Technology

 Technology

Growing up in the era of social media and technology I have seen and witnessed the pros and cons of technology. Overall I believe that technology has changed our world for the better.
In my experience technology has built my vocabulary from articles I read daily. I am able to connect to loved ones on social media and discover new beautiful places on applications like Pinterest. Even though I have had a positive look at technology I have witnessed situations that sadden me. I have seen the media corrupt and spread lies and have seen people on a date that don't even talk to one another because they are so consumed with the little screen in their pocket. There are privacy breaches, hacking, catfishing, and other awful things that have developed due to technology. Even though there are many terrible developments the one that shocks me the most is cyberbullying.

Bullying has always been around but now people can hide behind a screen and ruin people's lives. Cyberbullying is a serious issue in today’s society. 36.5 percent of people have reported being cyberbullied, 87 percent of young people have seen cyberbullying occur, and 17.4 percent have reported it happening over the last 30 days. These percentages have doubled over the past twelve years. Even though people are aware of it cyberbullying percentages are still using and people are not stopping.
People cyberbully everyday on all different social media platforms. For example, the social media platform that has the highest record for cyberbullying is Instagram. All it takes is one comment to make someone feel attacked and people can be aggressive when hiding behind a screen. The effects of cyberbullying have a negative effect on mental health. 64% of people say cyberbullying affects their capability to feel safe at school and learn. 41% of kids report that cyberbullying makes them develop social anxiety and 37% said they develop depression over it. If someone is pushed to a breaking point troubled people being cyberbullied will even take their own life.

As mentioned earlier even though technology can do such good it can also be used as a real weapon and can ruin a person's life.
https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/cyber-bullying-statistics

Media's Effect On Relationships

Media's Effect On Relationships

Have you ever looked around in a restaurant and realized those who surrounded you are more involved with their phone then who they are sitting with at a table?
I have, and it seems to be getting worse as more media platforms develop, and reports show that people are interacting less face to face. Social media has caused cheating, partner neglect, and others to have negative body issues. A report has shown that about 72% of Americans use social media to create relationships with others, rather its on a friendly or romantic level.

Social media can negatively affect relationships in many different ways. For instance, when you start comparing yourself to other people, whether it's someone random or your friends. People start comparing their relationships to others and feel that they are missing something in their own romantic partnership because of the pictures they see online. People develop insecurities and may isolate themselves, which leads them to turn not to be as open to meet someone in person. 
Even though, in my opinion, there are more drawbacks to using social media to connect, there are many instances where people find it to be beneficial to their dating lives. People feel that social media has a positive impact, and it's easier to meet and get to know people more online. Up to 83% of teenagers report that social media connects them to their friends and 48% of adults between the ages of 18-29 have started romantic relationships online. Those who tend to be more introverted use social media platforms to meet others because they have fears, insecurities, physical issues, and other real struggles that stop them from being themselves in the real world.

Overall it depends on the person and what they feel more comfortable with. I, for instance, believe in an in-person connection and focus on living in the moment while others rather talk on a screen to get to know someone first before meeting.  I believe that there is no wrong or right when it comes to social media and dating but to be wary that it doesn't consume you and make you miss opportunities.
https://www.insider.com/how-social-media-affects-relationships

Illusory Truth Effect

  Illusory Truth Effect

Usually, a theory can be described as ideas people try to explain to others that they trust. People react differently to theories, but an important factor of a theory to remember is that it is just a hypothesis and needs to be proved to be able to be called the truth. Over the years, due to media and twisting, the truth theories can be manipulated, especially when it comes to politics.
One aspect that comes to mind when thinking of manipulation of information is the Illusory Truth Effect. This effect is the positive feeling we experience when we hear something that sounds good and is repeated enough. The important factor to know about the Illusory Truth Effect is that everything that you hear may not be true.

