Final Blog

My Relationship with Technology

    At one point in our lives, technology didn't have the significance that it holds today. It wasn't until this past decade that revolutionized our reliance on technology to make everyday activities easier. Fortunately and unfortunately we use technology every day, in fact if you are reading this you are using it right now. With constant technological advancements, it will not be long until the use of technology is limitless. 

Like most, my use of technology everyday is a complicated relationship. Technology such as my smartphone and laptop have become a necessity and make things so much easier. However, technology such as social media, games, and even online shopping can play a very big part in my lack of productivity. 

If technology can have positive and negative effects, do we blame technology or the way we use it? Like all things, if we abuse our use of technology, it can become extremely negative.

Cyberbullying comes to mind when I think of the negative impacts technology has held on us. The word anonymous has played a huge role in the use of technology and how we have been able to say and do anything without our name behind it. As a result, we have seen an increase in depression, stress, and even suicide among adolescents. 

How often we use technology can affect our mental health and our productivity. On average, my daily screen time on my phone is four and a half hours, which may or may not seem like a lot, but that is thirty-one and a half hours per week! Most of my entertainment comes from technology such as scrolling on TikTok, and watching YouTube videos. I've noticed that when I do this, I tend to get extremely distracted and push off important things such as school work, talking to my family members, and even spending time outside of my room.

I have a love-hate relationship with social media. Throughout the years of using social media such as Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook I've experienced a lot of body image insecurities. Constantly feeling the need to be relevant, and look like you have an interesting life can be very draining and take away from the positive things that social media can bring.

Cyberthreats can be a direct result of your digital footprint. Any type of information you put out on the internet, can be used against you. I took it upon myself to look up my name to try and find what information people may have about me just by a simple Google search. Here's what I found: my address, my families first and last names, the sport I played in HS as well as my jersey number, my parents occupations, and even my phone number.

Although there could be worse, my privacy doesn't seem to exist as long as people can gather information about me for free via the internet. I am more conscious of the things I put out there and what needs to be deleted moving forward. However, once it is out there, you will never be able to take it back, and there is most likely someone who may have that information to one day use it against you. 

I don't hate technology, although sometimes I hate the way I use it. I think it is your responsibility to decide how it can benefit you and your life whether you are able to communicate with family overseas, work remotely through your computer, learn new things, or just provide entertainment. In addition, being aware and understanding when it becomes controlling of your life is important in preventing the negative impacts that it may have. 

EOTO Presentation Reflection

Awareness Topics Refelction

I was very impressed with the amount of information that I learned and how little I understood about these topics prior to today. The awareness topics presented by group 1 caught my attention in many ways.

I found a lot of the privacy issues such as Total Information Awareness and Five Eyes to be most informative because of how it affects us. There are many things that you do not learn through the media, simply because they may not want you to know. It is important to understand our privacy especially in todays world where technology and social media is used every single day. 

I knew information on propaganda prior to this presentation but was interesting to learn how propaganda has changed and is used in 2022 with technology, social media, mainstream media, advertisements, celebrities, etc. Disinformation uses propaganda with intentions to mislead information, most of the time for their own good. False flag is the use of pinning blame on an opposite party, again for their own good. 

These are important to understand as we move forward into becoming more comprehensive of the information that is being presented to us through different types of media. 

EOTO: Overton Window

 

Overton Window

News in this ever-changing world is important to keep up with. What we see on main stream medias contain the same news on the same topics that we see almost every day. What determines what the political news covers? We do.

The Overton window is the theory that current news topics are being covered as they are acceptable, popular, and demanding toward the audiences. 

What is the Overton Window?

Overton window is the concept that was introduced  by Joseph P. Overton in the 1990s, and it is a model of the range of all the political ideas that are accepted by the public during a period of time. There are certain issues and policies that were once accepted or not accepted in the past that have changed up to the present political ideas that we focus on in the media today. This applies to news topics in the mainstream media as well as political topics that are used in debates and campaigns to help gain the publics vote on a candidate. 

Overton Window Range

How does it Change?

