Final Blog Post - My Relationship with Technology

Looking all the way back to when I got my first electronic it was the iPod Touch. After the iPod Touch, I had a mini iPad and then got my first phone which was the iPhone 6. When I was that young I would've never thought about how much technology has impacted my life today. Technology is essential and at the tip of everyone's finger wherever they go. Both positive and negative impacts of technology can be seen in today's world. 

Technology has advanced so much over time and it will only get better in the future. During my childhood I enjoyed playing outside with my neighbors, I enjoyed talking to people in person, and I loved the way everything was. Kids nowadays do not have that anymore because they would rather text each other while they are in the same room, have a Facetime play date, and scroll on social media for fun. Technology has taken over reality for a lot of people.

As I have grown up with all of this technology around me I feel it has taken a toll on my mental health. There are days when I feel like I have not done anything for myself and just sat scrolling on TikTok. There are some nights when I stay up all night and miss out on getting a full night of rest due to being on my phone. Most of the time when I do that I do not even realize how bad it could get because it is getting worse and worse every time. 

The article How Does Technology Affect Mental Health, in the text it mentions, "While the internet can be an agent for good in terms of education and the strengthening of interpersonal relationships, internet addiction can be problematic because it can negatively impact academic success and one’s ability to communicate effectively in person." I agree with what this article is saying because it takes away communicating in person. Being alone scrolling on my phone all day is depressing and a waste of time. Because of this, it's important that I set time limits for using my phone so that I don't become completely dependent on it for everything.

After all technology either can waste my time or help me in many ways that I do not think everyone realizes. This article, 9 Ways Technology Has Had a Positive Impact on Society, shows great examples of how I use my phone to help me get through society today. I use it in a good way to connect to other family members or friends that are long distance. Technology also plays a big role in safety with having the Ring camera on my door and watching who comes to the house all through my phone. The internet is a great learning tool that we all have right in our hands anywhere we go! 

My phone which I carry on me at all times is used a lot throughout my day. I use it as an alarm clock to get up for class and to call my parents from home while I'm at school. I see that there are good and bad ways people can take advantage of technology and abuse it. Technology has changed the world so much over these last couple of years and there is more in the future to come. I do believe that it is important for people to have a smartphone on them at all times just in case. But the world relies on it now and it is incorporated in our everyday lives. 

Blog Post #10 Living in the age of AI

AI has come a long way in taking a toll on people's lives.  I believe that there is a positive and negative outcomes with AI doing as much as it does for people on a day-to-day basis. AI is there to give us answers at the tip of our fingertips. It is there to teach each self how to predict the outcome of anything. With how advanced it is today there is so much more the future holds for it. 

One of the major things that I have learned after watching the video in class is that AI is taking away jobs from hundreds of people. In big buildings like factories, there is a lot of activity being done, but the people are not there. With AI taking away jobs it is causing no taxes to come through because robots do not get paid. That leads to cities and towns slowly dying because without the taxes they can't be supported. 

With people not being able to have their jobs it is causing a lot of damage to people's home lives. It's likely to cause cardiac arrest and higher risks of depression with people not being able to do their jobs. Then it goes down to their kids affecting them with depression and more so to drop out of school at an early age. 

In the article, How Will Artificial Intelligence Affect Jobs 2023-2030, the text mentions, "The World Economic Forum has estimated that artificial intelligence will replace some 85 million jobs by 2025. Freethink says that 65% of retail jobs could be automated by that year, saying that this is largely due to technological advancements, rising costs and wages, tight labor markets, and reduced consumer spending." 

Another thing that AI has done that has caught my eye is give no one privacy anymore. This article mentions, "One of the primary challenges is the potential for AI to be used to violate privacy. AI systems require vast amounts of (personal) data, and if this data falls into the wrong hands it can be used for nefarious purposes, such as identity theft or cyberbullying." It is scary to think that little kids are here using technology and do not know how dangerous it could be. They do not realize how their privacy and information are very important. Taking people's identity and watching everything that is being posted online. 

AI has helped give answers to people when they need to know something, but it is affecting reality. This life does not feel normal to me at all and it makes me concerned for the future. It is so important to be updated with technology because anything that anyone does is being recorded. Robots are taking people's real jobs, affecting students' education, and taking identity from people. There are pros and cons when to how AI has affected people's lives. It is scary for the younger generations to see how they are going to grow up living in this world that we have today. 

EOTO Key Post #9 Terms and Concept

 Our second EOTO theme is theories and I get to research gatekeeping. Gatekeeping is a very interesting term because it is very common in today's society with different meanings. With this term, I hear it a lot, but I never really got a good understanding of how much it is used. Gatekeeping is the process of restricting or controlling public access to something. 

