Final Blog Post

     The first video that I watched was Futurama. This video showed what technology would do for the future of our world. All the future technology shown looked super advanced. There were underwater submarines that would be used to transport goods. There was also a giant machine shown completing the process necessary for a roadway bed to be paved. This "factory on wheels" was able to do about 5 steps in one operation. This would normally be the job of a group of humans however, this new technology seems to be doing the job faster and better than any human can. Another crazy invention that was created is technology that maintains the crops in a desert. The water used would be as fresh as rain. 

    The second video, Tears For Fears - Mad World, was very impactful to watch. It shows how much technology is changing the world we live in. Nowadays people are so attached to their phones and do not know when its time to take a break from our screens. People are incapable of doing simple everyday tasks such as walking and eating without their screens in their face. If we are on our phones all day then we miss out on everything happening around us. We miss out on the pretty skies, flowers, friends/family, and forming new connections with humans around us. If Cinderella and Prince Charming were locked in on their phones all day then they would have never fallen in love with each other. 

    The video showed a fight happening and instead of people trying to stop it from continuing, everyone was recording it on their phones. There was another part where a building was on fire and a lady was posing in front of it taking pictures. This is our generation now. We are losing all sense of physical human emotion. At the touch of a button we are able to send an emoji showing the emotion we are portraying. Social media makes it so easy to fake the person you truly are. People are always faking the way they look or feel. Someone can be feeling so sad and depressed but be posting pictures of them looking like the happiest person. Social media is fake. 

    Cyberbullying is a new thing that has been created from social media. If a video or picture gets posted online then everyone has access to it. People are able to comment whatever opinions they may have on the post. Sometimes the responses are kind but other times it can be very rude and mean. The negative comments obviously hurt the person in said video or picture. The video I watched showed how someone who got cyberbullied was effected. This person was so hurt that they went to the side of a building and jumped off. Instead of people calling for help, they took videos of this event happening. This makes me so sad. Our society is slowly getting destroyed because of technology. It is changing every aspect of our beautiful world. 

    My relationship with technology is probably not the healthiest. I spend a lot of my time on my computer or my phone. It is hard not to use technology at least once a day. It is now a huge part of our daily life. On my computer I am either doing work, online shopping, or watching a movie. On my phone you will find me switching between Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. Technology might be taking up a little too much time in my life. However, no matter how much I try technology will always be a huge part of my life. My major is Social Media and Digital Communication. My future job will revolve around technology. So for me there is no escaping technology. 

        Technology does have a positive side. Technology allows us to be able to take pictures and videos. This is a way for us to look back at all the memories we have made. I always love looking at my past trips I have taken, pictures from when I was a baby, or dance videos from the time I used to compete. Another positive aspect about technology is that it helps people communicate from long distances. I currently attend school in North Carolina while my family is back in Miami. Technology allows us to still be able to text, call, and facetime. I am so happy I still have a way to be able to keep in touch with my loved ones. 

    I would say I have a fairly decent online footprint. I am always posting on Instagram and TikTok. On my Instagram people would first see my bio which provides information about where I am from, the school I currently attend, the sorority I am in, and another Instagram account that I use. I mostly post pictures with my friends, family, and trips that I have been on. I love posting pictures I have taken of the ocean and pretty sunsets. On my second Instagram account that I have, I use it to post pictures I have taken. This account is called @sophieophotos. On TikTok I mostly post videos where you see more of my personality. I love making fun videos with my friends or editing cute videos together to make a great TikTok video. One of my TikTok videos has even gotten 1 million views. Which is crazy! Both my TikTok and Instagram accounts are public meaning that anyone online can see my accounts whenever they want.     

Blog Post #11 : EOTO Presentations

     I really enjoyed watching all the EOTO projects in class. I learned about so many interesting topics such as artificial intelligence, the spiral of silence theory, and gatekeeping. Artificial intelligence caught my eye the most. In the previous blog post I watched a video "In the Age of AI" that talked about the creation and development of AI. 

    The digital age of our world is forever changing because of the creation of AI. Whether we like it or not, AI is everywhere we look and has even entered into our homes. Examples include Siri, Google Home, and Amazon Alexa. These smart home devices are controlled by the simple sound of a person's voice. They answer seconds after a questioned is asked to them. This shows how they are always listening even if you do not think/want them to. 

    AI is a powerful creation that can make life so much easier but does raise a lot of questions about the dangers it may carry. Will AI take over our world as we know it? How many people will have their lives change for the worst because of AI? Do we need to be afraid of AI as it becomes stronger and more intelligent? AI was found to be used to mimic human voices, take over peoples jobs, write essays, and overall do everything a human can do just 10 times better. 

