Society vs Technology: Is it a Healthy Relationship or Not? - Blog Post #12

Technology in general is a major advancement to our society. It has allowed us to be able to communicate with people across the globe and to share our experiences with others. We have the knowledge of the world right at our fingertips.

There are many advantages to modern technology. As previously mentioned, technology has allowed us to communicate with people from anywhere in the world.

One aspect about communication in particular is that technology is a way for people to create new relationships. It is also a way for couples to keep in contact and for family members to access one another in emergency situations.

However, there are many disadvantages and downsides to modern technology that seem to have grabbed a strong hold on us, making our relationship with it an unhealthy one.

Personally, I believe my relationship with technology is very unhealthy, as I have become overly reliant on televisions and computers, and have become addicted to my phone.

According to Frank Bentley's article, "Three hours a day: Understanding current teen practices of smartphone application use", a study was done to determine the average amount of time teenagers spent on their phones: "We found that the teens in our study used their smartphones for an average of almost 3 hours per day" (Bentley, 2015).

Addiction isn't the only problem that technology brings. Many companies, such as FaceBook, use people's information in order to give the user ads that are more centered around their interests.

Not to mention that many other companies now use location-tracking data to learn things about you and share that information just to make a profit, all without your consent. They are actively invading your privacy.

After watching the short videos regarding technology, I believe the darker videos were more accurate in depicting our society's relationship with technology today.

We have become so wrapped up in our screens that we are missing out on so many things in life. It is like we have become enslaved to technology.

Now, when discussing misinformation, it seems as though the internet does a better job at spreading inaccurate information rather than actually giving us the truth. According to the research article titled "The Spreading of Misinformation Online," "Massive digital misinformation is becoming pervasive in online social media" (Vicario, 2016).

Many teens today are constantly using social media, so they are highly subject to receiving misinformation. People will try to create false claims about anything, from current news to television shows, to try to gain support on their views or to just gain followers or subscribers. This is very deceptive and is a huge problem in today's society.

Overall, while technology is a major advancement in our society and there are many positive aspects of technology, it seems as though the negative implications outweigh the positives. Technology has become the center of everyone's lives, as more people and more careers depend on it. However, technology doesn't have to be what we make it. I believe we can revert back to being more reliant on the world around us and more interactive with people. All it takes is a little recognition and discipline.

Disinformation: EOTO 2 Reaction - Blog Post #11

Disinformation is where false information is deliberately and often covertly spread in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth.

There are many aspects of spreading disinformation that appeals to people in some ways. For one, it unites certain people and removes shame because they find other groups of people that believe the same information.

It also gives these kinds of people a feeling of power, knowing that they are manipulating others into making them believe something that isn't true. Disinformation can also serve as an outlet for people to help them in confirming their pre-conceived thoughts and opinions about a topic.

For these people, spreading disinformation could also give others explanations to unexplained events. If there is something that happened in the world, such as extreme events like UFO's or everything that came with Covid, people might have spread false information to possibly feel better about the negative situation.

There are many negative implications to spreading disinformation, especially since disinformation itself is primarily negative. One of the major implications is that it takes away people's trust. If everyone is spreading disinformation, how are we going to know what is actually the truth? Our trust would be completely broken.

This action could further cause people to become emotional about others' opinions and creates a division to where people take sides on the matter. When someone disagrees with someone else on a subject, others take it seriously and try to prove themselves right because in reality, humans don't like to be proven wrong.

With the increased usage of social media, the spread of disinformation has also increased. There are many forms of disinformation online. Some include trolls, AI, hackers, and even your search history.

With all of this being said, how do we combat disinformation? Well, there are many successful ways in doing so. First, look at the author and publisher of the source, and dig deeper into whether they are credible or not.

Second, check the publication date of the source. If an article, for example, was written 30 years ago, it is probably not the most accurate and up-to-date information.

Third, and the most important, is to conduct a personal bias check. Your opinions and beliefs on a topic could potentially skew how you view it.

Overall, disinformation is very prominent online and can affect our everyday lives. Learning about disinformation allows us to be more aware of the dangers it can cause, and ultimately, helps us to become better at detecting it.

Whistleblower: EOTO 2 - Blog Post #9

A whistleblower is someone who reports waste, fraud, abuse, corruption, or dangers to public health and safety to someone who is in the position to rectify the wrongdoing. Simply put, a whistleblower reports something bad in an organization to people of higher authority.

Whistleblowing dates back to the 1980's, when The Whistleblower Protection Act was created in order to protect employees from workplace retaliation when disclosing waste and fraud.

