FINAL BLOG POST

 My Relationship With Technology 

A device perfectly sized to the amount of a back pocket, a small clutch, or a hand. The iPhone gives us many reasons to be appreciative of the technology we have in today's age. iPhones' gives us Siri, a perfect example of artificial intelligence, 

maps to get us to our desired destinations, and loads of social media apps that lure the brains of many around the globe. Today, we grow and thrive with immediate access to hand-held technology. 

As technology has been a prominent form of communication and education, you could very well argue it has given us many benefits. For example, being able to FaceTime or Skype others in different parts of the country is something everyone is grateful for. I know I am. In my senior year of high school, I moved along the East Coast, and not being able to see my friends or family for long periods of time was often hard but the goodbye was often, "Only a FaceTime call away!" For that, I am so grateful. I was able to see my friends and family members through the screen of my phone when I was many miles away. Education during the times of the 2019 pandemic helped me keep up with my studies in the form of "Google Meets" or "Zoom." Without this, kids all over the globe would've struggled to gain more educational values. 

Social media apps such as TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat provide a way to connect with my friends and keep each other updated on what is new in their lives. 

Although technology can be a great way to stay connected, there are many reasons why it can be considered an invasion of our private lives, and the idea of taking away the essence of "living in the moment." We use internet browsers such as Google in our everyday lives and really think nothing of it. Because it's always at the tip of our fingers, it's so easy to forget about the deeper meaning of how a website operates, what information "they" know, and how "they" always know what your next search may be. 

Throughout the semester, learning about all types of technology, artificial intelligence, and the government, was truly an eye-opening experience. I was able to discover some dark truths about the digital world we live in today. This made me want to become more aware of my presence on social media which could be classified as a "digital footprint." When looking myself up on Google, I came across several of my social media profiles such as my Twitter account, SoundCloud, Instagram, and LinkedIn. My face was displayed as my profile picture on Google Images. Seeing this was quite surprising although there was nothing inappropriate, I wouldn't really want my future boss to see a younger version of myself posing with the "duck face" on a worldwide internet website. 

Something that I will never forget was watching the documentary produced by FRONTLINE. In the video, In the Age of AI Shoshana Zuboff, a Harvard Business School professor emerita talks about her years of research. In 1988, she wrote a definitive book called "In the Age of the Smart Machine." She discusses the term "Surveillance Capitalism" throughout her section of the documentary. Briefly, this is the idea of a private human experience. Zuboff discusses this idea because we think our information stays private on the internet and browsers such as Google but in reality, it is just the opposite. Her studies included Google's creators Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1998 when Google had just started. 

From the beginning, they were very public about how they would advertise and market their site. There was a set of discoveries that during the dotcom crash, Google began to flourish as it was the default search engine for millions of people around the world. It then appeared that whenever a search would be made, digital traces of our own personal behavior would be left behind. Soon after, they began to make revenue because of this. This was kept a secret from millions of people because of the way they were getting people's personal information. There have been so many private corporations that have built surveillance around us without our permission. 

This idea is very similar to what happened with over 87 billion Facebook users during the 2016 presidential campaign. A political company from the UK harvested personal information from users to get more insight into the election. Anyone with a lot of money can buy data which can affect our democracy which is what happened in this case. Mark Zuckerberg took responsibility for this mistake and was fined $5 billion and then added better security and privacy settings to Facebook users. 

It's very important in today's digital world to take responsibility and remember that websites and social media apps are really never private. Now knowing that digital companies have way more insight into me than I really think, I'm going to become more aware of how I use the internet and social media sites. I think it's also very important for people all over the world to become more educated about this topic so people can live better secure lives. 

Because I have grown up in a society where social media is at its peak, it is hard to limit yourself to the technology you use and the amount of time a day you spend on your devices. I face this struggle daily with the fear of missing out on plans or a funny text I received from a friend if I'm not on my phone. Limiting my use of technology is something I am trying to work on to better myself, and to be more productive but mainly, to protect my privacy. 

I am thankful for the technology I have access to today but remembering my personal information is somewhere out there in the cloud of internet browsers is something that is very important to continue to stay aware of.

BLOG POST #11

 EOTO Reaction

"False Flags"

After listening to Caleb Leventhal's presentation on the topic of "False Flags" I was very informed of all of the information and learned many new things. To summarize the idea of what false flags are, they are fake military attacks, which then create a deception towards a specific territory.

An example of a false flag was used in the operation of Northwoods in the year of 1962. This operation was a plan signed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1962 but was rejected by President Kennedy. It was also known as the "Cuba Project" which was a proposed order to invade Cuba.

This false flag operation was planned with the idea of using fake terrorist attacks caused by the CIA toward American citizens, then blaming it on Cuba to spark a war. This particular operation was proposed to do a number of things including actively causing terrorism in the US, assassinating immigrants from Cuba, and attacking and hijacking ships and planes.

