Final Blog Post

MY RELATIONSHIP WITH TECHNOLOGY

    Throughout my life, as each year passes, technology becomes more prevalent and has an important role in my everyday life. In my opinion it has not just taken over my life, but has taken over the lives of everyone that uses it. Technology has had many positive impacts on my life, but also many negatives. It has negatively impacted my mental health as society promotes an unhealthy body image standard to teenage women online. If I am away from my phone for too long I also get an urge to check it, I am uncomfortable and I want to know what is going on. It feels like an addiction, that I can not escape, and this is how many people feel. Social media is addicting. It has become an important part in my life that I can not escape from. Even though I do not want to admit it, I care about what people think about me, and I get validation through social media. As technology comes more prevalent and social media use increases, my addiction has only become worse. 

A part of my life is on my phone, which is frightening to think about. After reviewing my screen time on my phone I found out I am on it for at least 5 hours a day. The horrifying part is that I can't even tell you what I was doing for those five hours except for aimlessly scrolling on social media. I feel like I am wasting a part of my life. I often say to my friends and family that I wished I lived in a time without technology. This is something that I am constantly thinking about, but I do nothing about it. It scares me that technology has taken over so much of my life, but I honestly can not imagine my life without it. I can't stop using it because I would feel disconnected from society and my friends and family, I feel stuck. 

I am scared for the future, but I am grateful that I at least grew up in a society where technology wasn't as prevalent as it is today. Children growing up in the present use technology before they can even talk. I am worried for the future of society and of the next generations who only know a world filled with technology. Watching the "Mad World" video really impacted me because I truly believe that that video is slowly turning into a reality. Sadly I think that the use of technology has become an excepted part of society that people do not think twice about.

 IS INFORMATION RELIABLE? 

Technology has allowed anyone to get information on anything within seconds. But is it always accurate? This is a question that we face as technology is growing and is a primary source for obtaining information.  Although we can access all types of information using technology, it does not mean it is correct and we can not be naive and believe everything we read. In some aspects such as educational reading or information posted online, using technology can make us smarter and understand more about the world. 

On the other hand, it can also mislead us and give us unreliable information. It is important to be open minded, but also understand that just because we are reading something online doesn't mean it is reliable information. Sadly, as technology has become more prevalent in everyday life, the problem of spreading misinformation has increased. According to Tom Ronsenstiel, "Misinformation is not like a plumbing problem you fix. It is a social condition, like crime, that you must constantly monitor and adjust to". BBC Future Now interviewed 50 experts on the challenges that we are going to face in the 21st century. Many of these experts said it was the breakdown of trusted information sources.

“The major new challenge in reporting news is the new shape of truth,”said Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired magazine. “Truth is no longer dictated by authorities, but is networked by peers. For every fact there is a counterfact and all these counterfacts and facts look identical online, which is confusing to most people.” 

This demonstrates how information is becoming less and less reliable as technology usage grows. A study conducted by Pew Research found that "64% of adults believe fake news stories cause a great deal of confusion and 23% said they had shared fabricated political stories themselves – sometimes by mistake and sometimes intentionally." This data is extremely alarming as I had no idea how big of a problem the spread of false information has become in the recent years.

 FRIENDS, FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS

Just like myself, my friends too are addicted to technology. It has become a crucial role in their lives, that they can not live without. This isn't just happening to younger generations though, my parents have started to rely on technology too. As the world changes, people change with it, just because technology was not around when my parents were younger, doesn't mean they shouldn't use it now. For my mothers job she has to use technology all day because she works from home. Even my Grandfather taught himself how to use Instagram and made an account so he could see what all of his grandchildren were doing. 

I feel as if my relationships have changed because of technology. Instead of talking to each other, my friends and I sometimes will just sit and scroll on our phones. We won't speak to each other sometimes for an hour. Even though we are with each other in person, we are not interacting. I feel as if this has negatively impacted some of my friendships. 

