Digital Age

 

    The digital age nowadays comes with pros and cons. For one, it's easier to connect with people at home and abroad. You don't have to worry about not knowing what's going on with people in your downtime with one another. However, with the digital age comes more advanced technologies and apps all at the touch of your fingertips and in your pocket. In the four TedTalk videos, all the videos covered some sort of digital footprint or "Electronic tattoo". In the first video, Juan Enriquez makes the modern analogy connecting digital activity to getting a tattoo. As we know, tattoos are permanent unless you want to laser them off your body. Enriquez goes on to state that things put out on the internet are permanent whether it's an inappropriate post to messages you've sent on Twitter. He also goes on to equate posting things on social media to Greek mythologies and representing them through today's day and age.

    These issues could probably affect my friends more than my family. Thankfully the people I associate with know what and what not to post, but still, one wrong move and it could be over for them or even myself. I'm not quite sure if my parents or family fully understand the concept of digital footprint mainly my parents, don't really use social media for ill intent. Now the people I am worried about are the family vloggers who show off their kids from childbirth till the point that they can speak for themselves. 

    The government has one job in this, to wipe all the footprints and trash the cloud that stores all this information. There should be a system where information over a year should automatically be deleted permanently unless files are brought up for court cases or background checks. What we as citizens can do. protect ourselves is to just monitor what we're doing on the internet. We have so much control over what we can do and how to prevent things, it's just up to us whether we make the right choice or not.

Diffusion Theory

 

    Messaging over time has changed significantly from letter writing to telegrams, to email, and now text. However, there's one messaging program people overlook sometimes. That being Snapchat. Snapchat was created in 2011 by Bobby Murphy and Evan Speigle. The app was used to share photos with friends but had a special feature at the time. The photo you could send would be deleted in 10 seconds. As the app evolved over time it came with more and more features such as video sharing, filters and the inclusion of the bitmojis. Now in 2023 Snapchat is most likely on every college student's phones not just to share photos but to communicate with one another. I can speak for myself that texting is the most I really use Snapchat for. Not having to get phone numbers makes it convenient not to memorize phone numbers or emails. Besides the messaging, the app still utilizes it's intended purpose which is sharing pictures with friends.

    Diffusion theory comes into play with Snapchat in about 2017 or 2018 because that's mostly when preteens and teens had mobile smartphones and they were able to get apps like Snapchat to take to their friends on a daily basis. Age-wise, the early majority would be students who got it in 6th or 7th grade and the late majority would be students who got it in 11th or 12th grade of high school. Laggers would just be people who never got the app. Those people most likely view the app as something they don't need or won't utilize. (Visualcapitalist.com)

    I mostly chose to use the app due to the notifications. Snapchat alerts you when someone is typing and your phone vibrates twice to indicate someone typing and that someone sent a message. I also knew my older sisters had the app and they liked it to keep in touch with friends from school. A good way I look at it is that getting someone's phone number is someone you're gonna be in contact with a lot more and getting someone's Snapchat is temporary. Mostly for projects or short-term friendships, Snapchat is a good way to get to know people. Personally, my mom likes to "snap" me and sends a funny filter every day and it really makes me appreciate having technology like this. The positives of having Snapchat far outweigh the negatives for a person like me, being able to quickly text my friends a photo, or send them a video is extremely convenient for me, whereas someone like my mom who just has the app to make her kids smile.

The Age of AI

 

The Age of AI

    Throughout this video, it left me feeling like we as a society have truly advanced. In many different ways, we can benefit and not benefit from using AI. For scientific advancements, AI is truly amazing. It has helped us develop solutions and ideas for saving the lives of Americans and other individuals across the globe. However, AI taking the jobs of hard-working citizens and people using AI to cheat is not what AI should be meant to do. 

Artificial intelligence is something we need to pay more attention to now that it truly is on the rise to being a threat to people's jobs and peoples education. Being a sophomore in college I've had my fair share of not wanting to do assignments. Just because I don't want to do them though doesn't mean I'd want to resort to using AI to write my papers. It's gotten to the point where professors know who's using and not using AI. As a student, we weigh the pros and cons of using our resources using an app like Chat GPT or any other AI website. The pros would be that we get our papers done faster, but some of the cons would be we aren't fully comprehending the material we're supposed to be learning.  