Now, there are two main types of whistleblowing: internal and external. Internal whistleblowing involves reporting something to a source within the organization. On the other hand, external whistleblowing occurs when the whistleblower takes reports outside the organization, such as to the media or regulators.

There are many positive implications to whistleblowing. For one, this is a way for less represented people or people of a lower ranking in an organization to speak out against what they know is wrong.

Also, this compares to the checks and balances system that we have in our own government, and how the people can stand up against potential corruption in their organization.

However, there are also many negative implications to whistleblowing. One in particular is that since whistleblowers are protected by organizational policies, they tend to be disliked by their peers. Two reasons for this could be because other employees seek that protection, or because whistleblowers can be seen as "tattletails."

Another negative implication that is similar to the one above is that whistleblowers experience retaliation by their organizations which negatively affects their health and well-being. Some forms of these affects include dismissal, discrimination, harassment, and isolation in the workplace.

There are many affects that whistleblowers have on society as a whole. One major thing to note is that whistleblowers have a huge affect on organizations and corporations. When a whistleblower reports wrongdoings within a company or organization, they are essentially calling out that company and deeming something within their system as negligent.

This causes a domino effect where once higher-ups, such as managers and even the CEO hear about the report, it could have detrimental affects to their workplace and employees, potentially leading to the closure of the company altogether.

On the other hand, a positive affect this can have on society is that whistleblowers can, in many cases, protect their anonymity. This protects the whistleblower from potential harassment in the workplace and ultimately protects their reputation.

When looking at people in general, we can see how whistleblowers can not only affect the workplace or an employee, but also someone's way of life. We discussed how whistleblowers themselves can be affected through things like discrimination and harassment. However, we also have to consider the potential affects that they can have on people of different status.

Someone who is wealthy most likely won't be as affected by whistleblowing compared to someone who might not have a lot of money. Likewise, males and straight people could be affected differently than females and gay people because they are part of minority groups. Research shows that when whistleblowers are women, their actions are perceived unfavorably.

From my perspective, whistleblowing can have a damaging affect on myself, family, and friends. For example, if someone were to call me out on something that I did wrong in my job, it could damage my status and I could even lose that job.

The same thing can be said about my friends and family. If a whistleblower were to report something that they did in their job, they would have to deal with the possibility of getting fired.

Overall, whistleblowing is a very serious thing that allows people to keep companies and organizations in check. While they can be very helpful in reporting wrongdoing within these settings, whistleblowers are also running the risk of harming their own reputation as well as the companies' reputation. Ultimately, whistleblowing is extremely important in upholding accountability and justice within organizations.

Living in the Age of AI - Blog Post #10

After watching the documentary titled "In the Age of AI," there were many things that I learned, which ultimately allowed me to take a deeper step back at how much of an impact artificial intelligence actually has on society.

Jobs all over the world, particularly occupied by women, are at a high risk of being taken over by robots and AI. They are at the highest risk of automation. When looking at specific jobs such as financing or accounting, these are the ones that are most at risk of being taken over by AI.

This is very frightening, especially for me since I am planning on pursuing something related to game design. It makes me question whether the job that I plan on doing is eventually going to be taken over by AI, and how that could affect other departments in my field.

Although the increase of knowledge and usage of AI can be considered harmful in many ways like the ones listed above, there can also be many positive aspects of AI. For example, the implementation of AI has aided in providing improved communication services, enabling more efficient transportation, [and] supporting more personalized healthcare.

One of the most important take-aways that I gathered from this video is the data on inequality when it comes to opportunities for people in America. Now, when you add AI and robots into the mix, that takes an even greater chunk out of the percentage of possible opportunities. This inequality has been increasing ever since the 1990's.

The people who are going to be most impacted by this increase in the usage of artificial intelligence are the middle and lower-class families. They are the ones who are going to be affected by the unequal opportunity the most.

Something from the video that I found surprising was that many popular and successful companies like Google and certain social media platforms like FaceBook have taken advantage of surveillance capitalism, which is where they use their products to study and claim private human experiences.

Most people probably already knew that this was happening, but they probably didn't know the scale of it. Surveillance capitalism is becoming more widespread throughout thousands of companies, just so that people can make more money.

Overall, there are many advantages of using artificial intelligence, as it has assisted in healthcare, transportation, communication, businesses, and many more. However, we as a society must also be aware of the many potential risks and dangers of AI, and ultimately, take a greater step towards using it for good.

The Progressive Era - Blog Post #7

After exploring an antiwar website, called antiwar.com, I found that there are many different pieces of news depending on the location. For instance, talks begin for phase two of Gaza ceasefire, and in Europe, there is a news story of at least 10 dead in shooting at adult school in Sweden's Orebro.