People may question if gatekeeping is a good or bad thing for people and the public? Gatekeeping: What It Is and Its Impact has a lot to talk about on how toxic gatekeeping is to others' mental health. In the text, it mentions, "Gatekeeping remains very toxic, exclusionary, and hurtful to many. It can be very harmful to someone’s mental health. While yes, sometimes it is minor, it can get very serious and very harmful quickly. "  To put it simply, gatekeeping is the practice of preventing members of a community or group from participating based on factors like loyalty, knowledge, or how you learned about something.

The audience watching the news and reading what they see on social media needs to make sure that it is a reliable source. The news channels will pick and choose what information they want to be public and it is not fair to the people watching. "Audiences have become too used to this fast-paced and competitive environment of breaking news and sometimes lack understanding, that what is published into the media is not always reliable and honest." People can't just believe the first piece of information they see or hear because they could be feeding false information. 

This has the potential to lure viewers in clickbait-filled social media environments, like Facebook. The audience will only trust the messages they are exposed to on the public website if they lack the knowledge to distinguish between fact and fiction. 

As a result, we need gatekeepers who can help in analyzing this, expose the truth in the media, and establish a moral public space that can regulate professional standards. The reporters just repeat what they are told to say. They do not care if it is the truth or not because this is what their everyday job is and they are getting paid for it. That is why it is so important to make sure that people do their research on what is going on in today's world. 

They create a hierarchy of sorts that will be utilized to decide what is and is not important to the audience. These choices are influenced by the current political, social, cultural, and ethical developments. One example that was written in this article shows why there is so much fake news being thrown around. "An example can be in the news or press area. The news editor plays the role of the gatekeeper. S/he has to decide which kind of news stories will be aired and in which manner and which ones won’t. Some, if not all media outlets have their own set of house rules, ethics or policies to be followed. These are some of the aspects that will guide the editor towards making an informed decision. " 

With these being lying to the public it will receive backlash from the public because the people just want the truth. There is a saying that the truth always comes out no matter how much people try and gatekeep it from the public. Gatekeeping really does horrible things to society, making people dislike each other just because of the fake news people believe in. 

This can very well affect my family and friends just as much as it affects everyone else who is listening to the news. Just like everyone else, I do not want to be listening to fake news just as much as my family and friends don't. It can lead to problems with people and cause conflict about all the stuff being shown on social media as well. It is important to make sure that everyone is retaining truthful information rather than being told lies. Gatekeeping is an extremely important term that holds a strong value in today's world. 

Blog Post #7: Diffusion of the Telegraph

 Over the years the telegraph has turned into something so much more than a way to communicate with others from far distance. Today, we know how smartphones are basically mini computers and do all the same functions a regular computer can do. The telegraph used to be connected with on single wire to help transmit messages and ended up being an electrical machine with a keyboard. This was such a big success till other inventions such as the fax machine and telephone were invented. 

In the 1830s to 1840s, the talking telegraph was created by Samuel Morse and other inventors. This was the first way people were able to communicate through far distances. In 1866 the telegraph was able to transmit messages from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to Europe.  For people during this time, it was such a massive and essential change since they never thought they would be able to communicate with others from a distance yet alone from countries.  The telegraph was a stepping stone for technology. 

Once the 19th century came around, electricity became a big thing and the electrical telegraph began to be in the works. The first piece of technology came out which was the battery. The battery allowed the electric current to be stored and controlled information all over the environment.  The second piece of technology created was a magnet. This was able to show the background of electric currents seeing a pin connect to a magnet showing electrical current. These pieces of technology made people of this time understand how messages were being transmitted over distances. 

The 19th century was a big time for communication overall. The telegraph was able to transmit Samuel Morse's dots, lines, and symbols into text. This made it an easier way for people to communicate with one another because they were able to use direct texts and wording. The telegraph got so enhanced using texts they were able to type 80 words per minute. This was so big in the 19th century, that the telegraph had a keyboard finally connected to it called the Creeds Morse Keyboard. 

Come the 20th century the telegraph hadn't been in use anymore because the fax machine, telephone, and internet connection were all invented, opening up other doors for people to connect with others in a more advanced way.  Internet, telephone, and fax machines were just the beginning of more advanced technology. 

Blog Post 6: Antiwar

 After discussing in class the important factors of anti-war the one thing I would have to point out is that it is a very opinionated topic. The two websites that I got to look at for the first time are ANTIWAR.COM and The American Conservative.  I believe that these two websites gave me a wider variety of mixed opinions and other sides that I have not heard before. 

