What's My Relationship with Technology?

Technology is a powerful tool, and everyone who has been exposed to it knows that. Especially in todays day in age, technology is more powerful than ever and it's only growing as time goes on, change occurs, and people discover new ways to connect our world together. We are now connected in the span on less than a second. Through social media, websites, Face Time, and other streaming sites, we can come in contact with someone half way across the world and it would be so easy. If you time travel back to 1920, and talk about the advancement of technology to what it is in 2020, people may think you are on some kind of drug. They could never imagine the concept of Face Time, or the idea of a "website." 

Unfortunately, the relationship everyone has with technology is a roller coaster. Sometimes it's up, but whenever something goes up, it must come down. It's the way the world works. It's how life works, and figuring out how to deal with it all can be stressful, anxious, and bring a lot of different unhealthy and toxic emotions to people. It is known that since social media, telephones, and streaming sites have been the main focus of teenagers and young adults life, their mental health has gone down the toilet. Depression and anxiety has risen and it's continuing to go up, and the suicide rate is tagging along with it. This wasn't very common back in 1920, and it's one of the toxic sides of technology. 

The ways of the internet and social media can connect you with your family, friends, your work place, and even people you have never met before. But at the same time, technology can make you feel so alone. It can bring sadness and anxious thoughts about so many aspects in your life. It's scary, and it's so sad. That's how I personally view my relationship with technology. It connects me with my family when I am at college, my friends from high school I don't see on a normal day to day basis anymore, and my professors during this time of quarantine and the COVD-19 pandemic. But at the same time, I feel alone when I go online. I feel like I am left out on a lot of things, or when I post on social media I want people to think I'm cool, got it "going on," and I know what I'm doing, when in reality I don't have a clue. It's a horrible feeling. 

Recently, since I have been in quarantine and have been isolated in my home, I have spent countless hours online. Streaming new shows on Netflix or Disney +, scrolling through Tik Tok or Instagram, and watching YouTube of dumb things that bring me short lived joy. With that, I have noticed that my anxiety has been out the wazoo. I wake up everyday and I'm nervous, anxious, and jittery for no apparent reason. I try and distract myself, and I notice what works best is when I put down my phone, computer, or the TV remote, and concentrate on myself and centering myself back into reality. I put a cold towel on my forehead or the back of my neck, I take a cold shower, I go for a walk, run, swim, or cycle on my moms stationary bike. I put on a candle, listen to some music and stretch while I practice focusing on my breathing. Sometimes I color, sometimes I just go downstairs and talk with my mom for a while. I separate myself from the online world, and go back into the real world. 

Technology will be a part of all of us moving forward for the rest of our lives, and beyond. Through our children's lives, our grandchildren's, their children's, and so on. There is nothing wrong with that as it has so many benefits in our world, but remembering the opposing side of this tool and how it can make you feel is what is really important. So every once in a while, I separate myself completely from being online. I delete apps from my phone (Snapchat, Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.,) and I disconnect. I don't watch Netflix, Hulu, Disney +, or that much television. I try and focus on other things. Doing a puzzle. Learning a new hobby of drawing, knitting, or coloring. Being with my friends, my family, and the people I love. Focusing on my mental health, and remembering that technology is a tool to help us as people, not the other way around.  

Sources: https://www.bctv.org/2019/11/07/technological-influence-on-society/

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/as-technology-gets-better-will-society-get-worse

Netflix has done it again: Outer Banks

Welp, we are all in quarantine. It's been a full month, and we hope by next month it will lighten up, but who really knows. And it's tough. Not going throughout your normal day to day routine is a huge life adjustment! However, there are some positives throughout this entire thing. We get to spend quality time at home and with our families, get some good quality rest and eat some healthy food, but not only that, Netflix shows have been coming out like there is no tomorrow. First Tiger King, then Too Hot to Handle, and now we have another one that is taking the charts by storm: Outer Banks.

Being from North Carolina, this is something that my family and I heard about early on, and was really excited to get into. But not only that, but we have vacationed every summer at Cape Hatteras in the Outer Banks since I was 13 years old (7 years ago!)  I knew when I heard they were coming out with a television series about this place, I had to get into. And it's safe to say: This show is all the rave right now. Teenagers, young adults, and even other ages of adults that typically aren't target audiences, are loving what this show has to offer. The first season is out on Netflix right now, and there are ten episodes all lasting around 45 minutes to an hour.