Personally, I feel as if this has positively impacted romantic relationships though. In college many relationships are long distance and without technology it would be very difficult to stay in contact. Technology allows us to call and FaceTime each other, making us feel as if we are not as far as we actually are. Technology can be used for good or bad and it can positively or negatively impact relationships depending on how you use it.

 ONLINE FOOTPRINT

An online footprint, better referred to as digital footprint "refers to one's unique set of traceable digital activities, actions, contributions and communications manifested on the Internet or digital devices."  These footprint are permanent, once you do or post something online, it stays there forever. 

I googled myself and I was shocked and alarmed to find my instagram profile picture on an account called Ninja Outreach. I am not surprised this photo was easy to access because all someone has to do is click on my profile to see it, but I am surprised that it was posted on a website. I wanted to further investigate this website but I did not want to click a link I haven't heard of, so I decided it was best to not. 

When I googled my name the only link that came up was a link to my instagram profile as well so in conclusion I know that my instagram is very easy to find and access. I do not post anything I wouldn't want anyone to see so I am not very worried about that. Since I was young my mother has always told me to be careful about what I post because you never know what will come back to haunt you when you are older. 

MY FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, I think that technology is addicting and it will only get worse. We spend too much time using technology and we have become reliant on it. I am afraid of the future as technology advances. This assignment really made me think about my own personal relationship with technology, as well as my relationships with my friends because of technology. I want to challenge myself to do better and limit my screen time throughout this upcoming summer. I want to be more present in the moment and not glued to my phone screen. I will also try to preserve my online footprint and continue to be cautious about what I post online and what websites I use. This is something that everyone should think about and make sure they are not reliant on technology for their whole life. 

Links: https://www.npr.org/2016/11/08/500686320/did-social-media-ruin-election-2016 

https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2017/10/19/the-future-of-truth-and-misinformation-online/ 

https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/what-is-a-digital-footprint 

Blog #11: Illusory Truth Effect

Illusory Truth Effect- What did I learn? 

After watching all of the EOTO presentations, the Illusory Truth Effect stuck out to me the most. The illusory theory can be described as the tendency for on eco believe false information, even though it has been exposed as false several times. In the presentation the quote "repetition makes a lie sound so true" was written on the slide. This quote really stuck out to me because I really understood it. When I was younger I would fight with my sister, and when my parents asked who started it, I would always say her. I would repeat the story of her starting the fights over and over that eventually I even convinced myself that it was true. 

The illusory- truth effect is also known as the illusion of truth, which is a basically what it is. If repeated enough times, the information may be perceived to be true, even if the sources are not credible. This effect is very evident on subjects that people say that they know about, but do not. This effect can happen even if someone had previous knowledge that the information is false. 

Illusory theory plays a big role in campaigns, politics, a rumor, news media, and everyday pop culture. It is up to us to catch wrong doings because false news is everywhere. Many companies share inaccurate information that is repeating over and over again, convincing it's consumers of something that isn't true. 

It is important that we are aware and not naive about the Illusory Truth Effect and not believe everything that we hear. I had no idea what this effect was before it was presented in class, but I can think of many examples in my life where it has had a role. 

Overall, after thinking about this effect I am mind-blown at how much I can relate events in my life to it. We are surrounded by illusory theory every single day, whether it is a friend convincing us of information, or a company convincing us of something. The problem with illusory truth effect is that as humans we want to believe people that we trust because we see them as reliable, but that isn't always the case. 

Sources: https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/illusory-truth-effect 

Blog #9: Whistleblowers

 A whistleblower is a government employee that leaks information about government wrongdoing. They provide the “right information to the right people”, meaning they provide evidence of wrongdoing to a government supervisor or leader. Once this information is given to an authorized recipient, the whistleblower has made what is called a protected disclosure. A protected disclosure is "a disclosure by a Federal employee, contractor, or military member to an authorized recipient of information believed to be a violation of law, rule, or regulation”. Following the protected disclosure, they are offered whistleblower protections. 

If this information is provided to an unauthorized recipient, which is anyone without a security clearance or doesn’t have a need- to- know, it can cause damage to national security. In this case, the whistleblower could be subject to consequences such as administrative, civil, or criminal penalties. 