For instance, in politics, if certain information is repeated enough about a candidate, we start to believe it is true. The Illusory Truth Effect is used when public opinion matters and can manipulate information to sway people's minds. One example of this was a headline that circled around Facebook, conveniently leading up to the 2020 election. "Trump Is Now Trying To Get Mike Pence Impeached." Type this in your Google search and see all the media outlets that published this false claim. Even though this statement is false, having it be repeated may make people question. Even though the Illusory Truth Effect is used in politics, this effect has been widely used to persuade people to believe in numerous lies.
One of the most shocking attributes of the illusory truth effect is that it can occur regardless of prior knowledge that a statement is false. The term known as Fake News is prevalent when it comes to the illusory truth effect. Stories that we know as being falsified entirely can still make an impact and make us question the truth if the false fact has been spread around enough. Our knowledge doesn't even protect against the Illusory Truth Effect because repeating a certain statement is easier to process. This effect is most commonly used in today's age due to the wide range of media outlets.
Even though there are problems associated with the illusory truth effect, I believe the most frightening aspect behind it is the uncertainty element. If there are too many lies spread around, then people start to become unaware of what the truth is.

"If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer… And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please."
—Hannah Arendt
Overall the Illusory Truth Effect has more downsides and can make a person think a statement is true though it is false through repeated exposure of a story.
https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/illusory-truth-effect/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psych-unseen/202001/illusory-truth-lies-and-political-propaganda-part-1
https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/342988/fake-news-runs-rampant-on-facebook-as-2020-electio.html

Privacy and Its Ethical Dilemmas

 Privacy and Its Ethical Dilemmas

Listening to several different TED talks, it was alarming to find out how much of our privacy is compromised. Learning about privacy in these talks reminded me of The Truman Show. It’s as if every conversation and all our personal information is up for surveillance, and without research, most wouldn't know that a “private” phone call isn't very private!
 At first, I knew about the Patriots Act that was administered after 9/11 to track calls to monitor for any suspicious activity. Still, I didn't realize our telephones and the networks that carry our calls were wired for surveillance first. I have read about privacy violation issues about US government involvement in our personal lives. For example, if I were to talk to my spouse or family but it didn't cross my mind that another government, a stalker, or a hacker could be listening until Christopher Soghoian’s Ted Talk! All it takes is someone who can break into the surveillance system.

There is confusion when it comes to privacy and breaking moral/ethical codes. I believe we try to justify the infringement, but it's also hard to stand by and have your rights be taken away from you.
Yes, we want the government to be able to listen in an identify potential terrorist threats or drug deals, but there is no such thing as a terrorist laptop or a drug cellphone. What this means is that if terrorist telephone calls can be intercepted, so can ours.
An example of this was In 2009, when the surveillance system at Microsoft and Google was compromised by the Chinese government because the Chinese government wanted to figure out which one of their own agents the US government was monitoring.

 I like the metaphor Christopher used by saying when you build a backdoor and leave it open, you don't know who could come through it. Someone non-threatening like a friend or someone could break in through that backdoor, and the same applies in the communication world. If you leave a backdoor into a communication network open, you have no way of controlling who will go through it, good guys or bad guys.
Even though there are many pros to building software to protect our privacy and make interception impossible, the downside of building networks to be as secure would be that it'd make it impossible to catch the bad such as terrorists. The world has to choose what is more important to them, and that goes into different people's perspectives of what liberties they are willing to give up.
https://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_soghoian_how_to_avoid_surveillance_with_the_phone_in_your_pocket

Everything Social Media

Everything Social Media

When using my social media platforms, I have always been more reserved when it comes to posting content and photos. I am currently only using four social media platforms; Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Snapchat.
I always learned to be careful with the content I share, thanks to my father. I grew up with a parent who is involved in the business world. He always taught me about the importance of not posting content that could cause difficulty in the future when it came to my career. For example, you would never see a social media post of me partying and going wild on spring break. Instead, you would see a calm and collected photo of me enjoying the beach. I also try not to post to much personal information about my religion, political views, or any beliefs that could possibly make a job recruiter offended or uncomfortable.
 The one concern I have always had is not what I post but what people post of me. Yes, I am more composed when it comes to posting, but I cannot control what others post. It has always worried me about what others could do to my career from one photo that wasn't even my intention to be seen by the public.
For personal information, I am relatively private. I try not to reveal much besides my age and where I am from. On the other hand, I do post about content that I believe people would enjoy knowing about, such as my favorite movies, hobbies, and other general facts. Besides being more reserved on most of my social media, the only platform I've released my phone number and email to is LinkedIn for potential job offers or questions on my resume.
Overall my personal experience using social media has been positive. My initial interest in social media was to connect with loved ones who are far or to post photos I want to share with the world. I also enjoy looking back at all the memories I have made, and it makes my family happy to keep track of what I am currently doing.

