throughout my life I have had some ups and downs with technology. I first got an iPhone when I was in the 4th grade. At the time, of course, I was super excited and thought nothing of it. Now looking back on it, I had absolutely no idea of the dangers awaiting me. I immediately downloaded Instagram as the first app on my phone, and it wasn't long before I already was having problems. My first mistake was putting the town I lived in in my bio. I will never forget my mom sitting me down and telling me a friend of hers saw it and texted her to warn her I was putting my personal information out there. So I quickly removed that and learned my lesson. However, I still think now that I was way too young to be online, and at the time it was not healthy for me. 

Growing up in a generation where everyone was online is quite strange. From a young age, my main form of communication between my friends and me was through some sort of social media. I actually really regret this now that I am older. I was never pushed enough to go outside and make friends the "old-fashioned way" as some call it. Also, I was vulnerable to the effects of social media influencers and beauty standards while trying to grow into my own young girl at the same time. This was most definitely an unhealthy effect technology had on my life at the time. However, the older I got the more I realized social media and the online world weren't as important as I once thought it was. 

Although I am older and much wiser now, I still would say my relationship with technology could definitely be improved. I still unfortunately make the mistake at times of clicking on fake messages or DM's or even clicking "accept all cookies" without having a clue what I'm accepting. This has led me to get my account hacked once, and a fake Instagram page made of me another. But overall, nowadays I think I have a decent balance with technology. 

One way I keep a healthy balance with technology is in my relationship. I have been in a relationship for the past four years since I was 16 years old. From the start, we decided we didn't want the extent of our relationship to be defined by technology. Throughout the day, sure we will text here and there and send a few snapchats, but compared to most we really don't. However, at the end of every day, we will call each other for about an hour or so and catch up. We also like to keep our relationship mostly private. Of course, we have posted each other throughout all this time, but we don't feel the need to post about every date we go on or every fun memory we make. I truly feel like these traits in controlling our use of technology between us has really helped our relationship thus far. I would definitely say this is my healthiest relationship with technology. 

Another way I feel technology and social media have a positive impact on me is by being able to connect with people from across the world. One of my best friends I met through club volleyball a couple years back, unfortunately, lives in Arizona now. However, with the use of technology, I am still able to easily talk to her every single day. I also can easily keep up with my friends and family back home while I am here at HPU. I also am grateful for the instant access I have to virtually any facts and information I could ever need. Technology has also allowed me to meet new people some I never would have met without it. I definitely think technology has had many positive and healthy benefits to my everyday life.

Overall, like I said, I can't imagine my life without technology. This is mostly because I have never gone without it. However, I am grateful to be born in a generation where we are fortunate to have access to so many things and people so quickly. After writing this, I have brought some parts of my technological relationship that need some work to my attention. Like limiting what information I give out, and being more careful about what I click on. But I have also realized how in some ways  I do really good managing my screen time and limiting the control it has on my life. While I have definitely grown tremendously from the 4th grader who was obsessed with her online status, I still hope to continue to grow and live a life using as little technology as possible and never let it control me. 

Blog #10- EOTO 2 Reflection

After listening to my classmate's EOTO presentations, I can say I have learned a lot. Many of these topics I have never even heard of before, and many I have, but didn't know what they meant. The topic that stood out to me the most was gatekeeping presented by Olivia Porzio. As she also mentioned, I have heard this term being thrown around a lot in recent years, however, I have limited knowledge of its meaning. 

So what exactly is the term gatekeeping? According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, "the activity of trying to control who gets particular resources, power, or opportunities, and who does not." When I see gatekeeping being used today, it is almost always on social media. Many examples come to mind, for example, someone commenting on someone's Instagram picture asking "Where did u get your shirt?" The poster then proceeds to respond with something like "I don't know" or "can't remember" just because they don't want to reveal that information to the public and keep it to themselves. Now I know what you are thinking, that is so dumb to hide where you got your shirt so no one copies you. You are right it is, but sadly a very popular thing to do nowadays about many different topics. 

On a more serious note, gatekeeping can also be used to withhold much more serious information than clothing or social media drama. Gatekeeping has also been seen heavily in today's news and media. Examples of gatekeepers in the media are editors, producers, reporters, directors etc. They establish something like a hierarchy that will be used to determine what is relevant for the audience or not. These decisions depend on the underlying social, cultural, ethical, and political happenings at the moment. This creates biases in the media and also restricts information the viewers can see, and sometimes can even lead to false information. Gatekeeping can also be seen within the government. There are a multitude of things that the government decides to withhold from the public at all times. They choose what information they want us to know and how they will say it so that we interpret it in a certain way. 

