My relationship with technology

My relationship with technology is neither good nor bad. During quarantine especially, I have been on my phone a lot more. I use my phone to communicate with my friends and family. I use my phone to keep up with my online presence and to keep up with other people's lives. I use my phone to read the news so I can keep up with what's going on in the world around me. Technology has changed a lot, even since I was a little kid.

Honestly, technology might be taking too much time in my life which I could be spending on people and more productive things. I find myself sometimes sitting at the dinner table texting someone or Snapchatting someone. I also find myself feeling anxious when my phone is not around me. I feel like the fact that we are so dependent on our phones is not good because it feels like separation anxiety when I don't have my phone right next to me.

Picture retrieved from: Page Design Shop

I can find whatever information I want to find on the internet, but this has its pros and cons. For example, if I want to find something that proves that evolution is real, I can. But, if I want to find something that proves that Christianity saved us and that Adam and Eve were the start of humanity, I can. Either way, I could come across an article that is full of fake information and is misleading me into believing something.

Picture Retrieved From: WSJ

I do worry sometimes that the internet and social media is taking over our lives. However, to me, this is a good and a bad thing. This is a good thing because it makes many things easier. For example, you can send cards to someone on an App on your phone. You can customize the cards for their birthday, graduation, Mother's Day, or anything you want. During quarantine especially, this is very easy and efficient. You can check your grades on your phone, you can meet new people on your phone, you can FaceTime and call people on your phone, and you can keep track of things with your phone. These are all things that make me want to believe that technology is all good. However, it comes with a cost.

Social media has a huge impact on the ways women see themselves. It has painted a picture in the minds of young girls about what they are supposed to look like and how they are supposed to act. 80% of women in the U.S. aren't happy with the way they look. This is mostly because of social media and the images of models who have perfect skin and small waists: two things which are very uncommon among women, but it is the "standard" that is set for them. Everyone has different body types and social media makes it hard sometimes to accept that. 70% of women who have a normal weight want to weigh less and are unhappy when they step on the scale. The only reason for this is social media.
(Information from: MACMH)

Picture Retrieved From: Waldenu

Technology has taken our lives from outside to inside. Instead of enjoying a beach vacation with our family, we are worried about what pictures we are going to post and if we will have WiFi in the hotel. In the Tears For Fears video, it reminded me of New York City and how crowded it is. You walk down the street and just about every person is on their phone. Phones cause distractions. If someone were to be crossing the street and paying attention to their phone rather than to the cars, that could lead to being hit. Phones distract people who are driving. 660,000 people try to use their phones while driving every day. 1 out of every 4 accidents in the U.S. is caused by texting and driving. 1.6 million car crashes happen every year because of texting and driving.

(Information from: Edgar Snyder)

Picture Retrieved From: Flickr

Overall, technology has its ups and downs, similar to just about everything in this world. We can change the way technology is harming us. We can put down our phones while we are driving. We can put down our phones when we are spending time with our family and friends. We can use phones for what they are used for: communication. We need to stop letting technology take over our lives.

Final Blog:(

I wanted to make my last blog as sort of a reflection of this past semester and what I have learned. First of all, I learned that creating and posting media is much more complicated than what I thought. I learned that having a positive online presence is crucial. Especially in the world we live in today, our future employers will definitely be looking for our social media self as well as everything else which qualifies us for the position.

I learned that I really like writing. Something that I will take from this class into my daily life is writing. At first, I felt a little uncomfortable doing "blog posts" every week. However, by the end, I actually enjoyed them. I enjoyed reading about things going on in the world, reflecting on them and writing about them. I took another class this semester called "Women in Writing" which also taught me a lot about the power of writing. I never really thought about how important words are. However, I learned that writing is such a powerful thing and, if used the write way, can create such a positive impact on the world.

A few months ago, I found out that a kid who graduated from my high school a few years before me was arrested for posing as a woman online to get young boys to send inappropriate pictures. He was sent to jail and lost his job as a volunteer basketball coach and a special needs teacher at my high school. Social media is a scary place. There is fake news everywhere. It feels impossible at times to believe anything I read on the internet.


Words, stories and writing are such powerful things that are too often taken advantage of. Although I am just one person among many who use social media, this class taught me that I have power too. We have the power to write and tell truthful stories and post valid information which people can read and actually believe. We control the future of social media and if that doesn't give everyone a strong feeling of power and excitement for what the future could potentially be, then I'm not sure what will.

COVID-19

The outbreak of COVID-19 is something that absolutely no one saw coming. I had finally reached the point in the semester where I had become used to everything. I was in a routine with my classes and workouts, and was feeling pretty confident about my grades, etc. This is my third semester here at High Point, and I'd say that this was the semester that really made me realize that I can't imagine life at any other school. One day, everything changed. I started hearing about this virus on the news and didn't think much of it, probably because of that "it will never happen to me" mindset. Then one day, we received an email from High Point that classes were cancelled for the semester. I was hoping that the Big South wouldn't cancel our spring season, but they did.