    The future of AI will decrease the amount of face to face interactions and social skills that humans have. People are starting to become more dependent on technology for entertainment and communication purposes. If this continues to increase then all social skills will decline making it possible for all our meaningful relationships to slowly disappear. Excessive time using technology will also create a negative impact in the social development of children. 

Blog Post #10 : Age of AI

     Artificial intelligence has been taking over our world as we know it. Its characteristics are very similar to the ones of a human mind. For example, both the human mind and AI can learn new information, problem solve, let their creativity run free, and they have very good observational skills. There are still so many questions to be asked about AI. Is this new invention a positive or negative aspect for society? 

    At the beginning of the "In the Age of AI" video that we watched in class, it showed an example of human intelligence vs artificial intelligence. The champion of the well-known Chinese go game faced his toughest opponent yet, Alpha Go. Alpha Go is the AI computer who learned all the important aspects of this game and knows what are the best moves to make that no human would have ever thought of. The computer beat the human 4-1. Everyone was shocked. All the watchers were positive that the human would beat the silly computer. However, they did not know how intelligent this "silly" computer actually was.

    I learned that so many people will lose their jobs and be replaced by AI. A very popular example of a new AI feature that is used by so many is Chat GPT. It can answer any question, write about any topic, teach you the steps to solving a math equation, or even just have a simple conversation with. This new invention is very powerful and could do the work for so many. Chat GPT could write an entire book and take the job of authors around the world. AI can write a song and take the job of song writers. The list goes on and on. 

    The more I think about artificial intelligence, the more it frightens me. China is taking public street cameras and are using them to identify the people walking around the city. These people have no idea how much of their lives the government is actually watching. This makes me wonder if the United States are doing the same. This also makes me think of the popular feature called Siri. Siri is an AI feature on apple iphones. Once a person says the words "Hey Siri" Siri opens up and asks what you need. Siri is always listening. It makes me question how many of my conversations this AI feature has overheard. Will this AI ever turn evil and try to use this against me? 

Blog Post #9 : EOTO #2

    For my second Each One Teach One project, my group was told to choose one from the Policy section. At first glance, I had never heard of any of these phrases and therefore had no previous knowledge. My group felt the same way so we randomly assigned each other a topic to research. I ended up being assign the topic of News Deserts.

    When I heard the name News Deserts, I could kind of already assume what it would be about. Deserts are usually empty and have nothing around them. People in deserts also always lack natural resources needed to survive like water. So, I presumed that News Deserts are places that lack the natural resource of news sources.

    I found that the definition of a News Desert is a community that has limited access to credible and comprehensive information and news. This community is usually in a rural or urban area. This place contains few to no news outlets. News deserts are created when a local newsroom shuts down. An example of a news desert today is Ellis County, Texas. Ellis County is known as the nation's largest cotton-producing county. They have an estimated population of 205,000. 

    The news industry was affected a lot after the Covid 19 Pandemic. It caused multiple newspaper sources to switch to online only or completely shut down. This then led to a ripple effect to occur. So many journalists lost their jobs and were then forced to find somewhere else to make money during this pandemic. This was obviously very difficult for them because there were very few jobs looking for new employees to hire. Covid 19 also caused a prolonged recession that could eventually lead to hundreds of newspapers to shut down. 

    News Deserts are a huge issue that the world is facing. News deserts cause a lack of community. A sense of community is created through local newspapers. Secondly, a lack of regional economic growth is presented. An important quality that newspaper advertising helps businesses with is communicating and reaching out to potential consumers. This helps businesses grow. So, without this important factors businesses will eventually fall out and lose everything they worked so hard to build. The third thing that news deserts cause is a lack of social cohesion. Newspaper are an important factor to helping put national problems into local context. An example of this is the health care industry. 

    The following picture is a representation of News Deserts in the United States.

Links

What is a News Desert?

News Deserts

News Deserts Explained

Blog #8 : Privacy, Online & Off

    I will admit, I am an active user of social media. I use it to communicate with my friends, post pictures and videos, and view stories/posts that other people are sharing to social media. Thinking of social media as an electronic tattoo makes me really put the things I do everyday into perspective. Nowadays, people are able to find so much information on a person before even going up to them and asking their name. This makes me wonder if this has ever happened to me.

    "These tattoos will live far longer than our bodies will." This was a statement that Juan Enriquez made during his Ted Talk presentation. Before posting something onto the internet, I do not fully take in what I am actually doing. I am posting for everyone to see and even if I delete it and think it is gone, the post is still out there somewhere.

