It is no secret that people in our modern society have a strong relationship with technology. Anybody who is reading this has a relationship with technology. Technology is one of the greatest things available to us today. More specifically, the internet is easily one of the most impactful inventions the world has ever seen. According to statista.com, an estimated 5.19 billion people have access to the internet. That is roughly 64.6% of the entire global population. All of these people have access to essentially every piece of information they could ever need about any topic, in their pocket. If you had to tell that fact to a person living one hundred years ago, they would've looked at you like you have three heads.
The benefits of the internet are almost innumerable. It allows people to communicate to people anywhere on the planet. People rely on it for work and their income. Most importantly, it allows to rapid advances in medicinal technology to help save lives all across the world. Overall, it can be used for nearly every task imaginable. Personally, I use the internet mainly for social media communication. I always have my phone open to communicate plans for the day with my friends, family, and even professors. I also use it to make money, as many people do. The internet allows me to connect with my clients from anywhere, helping me run my small business as efficiently as I can. I also really like the internet for entertainment. Like many people nowadays, I'm guilty of mindlessly swiping on TikTok and Instagram for large portions of the day.
This brings me into the negatives of the internet. Cyberbullying did not exist before the implementation of cell phones and computers. Many people experience some sort of hate or bullying while online, and it results in depression, suicides, or anxiety. People tend to bully more online rather than in-person because they can hide behind a computer screen. They receive minimal to no consequences for their actions. When online, people can also choose to be anonymous, which aids to the frequency of cyberbullying. One topic usually forgotten when discussing the internet is your digital footprint. Everything you have ever posted or commented on is being kept as data somewhere. When you are online, it is important to remember that nothing on the internet actually disappears forever. My personal biggest fear is my future employer denying me a job position because of a picture that was taken of me years ago. This is why I have been super careful to not post anything that I wouldn't want my close family seeing. It is crucial that your appearance online is the absolute best version of yourself. Another negative of technology is that it isn't super cheap for how necessary it is. It costs thousands of dollars for new technology nowadays, which it ridiculous when you're live would be extremely difficult without it. For example, if I couldn't afford a phone, I would not be able to email my professors, check my grades, or turn in assignments. I personally don't like the fact that having a smartphone in this world in now a necessity. I have been trying to use my phone less and less so that I can enjoy my life more, but society keeps dragging me back in. This leads us into the question, "When does it ever stop?" Truthfully, I don't think it will. Technology will continue to evolve and build on top of itself. For the sake of future generations, I hope it can be managed in such a way that the positives continue to significantly outweigh the negatives.
The documentary video explained how Artificial Intelligence and machines are becoming increasingly more present in our daily lives. I learned about how AI can now do human-like tasks, better than any human could ever do. For example, the documentary showed how researchers developed a specific AI to learn to master a very difficult board game. The AI was able to beat the best player in the world multiple times, proving its competence. This also shows how powerful AI can be when it is properly made. The scary part is what could happen when it is not given any restrictions.
Another important takeaway is that AI and machines are taking over many peoples jobs. The video covers a small industrial town, where the economy is based almost entirely on manufacturing. Many people who live in this town work at factories in production and assembly lines. Machines are quickly replacing all off the manual labor in the city, leaving many people without jobs. The reason the companies are doing this is because they don't have to worry about paying the machines are hourly wage. Machines also don't need to take sick days, vacation days, and they can work 24/7. The workers who live in this town have gone on strike, showing that they don't want machines to take all of their jobs.
Artificial Intelligence is not entirely a negative thing. It can allow people to learn and study in an entirely new way. For example, chat GPT can help somebody by explaining a very specific and complicated topic in a manner that is easy to understand. You can even ask it to explain the topic to you like to are a five year old. When utilizing AI in the correct way, it can be incredibly useful to have a general understanding of a topic in a short period of time. Of course, it is completely wrong to use AI to cheat in school, however, it can be used to help you study. AI can easily explain certain topics to you that you are struggling with, helping you study better. When used in a proper manner, it can be a very helpful tool. For example, I could ask an AI to give me a brief summary of a historical figures life. This way, when I get to class, I could understand what the professor is talking about so that I won't fall behind in class. It is important to adapt to the future or else you won't ever become successful. This is the foundation to the "work smarter, not harder" motto.