As you can see, gatekeeping for the most part really has no positives. Gatekeeping can be extremely toxic to the public. Gatekeeping remains very toxic, exclusionary, and hurtful to many. It can be very harmful to someone’s mental health. While yes, sometimes it is minor, it can get very serious and very harmful quickly. The toxic effects of gatekeeping mainly are caused due to the exclusion feeling it causes. 

Overall, I really don't see the point of gatekeeping. Yes, I understand in terms of the government not everything necessarily can be shared with the public, however, choosing not to share information just because is so childish. Gatekeeping can be a slippery slope into online bullying, harassment, and mental health problems for individuals. I think it is important to be aware of gatekeeping so it is easier to identify it happening. 

Blog #9- Age of AI

Let's start from the beginning, what even is artificial intelligence? Artificial intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems. Specific applications of AI include expert systems, natural language processing, speech recognition, and machine vision. The first discoveries into the world of AI came all the way back in the 1940s, however, it was in recent years that artificial intelligence has been extremely prominent in our lives. 

After watching the documentary, what stood out to me the most was when they said "around 50 percent of jobs are threatened by artificial intelligence in the next 50 years." This line was very concerning to me in many ways. As I watched, I thought about all the everyday people with families who soon may have no job. It is crazy to think about how in such a short time AI has come so far and become so normal in our lives. One example that immediately comes to mind when I think of AI is Chat GTP. It is almost impossible for someone to not know what that is at this point. I could go on for days about different forms of AI and what they do for us, but I want to look into some of the advantages and disadvantages of it now. 

There are many advantages to the new world of artificial intelligence. One of the biggest benefits is AI's ability to do very detail oriated task relitivly easily. An example of this is in the medical field, AI recently has been proven to be just as good if not better than doctors at diginosing certain types of cancer very early. Another advantage is that AI is great at data heavy task. According to Tech Target, "AI is widely used in data-heavy industries, including banking and securities, pharma and insurance, to reduce the time it takes to analyze big data sets. Financial services, for example, routinely use AI to process loan applications and detect fraud." Finally, artificial intelligence delivers consistent results. Although AI is made to mimic the human brain, AI has significantly less of a chance of human error.

Although, there can be many advantages to AI, there also are a significant amount of disadvantages as well. As I stated earlier, AI takes jobs away from humans. This is probably the biggest disadvantage for me. Yes, in some ways AI may be able to do some jobs better, but AI doesn't have a life and family to provide for. Also, artificial intelligence is very expensive to make. Finally, people are becoming too reliant on AI to do work for them. I think this particularly applies to students. So many students lately use Chat GTP or other AI sites to complete their homework and test for them. This create a very lazy generation and not to mention helps absolutely no one learn. Oh and lets not forget how most AI completely breaches your personal security to be able to complete it's task.

Overall, I definitely think AI is a groundbreaking discovery that can be used for a lot of good in the world. However, I wouldn't say I am completely on board. When I really think about it, and especially after watching this film, AI is quite scary as well. By no means do I think AI should be able to take jobs away from people. I think artificial intelligence should only be used as a tool to help people complete their jobs faster and easier. If used correctly, and for the right reasons, AI can help the world really evolve and improve for the good. But only if in the right hands. 

Blog #8- Five Eyes

The Five Eyes Alliance (FVEY) is a cooperative intelligence network that monitors the electronic communications of citizens and foreign governments. The five countries in the FVEY include the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The Five Eyes Alliance is a result of the UKUSA Agreement of 1946. That makes this organization the world's oldest intelligence partnership. 

So what does the FVEY even do? Previously, this organization monitored foreign communications among different countries for political interest. Nowadays, they monitor the private communications between millions of individuals worldwide. Five Eyes mainly uses methods such as signal intelligence to monitor the citizens of other FVEY countries. In the organization, the members do not motion the citizens of their own country they monitor the other countries in Five Eyes. This is so they can work around the domestic surveillance regulations of their country. I find this a little concerning. 

FVEY collects information by intercepting private communications--such as telephone calls, faxes, emails, and text messages--from infrastructure such as satellites, telephone networks, and fiber optic cables. FVEY also receives records of user data from large technology companies-- including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, Paltalk, YouTube, AOL, Skype, and Apple.

