Blog 10 - When is it time to end a bad relationship?

 It is often said that technology is supposed to make our lives easier, and in many cases I believe this is true.  Think of the first passenger airplane that reduced the time it took to travel from New York to California from a week to just a few hours.  The automatic dishwasher, the printing press, even the prehistoric invention of the wheel were all technologies that helped people save time and effort.  Advances in technology have historically been adopted when they have the benefit of making something easier.  Generally speaking, this led to healthy relationships with technology, as people were able to free up time and energy to pursue other interests.  Early technology had to be healthy, else the technology would not have survived.  For example, if the early invention of the lightbulb turned out to be unhealthy for most people (causing fires or insomnia), then that technology would not have been adopted.  It would have been scrapped and eventually replaced with something better, something that promoted a healthy relationship.

In the mid 20th century, the emergence of computers allowed us to solve very complex problems such as space travel, banking, science, medicine and more. By the mid 1990s, as the power of computers increased, and the size and cost decreased, any household could have a personal computer. When the internet became widely accessible in the late 1990s, computer technology had the power to make lives easier for the common family.  For example, you could send a letter, photo or message to a friend or family member digitally and instantaneously.  You could read an article or book without having to go out and purchase a newspaper or book. People were now able to print, read, research, study, communicate, design and create from the comfort of their own home.  There seemed to be a healthy relationship between technology and humans for the most part.

 

However, as digital communication expanded, the emergence of social media began to rise in popularity.  Classmates can now have virtual “reunions” on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We can now engage in group discussions across wide geographies, which wouldn’t have been possible before social media. Mobile devices came along in the mid 2000s which allowed us to take this new digital / social form of communication with us everywhere, and it shows.  You can not look anywhere in a public place and avoid seeing people with their head down in their phone, endlessly scrolling, commenting, liking, checking their status, etc. The once generally healthy relationship with technology began to spoil. Anonymity behind a keyboard enabled some people to say things they might not otherwise say in person, causing online arguments and bullying which consume countless hours of peoples lives. 

 

The same young people who are most susceptible to online bullying are also often the ones who haven’t learned when or how to end bad relationships, and they keep coming back for more. If you ask most people how they would spend their ideal perfect day, I bet very few of them would say “I will spend 4-6 hours of the day behind a screen.”   Yet, according to the website SocialBuddy.com, a quarter of all teens spend over 8 hours per day on social media! Talk about a relationship with technology!  And I think most of them would admit that it is not a healthy relationship for them.  Is there even any time left in a day to engage in a real, healthy relationship? So why do they continue to consume their lives in this unhealthy relationship when they know it is not part of what they would consider their “ideal perfect day”? Like most other unhealthy relationships (food, drugs, smoking, even love), the answer is addiction. These social media apps are designed and monetized by attention, by eyes on the screen, by time spent scrolling.  They are designed to become addictive, and the worst part about it is most people already know this.  Addiction is a difficult problem to solve for many people, but it is solvable. Any time is a good time to end a bad relationship. It starts with acknowledging the problem, putting a plan of accountability in place to reduce consumption of digital content, and ultimately realizing your ideal perfect day, every day.

Blog #9 - Diffusion of Innovations Theory

 The Diffusion of Innovations is a theory that looks to explain why, how and at which rate technology spreads. Throughout my time in Media Law and Literacy, I have learned a lot about different social media applications and how they operate. I have especially gained a new perspective on the app Twitter.

 In one of our Media Law classes, we became familiar with the above graph. This graph helps to show how people reacted/are reacting to technology over time. This is an example of the diffusion of innovations theory, and it can be compared to the growth of Twitter. Before Twitter was officially launched, the creators of the app did a “test run” to see how Twitter would be used by individuals. Today, Twitter is a successful social media app with over 300 million users. I believe that many people became early adopters to Twitter, myself included, because it was an easy way to find out information and keep in touch with family and friends. Twitter quickly became an up-and-coming app after it was launched in 2006.

There are negatives to Twitter, like any social media application, but there are also positives. Some negatives of Twitter can include spam content, a character limit, and false news. Positives can include staying connected with family/friends and having updates on the latest news. I personally feel that the positives outweigh the negatives because I am an active Twitter user; however some people, like Laggards, may feel that the negatives outweigh the positives and therefore are not interested in the app. 