    Another issue with AI is the breach of security. We've seen this in the news with the whole TikTok getting banned news headings, just for TikTok not to get banned. What we can take away from this is the government makes empty threats. Sure TikTok is a little sketchy when you dive in deep about them but on the surface, it's a website for people to express their interests and to give people creativity. AI is something similar. It's extremely horrifying with how fast it's growing, it's alarming yes, but it's technology. We need to put ourselves back in time to when people were first discovering little things, like cell phones, before the VHS, and before that, colour TVs. It was all alarming to some people at that time but it's how the world is. We grow and advance the more we're on this floating hunk of rock and that's something we as a nation need to realize. It's not about how we handle things physically, it's about how we handle them emotionally.

 
    

Antiwar Voices

 

    

    War is something we never want to think about. The idea of putting our lives on the line for the sake of the country is intimidating. The news and or mainstream media seems to cover stories about global and national wars like how currently the war between Russia and Ukraine is still going on. However, there are still news outlets that cover antiwar topics to try and stop the idea of wars from forming. On news sources, Antiwar.com and theamericanconservative.com both websites cover topics about the issues with war. First off before we dive into these sources, America going to war would but such a huge financial investment that we could not even fathom getting the money for. We're so deep in debt that paying for a potential war is out of the question. 

 This statement however raises the question, where are we getting all of this money for Ukraine and supporting them? This is the issue with the mainstream media, they want you to see this big news article and get mad that the Biden Administration is handing out money to foreign countries like it's candy but is

so stingy that they can't bat an eye to the issue happening in Hawaii. The voices on these two websites need to be heard not soon but now. These are the opinions of the people of the United States. The majority if you will and not being heard is one of the biggest issues of today's America. 

    It's frustrating that we as Americans can no longer rely on our news sources for actual news. Due to this, we have to SCOUR the internet to find underground sources like the two named above. The reason we do this is because most of the people writing these are not famous Fox News or CNN reporters, they're people in the middle class. The actual majority of the United States of America.

EOTO Responses!

    

    For this assignment, we had to watch other students present their technology topics to the rest of the class and now we're reflecting on what we found interesting about their projects. One person had an interesting topic that I really didn't know anything about, and Kennedy's presentation on war and homing pigeons. I knew carrier pigeons existed to deliver notes but even then my knowledge went only as far as Harry Potter and his snowy owl delivering letters to his friends. However, I learned that pigeons were used for far more than that. War pigeons and homing pigeons were used as a weapon in the wars. War pigeons were used more exclusively in the First and Second World Wars, whereas homing pigeons were used more for delving messages and became one of the faster forms of communication at the time. Kennedy did a great job on his presentation and taught a lot about the use of these birds and their importance to the time period where they were most proactive. 

    When we think about when pigeons were used for communication we probably think back to a time in the 1600's but the last used pigeon for messages and overall use ended in 2008! When I found that out I was shocked because in 2008 you'd think something like this would be outdated in the 50s MAYBE the 60s but not till 2008. This just goes to show that technology doesn't always triumph and that physical messages and message sending are usually the way to go. War pigeons were strictly used for war strategies, whether they were used for bombs or for inside enemy lines for communication, these birds were truly the MVPs for the wars and some birds were actually granted awards and medals because that's how good these pigeons actually were at their jobs.

EOTO #1

 

    

    For this assignment, I researched how music streaming is so prominent in today's society and I feel like I learned a lot from what I found about how streaming music has taken the world by storm. 

    To start at the beginning of how we got to this point, we need to realize how we got to listening to sounds from a physical standpoint. Records. Not just LPs (Long Plays), but actual record disks which were invented in 1857 by a French inventor named Edouard-Leon Scott who created the first "record player" Then in 1878, Thomas Edison made this concept even better and hence the gramophone was made. From that point on the gramophone became better and better and in 1948 the technology was advanced enough that we could create disks and produce music through them through tiny grooves that were actually soundwaves. Long plays were then introduced at this time thanks to CBS and the recording of the NewYork Philharmonics performance that year. A majority of this information was found on Discmanufacturingservices.com. From this point on music was on the rise and records were a huge hit. The only issue with records is they weren't portable, you needed a heavy record player for it and you needed a power source. This is where cassette tapes were introduced and compact discs (CDs). These products put the record industry under and portable physical music is on the rise. However, in 1993, the IUMA (Internet Underground of Music Artists) took off. This website gave underground artists the chance to rise up and have a chance in the spotlight. Then about 12 years later Pandora music hit the ground running for streaming all types of music. This is where streaming started, in 2005. 