I have never noticed how many people really use their voices to protest about this situation. In the article Whatever Happened to the Antiwar Left? , the first sentence caught my eye without even reading the rest of the article. In the text, it mentions, "On Feb. 15, 2003, 14 million people poured into the streets of 800 cities worldwide to oppose the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq." Even though this protest occurred in the past it still is a very important event in history. That is not just a couple hundred people, now we are talking millions of people who are there to voice their opinions. With is considered one of the largest protests even in human history is mind-blowing to me. 

It is a great thing to have that people are using their voices and sticking up for what they believe in. Not everything is being posted online or shown on the news and people are blinded by the truth. That is why reading the two articles Antiwar.com and The American Conservative was a big news flash for me considering I have never seen them before. 

More people in this world need to study websites like that because it is so important to get the right knowledge for today's problems. People learn about others' opinions and these certain situations generate them to speak about their own opinions. 

At times I feel that some people are scared to read the truth about what is really going on because they are so blind in today's society. Some read the first article they see, probably giving them false information, and that is what leads to a lot of conflict.  They need to be smarter about being online and knowing what is actually going on in today's world. Being up to date is a very significant factor knowing that there are bad things going on in our everyday lives. It is scary and the only thing we want in this world is to make it a better place. 

When checking out unpopular websites it gives you the other side of things that are not shown on the most popular websites. Other opinions and unspoken words from other people need to be heard just as much as everyone else. 

Blog Post 2: Supreme Court

 

Once I watched the two-part video on the Supreme Court, it enhanced my learning about all the aspects of the Supreme Court and a lot of the responsibilities they have over our country.  After visiting Washington DC for a trip I was able to learn a lot more about the Supreme Court. Although I was at a very young age I couldn't take in all the information so watching these videos has made me learn more. 

The Supreme Court of the United States is known to be the most powerful judicial body on Earth. While the Supreme Court is a very serious group they make all their decisions and hold all their meetings in private areas. Their power is mainly up to the public and the way they are able to dictate their decisions will affect the public. There are only nine justices on the Supreme Court, and they hold their positions for as long as they like unless they die, or are impeached. Being appointed to serve as a justice of the highest court is extremely uncommon because of the fact that there are only nine spots.

The members who are a part of the Supreme Court study Law but they mainly deal with humans and their problems. It is essential for the Supreme Court to be respected and cared for because it represents the ultimate authority in the legal system. It is crucial that the Supreme Court maintains its independence so that its rulings are accepted and treasured even by people who may not completely agree with them, even if there will never be a moment when everyone agrees on a single decision. 

Learning about a bunch of well-known situations the Supreme Court had to deal with has made me learn how important they really are and how much they are respected by our rights. Watching these videos and constantly learning more information about them in class allows me to get a better understanding of how important the Supreme Court is to American citizens and how beneficial it is. 

EOTO #1: The First Telegraph

Technology hasn't always been what it is now. Over the past years, it has enhanced to be so much more. Today everyone is known for having an Apple iPhone smartphone that is such advanced technology right at our fingertips. Today we couldn't live without our cell phones even if we tried to. They are so essential to our lives and are used all the time. Although technology was only sometimes this advanced. The first type of technology that had similar qualities to the telephone was the telegraph.

    For years people tried to find a way to allow communication along far distances. People have tried so many things such as flags, sounds, and lights, but they could only go so far. The telegraph was known as being the first technological form of communication. The telegraph was made for people to be able to communicate across long distances. The telegraph did not only enhance communication with other people it also helped grow railroads, and markets, and reduced the cost of other items which was major back in this time period. The telegraph helped make a large impact on the American Economy as well. 

Inventing the telegraph was so beneficial to society that it replaced all the existing technology there was. 

 

The Idea of creating the telegraph was put out there in the 1700s but wasn't officially transmitted till the 1900s. There were many different versions of this but the one who came up with the original telegraph was Samuel Morse. One of his major contributions to the telegraph was the Morse code. The Morse code was a way to type and communicate faster on the telegraph. You would use dots, dashes, and other symbols to transmit messages faster. The Morse code also allowed there to be fewer wires hooked up to the telegraph allowing it to be easy to transport the telegraph around.  Morse finally showed his work to the US Congress in the early 1840s. After this, the telegraph was able to transmit messages across forty miles. Back in the 1840s, this was a big step allowing people to communicate over such long distances. Overall, the morse code was a step in the right direction for the telegraph and was extremely beneficial.

The electrical telegraph changed society majorly in such a positive way. People's communication was so enhanced. Before the telegraph, it wasn't simple for people to be able to talk to other people. It allowed people to build more railroad systems and helped the white house communicate with each other while the Civil War was going on. Before the telegraph was created the troops during the Civil War could not communicate from far distances. This also allowed the White House to have better ways to accomplish tasks by communicating efficiently.  It also allowed people to communicate with their close family and friends who lived large distances from them. Having the telegraph in the 1900s was one of the best impacts there was on society at that time.