Blog #8 - EOTO Sherman Anti Trust Act

For my second EOTO, I researched the Sherman Antitrust act. The Sherman Antitrust act of 1890 is a federal law which prohibits actions that limit interstate commerce and competition in the marketplace. The act allowed the Federal Government to investigate anti-competitive trusts and initiate proceedings in order to break them up or dissolve them. It was the first federal act that outlawed business practices which thwarted competition and created monopolies. The act was passed by congress in 1890 and it is named after Ohio Senator John Sherman, its principal author. The Clayton act in 1914 altered the original Sherman Antitrust act by making it more specific. The Clayton act outlaws “every contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade,” and any “monopolization, attempted monopolization, or conspiracy or combination to monopolize”. The Clayton Antitrust act also outlaws restrictions on trade between states or with foreign nations. Antitrust cases are heard and remedied by the U.S. Department of Justice through litigation in the federal courts. These prohibitions of monopolistic business practices were put in place to help workers and small businesses by encouraging competition.  

The Sherman Antitrust act can have severe penalties for violation of the act. The Antitrust legislation can impose criminal punishments of up to $100 million for a business/corporation and $1 million for an individual, along with up to 10 years in prison. The maximum fine can vary under federal law, and the punishment would be commensurate with the level of advantage gained from the illegal anti competitive behaviors.

Many people agree that monopolies still exist today. An argument could easily be made that Google and Facebook are modern day monopolies.  In addition, industries such as utilities, telecommunications and satellite entertainment are also considered anti-competitive. If a business or industry is unfriendly or destructive to competition, it is likely that monopolistic practices are occurring . The Antitrust laws are intended to remedy these anti-competitive practices through the use of fines or even requiring larger companies to break up into smaller ones. Google is a great example of a company who has had a lot of growth by acquiring many of its smaller competitors.  Google’s ad revenue dominates the competition, and the data they use to target these ads is also collected by other Google tools such as Gmail, Android phones, Google Maps, and many others.  While it is great for the consumer that these products and services are “free”, the true cost is the privacy of the end-user.  

Facebook is another example of a company who has grown through acquisition of competing companies like Instagram and WhatsApp.  Like Google, Facebook also earns revenue by selling advertisements on their digital platforms.  And like Google, the end-user’s data is the product they sell to monetize their business.  In August of 2021, the Federal Trade Commission filed a new complaint in the Federal court alleging that Facebook violated antitrust laws by buying Instagram and WhatsApp in order to eliminate them as competitors. Unfortunately this case was dismissed by the judge, but the concerns remain.  

If someone wants to participate in one of the top 2 or 3 social media applications, you can pretty much guarantee that their data is making its way into the database of a tech giant for sale to the highest bidder.  Young startup companies in the technology space, once their product becomes popular and reaches millions of end users, are pretty much guaranteed to be swallowed up by one of the big 2 or 3 tech giants.  There is increasing awareness by the public who no longer want to be part of a personal data-mining machine, but finding competitive alternatives is nearly impossible.  Tech companies have become very wealthy, and they spend a lot of money on political lobbying to protect them from the very antitrust laws that were designed to prevent them from suppressing their competition in the first place. 

Blog # 7 - Privacy Online

With popular social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, it can be hard to protect your privacy online. Even if a profile is set to “Private” your posts can still be seen by the social media companies and your close followers, which really means that private posts can also potentially be seen by the rest of the world. We often hear, “Watch what you post online” or “It will never go away once you post it”, but what do these phrases really mean? 

It is obvious to most people that Social Media companies monetize their platforms through the activity of their end users.  You are their product, and your digital identity is being sold to advertisers who pay money to the social platforms to deliver targeted ads.  This is what keeps the social media applications free, so most people accept the trade-off.  But privacy concerns extend far beyond targeted advertising. In our increasingly politically binary society, people are looking for ways to shame or discredit others who may not be aligned to their political or social ideas. We are witnessing people losing friends, reputations and even their jobs because of things in their past that have been exposed on social media accounts. There are recent examples of people who have directly or indirectly supported a political cause and were subsequently targeted for retribution by their employer or even their government. All of your search history, comments, posts, online activity, likes, followers, etc. is available to be seen by others, and this digital fingerprint can strongly indicate whether or not you are acceptable to a certain group, say, your employer. 