    In the 2000s Spotify was just an idea by a Swedish man that went by the name of Daniel Ek. He was an entrepreneur who wanted to create a music app for mobile devices, and on October 7th 2008, Spotify was out for all to use. After three years on the market, it became direct competition with Pandora and iTunes. With its monthly subscription or its free version, it was cheaper than buying music through the iTunes store or having to deal with ads on Pandora. All this information was provided by the website HistoryBiography.com. Now Spotify is the most used out of all the music streaming apps, on about 31% of people's phones. Now, how did this impact the other forms of music? 

    Without the need for physical music, the record, CD, and cassette industries plummeted. There wasn't a need for them and America and the rest of the world evolved past them. Now physical music makes up all of 7% of the music industry revenues (TechCrunch). However, vinyl records are back on the rise, the only issue with them in today's day and age is they're pricier than usual records

. 

    Spotify has changed the game with communication in the sense that it's not just an individual app where only one person can enjoy it. You can create playlists with friends, have live sessions with friends, and all together it really brings people together. Music is the way people can express themselves in multiple ways. Between all the different types of genres and artists, the sky is the limit to how you can express yourself and communicate to others how you feel. Music is super important to me and without it, I really don't think I'd be the same person I am today. 

EIGHT VALUES OF FREE EXPRESSION

    After reading all of the values of expression, one that resonates with me the most is the 4th value which is Individual Self-Fulfilment. The reason why I picked this one is because I feel like having your own individuality is important for multiple reasons. One of the big reasons is that if you can't think for yourself you can't form your own opinions. Being able to think for yourself is the one thing that separates people in good and bad ways, with good ways being in an artistic format while bad ways could potentially be political. Artistic people really are one of the best examples on a day-to-day basis in the sense that they're either coming up with their own works or they're making other existing works of art better. The reason why I say politics is bad is because sometimes false information gets put out and spreads like wildfire. That's due to fake news, and like I mentioned in a previous blog post about my top five news sources, finding trusted news sources is getting harder and harder to come by these days. That's why I really try to look for news sources that I trust and know that it's less of an entertainment source and more of an actual news station.

    How I connect this value to what we're learning about is, through prior knowledge. I remember in my AP government and politics class, a Supreme Court case I know about was Tinker v. Des Moines. In this case, the students wore black armbands to protest the war in Vietnam at the time. This was such a big deal especially since the school tried to violate their First Amendment right. Thankfully Tinker won the case and helped grant the right to freedom of expression for future generations. This information and more on the case is on the website Oyez.org which was a great source to use when I was taking the class as well as right for this class now. The world has grown exponentially in what we can and cannot express. We've become more and more accepting over the years and it really has benefited us as a nation. Even though there are some people who spread hate, the kindness and enjoyment of self-expression spread even further than any of their hate.

    How I feel this theory can help explain to people what's going on in the real world is, that everyone's self-expression is up to them. Self-expression helps fuel creativity throughout the world and without it, we'd all be the same and living the same lives. The real world is such a subjective phrase in the sense that everyone views the "real world" as something different. That's part of the main reason I chose this expression because to me everyone is different and that's what makes the world so great. However, there are some bad people who take their self-expression to the extreme (any form of terrorist, nationalist, racist, etc.), and these people ruin the idea of self-expression. Though it's important we are able to express ourselves, there comes a limit to what we should say and do sometimes. That's where the First Amendment comes in and helps decide what people can and cannot say through existing speech and threats that could seriously harm someone. The world is a tricky place, but knowing the right ways to express yourself could help you in the long run.