Shifting the Overton window will most definitely be ever changing, but it cannot be forced upon politicians since this concept is based on what the public accepts. Typically the Overton window typically does not change quickly, although it is possible. Politicians that are seeking election use the Overton window to determine key policy issues that are important to the public so they can be in accordance with it. 

Overton Window Scale

There are many factors that can cause shifts within the Overton window, all of which really depend on the current state of government. For example, Covid has been, and still is a topic of news, it would have been included in the Overton window all of 2020 as well as majority of 2021 and even 2022. Policies about social distance and wearing masks would have been unthinkable prior to 2020, and since then, these policies have become major topics for political debates and campaigns. 

How does it Affect Society?

The Overton window is not a good or bad thing, it simply only describes the range of possibly political ideas that society will accept. However, this can affect society because the politicians become more like followers than leaders in the sense that we ultimately determine what types of policies they are to get behind and address.

Why its Important to Understand the Overton Window

Most people don't even know that the Overton window exists, mostly because we are used to hearing the same things on mainstream media and typically don't question the topics that we're hearing. It is important to understand the impact that we as a society have on the information that is being covered by the news. We have power to influence what type of news is being covered by the media as well as issues that are being addressed by politicians. It is also important to understand in order to maintain literacy and understanding of the news. 

There will always be shifts to new topics and focuses of political parties and the Overton window proves just that.

Privacy, Online & Off

Anyone can be a potential victim of privacy invasion and with the constant technological advancments, there is more information to be gathered on you than ever before. After watching multiple TED talks spotlighting the different sources that can track valuable information that may be obtained by the government, I am more understanding of the civil liberty concerns that we are facing. 

What Information is Obtained?

Facial recognition sparks a threat on personal privacy and your face can be pulled from social media, and even security cameras. A website, Face.com, has acquired 18 billion faces across API and Facebook and this website was sold to Facebook in 2012. Location from your phones can be tracked to determine your daily activities like where you shop, if you go to church or not, and even how often you get gas. License plate readers can be used to see where you are going, and who you are with. 

Where Do We Draw the Tine?

For those who are innocent and have no reason to be tracked by the government, simply have no reason to be tracked by the government. Telephone tracking is common and some government officials believe emails, texts, and phone calls should be available to the government. High tech surveillance gear is used to gather information on us and just because you don't see, doesn't mean it's not there. 

How Can This Affect People?

It is common knowledge that people don't appreciate privacy invasion even if we have nothing to hide. Knowing my phone calls, as well as my families, can be tracked and listened to makes me wonder how much information may be known about me and my personal life. Cyber harassment including threats, stalks, hacking, and identity theft can happen to anyone. 

How to Protect Ourselves From Privacy Invasions?

It is important to ensure your privacy so that you may never have to experience any type of cyber harassment. Although we enjoy using social media to post our daily Starbucks coffee or pictures of pets, limiting what you put online can be one step closer to internet safety. Any and all information online can be used for a cyber threat in one way or the other.

Is Our Privacy Protected?

We are protected against unreasonable searches, and we hold privacy rights for our information to not be tracked or sold, unless it is accepted to be by the user. When we agree to terms & conditions we can give the device, website, or app permission to track us without even realizing. The government plays a role in this, although they don't seem to do enough to ensure privacy.

Living in the Age of AI

    There is no denying the popularly of social media and technology in todays society. The artificial intelligence within these technologies is important to understand for those who use it. The documentary "In the Age of AI", is an informative production worthwhile watching. After watching this documentary, I learned a lot about the personal data that is collected through artificial intelligence. Any and all information is valuable especially within advertising in todays society. Artificial intelligence plays a huge role in marketing, and no matter what website, social media platform, or device you are using, you are always trailing data that is collected by AI. 

Interests, personal thoughts, friends, behavior, and style are some of the many things that AI can determine about you in order customize advertisements, search suggestions, and posts that come up on social media feeds. The collection of data is not necessarily a bad thing but could potentially be dangerous for your personal privacy as well as national security.