To give it a definition, alternative media is any type of media that is not under control of a business opportunity or government agency. For example, alternative media consists of personal websites, e-books, e-magazines, and streamed audio. This is different than traditional media, which includes mainstream newspapers, radio stations, and television channels and shows. Alternative media includes many smaller forms of media that the average person wouldn't really use. The main function of alternative media is to provide non-bias and different perspectives of media than what is main streamed. To elaborate, social media posts and comments on those posts will usually have a different perspective on a situation than the news channel. The opinions of the general public are more relatable rather than the opinions of the news company. Also, a benefit of alternative media is that it can be less biased, as people can more easily express their opinions. Mainstream news outlets are able to filter out certain parts of the news that they do to wish to share and popularize. The government also has a big say in what larger news outlets are allowed to talk about. On the contrary, the government absolutely cannot block out what the general public has to say, especially in the form of alternative media. Alternative media is becoming more and more prominent as time goes on. With the presence of social media, people can share their opinions much more easily than in the past few decades. Especially in todays climate, people are not as afraid to express their opinions to others and the government. This is a relatively good thing, as it is always important that people try to keep others in check. With this, it is also important the general public continues to criticize the government. This way, corruption and censorship can be avoided. Like stated, social media plays a big part in alternative media. Live streams on Instagram of live action news stories are a good example of how social media can get involved in alternative media. Tweets also provide brief information and updates that also include the users personal opinions. Social media as a form of alternative media has a big presence among younger generations. Young teens have access to social media, and hundreds of forms of alternative media.
The first Ted Talk video, by Juan Enriquez, is about the awareness people need to have about the things they do and say online. It also goes in depth about how people can now use facial recognition software to find out almost anything about you. This is because your face is tied to all the accounts you use. For example, the facial scanner with use your face, and find Facebook accounts matching your identity. Then it will know about where you live, the things you eat, and what your hobbies are. The speaker mainly relates your online presence to a tattoo. It is completely permanent and it will be with you for the rest of your life. You should also expect that people will be able to see your tattoos, as well as form their own opinions on them. This analogy is a great way to explain the importance of staying safe while using social media of any type.
In the second video, Catherine Crump talks about how the government actively uses automatic license plate scanners to track your daily life. Cameras are attached to stop lights, traffic signs, and even police cruisers. With all the information they are able to gather about you, they are then able to figure out where you go on a regular basis. This means that the government will know where you get your groceries, if you go to church, and even how many kids you have. This is an extreme invasion of privacy, and more people should be educated on this topic. The government should be more open to the public about the data they are collecting form us. I believe that if the general public were to know about this occurring, there would be massive protests and strikes across the country.
The third video is about the government and their ability to invade our privacy when it comes to phone calls, emails, and texts. Over a landline phone, the government can easily listen to all of our conversations as if they were the person we called. However, with smart phones, they can't do this. This is because modern day smart phones have layers and layers of encryption to help prevent this. Apple does not even have access to the text messages we send to each other. The purpose of this Ted Talk is to educate people of the fact that the government is pushing for the ability to listen to our conversations. They claim they want this power so that they can catch criminals and prevent crime. However, not everyone is a criminal, so it is not fair to the law-abiding citizens. Also, the general public does not want the government to have access to our private messages. In the fourth video, Darieth Chisolm tells a story about a horrible period of her life, where her ex-boyfriend got revenge. He had taken explicit photos of her while she was sleeping and posted them on a website with the purpose of humiliating her. Obviously, Chisolm was devastated, as well as filled with anxiety and anger. This story should be used as an example to show others why you should never take explicit photos and videos of yourself. You should also never consent to anything if you feel even slightly uncomfortable. In her case, she had to deal with an extremely toxic and abusive boyfriend. If you are ever put in that situation, it is crucial that you seek help immediately.
Everett Rogers and his famous "Diffusion of Innovations Theory" can be applied to nearly any major technology. The theory gives a representation of how a technology will rise and fall in terms of relevance and popularity over time. A fantastic example of a recent technology that follows this theory is the popular social media app, Instagram.
Since Instagram was the first easy method of sharing photos with friends and family, it grew in popularity very quickly. The rapid increase in popularity meant that it flew past the early adopters phase relatively quickly. However, first the innovators phase needs to be discussed. This phase is dedicated to the very first contributors to the technology. This includes the founders, early investors, and a small percentage of the first users. This stage is arguably the most important, as a strong foundation is needed to build a successful technology. Instagram gained traction very quickly, as it was a completely new concept that resonated very well with the public. The app had an incredibly strong early adopters and early majority phase due to it growing to over a billion users in 2018. Users kept using the app frequently, due to consistent updates that added interesting new features and easier accessibility. I would argue that Instagram is currently in the late majority phase. This is because nearly everybody has the app, or has at least heard of it. There aren't a whole lot of people who are just finding out about the app for the very first time. However, the app is still incredibly popular for being created in 2010. In the next few years, I believe it will still be a very popular app, but it will slowly creep towards the laggards phase.
