Final Blog: Technology

The two videos that prompted this blog paired together give a really unique perspective on the uprising of technology. One one had you have the first video that has yet to experience the complexity of technology, but they advertised it as this great thing and got people really excited for what the future brings. On the other had you have the second video that is set in the present time and it's like, well technology is here now and look what it did to us. And really highlights the negatives of technology. I don't feel like I can clearly represent people that have yet to see technology, simply because it is such a major part of my life, so for this blog I will be highlighting the message that that second video tried to tell.

The Mad World video almost felt like a response or even a warning for the people within the first video. The aim of this video was to show people what our society can look like when we get caught up in technology and social media. When watching the video I tried to keep an open mind on what angle I should take for my blog and I knew what I needed to write about as soon as I saw it. There was a section where people were using social media and throwing all of these fake emotes out there while they remained sad in the real world, and it even lead to a point of cyberbullying and suicide for one girl. So to be more specific I want to talk about the addiction aspect of social media and how I feel like it even affects me.

My generation is the first generation to grow up in the age of the internet and social media. It is so new that it is being studied like crazy, yet there is no actually scientific term for social media addiction, but it is believed to be a real problem that many people endure according to NetAddiction.

                                                                                                                                               
According to Net Addiction, these are the five main characteristics of social media addiction:

1. You spend a lot of time thinking about Facebook or planning how to use it.

2. You feel an urge to use Facebook more and more.

3. You use Facebook in order to forget about personal problems.

4. You become restless or troubled if you are prohibited from using Facebook.

5. You use Facebook so much that it has had a negative impact on your relationships.

Net addiction used facebook as their example, but these characteristics apply for any social media you can think of. I personally feel like I probably use social media too much myself as I can relate to some of the characteristics above at times. I don't know what it is but I think that having social media and other apps have significantly lowered our attention spans and are just an easy think to turn to when there is nothing else to do. I have even personally noticed that I don't watch much TV anymore because it feels so dragged out especially when commercials come on and I go to my phone anyways. I'd much rather scroll through my phone and look at an endless, uninterrupted feed of entertainment instead.

I think the only reason that we even have a prompt that brings up this issue of technology, is simply because people who lived before this lifestyle are still alive. I think that by the time my kids have kids, what we now are referring to as "addiction", will be the new norm. And yes that is kind of scary, but I think it will be so normal that we will find ways to slowing fix the issues that arise.

http://netaddiction.com/ebay-addiction/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwzmQf44hMo

Bonus: Blog About the Blog

I'm a big fan of getting A's especially when the teacher tells me exactly how to do so, so this is my 14th blog to cover the 12 blog requirement. I couldn't find anything that I found interesting enough to blog about so I'm going to blog about the blog for my bonus blog. This seems like a good time to reflect on the semester and what we've learned in class this semester.

I did not expect to be writing this blog from home today, but one thing I learned about this semester for sure was how to adapt. The blogs for this class did give me perspectives that I don't think I could have experienced if it wasn't for being forced into it, but I'm glad that I now have a better understanding for how things truly are and no know that you just have to take some things with a grain of salt and try to be objective as possible.

I also have a better understanding for my basic rights and the in depth meanings of those rights. I hate to admit it but I didn't have as good of a grasp for what my basic rights are as I thought I did. I don't feel alone in that though, I felt like one of the purposes of the class was to help us students have a better understanding as we get ready to enter the real world.

I also think these blogs made me a better writer and kind of develop a personal voice. I generally don't enjoy writing but I have realized that I kind of enjoy it when I am able to write in my own words and not just write down facts like a robot. The fact that my opinion was asked for on most of the blogs really let me write in my own style and cadence and I really liked that.

Overall I enjoyed the semester. of course I wish I could have been at school with my friends, but pandemics happen sometimes and here we are. Thanks for a good semester!

Week 16: EOTO Pt.2 - Online proctoring

With the coronavirus pandemic, millions of students are taking tests from the comfort of their homes, but there is nothing comfortable about taking these tests with many schools taking to online proctoring. Since tests can no longer be taken in classrooms, schools are preventing cheating by using online proctoring systems.

Demonstration of Proctoring system (video link below)

Test taking can be stressful enough for students, especially students with test anxiety, but when being stared at by an online proctor the stress can feel a lot worse. In fact it has made students uncomfortable to a point where students from schools like Rutgers and the University of Arizona had hundreds sign petitions against online proctoring.