Whistleblowing protects society because it makes sure that important and critical information gets to the right people. Getting this information to the right people ensures efficient and effective government. It also makes sure that there are no problems with sensitive national security information such as fraud or abuse. 

Whistleblowing provides people with a lawful and safe way to report crucial information. It get time sensitive and important information to the right people so they can take action for the greater good. It also saves taxpayers millions of dollars a year, and ensures that the government stays ethical and serves the public interest. Whistleblowing also protects the health, welfare, and safety of the public, and encourages any government employee to report any wrong doings that they see. 

Overall, whistleblowing done in a lawful right way is very beneficial for the rights of the people. It also can prevent corruption within the government. These people who whistleblow stand up for what they think is wrong and corrupt and inform the public about the problem.

EXAMPLES 

Edward Snowden is one of the most famous whistleblowers in US political history. He is responsible for leaking information from the U.S National Security Agency. He wanted his identity to remain public after he leaked top secret documents. Snowden was an intelligence contractor for the U.S National Security Agency and revealed classified information- gathering surveillance. From 2009-2013, Snowden gathered information about NSA's surveillance and activities. 

His discovery of this information and release of it to the public uncovered many other programs such as PRISM which is an undercover- data mining operation that collected private data from large companies such as Apple, Google, and Facebook. The NSA was also exposed for a court order to Verizon to turn over metadata for millions of its users to them. 

Snowden was charged with espionage in June of 2013 by the United States Government under the Espionage Act. The United States attempted to extradite him back from Hong Kong, but Snowden fled to Russia where he has been since. 

After Snowden’s exposure of the NSA, sections of the Patriot Act were updated and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court was updated. President Obama also created a panel of outsiders to look at the government’s surveillance and practices. This panel ended up determining that the NSA should not be allowed to collect any data from any internet or phone service providers, as well as other forms of media. 

Another famous whistleblower is Chelsea Manning who leaked thousands of military records about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to WikiLeaks in 2010. Manning was a former army intelligence analyst who was working in Iraq at the time. This is the largest leak in U.S history and is controversial as some people think of her as a hero, and others as a traitor. One part of the information that  Manning shared was a video of soldiers shooting at Iraq civilians because they mistaked them for the enemy. Manning was prosecuted for her exposure of government information, and served 7 years in prison. 

The last example of a famous whistleblower that I am going to address is Daniel Elsberg who is famous for the leak of the Pentagon Papers. Elsberg was an analyst for a classified study of the war in Vietnam that was created by Robert McNamara, the Secretary of Defense. This study of the war in Vietnam became known as the Pentagon Papers. Elsberg and Anthony copied this report secretly because they thought that the Vietnam War was unwinnable and unethical. They attempted to get the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hold hearings on the papers, but their attempt failed. They then decided to provide this copy of the report to the New York Times and the Washington Post. After the information about these papers was released, Elsberg turned himself into the authorities where he was charged criminally. His charges ended up getting dismissed and he became known as an American hero to many people around the United States for releasing this information to the public.

Sources: https://www.whistleblowers.org/what-is-a-whistleblower/ 

https://www.dni.gov/ICIG-Whistleblower/what-is.html 

https://www.whistleblowers.org/whistleblowers/edward-snowden/

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/17/1129416671/chelsea-manning-wikileaks-memoir-readme 

https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/drawing-justice-courtroom-illustrations/about-this-exhibition/crime-corruption-and-cover-ups/daniel-ellsberg-and-the-pentagon-papers/ 

https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/drawing-justice-courtroom-illustrations/about-this-exhibition/crime-corruption-and-cover-ups/hearing-for-elliot-richardson-to-be-attorney-general/  

Blog #10: In The Age of AI

WHAT IS A.I. 

Artificial Intelligence is "the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages" (Oxford Languages). 

Artificial Intelligence, otherwise known as A.I. has developed a key role in society today. The term Artificial Intelligence was invented by John McCarthy in 1950. 