    The government is able to gain an understanding of our everyday lives by tracking our movements through surveillance. They compare our information to other citizens. We never realize but everyday when we are driving our car we probably pass by a license plate detection camera. This camera detects every car that passes it by and ends up with information about where these people are going during their everyday lives. I had no idea this was happening around me. They do not make this information publicly known. I think the government needs to start being more honest about the actions they do behind closed doors. It is our information that they are secretly keeping. This should not be happening.

    Every time we take a "private phone call" on our cell phones, it is actually not private at all. There could be someone from the government listening in to this conversation. It could also be a hacker, criminal, or even a stalker. I do not like the idea of some random person snooping into my life. I especially would never want this to happen to my friends and family.

    I am glad I have more knowledge on what is actually happening behind the scenes. This is definitely going to make me more paranoid when dealing with technology. It is going to be hard because I use my computer everyday for school and my phone to keep in touch with my family in Miami. I am so scared now that I am being watched through my electronics. This world can be a scary place and I do not want anything bad to happen to me or the people that I love. 

Sources

Ted Talk videos posted on Class Blog website

Blog Post #7 : Diffusion of Innovations

    The innovation that I picked is the cell phone. Phones are a technology/innovation that has changed so much over time. It is widely used by people all over the world. Phones are constantly get renovated and enhanced. 

    There was a point in time where phones did not exist yet. These people had no idea what technological gadget would change the world as we know it. Now, people could not survive without their phone. A person's phone holds all their information, pictures, videos, text messages, etc. This however, is both a good and bad thing. It would be so bad if someone ends up stealing a person's phone. The stealer could either wipe the phone clean or sell all your private information.

    The first cell phone was created in 1973. At this time you were only able to make a phone call for a maximum of 30 minutes. Martin Cooper was the lucky person to be known as the very first call on the cell phone. Since the cell phone was so brand new, the price was obviously very expensive. Back then you were able to buy the cell phone for $3,995 at the time. Today this price would equal $10,000. That is way too expensive for my liking.

    Some people, to this day, do not own a cell phone. This statement shocks so many people. It is 2023. You would think that by now everyone would have a cell phone. Some people just do not feel the need to carry one around everywhere. Without a cell phone people are able to appreciate the world around us more. Looking down at a screen all day takes us away from the beautiful creations that are right in front of us. We could miss out on what life has to offer. 

    There are definitely so many positives from owning a cell phone. Communicating with people is so much easier and efficient now. From owning a cell phone I am able to send a text to my cousin in a different country! Cellphones allow for us to keep our relationship and are able to stay up to date in each other's lives. Cell phones are also a great way to stay safe. You are able to share your location with friends and family. This way your loved ones know exactly where you are at all times. Cell phones also allow for you to call 911 in an emergency situation. Cell phones are designed to keep us safe. They have made a great impact on so many people's life. It has definitely changed my life so much.

    Links

Major Reasons for Owning A Cell Phone

History of the Cell Phone

Why Do I Not Own A Cell Phone

Advantages And Disadvantages Of A Cellphone

Blog Post #6 : Anti War

    The instant I opened Antiwar.com I was immediately overwhelmed by what I saw. There are multiple different news sources and links to stories. They range from "House Kills Move to Ban Cluster Bomb Transfer" to "N. Korea: U.S. Has World on Brink of Nuclear War." 

    I then explored The American Conservative website. At first glance, this website was much easier on the eyes. There are important stories about recent events that should be talked about more. It is important to know what is going on in our world today. Stories in The American Conservative range from "The Coming of K-12 School Choice Will Also Change Higher Education" to "Yes, Social Media Is a First Amendment Issue." 

    I previously stated that it is important to have a general understanding of current events happening around us. However, I am looking through some of these stories on the following two website and I seem to be uneducated on these topics. These stories have me shocked. I had no idea our world was so corrupt in different ways.

    I sometimes create a bubble. I try to block out all the negative things and solely focus on the positive. Yes, it is important to look for the good in our world but, the bad is equally as important. I understand now that I can not, figurately speaking, live under a rock. I want to start being aware of everything surrounding me. 

    I do not think I am the only person who has never heard about any of the scary news happening in our world. I think these strong antiwar voices are being hidden to protect society. Society is not perfect but we do not want to corrupt it even more. If these news stories can easily get out to the public, it will definitely create chaos. Chaos and disruption is the last thing this world needs after reading multiple articles on what is actually happening behind the scenes.