In my personal experience with online test proctoring I found that it really does add to the stress of wanting to do well on the test alone. I felt the pressure of being watched both on my person and in the way that I navigated the screen itself as the proctor has access to both my camera and my screen. They are very strict to a point where you can't look away from the screen which I really struggled with and you can't move around because they need to clearly see your face and eyes. On the first test I took under this format, I sat back in my chair and my computer rang and alert tone and I received a warning right in the beginning of the test. That added so much stress as I felt like I was multitasking throughout the rest of the test to keep my body still. I have asked numerous friends what their thoughts are and everyone I've spoke to feels very uncomfortable as well.

If classes are going to continue to be online, I think an alternative has to be found because it is unfair to students who wouldn't normally be taking online tests and aren't used to the system. There is too much going on right now to have that little bit of added stress unnecessarily.

test proctoring anxiety

proctoring process video link

   

Week 15: EOTO Pt.1 - propaganda

I chose Propaganda for this blog because I thought it was the most interesting option and is very relevant in current events. The other cool thing about propaganda is that it has been around forever and is probably being spread now more than ever. 


With Technology making mass communication so easy propaganda is at an all time high in reach. Propaganda is defined as "information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view" (Google dictionary). We living in a time where propaganda is being used more than ever. Propaganda can be a good thing and a bad thing. It can be used to serve justice but it can also be used for slander. The most common propaganda in the USA currently is probably anti-Trump propaganda. I don't care one way or the other about politics but I have been seeing a lot of propaganda basically blaming Trump for the Coronavirus pandemic. This is where propaganda can be dangerous. Right now we are living through an historical event and we need each other now more than ever and people are wasting their time spreading false info to push others down because they disagree with their views. 

I think propaganda is bad for society as a whole. A vast majority of it is negative and it really divides people. What people who promote propaganda don't seem to understand is that the only people who are going to see that propaganda and agree with it are already on their team. Where it get's tricky is when lies are sprinkled into this propaganda and people who wouldn't normally think poorly about some one or some event, are tricked and end up promoting lies that they are unaware of. 


The fact that it easily can reach so many people is what concerns me. It's hard to tell whats real and not real on the internet these days to begin with, so it is relatively easy to get fooled while scrolling through social media and people need to be careful. 


As an example, there are many people who think that Kim Jong Un is dead right now. It even trended on Twitter. There hasn't been a single report from a reliable source saying that he has died but many thousands of people believe him to be dead based off of propaganda being spread continuously.

Propaganda can be great and help people come together to fix social and political injustices, but unfortunately like I mentioned most propaganda is a waste of time in my opinion. As long as we have competing groups with competing views propaganda will exist. In fact as years pass and the World's social media presence continues to rapidly grow, propaganda will only grow stronger and stronger.

what is propaganda?
Propaganda in the digital world

Week 14: Online privacy

In this blog I will be discussing online privacy... or lack of it. The last article I wrote about mentioned our digital footprints. What it didn't mention were the many companies walking right behind and observing those footprints. The most noticeable part of all of the controversy in my opinion is the data that companies who run ads have on me.

Facebook was recently called out for stealing all kinds of info from us and it wasn't only taken from our searches and posts, but from others things like posts we write and don't post, search history, and even things we do when we aren't on facebook. They did this for the monetary gains they received from companies that wanted this precious data. Facebook isn't the only company doing this though. Thousands of companies are selling our data for profit and there isn't much we can do about it. A scary detail of this is that these companies gather so much information about us that they are able to infer things about us like sexual orientation and drug use. That is insane and scary to be quiet honest. It doesn't help that many people disclose this information on their own but either way these companies can get virtually any data that they want. That's why it blows my mind when I'll search something random then next thing I know, I'm getting an advertisement for that same thing on instagram. This actually just happened to me the other day, I saw an advertisement for a training program that looked interesting to me and clicked into the website, read a little about it and moved on. This program happened to be specific to basketball players. I haven't played basketball since eight grade and never search it. Not even an hour later I go back onto instagram... I get six different basketball training advertisements in a row.


It's unbelievable and quite frightening how much of our private info is being passed around from company to company. People need to keep in mind that there is no such thing as privacy on the internet.

companies are spying on us
companies are buying and sharing our personal data