PRIVACY & SECURITY

Pros 

• Gives companies information on consumers 
• All data collecting services must give the user an option to "opt out" of their information being collected 
• A.I can get things done at a faster pace with no risk of human error

Cons

• A.I. allows businesses to know EVERYTHING about you where they can "mine the data of your life" . 
• Surveillance is almost everywhere, such as the ALEXA which listens to you everywhere, like kitchens, bedrooms, living rooms, and more. 
• A.I is always listening and taking in data on you 
• Tracks all of your movement online and in person 

National Security: CHINA

AI has a large role in China, where it watches everyone at all times and uses this data to detect people through facial recognition. They can detect cars and even recognize people by the way they walk. A quote from the video we watched in class said that “China is on its way to building a surveillance state”. China authorities surveillance Turkic-muslims to the maximum and use it to detect people who are “prone to become a terrorist” and who need to be “re-educated” politically in camps where they get tortured. China has a scheme to expand its influence around the world using AI technology. This is called the Belt and Road which they are going to use as a political advantage. China goes into countries and provides loans where they install Chinese surveillance. They are slowly using AI to take over other countries around the world. They want to dominate the world in A.I., while trying to compete with America's technological advancements.

Online Security & Identity Theft 

A positive of A.I is its identity theft protection technology. A.I has been proven to help detect identity fraud, which would benefit society because identity fraud is such a common problem that many people face. A.I gives an added security to people, preventing hackers from stealing information. It is very ironic that A.I protects people from identity theft because it is the reason why so much of our information is gathered online. 

MY OPINIONS

We think that technology will always make things better because in the past it has, but this isn’t always true. A.I is slowly taking away minimum wage jobs which people need to survive. A.I will have control over all of the simple job tasks, leaving the difficult ones left for the humans, decreasing jobs. A.I is classified as a tool, and it serves the person who is controlling it.

After watching this video I realized how prevalent A.I is in my life without me even realizing. I also had no idea that A.I can be used in any company or occupation, I really thought it was limited to science. I scares me to think about all of the control that technology has over my life, and how much information that this technology has on me. It also scares me that is someone has enough money, they can buy this data and information on me, giving them access to everything A.I has recorded on me.

photos: https://www.esrcheck.com/2022/03/25/california-regulation-artificial-intelligence-employment/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weak_artificial_intelligence 

Blog #8: Diffusion Theory

 Diffusion Theory explains how, why, and at what rate technology and new ideas spread. In The Diffusion of Innovations Theory, there are different categories that people fall into. These are Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and Laggards. 

Innovators are people who are open to risks and the first ones to try new ideas

Early Adopters are people who are interested in trying new technologies and establishing their utility in society

Early Majority are those who are part of the general population and pave the way for a use of an innovation in mainstream society. 

Late Majority are those who are apart of the general population who follow the early majority into adapting the innovation as a part of their daily life. 

Laggards are those who "lag" the general population into adopting the innovative ideas of products into society. They do not want to adopt these ideas because they are risk-averse and don't want to change the way that they do things. These people are ultimately forced to adopt these new innovations because they can not conduct their daily work or life without it. 

The new innovation that I want to focus on is TikTok. TikTok was created in 2018 in China, and spread to the United States very quickly. Before TikTok, an app called Musically existed and was a platform where people posted videos of themselves lip-sinking to music. China bought Musically and changed the app to the name TikTok. 

TikTok was popular among teen users, but its popularity drastically increased during the 2020 COVID pandemic during quarantine. TikTok became popular at such a fast rate for many reasons. The platform is extremely easy to use and access which new users can grasp quickly. The types of posts also are what increases the usage of TikTok. There are videos of sports, art, music, cooking, and anything you can imagine. This platform has turned into videos of everything and anything, not just lip sinking to songs, which makes it appealing to a bigger audience. 

Many peoples became early adopters of TikTok because they had musically and it changed into TikTok so they already had the app. The early majority would be people during quarantine who adopted the app because they were bored and had nothing else to do and because it became a trend. They learned quarantine activities and recipes which they needed the app to access. 