On the contrary, I can see how social media can have a negative effect on people. An important word that has developed over the years that causes people extreme anxiety and nervousness is FOMO (fear of missing out). People don't feel satisfied with themselves or their lives when they see others enjoying it more. For example, people who are on the heavier side or who don't have perfect skin can feel depressed when they see photos of Instagram models that make them feel different. They wish they could look like others, which makes them feel malcontent with themselves.  Or someone who already feels alone can feel more lonesome if they follow a person who continually posts about having a good time with their friends.
There are pros and cons to social media, and it just depends on how people use it. People can use it in an ethical or immoral way. For example, there is a fine line when it comes to online dating. For anyone who has experienced it, online dating can be significant or catastrophic. Some people who have been unhappy with how they look can decide to catfish another person. Catfishing is when you pretend to be someone else on social media. For example, If I made a Tinder account and stole pictures of an Instagram model, and I said I was her- That would be catfishing. To contradict that, people can also fall in love and feel less nervous to talk to people online before meeting in person.

A definite pro to social media is how people have made it into their career. Famous social media influencers such as LeLe Pons or Liza Koshy have over 40 million followers on their social media platforms and make a living off of posting.

In the end, it all depends on what you want your influence to be on social media.
https://www.google.com/search?q=lele+pons&client=firefox-b-1-
https://mediakix.com/blog/top-influencers-social-media-instagram-youtube/
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/05/is-facebook-making-us-lonely/308930/
https://whatismyipaddress.com/catfish

Diffusion of Innovations Snapchat

                                                  Diffusion of Innovations Snapchat

To start off before going into detail about the success of Snapchat is to first go into the history of how this brilliant idea was first made. The idea for Snapchat came from three students at Stanford University, Reggie Brown, Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy. These three came up with idea of creating an application that a person could send images which would disappear after a few seconds. After coming up with the concept these three developed an app that transformed into a multibillion-dollar app. From the history of how Snapchat was developed, we can further discuss the Diffusion of Innovations Theory as a lens to look at this social media platform's success and spread.

This famous app we all know of today was not always named Snapchat. The social media platform at first was named Pictaboo in September 2011. Soon after two of the members that created the app Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy renamed it Snapchat. The real genius behind the idea of Snapchat and what made it stand out was the idea that no other application had come up with the concept of having disappearing pictures.
Even though Snapchat is commonly used today it had a slow pick up back in 2011. Most of its early adopters were other Stanford students and after a couple of months, the app only had about 100 users. Even though the social media platform started slow word of mouth became a very powerful tool in this apps future success.
A family member of one of the founders shared the app with one of his school friends and next thing you knew the platform became a sensation. It soon became a hit with teenagers and people out of interest started to download the app. After the application became more popular users were satisfied with all the features that came with the platform.

From personal experience, I was about fourteen when I downloaded Snapchat and was enamored with the new qualities the app featured that I never saw before. From being able to send goofy photos my friends could never save or having a serious conversation with someone that couldn’t be shared with others. It added a personal experience and created a safe space.
This is what made this social media platform spread like wildfire to younger generations. This platform had the advantage of being different which fascinated people. The interest of having an app that provided the disappearing photos and videos encouraged people to download and try the platform. It removed the worry from users' minds of others storing or documenting photos. 
Looking at Snapchat as of June 2019 the growth of the social platform has skyrocketed. Snapchat has reached 210 million active daily users and daily active users increased by 8 percent year-over-year.
https://appsamurai.com/mobile-app-success-story-how-snapchat-did-it/
https://www.oberlo.com/blog/snapchat-statistics

