Final Blog Post

     Everybody has some sort of relationship with technology, whether they realize it or not. Technology surrounds us in every way, and impacts our everyday lives. However, it can become scary just how much we depend on technology. Whether it's using technology for navigation, to purchase products, or even now driving ourselves, technology has a hold on us and won't let go. 

    When it comes to my relationship with technology, I think it's safe to say that it isn't necessarily unhealthy. I am constantly surrounded by it, and nowadays, technology is used and needed everywhere one will go. Companies have began staying afloat with the use of artificial intelligence in stores and online, as well as boosting their companies popularity with social media accounts. In addition, we have even become reliant on cars to drive us places as some have become self-driving. So as technology advances in society, I am surrounded by it day in and day out. 

    Then again, I can look at the relationship I have with my phone and laptop. As much as I hate to admit it, I do rely on my phone and laptop to a greater amount than I wish I did. The first thing I do every morning is check my phone, and I am on it all the time throughout the day. I am constantly checking it, keeping in touch with people, playing games, and being present on social media. When it comes to my laptop, I am constantly on it as well, doing school work, watching shows and youtube, as well as also play computer games. While I wouldn't exactly call my phone an obsession, I would definitely consider it a necessity in my everyday life. I use my phone to keep in touch with people, whether that is through text messages, calls or especially social media. The rise of social media is a reason why the rise of technology has occurred, especially within Generation Z. 

When you look at this graph to the left provided by Statistica, it shows how often the average person checks their phone. According to the graph, the age groups that look at their phones the most are aged 18-29 and 30-49. When you consider that these ages have been born into generations where the use of technology has risen exponentially, and many every day tasks can be completed through the use of an iPhone or any other kind of smartphone, than it provides a good explanation for why teenagers, including me, are so active with technology. 

    In addition, a very large part of technology that his developed, especially in my generation, has been the rise of social media. I think the presence of social media has played a huge role in the use of technology. Many teens spend much more time on their devices due to being active on the different social media apps. In an article about teens and social media in 2022, social media apps such as Tik Tok have grown rapidly among teens aged 12-17. Some of the others? Instagram, Snapchat and even Twitter have seen an increase in users since 2014. This information is important because it shows that one of the biggest reasons why there has been such an increase and why technology has become so important is because of the use of social media among teens. Even adults are active on social media, with Facebook being primarily one of the biggest social media apps among people aged 30-49. Furthermore, around 95% of children are using technology just to watch Youtube. The rise of social media among our generation has shown us just how much technology is pivotal to our society. 

    As one can see, technology has become a very important aspect into everyday life. Whether it is used for a company, a car, or even a smart home system, it has become a necessity. However, the use of technology took new reform after social media soared. The rise of social media has taken technology into new heights. At the end of the day, while social media has become a clear riser over other forms of technology, the use of technology that forms our world today is only going to become more advanced. 

Blog #11- Agenda Setting

     During the presentations this past Thursday, one of the most interesting topics I learned was the topic on agenda setting. Agenda setting is essentially what the news and media do not want you to see. There is a lot more going on under the surface than what the media actually wants you to know about. One example could be focusing on the violent part of protests, rather than why the people are actually protesting. 

    In 1972, two college professors named Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw did a survey on North Carolina voters during the 1978 presidential election. The survey asked what voters thought the most influential issue was regarding the election. Thus, results showed that the media really influences what people should care about. This was the start of the Agenda Setting Theory. 

    When it comes to Agenda Setting, there are three different types; Public, Media and Policy. The first type of Agenda Setting is Public, where the public decides the agenda for what stories are and are not important. The second type is called media agenda setting, and occurs when media decides what and what not to discuss. Lastly, the policy agenda setting is when both the public and media influence the decisions that are made by public policy makers. 

    The reason why the agenda setting theory is so important is because it shows that the media is constantly hiding information from us. It shows that we need to dig deeper into intriguing new stories we hear about, and need to constantly be aware that the news we hear is being controlled by the media. 

Blog #10- Living in the age of AI

     When it comes to Artificial Intelligence, it doesn't come as a surprise that it is starting to become more and more relevant in society today. Artificial Intelligence is starting to take over, most notably Siri, self driving cars, and even social media monitoring. However, it has become increasingly worrisome. especially recently, about just how fast we are evolving into an artificial intelligence dependency. 

