Final Blog Post

Technology plays a huge role in daily life. I feel like for me, I spend so much of my day using some form of technology whether its social media, texts, schoolwork online, or television. During most days it’s hard to believe we even go an hour without using technology. 

I believe that my relationship with technology is healthy. It’s difficult to define exactly what a healthy relationship with it is, but I believe that as long as it’s having a mostly positive impact on your life then your relationship with technology is healthy. It helps me in a lot ways, specifically with school. There is so much information available on the internet. Particularly, that you could pick any topic and learn so much about it within minutes is amazing. Also, being able to do schoolwork online instead of having to print it out and hand it in is very efficient. It definitely is making me smarter that I can do so much research so easily. There are so many different ways to learn online that can help me to understand a concept quickly. Concerns about misinformation are very valid online. Anyone can post information, even if it is not true. That’s why ensuring the information is accurate with double-checking it is important as well as getting information from trustworthy sources. 

Something that does concern me is just how much we use technology, particularly the internet, on a daily basis. Between checking emails, messaging with friends, and schoolwork, we can spend so much of our day online. This can be problematic depending on how much time someone spends online. I have noticed that some people do spend a large portion of their day online and this can be a problem because they may forget to do other important things due to spending so much time on social media. Using technology in moderation can be a much better choice. Some of my friends do use social media and technology a lot more than I do. I believe that for each person it’s a personal choice how much they want to use it but it does have negative effects if they really spend such a large part of their day online.

What contact information to give out can be a difficult choice. It does depend on how well I know the person as to what contact information I might give them or with if a website is trustworthy as to if someone wants to sign up for their mailing list. Giving out an email address is much less personal than a phone number. Some people feel comfortable giving out social media account information over a phone number unless they know the person well.

The amount of information someone could figure out by looking me up online is not a lot. There is some information people could find out like phone numbers or what school I go to but not a lot of personal information. However this varies from person to person based on how much they use social media and the internet. 

I believe that a lot of people spend too much time on social media. “ When reflecting on the amount of time they spend on social media generally, a majority of U.S. teens (55%) say they spend about the right amount of time on these apps and sites, while about a third of teens (36%) say they spend too much time on social media. Just 8% of teens think they spend too little time on these platforms.” (Vogels, Teens, social media and technology 2022 2022.) There are totally benefits of using social media like interacting more with your friends but there are also negatives such as getting addicted to social media.

When people apply for jobs, it is common for the employers to look them up. If a prospective employer looked me up they would find my social media accounts first. I believe that the image it paints when they look at it them is that I am very professional. Some things that may paint the person in a negative light should be edited out. 

Overall, I believe that technology plays a very important role in our lives. My online presence is very professional. Technology can have a lot of benefits. It can be important to use technology in moderation. Social media addiction is definitely concerning but I believe that the benefits of technology can be very good.

References

Vogels, E. A. (2022, August 10). Teens, social media and technology 2022. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/ 

AI Blog

Artificial Intelligence can revolutionize the way that we live. I learned a lot from the documentary, In the Age of AI, and found it very interesting. It showed that so much of how our lives currently are could be upended from the new developments with artificial intelligence.

One of the things I learned was that a huge amount of jobs are at risk of being automated. For example, cashiers could have their jobs done entirely automated as has already begun to happen in certain restaurants. The documentary discussed how in a factory, robots were organizing the items in packages. This is a job that many people currently do and so if it gets automated in more places, we could see lots of jobs going away. 

It concerns me just how many jobs could be lost in such a short amount of time. According to The Brookings Institution, “ Indeed, the new automation will eliminate millions of jobs for vehicle drivers and retail workers, as well as those for health care workers, lawyers, accountants, finance specialists, and many other professionals.” (Holzer, Understanding the impact of automation on workers, jobs, and wages 2022.) If so many jobs could be lost, that is a major crisis in society. Artificial Intelligence would potentially impact nearly every job. In each career field, there are risks of automation. While some industries may be more impacted than others, it is still a concern to most jobs.

It is important that this automation helps society and doesn’t have a negative impact on society. One of the big pros of automation is that it can reduce the cost for businesses. If a store can simply use AI instead of a cashier, they could save a substantial amount of money. However, there is a negative of lost jobs for people. It is important to find a balance between helping businesses and ensuring that people can earn money. 

