Blog #12 Final Post: Relationship with Technology

I constantly think about how technology is going to take over the world one day.

Everyday I feel like there is a new piece of technology that comes out to supposedly make life easier. 

This scares me. 

Soon enough there's going to be a machine or computer that can do everything a human can do and probably do it better. 

My relationship with technology could be a lot better. I'm not on my phone constantly which I love because I don't want to get into that habit. I'm not on it when walking to class or when Im eating dinner with a friend. 

I go on my phone when I'm bored or when I just want to relax. Sometimes I do spend too long on it but I catch myself. I don't want to become obsessed with my phone and only want to use it when I have nothing else to do. 

There are then times when I am out at dinner and I look over and see a couple who are both on their phones not talking. I think technology has ruined human relationships in that way. 

This young couple weren't even looking at each other and instead were both scrolling separately on their phones. I don't think that's much of a relationship if that's what a Friday night dinner looks like and I think it's technology's fault. 

However, saying this sounds a lot easier than it is. Technology is everywhere and I need to use it everyday not even for my own pleasure but for school and completing assignments. 

I think technology at the beginning was this fascinating new invention and was great for making information more accessible. Now I think it's reached a point where it's too saturated and filled with junk. 

It's gotten to the point where people get distracted by technology while already using a different piece of it. People get distracted from their computers with their phones. Statically 47% of Americans say they are addicted to their phones. 

The average American checks their phone 352 times per day. 

It's not even that there are important things on the phone that a person would need to check. Sometimes there are and that's totally understandable why someone would be checking their phone. 

However most of the time we check our phone because we don't want to miss anything and feel left out. 

This all sounds very negative. I think technology also has a lot of pros that do actually improve the lives of people. It has made working and research so much easier and gives us the answers we are looking for in a matter of seconds. 

Connecting with long distance friends and family has never been easier. FaceTime is the greatest feature on the Apple products in my opinion. Being away at college feels immensely different because I can FaceTime my family everyday.

Technology has completely transformed the way we live our lives. It's almost like we now revolve around it. 

I hope technology does its job but stays where it is. I don't want it to take over the world even more than it already has. 

 

Blog #11 EOTO Reaction

 It's always interesting for me to learn about different types of media. Especially during this round of presentations there were a lot of terms I never heard of that were actually very interesting. The presentation that really struck my attention was on Citizen Journalism. 

Citizen Journalism is defined as the collection of news and analysis of news by the general public by means of the internet. 

I think this can be a positive thing for society however it might not be so good for the actual journalists who are going out and reporting stories. 

Having the public report on news is a good way to get multiple perspectives of a story. Sometimes the hired journalists have promises made to higher up people and can't honestly report on breaking news. 

The public has ties to no one so they can write what they want and tell a story how it is. They can open up stories that hadn't reached the big news outlets yet and give a head start to the people about what's going on. 

A famous example of a story opened up from citizen journalism is the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. News outlets eventually picked up this tragic story but it was because of the videos and pictures posted online that really grabbed peoples attention. 

It was really good in this time of disaster because people were able to inform each other about what was going on. The people involved were no doubt shaken so hearing from others that went through it established a connection of humanity and made people realize they weren't alone in it.

However there are issues to this. Citizen journalism is a good thing when disaster hits. These people can instantly tweet or post videos about what happened and be a first hand account of what's going on. 

Since they are on the seen its easy to just record and post without having to be a professional journalist.

The problem comes later when articles about the incident start to surface. It's really hard to disinherited citizen journalists compared to real, paid journalists. This can lead to a misconception about who is really writing and posting news. 

Theres also the problem of bias. Having bystanders and random people report on top stories because they witnessed it means they are only reporting what they saw and what they think. 

They aren't trained reporters so they don't know how to make an informative, unbiased piece which can lead to a lot of controversy in opinions. 

Citizen journalism is still a helpful tool for immediate news and information about something that is or currently happened. It also shows a more personal side of the story instead of news anchors just talking at the tv screen. 

You get to see what real people went through and what it was like being involved and so close to the scene.

Blog # 10 The Age of AI

The introduction of AI started off as a small cool new technology. I remember hearing about it for the first time and thinking how cool it was. Thinking about AI now I don't think that it's cool anymore. It's starting to make me scared. 

AI has started to take over the world. It can do anything you ask it to. If you want it to write you an essay about US history it can do it. 

If you need it to solve a math problem for you it can do that too. It can even create a new piece of art if you needed to create something original for an assignment or just for yourself. 

The big thing is AI taking jobs away from people. Already we see that factories don't need as many workers and are firing people left and right. 

There are even people working in healthcare who are getting replaced by artificial intelligence machines because they are cheaper to use. It's starting to expand into so many different job fields that AI is becoming a threat to the population. 

AI has been introduced into cars and trucks now as well. Self driving trucks are taking the jobs of truck drivers (scary) and Uber drivers. 