So what's it all about? Is it just some angst teens running around the island getting into nothing but trouble? Well, partly, yes, but that's not there is to it. John B is our main character, as he is the forefront of the picture up above, and he is in a load of trouble with his life right now. His dad disappeared 9 months ago, and he had no idea what happened to him. No one does, and all he wants to do is find out. He's got his best friends by his side, and they are helping him out as best as possible. The gang runs into some trouble in the marsh when they find a boat that has sunk, and some mystery behind it. As the season continues, you find out about more characters, the battle between Pogues and Kooks, as well as the issue John B has with the local authorities about who his legal guardian is.

To be quite frank, I am not normally someone who has a huge obsession over a lot of things. I got through phases like everyone does, but something to catch my eye for a long period of time is rare. This show will most likely do it for me. It is funny, entertaining, feel good, on your seats type of show, and it's got it all. If you haven't take a look at the show. As far as Season 2, it is known that there is a rumor about it coming out in April 2021, but that may not be 100% true, as I read an article that said shooting may not happen until late this year due to COVID - 19 circumstances, and that Season 2 won't be released until almost the ancient 2022. Good things come to those who wait I guess!

Sources: https://worldtoptrend.com/2020/04/outer-banks-all-and-season-2-release-details-you-want-to-know/

What Are Whistleblowers?

When reading about the prompt for this post, a lot of different sections caught my eye and really made me curious as to what they specifically are. But one term that I decided to roll with was the term "Whistleblowers." Personally I have never heard of this thing before, and I really wanted to investigate and see what I could find. So, here is the basic term: A whistleblower is a person who exposes secretive information or activity that is deemed illegal, unethical, or not correct within a private or public organization. Basically, it is a person that has certain information about a subject that is very illegal so that they group or organization who may be taking part in that act is charged and justice is put to it.

That term was the basic "google" term that first popped up when I went to the internet, however another website that I investigated into is the website: whistleblower.org. This is a website that has a timeline of all the famous incidents of people being "whistleblowers." They have events dating back to Benjamin Franklin's lifetime! For example, in 1773, confidential letters exposed by Benjamin Franklin himself proved that the governor of Massachusetts misled Parliament to promote a military buildup in the new world. The governor was dishonorably discharged and exiled for his actions. Another famous event was in 1977. Frank Camps who at the time was a senior principal design engineer with Ford Motor Company, warns Ford the design of the Pinto is unsafe. The vehicle is later withdrawn from the market after numerous accidents result in burn injuries due to the its flawed design. As well as that, in that same year, Frank Snepp, a CIA analyst at the US Embassy in Saigon, published "Decent Interval" about Operation Frequent Wind and failure to prepare for the fall of Saigon. Names, methods and sources were redacted from the book, but CIA Director Stansfield Turner had Snepp prosecuted for breach of contract, resulting in the loss of all income from the book's publication.

So when you think about it, I originally thought that this term would be someone who is doing harm, or doing something illegal. However, whistleblowers are real hero's in this sense. They are helping businesses, saving lives, and doing the right and noble thing by telling the truth. That is something that not a lot of people can do now a days, and it is truly a terrible thing. But I applaud everyone who has ever stood up and told to the truth about something that is not right. It is not easy, but it is definitely something that needs to be done more often.


Sources: https://whistleblower.org/timeline-us-whistleblowers/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw7qn1BRDqARIsAKMbHDYE5CcNzn8-kgcKduMTGa9W2skvB7FgK9YroHhvmMwyNz-RUGmbn-waAgOrEALw_wcB
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower

Digital Privacy

As our day in age is virtually all online, this subject becomes tougher and tougher to have control of, and a full grip on. It makes sense though: Everyone should have the right to have their information on their cell phones, internet, or whatever it may be, private. However that's not the case at all. People all around the United States and the world barely have things that are kept private on their mobile or virtual devices. In a Ted Talk that I just viewed for this blog post, one lady talked about the process of how police cars and cameras around the United States can read your license plate number and track where you go, where you like to go and what kind of routine you have on a weekly or monthly basis. And the scary part is you're not doing anything wrong, at all. You're just living your life on a day to day basis, doing your own thing. Yet, the woman said she would bet a good amount of money that some police stations in your city or town have information on you, your license plate number, where you've gone and the pictures to prove it. 