Marketplace of Ideas

Marketplace of Ideas

 We can clearly see by imagining a marketplace of ideas how the first amendment was derived which decidedly sides with Milton that freedom of speech is the foremost right in society. The right to free speech allows for the creation of news mediums such as newspapers, television, and most recently social media forums to cast out opinions from who should be the next president to which brand of detergent works best against wine stains.
We see the advantage of having free exchange of ideas in both cases: where each candidate’s merits can be compared and such rigorous discourse can be used to truly find the best fit without having an existing government choose the candidate to serve their best interests.
Likewise, in the detergent example, people can be free to experiment which soap is the best to remove that stain. However, while freedom of speech is critical, it is not without flaws. 


 
While Milton’s marketplace is perfect in isolation- it can at times be myopic to the many variables in the real world. In the first example, a handful of news individuals can adopt stances of their personal truths which can strongly influence the masses. The masses can be subject to various cognitive biases and as a result, vote for candidates based on emotion over truth. In the detergent example, corporation X can pay researchers to fabricate studies claiming their product is superior, concealing the truth. 
The critique of the marketplace of ideas is that whom Milton considers a societal censor, can continue exerting influence in the shadows of free idea exchange.
While Milton’s marketplace of ideas most literally translates to free speech it can also be used u the category of economics. In Milton’s eyes, an ideal economy is one where goods and services are created and made better through competition. 
This competition will refine said products to be the best and thus chosen as superior by the public. Without a force controlling the means of production, the best companies make the best products. It can be easy to agree with Milton here as we would all be much happier if the government didn’t tell us that we had to use Bing over Google as the choice for search engine.
Likewise, a market place for ideas in economics encourages an entrepreneurial spirit and risk taking which is essential for societal progression as there will be no force preventing you from re-defining society as a whole- we think of Steve Jobs announcing the iPhone. Of course, much like in the free speech example, the marketplace of ideas draws limitations as it fails to account that the world is not run in a vacuum.


Luckily in today’s world, we are lucky to have both marketplaces of ideas and institutions that serve as balance. Milton pioneered that the common person should have no limitations in running his society or expressing interest in being a participant. In doing so, the standard shifted towards a marketplace which shifted control away from autocratic governments and churches. 
Today, the spirit of the marketplace of ideas is very well alive but we have not, for good reason, removed governments and other institutions as they now function largely to mend broken truth rather than take on the job of defining truth for all of us to obey.

https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/999/marketplace-of-ideas 

The Messenger Pigeon

The Messenger Pigeon

When learning about the history of technology, one thing that always interested me was the messenger pigeon. We use to rely on these birds to deliver very important messages, yet now we treat them like street trash. How could an animal that is portrayed to be stupid and worthless use to be a creature that was valued so much? 

To first understand the evolution of the pigeon, we have to start with the history of how it became famous. Even though the use of the carrier pigeon had been used by many famous figures like ancient Romans, Genghis Khan, and Charlemagne, it wasn't until the Siege of Paris in 1870 that the carrier pigeon truly became known and cherished. 

During the Siege, as the Prussians were coming the first attempt to send a message was by stuffing dispatches into hollow metal balls and floating them down the Seine, but that did not end well. After that, a balloon called La Ville de Florence sent off three pigeons, and in 6 hours, they came back proving that the carrier pigeon worked! After to start a truce between the two sides, they sent 409 pigeons with a message and, 73 had returned safely, which in their eyes showed that the carrier pigeon was a successful way for people to communicate. 

After the success of the carrier pigeons in 1870, Europe continued to use the carrier pigeons in World War 1 in 1914. In addition, the French believed that pigeons were so important that at the end of the war, France had sent off 30,000 pigeons and had declared that if anyone interferes with the flight of their pigeons, that you could be sentenced to death. 

Even though now carrier pigeons are not popular anymore, especially with how technology has now advanced, there are still certain scenarios where people and certain countries use carrier pigeons. For instance, drug traffickers get away with not getting caught selling drugs by not using technology that can be traced and instead send flocks of pigeons that carry about ten grams of heroin between Afghanistan and Pakistan. In addition, pigeons are still used to carry blood samples from certain faraway regions of Britain and France. They are also used in the United States to spot shipwrecks from helicopters, and they do this because of their 360-degree vision.