I think AI can be a positive thing and can really help out the human race but I don't want it to take over the world. I don't trust AI with certain things like driving a truck or an Uber with people in the back. 

I also feel like if AI can not compare to the human connection.

Humans are naturally social creatures and we need to interact and talk with one another. I cant imagine getting into a car and seeing no one in the drivers seat. It's scary but also boring. Having no one to talk to would make me feel so lonely. 

I don't want the world to turn into a lonely place. We need that human connection to stay alive and I don't want people to revert into quiet lonely people. 

AI is good for a lot of different things. It can help with travel questions, make security more advanced, and help with a multitude of customer service problems and questions. 

I love that AI is helping make things easier for us as a society but I hope it doesn't cross a line over into taking over our lives. I don't want to be surrounded by AI but rather have to find it when I need it. 

 

Blog #9 EOTO 2

 Going into this assignment I had no idea what Five Eyes was. I think that was their whole mission; to keep their alliance a secret.  The group wasn't officially made public until 2010 so they were able to stay under the radar for 64 years. Five eyes consists of five countries who have all agreed to share data and intelligence to keep these countries safe. Five eyes consists of The United States, The UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. 

Up until now there hasn't been much knowledge about what the alliance actually does. It was said that the group exists to pool together resources and share intelligence to enhance the security of its member countries.

It does this through sharing signal intelligence. It used to be through radio signals but since technology has advanced information can be shared through digital tracking.

It all starts back in 1946. The US and UK signed a secret agreement to to share intelligence between the 2 countries in order to combat the Soviet threat.

In 1950 Five Eyes was responsible for the defection of Russian Spy Vladimir Petrov. This event is what caused Australia to join the alliance group. New Zealand would join shortly after that.

In the 1970's Five Eyes hit a low point in time trying to get information about Russia because of all the controversy with political figures.

Richard Nixon was the main cause for the hard time Five Eyes was having. With all the scandal revolving around Watergate Five Eyes didn't want to risk getting outed so they held back with trying to spy on the Russians.

There was also a huge negative reaction towards the Cold War and the US entering into it with Russia. This was another reason why Five Eyes thought it would be a good idea to step back and hold off.

 After the cold war ended, the only thing they said about what the group did was to just keep people safe. They claimed to only prevent attacks, not carry any out themselves. At this time the alliance was still a secret so not much was said about the actual acts of the group.

The current role of the Five Eyes has many aspects. They look over the ‘maritime domain’ which is where the group watches shipping traffic pass through strategic maritime areas. They also watch over the ‘aerospace domain’ which covers missile tests, foreign satellite deployments and the military activities of relevant air forces. 

The group most recently has been watching out for terrorist organizations and weapon business deals. Five Eyes was very involved

 In 2013, with the massive leak of NSA documents by Edward Snowden revealed the five nations were not only spying on foreign countries and on each other but also collecting and keeping data on their own citizens. 

The Canadian government through the data and tracking of five eyes has publicly said they see the intelligence allegedly linking the Indian government to the killing of father, Hardeep Singh Nijjar and to find out if it was a targeted killing. 

Five eyes was able to help this family move closer to a reason why their father was killed.

This shows us through this case that Five eyes can also be used for good reasons and that they really do want to protect the people.

Blog #8 Privacy Online And Off

 Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it's not there. This quote from the Ted Talk by Catherine Crump really stuck with me. Hearing her talk about the surveillance all around us made me really start to question some things about the government. 

The police have cameras everywhere and are in most cases in places we cant even see. 

I don't like the idea of having a camera on me all throughout the day. In the video, Crump mentioned a person who was being tracked because of his license plate. 

The man had done nothing wrong but the cameras were all license plate readers and kept taking pictures of his care whenever he passed by. 

Another thing that really freaked me was the website Face.com and how it was sold to Facebook in 2012. The website exists to just keep track of faces online. 

People can also use it to try and identify people in pictures and find out who they are and some basic info about them. Police have also gotten really good with facial recognition and can use AI to identify anyone, even if it's a blurry surveillance photo. 

The fact that there could be pictures of me out there just like that makes me feel uneasy. It's interesting that the government takes these pictures just to hold onto them in case they are valuable in the future. It's like they are building evidence to use against you even if you have done nothing wrong. 

There was another video where the speaker kept talking about tattoos. He said that our digital footprint is like a tattoo and can follow us everywhere. Everything from a picture we liked on instagram to a store where we swiped our credit car. It's all there and tracked for the government to see. 

It feels strange that the government would need to know that someone spent money at a grocery store or went out to eat at a restaurant. It's useless information about a person except where their favorite place to eat is. 

I understand that the government wants surveillance because they want to keep their citizens safe. However I feel like it's wrong for them to be tracking and recording people who have done nothing wrong. It makes me feel under a microscope and question everything that I've done. 

I know that I haven't done any wrong but now seeing these videos it makes me wonder what information the government knows about me. 