This is a real scary thing. For everyone out there who isn't doing anything wrong, all of their private information is being open to the government that should not be shared with anyone else other than themselves. However another scary thing that we all need to be cautious of is cyber bullying or digital domestic violence. A lady shared her personal story on how her toxic and abusive ex boyfriend shared nude pictures of her on this website that was created just for her. It was so sickening to watch. He took photos of her while she slept or was not looking, and shared them online for everyone to see. She had to fight hard to be able to get some justice to her case, and she did. Eventually, Homeland Security went through her records of how he was sending her threats and being very abusive verbally, they arrested him. He now has thousands of dollars in fines, and in court if found guilty can be sentenced up to 10 years in prison. This shouldn't have happened though. She shouldn't have had to go through this, however she did. Her privacy was wiped away from her, and it was because of that sick individual who had the power of the internet at his hands. 

So the question is, how do we fix this problem? Well, in one of the other Ted Talks that I watched for this assignment, a gentleman talked about this specific issue and what he thinks the best thing to do. At the end of the day, the laws and the rights that the government and law enforcement have currently, should not be a thing any longer. People need to have their privacy and to be able to comfortable live their life with the idea of if I make a mistake online, it's not like it's a tattoo. Obviously, this will make it harder for the FBI and other law enforcement agencies to be able to solve cases with the identity of an individual online, however people who are innocent, will be safe because that's the way it's supposed to be.

Source: Ted Talks provided by Professor Dean Smith 

My Online Presence

When thinking about my personal online presence, it can be quite scary. As a person who is in college and looking for potential job opportunities in the future, my online presence can have a huge impact on how that may pan out for me. Am I posting the right things? Do people actually care about me and what is going on in my life? Is it worth having social media at all...? All of these things I think about weekly, sometimes even daily when life gets tough. Social media and the internet in general can be a very dangerous place. For me, it has brought a lot of joy, connections with people I do not talk to on a daily/weekly basis, however it has also brought a lot of anxiety, depression, and unhappiness to my life as well.

I remember when I was younger, I got my first cell phone when I was 9 or 10 years old. I was so excited! I felt as though I was the last person in my class in the 4th grade to get a cell phone, and all I wanted to be was one of the cool kids (sometimes I still feel like I am trying to be one of the cool kids ha!) But then I started to get online, and as a young, immature girl, it got really dangerous, really quickly. My parents discovered I was talking with strangers on this app called "Kik," and they were scared about if I was sending inappropriate pictures or not (safe to say, I did not.) After that incident happened when I was 12, they started to become strict with my presence on social media. I had Instagram, and when I was in middle school around eighth grade, I downloaded Snapchat as well. I also got into dating apps in early high school. Was that a bad decision? Absolutely. I remember being bullied when people in my class found my account, and it was so embarrassing. Soon after, I realized that having all these apps wasn't the best thing to be a part of, so I deleted everything except Instagram and Snapchat. Those two apps was all I had for a long while.

I remember being in middle school, and going into high school all I wanted to be was part of the popular group, and have them like me. I wanted that more than anything growing up. I thought that posting certain things on Instagram, following more people, having a good presence online and doing other kinds of dangerous things with strangers would make them like me. Instead, they made fun of me, and would talk behind my back about how embarrassing it was, and I realized it was not the right thing to do. After I came to that conclusion, I became more aware of my online presence tremendously. I started posting things on Instagram that I know my parents, grandparents, and other family members would be proud of (yes, they all follow me now on social media ha!) I got heavily involved in the church, and I would not care about who followed me, how many likes I would get, and who was seeing what I posted. I discovered that my online presence doesn't matter as much as I think it does. It's societies way of judging perfectly normal people.

With having social media, having the proper mindset of "I don't care what people say about me" is healthy when it comes to bullying. However, making sure you know what you post online and how you keep your social media presence appropriate is huge for job opportunities, and future internships. Right before I left for Spring Break this semester, I was in my sororities chapter on a Tuesday night and one girl told the whole chapter about an incident that happened with another sister at another university just recently. She applied for a job, and the company contacted Snapchat and asked to have permission to see all of her snaps that she has ever sent on her account, her private text messages, and her posts on her "story." This costed her the job with the company because of what they discovered on her account. So knowing what to post out there, and having the mindset of "Once you hit publish, you cannot erase it even if you delete it. It is out there forever," it very important to have.

In my generation, ever since social media has become what it is today, people have developed more serious mental illnesses, and have had worsening anxiety, panic attacks, depression, suicidal thoughts, and much more. It's the fear of missing out, the panic that sets in when you see the boy you like post a picture with another girl at Homecoming, the sadness when you see all your close friends at a birthday party you weren't invited to, seeing a famous girl with a perfect body as you sit and look in the mirror afraid to ever wear a bikini again.