 Even though pigeons use to be necessary to send messages now, it is said that they are necessary for biodiversity. It is interesting to see how there is so much history behind a bird I see every day in New York City. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/30/style/the-hallowed-history-of-the-carrier-pigeon.html

Youtube

Youtube was founded by Jawed Karim, Steve Chen, and Chad Hurley. Youtube first launched in 2005, and the first video was uploaded in April by Karim named 'Me at the Zoo.’ The inspiration for Youtube came from Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl, and the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
 Youtube didn’t really become famous until Nike published their commercial on the social media platform and received over one million views. Less than a year later, due to the extremely fast growth, Google bought the company for around $1.65 billion.

 I believe that 2009 was a significant milestone for Youtube because it launched HD  (now up to 1080p rather than just 720p), received one billion video views per day, and gained a partnership with Channel 4.

Over the next three years, Youtube added many features to its platform. It introduced new types of ads, and the site soon hit three billion daily views. Many gamers and vloggers realized they now had an opportunity to earn a living by posting videos onto YouTube and receiving revenue from ads and support. Soon after, in 2012, Youtube became a multi-billion dollar company.

Now Youtube has added live streaming, and about 5 billion videos are watched each day. In addition, over 1.3 billion people use the site, and 300 hours of video are uploaded each and every minute. YouTube has become the largest and most popular video distribution platform on the Internet.

Youtube has had a big impact on many people's lives because now they can make a decent living off of creating, editing, and uploading videos onto YouTube. People spend all day on Youtube, finding videos. You can watch Youtube for entertainment, but many videos have advice for people who are seeking help. An example would be if you wanted beauty tips and needed to watch beauty how-to’s and tutorials or if you needed to watch a video on how to change a tire when you are stranded somewhere.

Youtube can also take a more serious approach and broadcast presidential elections, politics, commercials, and recent news. You can be persuaded off of people’s opinionated videos on Youtube. Some videos on topics such as political campaigns and debates can be misleading to viewers when people end up making a biased video.
 Biased videos show the negative impact on Youtube in our society by showing only what society wants to see and leaving out the full story. It can cause people to feel a positive or negative way about a subject without even getting all the context of the story.
https://interestingengineering.com/youtube-its-history-and-impact-on-the-internet 
https://www.engadget.com/2016/11/10/the-history-of-youtube/
https://www.themycenaean.org/2015/11/youtubes-impact-on-our-society/

Antiwar.com

Antiwar.com

 

The first thing I noticed when logging onto Antiwar.com is that there is no fluff or masking. The writers tell you what you wouldn't read usually on CNN or Fox. One thing I did notice about this website is that most articles are most writers are left-winged. The writer writes from a libertarian viewpoint.

As you can tell from the title of the website, this is a channel that expresses articles about those opposing if war. Most articles have to do with US foreign policy. Even those this is a website protected by the First Amendment's freedom of speech, I can see why this website wouldn't be as popular. On many other websites people have accused this website to be  " biased based on holding non-interventionist Libertarian positions." and "Mixed for factual reporting due to not always sourcing information as well as a failed fact check." 

I could understand how this sight would be very entertaining and nice to read to libertarians since it talks about many of their beliefs, but I could see how it would outrage or upset republicans. Since this site is seen to be so biased, it makes me realize how this website would only be popular to one side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/anti-war/

Google Violates Antitrust Law... Or Does It?

 Google Violates Antitrust Law... Or Does It?

It has been stated that 48 states have accused Google of violating the antitrust law. Attorney's in these 48 states are all leading separate investigations on what is happening with Google. The only two states that are not involved in the investigation are California and Alabama. 

The overall point of the probing is for the states to try to prove if Google broke the law in reaching dominance in the industry and trying to squash its rivals. It is stated that advertising dominance started in Google's 2007 purchase of online advertising company DoubleClick. This is when Google was fined for "unfairly inserted exclusivity clauses into contracts with advertisers." This was the start of the unfairness that rivals have to face in the online advertising business. 