I don't think the government should be allowed to spy on people like they are. It's a total invasion of privacy and makes me feel uneasy. 

I don't think the government should have as much access to peoples personal lives as they do now and I think more people need to start talking about it. 

Blog #7 Diffusion of Innovations

 Over time there have been many different new products to come across. A technology that I think has changed the world forever is the television. The TV has been a product that has developed and changed many times over the years. However, it has never gone out of style. All the way up to modern day, a majority of American households have at least one TV set up. 

The first television model came out in 1927 but it wouldn't be until 1939 when it became available for the public to buy and set up in their homes. 

Then in 1940, color television was introduced and immediately grabbed the attention of consumers. The invention of color television was really the turning point of the new invention and established it as a household item. 

 The first television could only show images in black and white and had a single channel viewers could watch. It was called W2XCW.  This was the first time people could watch programs from their homes and not go to the movie theater for entertainment. That was the main attraction. 

At first people were a little skeptical of the tv. It was a huge device that had to be brought into the house and took up a lot of space. It was an unknown machine and who knew if it was even going to work. It also didn't work very well. 

The pictures repeated 12 times per second, there was dim lighting on the screen and the picture flickered constantly. The programs were boring and repetitive because there was only one channel that was on. This was all still apart of the launch phase so there was a lot of time for improvement. 

The radio was the only invention before the tv were Americans could bring entertainment into the house. Now they could watch that same show in real time on a screen. 

In the 1940's, color television turned around the negative response to the first model. CBS was the first channel to introduce color programs. 

By the 40's the television had many changes that improved the quality and draw for consumers to purchase a TV. By 1947 12 million families had a TV set up in their house.

The image was clearer and most had a bigger screen to view the program. There were many channels you could flick through to find something interesting, and of course the color.

Having the TV be in color was a game changer because it felt like you were right in the studio watching the show. Everything was real and you could see how it would look in real life. Families said it made them feel more unified sitting down and watching a show together.

Using the diffusion of theory, the introduction of color was the uptake for the TV. I don't think the TV has really moved from this point. It hasn't been on a decline because there is nothing else like it. We can use phones and tablets to watch shows now, but the TV is still the biggest device to stream and watch.

 

Today the TV is still something that brings families together. They sit down and watch the new Netflix series that came out or the football game for their home team. Most people don't see a problem with the TV. There are always the people that become addicted and can't pull themselves away from the TV, but there is always a downside to technology. 

The TV has been changing with the times. Now with smart TV's you can use all the different streaming services on that same TV and change up what you want to use. You can even have apps like YouTube downloaded onto a TV. There are so many versions of the TV that it's hard for it to start becoming saturated. Different brands and styles of TV's are going to fade out and become irrelevant but the TV itself is never going to go out of style.

Blog #6 AntiWar Voices

America has always been a divided country went it comes to war. All the way back to the Civil war up until today with the war against Ukraine.

 Antiwar voices are often silenced because they go against the American Government. War brings in money and the country doesn't want that flow of income to stop. So, they go to war. 

Antiwar voices are going to convince people that war is not necessary and won't fix anything. This isn't good for the big corporations who depend on war for their income. Therefore, they silence those voices and make it seem like was is the only way to solve any issues.

In 2014, 205 guests appeared on popular news channel shows such as CNN's "Situation Room" Fox News' "Special Report" and MSNBC's "hardball" to talk about the military actions the US was taking in Iraq and Syria. 

Out of those 205 guests, 6 were in opposition to continue having US military operations in those countries. 

So many of the popular mainstream media outlets we know are not including any antiwar perspectives, only pro war. There is a new term introduced called infotainment. This refers to broadcast material that is meant to inform and entertain. 

The idea of this is to just try and get people interested in what you have to say. That being said, sometimes the information might not be the whole truth or can sometimes leave parts of stories out of the broadcast. 

It's all about what brings in the most money which is why the mainstream media wants to stay on the governments good side. 

War hits both of those categories; viewers and money. 

Military officials are on this side of the war too not just out serving the country. MSNBC was owned by General Electric which is a national conglomerate. This is a company that makes millions of dollars from war. 

So when MSNBC host Phil Donahue said he opposed the US military invasion of Iraq, his show was cancelled and taken off MSNBC.

News channels no longer care about reporting both sides of a story, they want to hear the one that makes them more money and gain more viewers. 

That means the information might not be 100% true.

Especially in times of war, companies are greedy and don't care if they are putting fear in Americans or making people uneasy about the idea of war. 

Even just this one example shows that the media and government only care about the income they will make. They want to push the agenda of the industry and its profits. The US Military looks to grow more powerful and this is one of the ways they are going to achieve that. 

I myself have never seen or heard any antiwar perspectives until looking into those two websites. I understand now why they are silenced but don't agree with the reasons. For news and media outlets to fully report a story they have to give both sides. It's not fair to the people.