Artificial Intelligence is very important for national security. “ One of the clearest applications is detecting anomalies and helping determine what constitutes a cyberattack. Even if our weapon systems were uniformly advanced from a security perspective, AI would offer a benefit, but AI becomes critical when they are not.” (Pugh, Ai's key role in Cybersecurity and national security 2023.) Artificial Intelligence can be used in order to protect us. It can help to protect information. It can also be used in order to learn data that can be used to make decisions.

AI is very concerning in discussing online security. When considering something like identity theft, someone could quickly gather lots of information about a person using Artificial Intelligence. What might normally have taken them hours could be done in minutes. 

Overall, Artificial Intelligence is having a large impact on society. It can be used to save businesses money  and provide data quickly. It is important that we understand how AI works in order to be informed. Over time, AI may play a much larger role in society. 

References

Holzer, H. J. (2022, March 9). Understanding the impact of automation on workers, jobs, and wages. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/understanding-the-impact-of-automation-on-workers-jobs-and-wages/ 

Pugh, B. (2023, May 13). Ai’s key role in Cybersecurity and national security . The Hill. https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/4003351-ais-key-role-in-cybersecurity-and-national-security/ 

In the Age of AI.

EOTO: Echo Chamber

Echo chambers play a large role in society. According to The European Center for Populism Studies, 

“  Echo chamber is a metaphorical description of a situation in which beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication and repetition inside a closed system. By visiting an ‘echo chamber’, people are able to seek out information that reinforces their existing views, potentially as an unconscious exercise of conformation bias. This may increase social and political polarization and extremism.” (ECPS, Echo chamber 2020.) Echo chambers tell people what they want to hear while blocking out what they don’t want to hear. It is an extremely concerning thing in our society because people can become more and more isolated with their opinions that can get more extreme. 

Echo chambers are what happens when an opinion goes unchecked. In an echo chamber, someone who is already in favor of a particular issue will be exposed to information that supports that view. At the same time, they will not be exposed to any information that conflicts with that opinion. This leads them to conclude they are correct. 

One of the big problems for society with echo chambers is that it can lead to polarization. If someone doesn’t even consider the other side of an issue, they can become more solid in their beliefs. Over time, they may develop negative feelings to those who disagree with them. This problem is very present in politics. “ Overall, 24% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents consistently turned only to sources with right-leaning audiences in at least two of three Pathways surveys, and 25% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents chose only outlets with left-leaning audiences in at least two of the three surveys.” (Mitchell et al., 1. About a quarter of Republicans, Democrats consistently turned only to news outlets whose audiences aligned with them politically in 2020 2021.)  One of the big negative effects this has on society is increased polarization. This is because when a large section of the population is only receiving a single viewpoint, they grow apart from the other sections of the population. It can affect our family and friends because they make develop more extreme opinions as a result of getting their news in an echo chamber which can lead to conflicts. When people have such opposing views they may not show respect to those that disagree with them. Getting news in a more balanced way can help to fix this issue.

Different segments in society may have different effects from echo chambers. For example, people that hold a minority opinion that isn’t popular in society may start to believe that institutions are biased against their viewpoint. Over time, they can grow to distrust important institutions in society. They may not trust scientists or scientific agencies if they are in an anti-science echo chamber. They may decide to ignore important information as a result of this that can negatively impact them. This could happen to anyone. Different segments of society may participate in different echo chambers of news that is relevant to them. However, it is good for people to get their news from many different places to avoid this issue. 

My generation should be careful about echo chambers because more of us are getting our news online. “ April data shows that 68% of Gen Z adults turn to social media for news at least once a week, which is significantly higher than the share who reported using online-only news sites (30%), their second most commonly used medium.” (Tran, Trends in gen Z news consumption 2022.) My generation is at risk for echo chambers because of how much we use social media for getting our news. When people follow the social media accounts with the same perspective and don’t get their news from any dissenting opinions, this is how an echo chamber is formed which can lead to polarization among society. This is part of how it can affect my friends as well as me. If we are getting so much of our news online from social media then it is important to be mindful of the sources that we use. Having multiple different points of view for any topic is a great idea to avoid echo chambers. Multiple perspectives can be a great thing on social media.

Overall, I believe that echo chambers are something we should be mindful of. It is way too easy to end up with an echo chamber of certain opinions. It is an issue that impacts society in general. By getting news from multiple different sources we can have a more informed opinion. 