So what are the pros to The Five Eyes Alliance? Although everything I just said can be quite scary to really think about, the FVEY has good intentions. For the most part, it seems that FVEY is designed to protect us and the security of our nations. The internet can do fascinating things, and it only makes sense to use it to our advantage and for our protection. Some benefits include being able to recognize threats before it is too late. This could possibly avoid wars or mass terroristic threats to the country.  

Are there any negatives to The Five Eyes Alliance? If you ask me, yes. Although I appreciate what they are trying to do to protect us, or at least what they are supposed to be doing, I do feel violated. Funny enough this seems to be a recurring pattern I am learning in this class. I have realized this semester more than ever that I really have no privacy, even in my own home. Everything you do online is being watched by the FVEY at all times. There is absolutely nothing you can hide from them. For The Five Eyes Alliance, invasion of privacy does not exist, and I feel this is a negative of this organization. 

There are many different ways in which the FVEY affects society as a whole both negatively and positively. Like I said before, no matter who you are, you are being watched. However, this is all for the greater protection of our society. If we didn't have organizations like the Five Eyes, most likely more dangers and threats would occur to our daily lives. I don't feel, unlike other things, that this specifically targets certain demographics. For the most part, as long as you are not a threat they are not targeting you. For example, if you and your best friend are on the phone talking about going to see a movie this weekend the FVEY is not paying attention to your phone call whatsoever. 

In the end, I think The Five Eyes Alliance is extremely important to our lives today. For me, the pros outweigh the cons. Yes, don't get me wrong, knowing I will never have complete privacy is quite uncomfortable. However, I do not do anything that should be of concern to anyone and if they need to look into my information for the greater protection of the country then I am okay with that. I feel a sense of ease knowing that there are people out there constantly looking for threats that could possibly affect my family and me. So through all of the possible cons and loopholes within the Five Eyes, I am thankful for them. 

Blog #7- Diffusion Theory

The Diffusion of Innovations theory is a hypothesis outlining how new technological and other advancements spread throughout societies and cultures, from introduction to widespread adoption. This can be used to explain almost any idea or invention and how it either became popular or was a complete flop. When I think of the diffusion theory I immediately think of Facebook. Over the years it has been super popular then not so much, and even underwent a name change. Facebook's success and adoption among the public will all make sense after looking at it through the eyes of the diffusion theory.

There are 5 main categories of people in the diffusion theory. These include innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. First, let's talk about how Facebook even came about. In 2003, Mark Zuckerberg along with some fellow Harvard students created a site called Facemash. Facemash was a website where students could go on a rate the attractiveness of other students on campus. However, the lifespan of Facemash ended after two short days due to being in violation of Havard University policy. Within the two days that Facemash existed, it quickly gained 450 users just from Harvard. These people would be considered the innovators of the now-called Facebook. Innovators are the very few initial people who flock to an idea or creation, usually, they make up 2.5% of all adopters to come. 

After Zuckerberg's Facemash was shut down, he realized it was quite a hit in such a short amount of time. He decided he needed to create a new site with a different URL and see if this one would also be as popular. So in January 2004, Zuckerburg and some friends released TheFacebook.com. Havard students who signed up for the service could post photographs of themselves and personal information about their lives, such as their class schedules and the clubs they belonged to. As the popularity of the site increased, soon it was opened to other high-ranking schools such as Yale and Stanford. By June 2004, TheFacebook.com was opened to 34 different schools across the country and over 250,000 students had accounts. These initial individuals would be part of the early adopters of the diffusion theory. 

Soon Facebook was open for anyone to join, not just college students. By the end of their first year, they had reached over one million users. This was quickly becoming a popular site. These first one million users I would consider the early majority. Around this period in Facebook's life, some brands and companies started realizing this could be a great place to advertise. These companies were the first to take the chance and buy advertising on Facebook. The period of early majority really boosted Facebook and encouraged others to start joining. 

At this point, if you weren't on Facebook you were late to the trend. Facebook continued to make improvements and updates to its website. By the end of 2005, Facebook had over 6 million monthly users. This was groundbreaking for the time. With that being said, if you were not within those 6 million monthly users already, you were a late adopter. There are many reasons for people to adopt something late, some people are skeptical and others just have no interest in whatever the "idea" is. Some people who really are hesitant to get on board with something are often called laggards. 