A more recent example can be considered the Douma chemical attack in 2018. This was considered a chemical warfare attack which resulted in the death of 43 people. There were many conflicting reports from this operation as Ukraine and Russia both denied it.

 Ultimately, false flags are created to cause hate against various nations, and views on nationality and religion can also be warped from this idea. This damages the relationship between the government and the people. 

BLOG POST #9

 EOTO

NEWS DESERTS

After doing some major research on the topic of "News Desserts" I have found that the UNC Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media defines it as a community, either rural or urban, with limited access to the sort of credible and comprehensive news and information that feeds democracy at the grassroots level.

You may think it's no big deal... I can look it up on my phone! However, you do not want that to be the case, especially for those highly involved in their community who want a valuable source of news. Newspapers provide communities and neighborhoods with valuable information such as government, health, and environmental issues. Because local newspapers have always been the main traditional source of providing information, communities are going to struggle because of the disappearance of newspapers throughout recent years. 

 

"Between the pre-pandemic months of late 2019 and the end of May 2022, more than 360 newspapers closed, the report by Medill’s Local News Initiative found. Since 2005, the country has lost more than one-fourth of its newspapers and is on track to lose a third by 2025 (Northwestern News)." There is now over 1/5 of the country left without news. This can be considered a crisis for our democracy and society, leaving people with limited sources to find out information.

 

A report from The Washington Post states, “Invariably, the economically struggling, traditionally underserved communities that need local journalism the most are the very places where it is most difficult to sustain either print or digital news organizations.” As new deserts keep increasing, more than 70 million people are a loss of local news. 

Although there are still areas in the United States that are receiving newspapers, a huge amount of local journalists have been laid off because of the increase in news deserts. Not only is it hurting the professions of many journalists, but it is hurting society as a whole. False information is more easily spread without a source of news, and voter participation begins to decline along with a very corrupt side to businesses and government organizations.  

Why is this happening? You may ask.

The digital world of news media is thriving! Media outlets began to grow from huge profits through articles off of the internet because it was cheap, and quick to publish. However, this is not a good thing whatsoever. 

Josh Marshall, journalist, and founder of Talking Points Memo believes that the whole age of digital news has been entirely based on lies. 

Social media has changed how news is reported and how users perceive it on various social media platforms. People can now post about an event that has already happened on their own platforms to record what they see and hear. For the most part, social media is a very poor credible source to rely on for news. 

To begin, FAKE NEWS is a problem that has been around for centuries and is only going to keep evolving with the use of social media platforms and technology. An article written about the subject of fake news published by three MIT professors, Sinan Aral, Deb Roy, and Soroush Vosough declared, “they found falsehoods are 70% more likely to be retweeted on Twitter than the truth and reach their first 1,500 people six times faster.” Knowing this is a scary thought, especially knowing how many people love to scroll through their Twitter feed and react to political information being spread. 

Clickbait is another reason why fake news exists because an ad will present you with an exaggerated photo to grab your attention. It is an extensive issue, especially in today's society, where most people are on almost every social media platform. 

Obtaining news is important to read from a variety of trusted sources. It is important to have more than one source and to keep an open mind. 

Anyway...

Wouldn't it be nice to have the good ol' newspaper back with a hot cup of coffee? 

BLOG POST #10

 LIVING IN THE AGE OF AI

"It wasn't that the computers beat the humans it was that one type of intelligence beat another." 

Learning about the game AlphaGo and its success with using artificial intelligence was truly mind-blowing. Showing that AI could process a massive amount of data at once more than a human could handle was something I have never learned about before. There is so much great potential and prosperity for what AI can do. There have already been so many improvements in AI since the game which is significant for the future we face. 

Although artificial intelligence can be seen as a huge improvement in technology, it can take over society in a negative way. For example, there are already so many jobs being lost due to AI such as cashiers. Fast food restaurants... specifically, McDonald's already have touch-screen ordering. This is just the beginning too. 

Artificial Intellengence has been a significant factor in increased inequality in the United States. For the next several decades it's going to be a big problem for the economy if AI continues to grow and prosper which is a scary thought.

Harry Cripps was a guest in the video and mentioned how he was scared of the future for this entire country if life continues in an automated system which I have to agree with as well. Because the future is being shaped by big, successful companies, how are smaller companies still going to prosper?

The technology today is so smart and has so much control over us it is scary to not have any control over our own lives. Surveillance capitalism is a private human experience that collects all of our human behaviors. When we search Google, Google is really searching us. 

In the Age of AI was truly eye-opening for me from learning about AI to knowing the secrets of Google. I never realized how much the internet actually knows from just doing a simple search. It's crazy to think that some people have no idea what happens behind the scenes. I truly believe if more people were aware of these circumstances, there would be fewer internet users. 

I will now never trust the internet again!