Although it is important for people to check and adjust their privacy settings on their social platforms, doing so simply isn’t enough. Information has a way of getting out. The most important thing people should do to protect their privacy and online identity is to be mindful of their digital interactions including social posts and comments. One way to do this is to always be thinking “What if my future employer or spouse sees this?” I do not think there is much the government can do to protect individual privacy. There are already laws in place that prohibit sharing of personal data without consent, but there does not seem to be much enforcement around these.  It is every individual’s responsibility to be cautious about how they are using online platforms and what information they are sharing. The society we live in seems to be moving more in a direction where an opponent of yours might find one thing that you posted or said in your past, and amplify it in such a way that paints your whole identity and reputation in a negative light. Unfortunately, lives have been destroyed by this tactic. We don’t need to look far to find examples of it. Education is the key to protecting online privacy. Many schools are implementing such training as young as elementary school, but I think the best way to protect people of all ages is to educate them with more consistency about the potential future risk of their digital identity.

Blog #6 - EOTO Presentation Recap

I learned a lot during the EOTO presentations in class. Everyone who spoke on a different technology was knowledgeable about their topic and it was interesting to hear the findings of each individual. A member of my group presented on the history and technological aspect of Bluetooth. I found his presentation the most interesting because I didn't know anything about the technology of Bluetooth before his project. Bluetooth is something that I have never really thought deeply about. My car doesn't have bluetooth, so I thought that I really only use it when I listen to music through my Apple Airpods. After listening to the EOTO project about Bluetooth, I learned that I actually use Bluetooth technology more than I think. The technology of Bluetooth is very advanced and the concept is something that is difficult for me to even wrap my mind around.

During the EOTO presentation, I learned that Bluetooth has actually been around a lot longer than I thought. I learned that indoor wireless communication systems became a thing in 1993! This surprised me because I did not know that wireless communication has been around for that long. The first consumer Bluetooth device was launched in 1999 as a hands-free mobile headset. This device earned the "Best of show technology award" because the technology shocked so many people around the world. 

Today, Bluetooth is a common feature that many people use daily. When Apple came out with Bluetooth headphones - "Airpods" - in December of 2016, it shocked many people. Today, just 5 years later, at least 86 percent of all new vehicles offer Bluetooth and about 44 million bluetooth speakers are sold yearly. Some commonly used Bluetooth devices include Apple carplay, bluetooth earbuds, smart watches and mobile hotspots. The projected units of Bluetooth to be sold in 2022 is 4.9 billion. The advancement of Bluetooth has quickly developed in almost all everyday devices like cars and phones. 

I enjoyed doing the EOTO project because it was an interactive way to present to the class and to learn about the history of popular technologies. 

Blog #5 - Antiwar Voices

Although I am a citizen of the United States, there is much I don’t know about what goes on both inside and outside of my country. I could search the popular news sites to find out what is happening in the world, but the information that I get from corporate media seems incomplete and biased. For example, as it relates to military operations and war, I may see news stories of what is happening and where, but I don’t see very much of the “why”. It is difficult to find opposing opinions as to whether or not the US should be involved in these operations. What is the cost? What is the benefit? Those answers are difficult to find. The instructions for this assignment were correct, I’ve never heard of either of the anti-war websites. I took a look and scrolled through both the websites. I saw that many of the headlines are focusing on concerns like cost, lives, conflicts of interest, diplomacy, propaganda, and failed leadership. The articles seem to be written by anti-war voices, and after reading some of the headlines, I was so surprised at how many things are currently going on with the U.S and other countries that I had no idea about. I’m certain there is information on these websites that many other Americans do not know about but should. So why would the corporate media focus much less on the anti-war concerns such as cost, lives, interests, etc? I fear that many corporate media outlets have become entrenched into a political narrative which mutually benefits the media as well as their political allies, creating conflicts of interest that only seek to serve their mutual agenda, and ultimately their profit. 

These antiwar voices go largely unnoticed because they are silenced by the media due to not falling

in line with a political narrative and/or financial motivation. In today's most commonly consumed news,

much of the content focuses on stories which cause fear and commotion in the population. The anti-war

news and opinions may be there, but they are well hidden below the fear and panic that dominates the

headlines. Fear and chaos keep people engaged, and engaged people drive advertising revenue for

the media. Stories and events that don’t draw an immediate sense of alarm and attention are rarely

seen in the important headlines of the day. 