Some people will not be adopters at all, meaning they will never download and use Instagram. This isn't a bad thing at all, as the app is mainly used for leisure and not productivity. It can usually be a distraction from work and other important activities throughout the day, so keeping it off of your phone isn't a bad idea. On the positive side, it is a great way to keep in touch with friends and to be able to see what they are up to. When a new technology comes out, it is important to weigh the positives and the negatives to ensure the product is valuable enough to you.
Online influencers are people who have gained a large following on social media due to the things they have said and the things they have done. These people have large amounts of influence, which can be a very effective tool when used in the right ways. With all of this influence, many positive and negative events can occur. To elaborate, if an influencer decides to spread awareness about a lesser known charity, the amount of donations to that charity will likely increase significantly. Influencers can easily spread positive messages, as long as they understand their audiences. If Kim Kardashian posted about a charity for helping feed homeless children in California, it would be significantly more effective than if she advertised a charity for wounded warriors. This is because the majority of her fanbase are young females, and they are more likely to support something they can somewhat relate too. Negative ways influencers can impact their audience is if they believe and support something that has a negative impact on the people around them. For example, some influencers in the past few years got caught promoting scams, such as NFT, cryptocurrency, and gambling scams. This basically means that they told their audience to perform a specific task, with intentions of financial gain. These are just a few examples of how online influencers can make a huge difference of somebody's life.
The first online influencers looked completely different than the ones that we see today. They consisted of early bloggers, TV show hosts, and news personality's. Some of the first bloggers that were considered influencers were "mommy bloggers." In short, mommy bloggers were new moms that posted tips, tricks, tutorials, and struggles on their blogs. Many women across the world followed these blogs as they wanted to be educated on how to properly take care of a baby. This concept grew throughout the early 2000s, which led to blogs to spread to almost any topic imaginable. Online influencers began spreading to platforms such as Youtube, Instagram, Twitch, and recently, TikTok. These relatively new apps allow them to create and post monetized content for others to enjoy. Influencers of these platforms hold significantly more influence than you could imagine. For example, some big name youtubers gain over a billion views every year. That is more people impacted in one year than the population of nearly every country in the world. With this, these influencers can significantly impact politics and election results. With a large number of followers, people can create an opinionated post and have thousands of people agree with what was said. Fortunately, many large influencers stay away from talking about politics, as if they chose to be a republican or democrat, they could immediately lose half of their fanbase. Obviously, vocalizing your political opinions isn't necessarily good for business, as not everybody is going to agree with you.
It is no secret that the government filters news in such a way that we only hear what they want us to hear. Nearly all mainstream news outlets cover the exact same events, but with their own bias thrown into the mix. This makes it difficult to find purely unbiased and untampered news nowadays. Antiwar.com is a libertarian website built for reaching credible news regarding the plans and actions of the American Government. On their about page, they state: “This site is devoted to the cause of non-interventionism and is read by libertarians, pacifists, leftists, “greens,” and independents alike, as well as many on the Right who agree with our opposition to imperialism.” This libertarian mindset focus's on bring power to the people, by the means of freedom. Founded by the
Randolph Bourne Institute in 1995, the website is dedicated to informing like-minded people about events involving the government. The articles and analysist papers available on this website are often found on mainstream media. For example, one of the first links on their website is titled, "US $2 Billion Loan for Poland to Spend of Military." Without this website, many Americans wouldn't have known that the Biden administration is spending taxpayer money on other countries. Reading deeper into the article, I also found that the US is providing an additional $60 million just to cover the cost of carrying out the loan. It also talks about how there are approximately ten thousand US troops currently stationed in Ukraine. This is all under one linked article on the Antiwar.com website. Once again, these news events will often not be covered by mainstream media outlets, as the government does not want the public eye to talk about these events. Personally, I have never heard of this website before, nor have I been educated about all of the events happening overseas. This shows how the American public needs to be more conscious of how their tax dollars are being spent. Scrolling further down the main page of the website, I found that news articles were being organized by the country. Most articles are for countries in the Middle East, as that is where a lot of conflict occurs. However, there are categories for China, France, and some Latin American countries.
Another website, theamericanconservative.com, acts as a hub for news sources and information. The website titles are about news events that are relevent to the general public. For example, I found one titled, "Yes, Social Media Censorship Is a First Amendment Issue." This article is super relevant as nearly everybody today uses social media in some sort of way. Being censored on these outlets not only restricts what you can hear, but also what you can say. Of course, private companies can do whatever they want, as you did legally agree to their terms and services. This does not mean that censoring the voices of certain people with large amounts of influence is necessarily correct.