References Echo chamber. ECPS. (2020, December 26). https://www.populismstudies.org/Vocabulary/echo-chamber/  Mitchell, A. (2021, February 22). 1. About a quarter of Republicans, Democrats consistently turned only to news outlets whose audiences aligned with them politically in 2020. Pew Research Center’s Journalism Project. https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2021/02/22/about-a-quarter-of-republicans-democrats-consistently-turned-only-to-news-outlets-whose-audiences-aligned-with-them-politically-in-2020/  Tran, K. (2022, September 21). Trends in gen Z news consumption. Morning Consult Pro. https://pro.morningconsult.com/analysis/gen-z-trust-social-media-news-consumption

Diffusion of Ideas: Snapchat

A new innovation that revolutionized the world is Snapchat. Since being developed, it has become one of the most popular ways for people to communicate. According to TechCrunch, “ Snapchat has now grown to over 750 million monthly active users.” (Perez, Snapchat announces 750M monthly active users 2023.) When such a large percentage of people switch the way they interact with each other, it is not done overnight. There was a substantial process to get to that point.

It is important to understand what Diffusion Theory is to understand how Snapchat became so influential. “ 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. The diffusion of innovations theory seeks to explain how and why new ideas and practices are adopted, including why the adoption of new ideas can be spread out over long periods.” (Halton, Diffusion of innovations theory: Definition and examples 2023.) 750 million people using Snapchat every single month is absolutely massive in terms of relevance. 

The reason that Snapchat became such a popular innovation is because it became the cool app to use. Once people’s friends started using Snapchat due to the great way of communicating with sending pictures and messages to each other, they started to use it as well. The best way for something to become popular is to win broad social appeal. That is what happened with Snapchat. Particularly, once influencers started utilizing Snapchat a lot, that encourages even more people to adopt the new innovation of messaging on Snapchat. “ 34% of people say they use Snapchat more than other social media while hanging out with friends. This is likely because it’s become a common way to capture memories with those they’re closest to. 19% of users turn to Snapchat while shopping and 14% use it while attending social events.” (Shepherd, 24 essential snapchat statistics you need to know in 2023.) That appeal of their memories becoming easy to save and be able to share fun times with their friends is what made Snapchat so influential.

With any new innovation, there are different times when people start to use it. Over time, a successful innovation will get more popular. However, there need to be people that get involved earlier on to help make it more widely used. “The main players in the theory are innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.” (Halton, Diffusion of innovations theory: Definition and examples 2023.) The early adopters here were those that started using the app when it was newer. I believe that one of the main reasons that Snapchat had so many early adopters was because the actual method of communication is much more efficient. Unlike other platforms which use longer posts, Snapchat had pictures that don’t need to save and messages that can go away quickly. These new innovations helped to make the app better for someone who is messaging a lot and doesn’t want to have to do long posts. By using Snapchat, they could easily showcase what they were up to and let their friends know. If people were going to a sports game, they could present those pictures on their Snapchat Story to their friends as well as message with other friends fast. This quick method of communication can be great for someone who has a lot to do and needs to get their messages out fast as well as to as big of an audience as they want. 

A reason that so many people wait to adopt a new innovation can be because it could be intimidating in general to learn something that is very different from what someone is used to. This can apply to so many new innovations and technologies. However, some people may have preferred to wait and see if Snapchat became popular before spending time to learn how it works. 

Additionally, some people choose not to be on social media at all. There are a variety of reasons for this such as privacy concerns and not wanting to be on their phones too much. As with so many other things, there are pros and cons to using Snapchat. Someone who chooses not to use it at all has the negative effect of not being able to see what their friends on Snapchat are sharing and be able to communicate with them on it. They do get a benefit of not having to worry about privacy because they aren’t using it. I believe that the negatives do not outweigh the positives in this situation because using Snapchat gives someone so many new opportunities such as being able to more easily communicate with their friends.  This can be particularly true for those that want to show a large number of people what they are doing because they can send the same photo on Snapchat to so many people at once. People can make the decision of if the positives outweigh the negatives for them based on which things they value more with regard to concerns about privacy and being able to message with so many of their friends quickly. 