Nowadays, every couple of months I take long breaks and delete all my social media apps on my phone. This includes Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, etc. I really try and disconnect so that I can focus on my mental health, and other important things in life. And during these times, I realize that my phone is kind of useless except for texting or calling people. So on some days, I just leave my phone at home and go run errands with my mom, or go visit my grandmother with my dad for the whole day. It is so refreshing. It is something I try and inform all of my friends to do, and let them know that it is so healthy for you mentally, and that your online presence is not everything nowadays. Take a break, and breathe for a bit.


Source: https://www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/social-media-and-mental-health.htm

Diffusion of Innovations with Snapchat

Snapchat. A social media app that is used globally and developed by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown (former students at Stanford University) back in July of 2011. Even if you're over the age of 50, or under the age of 10, you know what this app is or have heard of it in some sort of fashion. This app is really different that any other kind of social media platform. For me, I would describe Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter kind of all on the same "wave length." You can create an account where you upload pictures of your life, people in it, events that have happened, memories, etc., and people can search you whenever they want, and all your information will pop up. However, snapchat is a little different. You still create an account and have your username and such, however that's it. You then can add people, and send messages or pictures back and forth and after a certain amount of time, they disappear forever. This is a really unique concept and something different that no one has created or thought of before in any other social media branch. 

Back in July of 2011 when this app was launched, it took a little while for people in middle school, high school, and even college and beyond to give it a real chance. As you can see from the diagram above, it gives you a visual representation of peoples interest in the app Snapchat from when it was launched in July of 2011, to when it became super popular in July of 2013, and beyond. You can see that for almost a year, this app wasn't really gaining popularity at all. It did not have a big spike in attention, but then around the summer of 2012, people started hearing about it, word got around, and after that it took off, as you can see the difference in popularity from July of 2012 to Jan of 2013. However, the real question is, what made it popular? What gave people the interest in downloading the app and sharing that idea with their friends? 

This concept of trying to figure out why new technology becomes popular and to explain how, why and at what rate new ideas and technology spread is called Diffusion of Innovations. This term was developed by Everett Rogers, and Rogers argues that diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated over time among the participants in a social system. The origins of the diffusions of innovations theory are varied and span multiple disciplines. Roger then talks about how there are four main elements that are involved with the spread of new technology: the innovation itself, communication channels, time, and social system. For snapchat, I think that time was its friend, and creating different versions of the original innovation helped it become what it is today. 

Sources: https://growthhackers.com/growth-studies/snapchat

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

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

Why is Free Speech Important?

There have been many new things I have learned in this specific class, and having online class is truly not the same. Some of the subjects, people, and historical events that I have "re-learned," really have brought my interest into a lot of new things that I never thought I would be interested in. Me? A person who loves History? Never have thought about that in my life. However, one of the newest things that I have learned about in this class, dug into some more research about and am here to write about is: the Eight Values of Free Expression. 

Did I know these existed? Sure, of course! (Like every other American...) Yet, did I know what each Values stood for, and what the purpose of its existence is? Absolutely not. So, I investigated. I read about all 8 Values, and one of them really stood out to me. Number 4: Individual Self-Fulfillment. Or has been titled: Self Actualization. In this Value, the definition of what its purpose is given by Professor Smith: Free speech enables individuals to express themselves, create and identify -- and, in the process perhaps, find kindred spirits. Freedom of speech thus becomes an aspect of human dignity. Now this, this is something that is so powerful, and something that I 100% agree with. 

But for someone who knows generally about Freedom of Speech and the idea of it, why should they think it's important? Freedom of Speech gives us as a society to adapt, change, develop, grow, prosper, and much more. This whole idea gives society permission to tell them: "Alright, well if you wanna do better, what's your bright idea?" And society answers saying: "This is what i've got, and it's killer." That whole idea is so powerful! Having the ability to stand up in front of hundreds, thousands, and possibly millions of people and tell them how you want to improve this nation as a whole is a key concept on why people want to come to America in the first place. Why people fight to move here, and start a family so that their children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren have the opportunity and ability to be free, and take on opportunities like Freedom of Speech. 

Not only that, but this Value also gives us as a society the ability to listen, and put action towards the ideas that are being brought about. It's one thing to talk about something and say that you have big plans to make it happen, however it's a whole other step to actually go through with it and put your plan into action. Freedom of Speech gives us the ability to do so. 

This Value is personally my favorite, and to me is possibly the most important out of all eight. This specific point gives Americans the ability to grow as a society, as a country, and as a nation. It gives us the opportunity to develop, prosper, and keep moving forward so that we are doing the best we possibly can to make sure everyone is living the life they intend to. 

Source: https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2016/04/free-speech-important/