This is interesting because we see a lot of news on our televisions about current things happening in the United States, but rarely hear about these kinds of stories around the world on the more popular news channels.

It could be because these strong antiwar views are so radical that they are only leaning to one side, rather than including the opinions for the opposing side.

However, it could also be because of the sheer amount of violent content that this website shows, as most of it is sensitive and can be prone to bias.

I have personally never heard of the antiwar.com website and I also find that interesting because it makes me wonder: do they have something to hide? Why are they only focusing on places outside the U.S.? What is the greater purpose here?

Another website that I discovered was called The American Conservative. That name immediately lets me know that this website is like the previous one in that they are only leaning to one side.

A few things I noticed about this website is that most of the main stories have something to do with President Trump, which makes sense, considering that this is a website for conservatives.

Another thing I noticed was that there is a connection between these two websites, specifically when discussing the turmoil in the Middle East. In The American Conservative website, there is an article that says, "Trump's snap press conference's vision for peace in the Middle East is befuddling." In the antiwar website, there is talk about a ceasefire in Gaza, and in the American Conservative website, they are saying how Trump's visions for a ceasefire are confusing.

I have also never heard of The American Conservative website, most likely because it only adheres to one side, similar to the antiwar website where it doesn't express the opinions of the opposing side.

I have to seek out these obscure websites in order to hear strong antiwar voices presumably because many other news sources only really serve the interests of the media or the majority, rather than honing in on specific issues or views of the people.

The Television: EOTO Reaction - Blog Post #6

The television was invented in the early 1900's by many different contributors, including Vladimir Zworykin and Philo Farnsworth. It was a revolutionary invention because it allowed for an even greater advancement in communication and technology in general.

However, before the invention of the television, there were many other early inventions that contributed to the advancement in communication.

For one, the telegraph invented by Samuel Morse enabled long-distance communication through coded messages. However, the only way to understand the message was to understand Morse's code, which provided a barrier to this early communication.

Another precursor to the television was the telephone created by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, allowing people to communicate verbally through electric transmissions.

Later, the television had officially launched its first public broadcast in 1936, and the television itself was introduced to America for the first time in 1939 at the New York World's Fair.

From there, the television would become commercially available in 1941, allowing families from across the United States to be able to purchase one for around $200 and install it in their own homes.

When looking at some of the impacts of the television, we see how one of the major benefits that came with this invention was that it helped revolutionize communication, bringing real-life events that took place in many areas across the world right into the convenience of your own home.

The television also helped people share different cultural experiences from around the world, allowing people to learn about how other people interact with one another.

On the contrary, a concern that the television brought was the possible effects that it would have on children. Many channels had to be regulated to adhere to young listeners, and children themselves would become too attached to whatever was currently airing.

Overall, the invention of the television helped advance communication, foster exchanges in cultures, it shaped public opinions, and it simply provided a new form of entertainment that would become a standard for forms of entertainment today.

Privacy, Online & Off - Blog Post #5

In today's modern day and age, privacy is almost completely non-existent online, especially with the increasing rise in popularity of iPhones, national television, social media platforms, and many more.

After watching the videos about privacy, both online and offline, there were many key issued that were raised. One of the speakers discussed how the data that we put online is like tattoos, and how it never really goes away. That is why we as individuals have to be extremely careful of what we put online.

They also discussed an issue where facial recognition in modern phones today has advanced to the point where hackers and data thieves can easily access your personal data through your face. This heavily affects myself, and my friends and family as we use this facial recognition feature on our phones every day.

When looking at the second video, one of the issues that the speaker discussed was the prominence of surveillance cameras, and how they are constantly recording our every move. Although monitoring our privacy online is very important, it has now become important offline as well due to these cameras.

An aspect of these surveillance cameras that can be particularly troubling is that some of them can track where you travel to. Now, people and the government itself can see where you work, live, shop, etc. just by looking at your car through cameras. This is very disturbing, especially because my family and I travel very often.

Why is it okay that the government is keeping all of this information? The government should be regulating this and deleting the unwanted data, instead of keeping it for "future use."

The third speaker also had some interesting facts about privacy as well. One notable fact was that our telephones and the networks that carry our calls were wired for surveillance first. What this means is that when you are talking to your family members and friends, collegue, doctor, etc., someone could be listening.

Lastly, the fourth speaker touched on digital domestic violence, which is when unhealthy relationships can cause people to post explicit things online to try to diminish the others' reputation. This is a major issue for the victim, as these posts can stay online forever, inflicting humiliation and allowing for the invasion of privacy.

By becoming more aware and mindful about what we post online, and how that could affect us down the road, we can further protect our personal data and ourselves from privacy invasions.