FIVE PERSONAL SOURCES OF NEWS

    As we get older we realize how important staying up to date with the news is. Whether it's with current events, dealing with health crises or political debates with presidential candidates, staying informed is helpful to everyone. The only struggle with absorbing news is where we get our facts from. News stations have slowly shifted their stories from actual information to being more of an entertainment source. Personally, I get my news sources from stations trust depending on the topics at hand.

1. Fox News

    Fox News might be a bit of a debate but the only times I really use it is to watch the presidential debates. Live events such as this are reliable in the sense that they can't bend the truth in live time. Now would I normally go to Fox News for topics they're covering? No, but I feel they're reputable enough to trust for live coverage. Fox News has come a long way from being perceived as a reputable news source to more of an entertainment night show. While Fox News isn't my first choice, it definitely has reliable stories we can trust. 

2. Apple News

    Apple News definitely keeps me up to date with events going on that I can't watch at my computer or read right away. Like any news source, Apple News is something many people don't talk about mainly because it's an Apple-specific news source. However, I find that the lesser known a news source is, the less biased they are. Now just because Apple News isn't everyone's first pick, doesn't mean it's not biased, but the story coverage is full of detail and the easy-to-follow format is a nice added touch.

3. TikTok Lisa Remillard

    While I'm not just picking TikTok to talk about, someone specific comes to mind when I watch my news on TikTok. Lisa Remillard. She was a journalist for 20 years prior to starting up her TikTok page. I discovered her back in 2020, and what she did helped me get a better understanding of what's going on in the world. She breaks new coverages down to make them easier to understand, and she also gets straight to the point, leaving most of the unnecessary bias out of her videos. Even though TikTok might not be the most reliable of sources, you might be able to find good resources even if it's small, to make your understanding of news topics better.

4. CNN

    CNN is another American news network very similar to Fox News in the sense of what they cover and how they cover it. Like Fox News, I usually use CNN throughout the day to read anything interesting that's happening. Since I mostly read all my news, I like to compare what's going on with different news sources. It's a good way to find consistent information as well as have multiple resources especially if they're saying the same or different things. 

5. News 12 New Jersey

    The final news source is the local network in my hometown state of New Jersey. Usually in the mornings, my parents will have this on so I sit down with them and watch the current New Jersey stories unfold. Since going to High Point University, I feel somewhat out of touch with what's going on, but I try to watch it every now and again to stay updated with current events and political news that happens in New Jersey. 

THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT

     The United States Supreme Court is a relic of the foundation of the United States. Some of our everyday practices as citizens are due to the decisions of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is an essential part of our lives and without this form of judicial power, the world would not be able to operate the same on a day-to-day basis.

    Today, I watched a video that led into the lives of the Supreme Court justices and I felt like it was a great insight into their everyday activities and how much they actually do. I was given the opportunity my senior year of high school to take AP Government and Politics, so some of the information in this video was a review for me, but something I learned from this video was the fact that there are more people actually working with the justices to help inform them with the foundation of the cases from smaller state courts. 

    One of the most essential takeaways from this video was, that each justice actually writes an opinion about the decision of the case at hand. These opinionated writings can vary from being just a handful of pages to 80 or more pages long. In the end, it's the media specialists who are reporting to news stations about not just the legitimate court decision, but what each justice thinks of the decision. However, with the justices writing their own opinion, they might be inclined to actually flip their vote to the opposing side, which the aforementioned video states "On rare occasions the majority becomes the minority."(7:04-7:06, Part II). 

    
Surprisingly, circling back to the previous paragraph, I did not realize that each justice wrote their own opinion on the decision that they decided on. I figured they made a draft and a final edit to what they decided and the process would conclude from there. The actual process of writing the opinions actually takes about four weeks and potentially multiple months. The video, Comm3390 Supreme Court, Pt 2, goes on to explain the lengthy detailed process of what justices do and how long that process actually entails. This process not only fascinates me but makes me appreciate the Supreme Court a little more than I did before.

    To conclude, after this video, I have a newfound appreciation for what the Supreme Court actually does after its decision. To make a long explanation short, their process is not just deciphering right from wrong, or ethical from unethical, it's to help instil rules and regulations that give back to citizens of America. Good or bad, in the end, they're doing their job. Though it's to benefit the citizens of America, they can't please everyone. Someone is going to be upset with a decision they make and that's normal.