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.