   

    In the documentary "In the Age of AI", we saw some interviewee's discuss how worried they are about just how dependent we have become on Artificial Intelligence. One example is Siri. One of the most popular electronic manufactures, Apple, includes Siri into many of their devices. The dependency around Siri has grown, especially recently following many of Apple's IOS updates. People depend on Siri to look up questions, make calls, texts among many other features that can be just as easily done themselves. 

However, when it comes to the emergence of Artificial Intelligence, there's no doubt that we as a society should be scared for what is going to happen in the future. In the documentary, a man named Alistar Mctaggart was interviewed following a conversation he had with an engineer at a dinner party. Mctaggart asked the about an article he saw in the newspaper that morning about privacy, and the man said that Mctaggart should be terrified about how much they know about not only Mctaggart, but all of us. This shows just how frightening it is that Artificial Intelligence has so much knowledge over us. Social Media monitoring can watch our every move on apps, know every post we stumble upon, every account we follow. Siri has access to our phone, our most valuable source that holds much of our identity. Even our jobs are beginning to be taken over by artificial intelligence. 

    With the evolvement of Artificial Intelligence, we as a society begin to think and question what is going to happen to us eventually. If our jobs are already being taken over, who knows what is going to happen when Artificial Intelligence becomes even more advanced in the future. 

Blog #9- EOTO- Propaganda

 

Widely used during World War II, propaganda is a form of communication that is mainly used to attempt to persuade an audience or someone towards a specific idea. The United States military would hang posters, one of the most popular being Uncle Sam, to attempt to recruit young men to fight in the army. They would also release comic strips, such as Captain America, to further push people to join the draft. On the other hand, Nazi, Germany would use propaganda to further push the idea that large groups such as the Jews deserved to be prosecuted. As one can see, propaganda can be used in a good light, supporting and pushing for one to defend their country. On the contrary, it can also be used to support heinous and awful acts of violence. Ultimately, it's use in history has worked, and even until this day it remains relevant in politics and communication tactics. 

Whether it used for good or bad, it's success throughout history cannot go unnoticed. Now in a day of advanced technology, the use of propaganda has expanded past just comic strips and posters. TV shows, commercials, billboards, and local ads are just some examples of how propaganda has expanded to meet present day technologies and communicational tactics. However, the basic premiss behind propaganda still resides within the seven different types of propaganda; name-calling, glittering generalities, transfer, testimonial, plain-folk, card stacking, and bandwagon. 

The first type of propaganda used is name-calling. Name-calling propaganda is the idea that by giving a negative name to a group of people, it will cause an audience to resent and have harsh feelings towards said group. One example of this is during the Rwandan Genocide, when people would refer to the Tutsi as "cockroaches" on the radio. Because the Tutsi were continuously being called a bad name, they were desensitized. 

The next type of propaganda is glittering generalities. This type of propaganda uses words that stand out to the audience. An example of this could be applying important values within one's society to a political run. 

Next is transfer device, which refers to referring as oneself or a group as an "integral part of a larger cause". An example of this could be communists referring to themselves as a "peoples democracy" during the Soviet Union era. 

Another type of propaganda is testimonial. Testimonial propaganda is involving someone's name who is seen in the public eye as distinguished or knowledgeable. Many commercials may feature a doctor talking about why a certain medicine works and why it would be effective. 

The fifth type of propaganda is plain-folk. Extensively used by politicians, they claim they are the exact same as other people, with the same ideas and rules. An example of this is just a simple politician saying he came from the same background that others do.

Next is card stacking propaganda. Card stacking is a technique used by people in which true facts are split with facts that better suit the propagandist. An example of this is a politician giving a speech and changing the story to make themself look better. 

Finally, the last type is known as bandwagon propaganda. In this type, the idea is presented that since other people are doing it, than you should be doing it as well. One can think of the term "bandwagon" when thinking about sports, because it used to describe someone who only roots for the winningest team. 

As one can see, the seven different types of propaganda have been used all throughout history and each portray a unique twist on the communication tactic. The use of propaganda has been very effective, and will forever be used to further appeal to audiences. 