BLOG POST #8

DIGITAL PRIVACY

After watching and interpreting Andy Yens TedTalk on digital privacy, I can strongly say that I no longer feel safe using internet websites and emails. Yen discusses that the most widely forms of communication are sent through emails. Before we sent emails, people sent letters that no one had access to because they had no digital footprint. Nowadays, any website has access to read any email you send without you even knowing. 

Yen suggests that people should be using encryptions to protect their servers however it's not as easy as it seems because still with those, the government can have access to your personal information. Knowing this information affects me because knowing that many people out there have access to my personal information makes me feel uneasy. As for my friends and family, many of them are unaware of how much the internet actually knows about them which is why I feel it's really important for people in today's society to be educated on this topic. 

If the government could solve the issue of large companies such as google stealing our personal information such as our address, birthday, likes, and dislikes it would be a must safer place. However, that is why companies like Google are thriving because of all of the advertisements they make from learning more about us. 

In Andy Yens TedTalk he states that the big internet companies are making over 137 billion dollars in advertisements. I honestly think there should be a much more secure search engine that doesn't allow location permission settings or asks for any of your personal information to keep everyone safer from these issues regarding digital privacy. If there was a way the government could make a secure base I think that could solve a lot of issues but then if there are no advertisements for finding people's information, how are they going to make a profit? 

To protect ourselves from invasions of our privacy, it is important to remember where you are submitting your personal information on the internet. Using a secure web browser, unlike Google.  Honestly, I think being smart and thinking through before using the internet is the best option. Now knowing that there are companies out there invading my privacy, I will be much more careful about what I submit on certain websites. 

BLOG POST #7

 DIFFUSION THEORY

After reading Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations on Wikipedia, I learned that the adoption of a new idea is influenced by five key factors: the innovation itself, adopters, communication channels, time, and a social system.

Immediately, I thought of an app that is used a very substantial amount in our society today, especially amongst the age group of 18-24. The app being, TikTok.

    TikTok is an app where you can start scrolling around 10:00 pm and look at the clock when it feels like only a few minutes had passed meanwhile it's been hours. Personally, I have done this numerous times and then proceed to ruin my whole sleep schedule... 

TikTok ultimately caught on the spread of becoming a new technology for people to constantly scroll on because there are so many engaging creators making content all around the world every day. During the 2019 quarantine era is when most of my friends and I latched on to the idea of following the new dance and lip-syncing trends. It was a way to feel connected to my friends in different towns and cities and learn more about influencers. TikTok is a platform where people can easily become recognizable as the app has become more personal and shows videos based on an algorithm of likes and comments, favorable to your account. 

From what I noticed while using this app, I can consider my mother, aunts, and uncles as late adopters after seeing my cousins and I rant and rave about the app, they wanted to see what was so special about it. They joined and became just as entertained as my cousins and I were. Now today, at least once daily, a TikTok video is sent to our family group text. 

Because it is so easy to lie down and scroll endlessly on the app, it is clear that there is a downside to this new technology because it is so addictive and entertaining it can be sometimes challenging to exit the app. 

There was a study done by Dr. Nia Williams at Bangor University where students had to delete their TikTok account during final exam period because they were spending way too much time on it. The constant scrolling with a personalized algorithm on TikTok leads young people to get addicted because of the release of dopamine that gets sent into the brain. 

Although this app can often lead me to chuckle, I honestly think it would be best for me to limit the time I spend on it or delete it from my phone because it's ultimately a distraction in my everyday lifestyle and makes it hard for me to get certain tasks done because I want to keep scrolling. The age of TikTok entertaining but really not beneficial.

BLOG POST #6

 ETO PRESENTATION REFLECTION

After reflecting and listening to Maddie Berl's presentation on Bluetooth technology, I was grateful to say that I have never learned so much about one topic in a short amount of time that is so looked upon in today's society. Today, technology is such a prominent device in our world. We should all be grateful for the advancement of Bluetooth because it is what makes our world of communication through smart technology so seamless. Bluetooth was developed by a Swedish telecom vendor named, L.M. Ericsson dating back to the year of 1994. It was created to transmit data wirelessly among various different places. Bluetooth started off as a problem-solving invention because of all the different ways it became invented. 

At first, there was a lack of transmitting the same message between two different devices before its final advancements. The tiny chip inside each device is what creates Bluetooth communication successful. It has been rapidly developed since 2004. There are constantly new features being added on because of constant security threats. Although Bluetooth is a great tool to have, it can often lead to security breaches and hackers can access unlimited information without you even knowing. 

Besides the problem of unsafe uses of this invention, Bluetooth has certainly made a hands-free lifestyle a reality in technologies like Amazon Alexa, HandsFree Apple Car Play, and even health inventions like pacemakers. With this, the increase in productivity has improved substantially. Along with making healthcare in this current time seamless. 

We can be grateful for the advancement of this new Bluetooth technology in helping world communication, healthcare, and the business world for its improvement in technology.