Eventually, as time went on, the growth of Facebook was maxed out. It got to the point where everyone who was going to adopt Facebook already has and those who haven't most likely never will. The growth of Facebook was stagnant and Zuckerberg knew if he wasn't growing he was losing. This caused Zuckerberg to rebrand Facebook. Facebook is now called Meta. Not only did he change the name but he also rebranded the entire social media site towards the new generation he is trying to reach. This is a very smart move on his part and will create the cycle of adopters to start all over again. 

Blog #6- Antiwar

I always knew that the media and news were biased and for the most part, they only show us what they want us to see. However, it wasn't until I took this class and also explored these articles that I realized the news isn't just biased it's censored. Even worse, it's censored by our government. Throughout reading these articles, I learned that the main topic being shut down by the government is antiwar. These people who are talking about it get not only silenced but also sometimes punished. This is not okay, this is not constitutional, and I want to know more about why they are doing it. 

When I first decided to take a look at the site called Antiwar, I was overwhelmed by the amount of articles and stories on this page. However, what most caught my eye were the links to images. Images of horrible things like bodies being buried and lifeless people all over the ground. This really was emotional for me to see, not because I didn't know what happens in wars, but because it is never shown to the public. After exploring some more short stories, I started to wonder why none of this is ever in the mainstream media. It appears to me the government only wants us to see certain things about war and not know about others. I now feel like they are hiding so much of what they have done, and that really concerns me. Why would they need to hide what they are doing? It is almost like they have always led us to believe war is not only inevitable but also beneficial. Clearly, war is way more devastating and destructive than anyone is allowed to talk about. 

So how is the government allowed to censor people from speaking up against war? This will never make sense to me to be truthful. In our Bill of Rights, we are granted the freedom of speech! This is arguably the one thing that makes the United States so great. Now I'm starting to question if we even have freedom of speech, or if it is just freedom of speech as long as you agree with the government. Which then makes me question our other right to petition. We are supposed to be allowed to stand up for what we believe in and say something when we see something wrong. However, people are being silenced and thrown in jail. It all just seems like the government is scared of opposing opinions if you ask me. I will always believe that everyone should be able to voice their opinions, no matter if you are a war lover forever or hate war. We must stand up for our constitutional rights.   

Blog #5- The History of Motion Pictures

    Ever since the mid-19th century, photography has been a part of the world. The popularity of photos grew largely during the Civil War era as photographers took still images of the battlefields as a way to show the rest of the country what was happening. However, in those days you could not take multiple pictures at once within seconds. Photographers would only be able to take one picture, and then have to wait hours for that to process for them to be able to take another. There was absolutely no way for them to take a "burst" of pictures at once and capture movement in the scene. 

    So how did the first motion pictures come about? In October of 1878, Eadweard Muybridge an English photographer set out to settle a bet. The bet was between a California Businessman named Leland Stanford and his colleagues. Standford claimed that at some point while a horse is running, all four of their legs are off of the ground. None of his colleagues agreed, so he commissioned Muybridge to take rapid pictures of a horse running in all strides.  

     For Muybridge to capture a horse running in every position, he set up 12 different cameras to all go off at the same time. After collecting the 12 separate images, he was able to compile them all together to make a motion picture. And funny enough, Standford was right. There is indeed one point where a horse has all of their hooves off of the ground. Later in October Scientific American published his short clip of the horse running and it became the first-ever movie. It was black and white, with no sound, and only about 15 seconds long. 

  The clip put out by Scientific American was projected through a zoetrope. The zoetrope was one of the first pre-animation devices that used multiple pictures to produce the illusion of motion. After the release of The Horse in Motion, it fascinated the world. Muybridge quickly realized the popularity of motion pictures, and with the help of Stanford, he created the first photo projector called a zoogyroscope. This was the start of being able to project moving images to an audience. 

    Shortly after, the first motion picture camera was invented. Thomas Edison and his assistant William Dickson invented a type of recording camera which they called the kinetograph. The fastest camera of its kind, it could take approximately 40 frames per second, on a reel of up to 15 meters long. The two men also designed a kinetoscope, which was a way to project the film to audiences. Once the public caught wind of their invention, "Kinetograph Parlors" opened around the country. I guess some could say these were the first stages of our modern-day movie theaters.  

    Finally, as technology kept advancing, by the 1920's early filmmakers were starting to find ways to incorporate sound and music into films. Researching motion pictures has blown my mind. It is crazy how far all forms of media and communication have come over time. I find it crazy how we can go to a movie theater now and watch hour-long films, packed with sound and animation, some even 3D. Or even better, how I can pick up my phone right now and record a horse running without having to set up 12 different cameras.