Blog #8- The Privacy, Online and Off

Privacy is one of the most important aspects of one's life. Privacy allows people to feel safe in an otherwise dangerous world. However, in todays day and age, privacy seems to only be limited to our highest powers. Think about it, when was the last time you were able to Google what the President does in his free time? However, with just one click of the button, one can research how much another family makes in a year, where they live, even what they are doing at that exact day and time. It's no wonder so many people feel unsafe at all times. Anything anyone does can and will come back to hurt them sometime in the near future. For example, the TedTalk on Revenge Porn featured a woman who was the victim of having photos of her sleeping unclothed, leaked online by her ex-boyfriend. In a case in which she thought she would have full privacy, especially since she was with her boyfriend at the time, she was exposed all over the internet. She explained how there should be laws put in place, and fortunately there was a law that put her ex-boyfriend away in international prison. 

After watching the video, I believe government should put laws in place that protect peoples privacy. One aspect of privacy that needs to be fixed right away is privacy on social media. The insanely popular social media app Facebook has had controversies in which they release users private information to other technology companies such as Microsoft, Netflix and Spotify. By Facebook doing this, they are putting potentially millions of people at risk and breaking trust from all sort've users. 

If the Government isn't going to do anything about it, it can be important to know what people can do to further protect themselves. One trick people can do to further protect themselves is having a fake email to use on different websites. For example, when ordering packages, you could use another fake email with a fake name so that your address can't come directly back to you. Another trick one can do is make sure that you use multiple different passwords so that you will never be hacked. There are multiple other ways one can protect your privacy, and when it comes to todays day and age, privacy is more important than ever. 

Blog #7- Diffusion Theory

Everett Rogers was a professor who specialized in communication theories. In his book Diffusion of Theories, Rogers popularized the Diffusion of Innovations Theory. The theory hopes to find and explain why different ideas and technologies spread. 

In his book, Rogers theorized that there are five main elements that help spread and develop new ideas. Those five elements are the idea or invention itself, adopters, communication channels, time, and a social system. Essentially, it all connects to that the idea must be invented, then catch on and gain popularity during a certain amount of time, and must be develop throughout a system in which it will be function-able. 

When it comes to the Diffusion of Innovations Theory, an important part is the adopters. One can look at the graph below that shows how an innovation gains it's popularity, especially through adopters. The first step begins with the innovators, those who invent the product and intend to popularize it. Next comes the early adopters, who are the first group of people who begin to use the product. Then comes the early majority adopters, which is when the product fully starts to gain popularity, for example when an app first comes to the app store. After early majority adopters, there are the late adopters, and finally laggards. The graph shows that the product will be at it's highest and have the most popularity when early and late adopters obtain the innovation. 

One can look at the invention of the iPhone to further look into this model. The phone was first invented in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell, and to this day is still one of the most popular inventions ever created. However, to keep the phone and all of the different products viable, developers must continue to upgrade there phone. Companies and developers such as Apple continue to release new models of the iPhone every September, so that the iPhone will remain at the top of model, around the early and late adopters.  

It seems today that the iPhone will continue to be the top phone developer for years to come. Laggards of the product may not be seen for a good amount of time because it seems everybody has an iPhone already. However, there will come a day the iPhone is replaced by the next best thing, and those people who heavily rely on Apple will be laggards. Until then however, the iPhone will continue to run the smartphone market. 

Blog #6- Carrier Pigeons

    During the presentations on Thursday, one of the most interesting topics I learned was about Carrier Pigeons. Carrier Pigeons were used primarily during the 1900's, being especially relevant during World War I and the Olympics. They played a major roll in the intelligence service during the war, providing the ability to send messages to other camps on positions of the enemies, or strategies. It would take about six weeks to successfully train a carrier pigeon, and after those six weeks they were ready to serve. When in combat, the carrier pigeon would unfortunately only survive about 10% of the time due to the fact that enemy soldiers would shoot them down to dismantle the chance for messages to be passed. In result, countries like France created laws that anybody who impended a carrier pigeon from its message would be sentenced to death. Soon after World War I, the use of Carrier Pigeons diminished due to advancements and expansions in technology. However, carrier pigeons played a pivotal role in the success of the United States military during World War I. For their efforts and bravery, some carrier pigeons would receive the Dickin Medal, which is the highest honor an animal can receive in the service. The use of carrier pigeons, though short and sweet, will forever go down in history as one of the most unique ways to communicate with one another, and for sure was a technological advancement that paved the way for future ideas.