There is an argument that when asking Google about, for example, the best hair products to use for damaged hair. Instead of receiving the best results I would receive products that have paid Google to appear higher on the search page. As a result of this, I would get a product that was not as good because Google prioritized subsidiaries instead of what their users really need. This is just one clear example of Google controlling what internet users are seeing.  

In concerns of Google squishing its rivals in this article, it states how Google this year will "control 31% of global digital ad dollars." This is worrisome for Google's smaller competitors because this raises the concern of how much power Google has in setting rates and favoriting and referring their own services. Since Google will be referring their own services it makes it hard for smaller competitors to even been seen. 

Overall though even though this is an ongoing investigation there is no clear action of what will be made of these accusations. This ends with Google executive Walker speaking about how Google doesn't hurt but assists. Emphasizing that the company's products help people every day.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/google-antitrust-probe-48-u-s-states-launch-antitrust-investigation-of-google-dominance-in-search-ads-and-data/ 

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court

To start off in the Supreme Court, there are nine Supreme Court justices. The average time a court justice is in the court is sixteen years. The Supreme Court comes to a court to draw the boundaries of government power. They have a lot of responsibility and authority by being able to tell the president, congress, and the states what they may or may not do.
 The Supreme Court was not always respected. It was not until John Marshall's period that the new court earned public respect as a co-equal branch of government.

The most divisive issue in American history happened twenty years later when Dred Scott, a Missouri slave, declared his freedom under an act of congress. Under Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney, the court rules that congress had no power to ban slavery and that blacks could never be citizens. The civil war cleared that, and the Dred Scott decision is now known " as the court's great self- inflicted wound." After the war, the constitution was amended. They abolished slavery, defined citizenship, and granted voting rights.

Can you believe that the Supreme Court receives more than 100 new cases every week, and about 7,000 cases a year! They are mostly petitions for certiorari, which are written arguments attempting to persuade the court that a lower court ruling was incorrect. But they only really accept about 100 a year for review. The ones that are accepted are sent to the justices once a week.

Each justice is assisted by a small staff of law clerks and secretaries, but each justice is in charge of deciding each case. By the time a case arrives, the facts have been established in a trial court. This court considers the legal questions. Justices meet weekly in a conference to discuss which cases they will accept and deny. It has no precedential value if they deny a case.

The Supreme Court hears cases in public. Lawyers on opposing sides of each case are allowed to argue for 30 minutes each. Within a few days after hearing arguments the court justices gather in their conference room alone to vote. Whichever side wins the vote needs to write an opinion about the legal reasons for the decision. Any justice may write a separate opinion. Compromise is inevitable.
The court's tradition is to announce decisions and release opinions in the late-term in June.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWRoXYRsaeo&feature=youtu.be

Portland May Day 2017 Vs First Amendment

 Portland May Day 2017

The protest that occurred in Portland, Oregon, May of 2017, stood out to me the most when writing about this prompt because of how the First Amendment was violated. Our class discussed what violates the First Amendment specifically when it comes to one of the 6 freedoms; speech.

People are allowed to peacefully protest, and freedom of speech isn't violated until violence is involved. The gathering that occurred in Portland began as a city permitted and peaceful protest but later turned into a protest of violence. "Protesters shattered business windows, set bonfires in the streets, and vandalized a police car." The overall outcome of this protest, in my opinion, is a good example of the First Amendment being contravened.

I also thought this was a good article to share because of how the writer Jim Ryan from The Oregonian covered this piece. In many channels, a reader can pick up the tone on whose side the writer is taking. In this piece, it is easy to see that the writer talks more positively about the protesters than the police.

In many examples in this piece, the writer uses sarcasm when talking about how the police handled things "proud of the professionalism" and "worked to keep the peace in Downtown Portland under very difficult circumstances." Overall I believed this story was significant to write about because it demonstrated when freedom of speech was being violated and how it's important how to communicate a story because the media can be very opinionated.
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2017/05/portland_may_day_demonstration.html