 In addition to emails, phone numbers, bank information, addresses, and birthdays, facial recognition on security cameras and phones play a role in the threat of identity theft among users. You would be "horrified if you knew how much Google knew about you" was one statement from the documentary that stuck out to me and proved: you truly never know the extent to the information that AI is able to collect from us. 

Chinese based technology companies have been "blacklisted" to not work with the U.S. due to risks to national U.S. security. Some government agencies believe that companies such as Huawei use AI in their technologies that enable the Chinese government to collect data on customers that use their products. 

The next time you see an ad about something you be have been talking about, or even a post from a store you were just shopping at, think about the information AI has been collecting and what they may know about you. 

 The Diffusion of Innovations Theory

Throughout technological innovations, we see patterns of popularities within each innovation. These patterns are used within the Diffusion of Innovations Theory to determine how an idea, behavior, or product spreads throughout a specific population or social system. 

Five Categories of the Diffusion of Innovations Theory

The Diffusion of Innovations Theory consists of five stages, all of which describe the characteristics of the target population that is attracted product. 

1- Innovators are the consumers who want to be the first to try the innovation and very little needs to be done to attract this group. This group makes up the people who are highly impressed with innovations and are eager to try out products when they are first announced. 

2- Early Adopters are characterized as embracing change opportunities to try the new innovation, they do not need to be convinced however, they do enjoy adopting new ideas. These people are comfortable with new ideas and often embrace the new ideas with other populations. 

3- Early Majority is the population that adapt before the average person but are not the first; they need evidence and some convincing that this innovation is worth it. Examples of ways to convince these people would be success stories, and effectiveness of the innovation to prove that it is convenient. 

4- The Late Majority is the group of people that are skeptical of change and do not have much intention of trying new things; they require a lot of convincing on why this innovation is beneficial. Strategies to appeal this group include others personal experiences with the innovation. 

5- The last group is known as Laggards, these people require a lot of convincing with statistics and reasoning as they are very traditional. 

As we see a growth in the convince of smart phones, people demand accessibility to advancements and applications that make day to day life easier. This diffusions of innovations theory is reflected within these demands because it shows the different groups of people who benefit from these innovations and even those who are more tradition and don't want to rely on a phone for everything.

Social media apps are extremely popular among todays society. There are the people who are the first to try and experiment it with no questions asked. On the other hand, the people who are comfortable with the communication that they're used to that they don't want to try the new innovation. For social media marketing, it is important to have those innovators and early adopters to promote the innovation to the other populations like the late majority and laggards.

TikTok has become a globally recognized social media platform that has most likely been used among all 5 of these population groups. TikTok started as a very limited platform where people, typically teens and young adults, could make videos to song and add cool edits to post for their friends to see. With the growth of TikTok as well as the diversity of creators using the platform, the innovators, early adopters, and early majority have convinced and proven TikTok to be fun and educational to the late majority and even those in the laggard group. 

I would consider myself to be an early adopter for TikTok and my parents to be the late majority. My parents can easily be overwhelmed with technology and not open to trying out new platforms, however just last year both of them are actively using TikTok for entertainment as well as life hacks, recipes, and home projects.  

EOTO Presentation Impacts

    After watching all of the presentations I enjoyed learning about the history of some of the most revolutionizing technologies in communication. All of the presentations were executed very well and were very interesting and important to understand especially in a world full of technology. Like many, I use technology every single day and after watching the presentations I realized how recent the development of technology has revolutionized. The beginning of communication and the most recent inventions show how far we have come. All of the presentations worked well with each other and convey how technology is ever-changing and the possibilities are endless.

 The most fascinating presentation in my opinion was the history of carrier pigeons. I never realized how significant it played a role in communication during that time. The whole concept of carrier pigeons as well as the process of how the pigeons were able to learn the routes was interesting. I loved this presentation because it shows the earliest times in the timeline of communication technology and the extreme development from this technique of communication to SMS messaging and emails. 

I learned the most during the internet/WorldWideWeb presentation and found this technology development to be interesting as well. Since I never used the internet during its early times of operation, I never understood the process and how different it was to how it is today. I use the internet every single day and as we get more dependable on technology, the internet is starting to replace things such as books, dictionary, magazines, tv, etc.