References

Halton, C. (2023, June 21). Diffusion of innovations theory: Definition and examples. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/diffusion-of-innovations-theory.asp 

Perez, S. (2023, February 17). Snapchat announces 750M monthly active users. TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/16/snapchat-announces-750-million-monthly-active-users/ 

Shepherd, J. (n.d.). 24 essential snapchat statistics you need to know in 2023. The Social Shepherd. https://thesocialshepherd.com/blog/snapchat-statistics#:~:text=34%25%20of%20people%20say%20they,it%20while%20attending%20social%20events. 

Blog #6: Antiwar Movement in the United States

As World War One began, the antiwar movement were those that opposed the United States from getting involved. In general, members of the antiwar movement oppose involvement in foreign military conflicts. 

From my research on this topic, I saw that going back to World War One, the United States worked hard to suppress any dissent against the official narrative of going to war. As I learned from Smithsonian Magazine, “ Meanwhile, President Woodrow Wilson’s Democratic administration launched an intense propaganda effort to bolster support for the war, along with one of the most aggressive campaigns of political repression in U.S. history. Empowered by the Espionage Act, passed by Congress in June 1917, the government blocked the mailing of anti-war newspapers and arrested 2,000 protesters on charges of inspiring resistance to military recruitment. States passed sedition laws and arrested dissenters. The American Defense Society, a right-wing vigilante group, pulled anti-war speakers off soapboxes in New York City.” (Trickey, When America's most prominent socialist was jailed for speaking out against World War I 2018.) This showed me that from a long time ago, there was very little tolerance for opposition to war. The ways that those who supported U.S. involvement in World War One went about achieving their objectives of silencing dissent ranged from the government actually arresting dissidents to more informal methods of simply preventing them from speaking. This is not different from what happens in current times. From reading websites like Antiwar, I saw that those who oppose wars are rarely given a platform in mainstream media and so I was unfamiliar with many of the writers. 

I believe that the lack of a platform for people who align with the Antiwar movement is not an accident. It seems as though once the narrative of going to war is decided, the mainstream media goes about preventing opposition from voicing their opinions. The way that this is done is simple. They do not give them spots on the most popular news shows or newspapers. Instead, they have to write in much lesser known publications that are unlikely to attract a lot of attention or make a serious impact. 

When a country goes to war, they look to maintain a lot of support from the public. They want people to stand with the government and military in order to be united against an enemy. When the news media dissents from this, they can lead to a loss of support for the war. An example of this is with the Vietnam War, when Walter Cronkite did a broadcast in Vietnam. “ The February 1968 assessment by Walter Cronkite, the anchor of the CBS Evening News (known as “the most trusted man in America”), that the conflict was “mired in stalemate” was seen by many as the signal of a sea change in reporting about Vietnam, and it is said to have inspired Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson to state, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.”.”  (The Vietnam War and the Media 2023. Encyclopedia Britannica.) This shows that when the public has seen the news reporting negatively on a conflict, they may start to oppose the conflict. Therefore, countries can be concerned about allowing reporting from the Antiwar movement to be allowed in the mainstream media. 

A reason that people would have to seek out these opinions in other publications is because the mainstream news sources do not want to publish Antiwar opinions. They may prefer to stay with the narrative that other news sources are presenting that is not in support of the Antiwar movement. 

Overall, I have not noticed the Antiwar movement to be shown a lot in mainstream news sources. There has been a lot of opposition to dissent from wars historically, which can go back to World War One.

Sources

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2023, April 24). The Vietnam War and the Media. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Vietnam-War-and-the-media-2051426 

Trickey, E. (2018, June 15). When America’s most prominent socialist was jailed for speaking out against World War I. Smithsonian.com. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/fiery-socialist-challenged-nations-role-wwi-180969386/ 

Blog #5: Twitter

Twitter revolutionized the world. It was invented by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams in 2006. Twitter is a social media platform that is very popular. According to Reuters, the number of daily users is “238 million.” (Reuters.) It is utilized to talk to friends, spread news, advertise, and serve as a town square digitally. 

Twitter started as just a concept among a few people. According to LifeWire, “ Twitter began as an idea that Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey (@Jack) had in 2006. Dorsey had originally imagined Twitter as an SMS-basedcommunications platform. Groups of friends could keep tabs on what each other were doing based on their status updates. Like texting, but not.”  (LifeWire.) Like many other brilliant inventions, it was created with a simple idea of being able to bring people closer together. This was in a time when social media was just getting started. Therefore, they wanted to provide a place for people to gather online. That framework allowed Twitter to expand into new spheres over time. The impact that Twitter ultimately had will be far beyond messaging among friends.