In the matter of a few days, I went from being a normal college student-athlete to an online student. I had to figure out ways to work out from home, which is hard without having the same resources available in a gym or at school. Having to transition to online classes was definitely not easy, either. Some professors expect us to do hours of work every day because of all of this "free time" we have during the day, but in reality some of us don't have as much free time as others. I spend a few hours every day working out, a few hours on homework, and the rest of my time is spent helping my dad at his work or doing things around the house to help my mom. Not to mention, everyone could use a little free time to unwind and relax as much as they can.

All of a sudden all schools were closed, and everyone is stuck at home. Many of us have never experienced something like this before. Everyone has to find new ways to live without exposing themselves to the virus.

During quarantine, many people have turned to the media for comfort. However, different things are being said every day. I personally don't even know what to believe anymore. Seniors in high school won't get to walk at graduation with their friends. People are losing their grandparents without even getting to say goodbye. The worst part is, nobody knows how long this will last. The media doesn't have an answer for us. Doctors don't even have an answer for us.

Social media has taken on a whole new meaning during this quarantine. Many friendships and relationships are relying on FaceTime and phone calls in order to stay in touch. Most kids in high school and even college are relying on TikTok, a social media platform on which funny videos are posted, to keep them busy. Everyone is most likely on their phone or looking at a screen for 90% of the day because what else is there to do?

Restaurants are closed, gyms are closed, and we wonder who will make it out of this quarantine without having to completely close down their business? The economy is struggling. People are struggling physically, emotionally and mentally.

Another thing that concerns me is mental health. Personally, this pandemic has caused my anxiety to be a lot worse. Sometimes I have a hard time sleeping because I worry about all the people in my life who I want to stay healthy and safe. This also makes me worry about people who have anxiety worse than mine. Not to mention, if this doesn't end soon, I am scared that suicide rates will skyrocket. Those people who rely on things like the gym and even social interaction as an outlet no longer have that available to them. In the matter of a few weeks, everyone's lives took a complete 180 turn.

Although I could come up with a million negatives about this virus, I can also come up with many positives. When I come out of quarantine, I will no longer take anything for granted. I will never take weekends at college for granted. I will never take even hanging out with a friend for granted. I especially will not take my family for granted, after watching so many other people lose their loved ones. Most importantly, I'm waiting for the day in 15 years when I hear my kids complaining about how "bored" they are. When this happens, I will sit down with them and tell them about the time in 2020 when there was an outbreak of a virus which resulted in everyone being on a stay-at-home order.

Information from: CDC

Awareness

Awareness is defined as the knowledge or perception of a situation or fact. Someone can be socially aware of what's going on around them. Someone can be aware of when and where the cars are coming from as they are crossing the street. Someone can be aware that they need to be careful while using a cutting knife in the kitchen. However, it doesn't end here.

Picture Retrieved From: Philosophy 

Propaganda is something used by many companies. This is a way of advertising a product or service with bias, and can sometimes even be misleading. For example, President Donald Trump's "slogan" was "Make America Great Again!" However, what does he exactly mean by "great"? Politics is a great example of people using propaganda to get their way, especially with presidential elections. Some people may have read Trump's slogan and thought, I want America to be great so I'll vote for him! However, this may be misleading. I tend to stay out of politics, so I'll just leave it at this: this slogan was created to advertise himself in his campaign which obviously was biased and misleading, much like every other candidate.

Picture Retrieved From: DL Granderus 

Disinformation is defined as false information which is deliberately spread with an intention to mislead. An article from Atlantic states that the 2020 election will be a "war of disinformation". Although it is sad, the world today has become too good at spreading false information. We see it everywhere. Nothing can even be trusted anymore. Any news article kids see on the Internet, we are told to not trust. An environment in America has been created where we do not trust the information we receive from one another. In an article from Buzzfeed, a survey was taken based on people and their relationship to the information they find online. 18% of people said they trust news on Facebook most of the time. 44% of people said they rarely, or never, trust news on Facebook. 30% of people said they trust it half of the time. These numbers show that we live in a world where disinformation is spread often with the intentions of misleading the readers or to even stir up some drama.

Information Retrieved from:
Buzzfeed and Atlantic

Picture Retrieved From: Amazon

According to USAGM, the Smith-Mundt Act allows The U.S. Agency for Global Media and the media organizations that it supports to make their content available in broadcast quality upon request within the United States. It supposedly takes modern content platforms that are not restricted by national boundaries, such as the Internet and satellite broadcasting into count.

Information Retrieved from:
USAGM

Picture Retrieved From: River Cities' Reader

Total Information Awareness was a mass detection program meant to gather information about people in order to prevent terrorist incidents from happening. The Total Information Awareness later turned into the Terrorist Information Awareness.

A False Flag is an operation in which a deception is created to create an appearance that a group is responsible for one activity, to take attention away from what they are actually responsible for. For example, there are conspiracies that the COVID-19 outbreak was to distract Americans from what the government is actually doing.