For most people, anti-war stories are not going to hold their attention for very long. Those types of stories can be complex, time-intensive, and frankly boring. That said, they may be no less important than some of the absurd headlines that we tend to see in the corporate media. There should be more attention and recognition drawn to the anti-war voices in the US and around the world. The innocent civilians impacted by military operations deserve to have their voices heard in the news. War and military operations always come at great economic and social justice cost to those nameless and faceless victims, who are often all too easy to ignore or forget.

Blog #4 - EOTO

 When we think about the modern day photo sharing applications, typically many people may think about Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. Instagram was one of the fastest growing photo sharing apps when it was first launched - and with 1.4 billion users, it’s still growing fast today. Instagram obtained millions of users within the first couple months that it was released on the App Store. Instagram was created and launched in October 2010 by Kevin Systrom. It took only 8 weeks for Kevin and software engineers to develop the application before it was launched. By 2010, both Facebook and Twitter had already been launched on the App Store and they were both fairly popular apps at the time. Twitter gave users the ability to post “Tweets”, which consisted of only 140 characters of text alone. Facebook gave users the option to post both text and pictures separately, or to post them together. Instagram was created to give users the opportunity to post pictures and images with captions. Instagram was more personal than Twitter because it reached viewers with photos, captions and comments instead of just text. Instagram was more focused than Facebook because Facebook gave users the option to post over 100 photos, links, text, and other content. Instagram, was created primarily to be a photo sharing platform with the added features of text based captions and a type of user-generated rating system consisting of likes and comments.

Kevin Systrom learned how to code on the nights and weekends as he built a prototype of an application called Burbn. Burbn let users check in, share photos, and post about what they were doing. Systrom met with two venture capitalists and they collectively decided to limit Burbn down to photos, comments, and likes. They then all decided on the name Instagram, which was a twist on the combination of the words “instant” and “telegram”. They focused on the photo-sharing aspect of the app in hopes that it would be easy and convenient for end users. After resolving errors and fine-tuning the app, it was launched on October 6, 2010. On the day after the launch of Instagram it had already acquired 25,000 users. By the middle of December, just two months after launch, Instagram had 1 million users.

Since 2010, Instagram has grown immensely and has become a daily part of many peoples lives. It has changed how people communicate and use social media. Instagram is a great way for people to stay connected with friends and family. Being able to share photos and videos of your daily life is a fun way to show what you’re doing. Instagram can also be considered mobilized activism. It is a way to stay updated on current events and to bring attention to worthy causes. Being able to share images with captions on Instagram was a unique feature for its time. It can be used as a storytelling tool as well. Although many people use Instagram as a way to keep up with the lives of their loved ones and/or current events, there is also a downside to Instagram and social media in general.

Social media can become addicting when used everyday. It is estimated that over 210 million people worldwide suffer from internet and social media addictions. Many people spend hours on their social media and technology devices daily. This addiction can also cause lack of motivation and depression. For example, many people, particularly adolescents and young adults, see just the highlights of lives of their friends, family, celebrities and strangers. They begin to believe that they themselves are inferior or can’t possibly live up to the beauty standards or the amazing lives of others. This causes issues with mental health, particularly self esteem. Despite Instagram being an incredible digital tool for sharing and communicating, users should be wary of how often they are scrolling and how they are processing the content. Overall, Instagram has impacted our connected world in various ways, both good and bad. It is one of the top rated photo sharing apps, a useful tool to stay connected and share experiences, but it can be detrimental to the mental health of the users if not monitored. Education on the perils of social media is of key importance, particularly for young people. It is clear that society is lagging on educating about the mental health consequences of such rapidly expanding, digitally connected tools which have become ubiquitous in the hands of people of all ages.

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/7-unexpected-ways-instagram-has-changed-the-world/539032/#:~:text=It's%20mobilized%20Activism,inspiring%20others%20to%20get%20involved.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/102615/story-instagram-rise-1-photo0sharing-app.asp#:~:text=The%20first%20prototype%20of%20Instagram,25%2C000%20users%20in%20one%20day.