The problem that they were trying to solve was not a small one. Friendships falling apart over time is a common problem due to the distance between people. It is common for people who were at one times living near each other to move to different states or countries. The way that Twitter fixed this problem was to enable the friends to remain in contact, no matter how far away from each other they might be.

Twitter changed the way that communication is done significantly. According to CNN, “ With Twitter, it's fast on steroids. In the Twitter echo chamber, all it takes is a few users with big follower counts to share something. With one click, those followers share it with their own followers. And the wildfire is set ablaze.” (CNN.) This means that one of the ways in which Twitter changed the way people communicate is that it is done in a much faster and more efficient way. Prior to this, one of the most popular ways that people communicated was over the phone. For having a conversation with a friend, a message on Twitter is way quicker as well as easier because now they don’t need to be available at the same time as you in the way a phone call requires.

Twitter had a huge effect on global politics. For example, former President Donald Trump used Twitter for a variety of purposes to communicate his messages. “He used the platform to tell Cabinet secretaries they’d been fired and to jawbone big corporations by name; he used it as a tool of diplomacy, if you could use that word, to threaten war personally against the president of Iran and brag about American nukes to intimidate North Korea.” (Politico.) This is important because it transformed Twitter from a place where conversations were had among friends to a place where news was made. If there was something he wanted to let his supporters know, he could just tweet it out. One of the great things for Twitter is that it encouraged more people to use their platform if they wanted to know the latest things going on politically. The fact that major events could be both done on and reported on with Twitter is significant.

Overall, Twitter has had a major impact on the world. It is used for various different reasons ranging from politics to news to keeping up with friends. These different areas of life that Twitter has changed are why Twitter is one of the most important new inventions.

Sources

https://www.lifewire.com/history-of-twitter-3288854

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/01/09/trump-twitter-ban-suspended-analysis-456817

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/03/21/twitter.birthday.communication/index.html

https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-where-did-tweeters-go-twitter-is-losing-its-most-active-users-internal-2022-10-25/

Blog #4: Eight Values of Free Expression

There are eight values of free expression. The first value is the Marketplace of Ideas. This value is very important for me because it helps the best ideas to be brought forward. This means that many ideas will compete against each other and the best one will gain broad acceptance by the general public. For example, if one person wants to pass a law that banned a product and someone else wants to keep them around, they would have the opportunity to debate these ideas and ultimately the one which people agree with will be successful. 

The value feels the most personal to me is protecting dissent. In order for a society to even be able to discuss the most basic ideas, people need to be comfortable in sharing their ideas. Therefore, a society where minority views are not allowed will have a great lack of new ideas as well as respect for others. 

An idea being popular or unpopular shouldn’t matter when having discussions. The right for every person to be able to voice their ideas is a tremendous thing. 

Protecting dissent is particularly important when it comes to political issues. There are many situations where the vast majority of people may be on one side. If all minority views were suppressed, the country may well end up making the wrong decision. 

A value that I believe is in action today is Check on Governmental Power. This means that by utilizing the rights within the First Amendment, people can be a check on government overreach. Checks and balances are important because they prevent a particular branch of the government from going too far in exercising authority over the people. 

An example of this value in action is during the COVID restrictions where particular government officials were caught violating their own rules. In such situations, the information was able to be widely reported due to freedom of the press. Historically this has also been important because of other scandals.

The First Amendment ensures many freedoms including the Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Speech. These freedoms are essential in a democracy. This is because Freedom of Speech allows people to criticize their government and discuss these scandals. The Freedom of the Press is important because it allows the media to publish these stories about scandals.

These theories can be applied to social media. For example, Twitter was used to launch the campaign of Ron DeSantis for president. This relates to the value of Individual Self Fulfillment because people who support him were able to gather virtually in order to promote this message. Individual Self Fulfillment is made possible by the First Amendment, particularly with Freedom of Speech.

In a country that didn’t have Freedom of Speech, a campaign against a leader couldn’t happen so publicly and be allowed to happen. The rights that are promised in The Constitution allowed this free discussion. Every person being able to choose their own opinions as well as discuss them is part of what makes a free society.

Sources

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/05/24/politics/ron-desantis-fec-filing-2024/index.html

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-11-18/newsom-french-laundry-dinner-explanation-photos-jason-kinney-california-medical-association-covid-19