Picture Retrieved From: Dictionary.com

Five Eyes was an intelligence alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. It started during World War II, when the Allies needed to lay out their goals for what they wanted the world to look like post-war. In 2013, documents were leaked revealing that Five Eyes has been spying on each other's citizens and sharing the information with one another.

Privacy, Online & Off

The video about license plate trackers really stood out to me. They store all this information about innocent people, which makes me believe that they are just waiting to be able to use it. The craziest part about it is that I have seen those license plate trackers in my town. I pass them pretty frequently, actually, and I don't think much of it. They took a picture of a man getting out of his car with his children on his very own driveway. To be an innocent man on your own property and have to worry about the government seeing pictures of you is insane.

The next video about telephone surveillance also stood out to me. It's crazy to think about the fact that anyone could be listening to your phone calls. I understand that it is a safety measure, and it's a price that we all have to pay if we want the government to catch the "bad guys". If the wireless connection between 2 terrorists can be intercepted, then so can the wireless connection between by me and my mother be. It also shocked me that FaceTime, WhatsApp and iMessage were the most secure. He actually encouraged people to use these things. Before I watched this video, I would have trusted a direct phone call to someone rather than a FaceTime audio call. 

In the last video, one statistic stood out to me in particular.1 in 25 women say they have been impacted by revenge porn. However, 1 our of every 10 women under the age of 30 are impacted. This all ties back to the media and the lack of privacy. It's terrible how difficult it was for her to get that man arrested. It took months of hard work, expenses, and humiliation to finally be at peace. The takeaway from this video for me, personally, was to be careful who you share things online with. Although she was not in any way at fault, we unfortunately live in a world today where women have to be extra cautious. They shouldn't wear certain things, go out alone at night, or share anything that could one day be used against them. 

Online Presence

I do not have a very large online footprint. Since I have played sports my whole life, I have always had to be very careful what I post. Because of this, if an employer were to look at my online presence, he/she would probably not have anything to worry about. Most of my posts are sports-related somehow.

I do not have Facebook, which might be useful to get one day when looking for a job, since that social media platform is used by a typically older demographic of people. I do have Instagram and Twitter, however I don't use either very much to post. I use them more to keep up with the lives of my family and friends, especially during quarantine. If someone were to look me up online, they would probably find nothing but soccer statistics of highlight films. If someone were to look me up on social media, they would probably find soccer pictures and pictures of me with my friends and family.

Picture Retrieved From: Econsultancy 

I typically do not share my phone number or email with many sites. I used to give out my email in middle school to clothing websites and such to receive coupons online, however I stopped doing that because I ended up having way too much junk mail.

Picture Retrieved From: New York Times

In my opinion, social media sometimes constructs a standard image of women that is unfair. I would definitely say social media could make someone depressed or feel lonely. For example, if someone saw a picture posted of all of her friends except her, she would probably feel lonely and left out. If a young girls saw pictures of Victoria's Secret models on Instagram, she would probably wonder why she doesn't look like them, which is linked to having a negative self-image from a very early age. Although there are definitely many positives to social media such as staying in touch and creating opportunities for yourself, it can be a very very negative place.

Picture Retrieved From: Quora

Diffusion of Innovations

When Snapchat was invented, there are a number of reasons why it spread so quickly. In my opinion, Snapchat is the most-used platform of social media today. Every teenager has it, adults have it, and even kids in middle school have it. It is a way to communicate with people that involves sending "Snaps" (pictures) to whoever you want to. You can also post to your "Snapchat Story" which anyone on your friends' list can view for 24 hours.

Picture Retrieved From: Snap Kit

I believe that it spread so quickly because it is an easy way to communicate. I also think that because there are so many fun "filters" which can be applied to someone's face or their surroundings, this draws people in even more. Another thing which can be seen as a positive is that you can see where your friends are at on the "Snapmap". You can see when they were last on their phone and where they were. This makes it a lot easier to figure out what your friends are up to without having to ask. Even though that sounds creepy, it is helpful for me personally when I'm wondering if my sister is at work or not. All I have to do is check Snapmaps and I could see that she's at work or at her friend's house.

Another positive to Snapchat is that you can personalize who gets to see what you post. For example, if I don't want my mother seeing something I post on a Saturday night, I will probably block her from seeing my story ahead of time to avoid an argument.


There are, however, many downsides to Snapchat. Someone who is too young might not be careful enough who they add to their friends' list. Not to mention, they might not make their location private. If a young girl adds a random person to her friends' list and her location is on, that person can see exactly where she is. This can be very dangerous to kids who aren't mature enough to have this app yet. 

Picture Retrieved From: The Conversation

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Another down side is that it creates unrealistic images of people. For example, although some view the "filters" as a positive, it could also be considered a negative. Someone could look a certain way on Snapchat with a filter on, then look like completely different in person.