The late majority are people who downloaded TikTok after its peak during quarantine and heard about the popularity so they wanted to join. Its increasing popularity made them feel as if they were left out as TikTok started to become important in society. 

The laggards are people who did not want to download TikTok for many reasons including the addiction that people have to using the app, and security risks. Many people who have the app use it for hours a day and don't want to put they're phones down. They use it at night before they sleep and in the morning when they wake up. The laggards have not come to the point where they have to download the app out of force because it has not fully taken over society. 

I personally do not think that TikTok will ever fully take over society because it is owned by China. As China and the US have a worse relationship, less people feel safe using the TikTok app. 

It is very interesting to see the affects of new innovations and how new technologies become so important in the everyday lives of people. 

Sources: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/diffusion-of-innovations-theory.asp 

Blog #5: Antiwar Voices

     After having access to the media for many years of my life, I have not heard much about anti-war. Someone who is anti-war is someone who is opposed to any war or a specific war. As an out of class assignment, we were instructed to view the two websites, ANTIWAR.COM and The American Conservative. Both of these websites consist of strong anti-war voices that are never seen on mainstream news. The news on this website consists of information that the government does not want citizens to know, but these websites are not censored. For example, one of the article titles that I first saw on the antiwar.com website was “US 'Blocked' Early Attempt At Russia-Ukraine Deal”, which is something I have not seen on the news. These websites post the truths that are going on globally, but are not posted on mainstream media. This is because the media does not want to let citizens know of this information because it could cause negative feelings towards the government. The media makes sure to only highlight the best parts of their political side of the government, even if it is at the stake of the US citizens. 

    I also have never heard of either of these websites and since they are publishing the truth about the globe, I wonder why? I think this is because the government and media tries to censor any type of information like this. They do not want people to have access to it so they do not talk about it. The government controls a lot more than we know and understand which is why it controls so much of what the media posts. These voices are being silenced and these types of anti-war websites can only be found when we specifically search for them. This is because these websites, as I stated before, are hidden and not talked about because of government censorship. I believe the only reason that these websites are still running is because of free speech, otherwise the government would have taken them down. The media publishes other information that doesn’t highlight the stuff that these websites do, hiding what is really going on in the world. These websites are difficult to find because that is what the government wants to happen, they don’t want people to have this information. 

    Overall this is extremely concerning and makes me rethink the trust that I had in the government. They hide information that is crucial for us to know and understand as United States citizens, in order to protect themselves. This demonstrates that the government and media don't put the people first, they put themselves and their image first. 

Photo Link: https://www.reuters.com/world/protesters-stand-with-ukraine-across-united-states-2022-02-24/ 

Blog #6: What did I learn from Technology Presentations?

     In class today we each presented power-points on technologies from the past and present. We were assigned to write a blog post about the technology that we picked, and then create a powerpoint summarizing the information that we found to present to the class. 

    While watching the presentations today in class we were instructed to write a short blog post about one of the technologies that we learned about today. The technology that I picked was the printing press. The printing press was developed in 1436 by Johannes Gutenberg. He is not the inventor of the printing press but he was credited with modernizing it. This development was created because the demand for books in the academic world was increasing. Gutenberg is also given credit for the invention of oil based ink, which was a long lasting ink compared to what was previously used. The modernization of the printing press created a printing revolution. Information could be traveled fast which impacted the world of communication significantly. Literacy became common, and was not just limited to the higher class. Writing ended up becoming a profession, not just a skill which it was before. Just like my technology, the newspaper, censorship was very prominent in the history of the printing press, demonstrating there is a form of censorship in all forms of technology. 

After learning about the printing press I now know how important it was in the development of communication. It provided people with a type of technology that they never had access to, changing the future of literacy. This is also the invention that closed the literacy gap between upper class and lower class. Before the update of the printing press, it was only the upper class who would have access to literature, but when the update occurred more people had access to literature. Overall, I learned the importance and significance that the printing press had on the world and its foundation for future technologies. 

Photo Links: https://www.history.com/news/printing-press-renaissance