Blog #12: Final Post

    When I  think about technology in general, I correspond it with the useful apps on my phone such as weather, maps, calendar, camera, video, social media, and the ability to call, facetime or text at any given moment. With layers of easy usability and usefulness embedded in our phones, there are additional layers ingrained under the surface that serve to take advantage of users. Some of these downfalls correspond to the dark side of social media apps including the way that the younger generation can easily become victims to cyberbullying, revenge porn, and body negativity. As people post videos and pictures, ugly and nasty comments can pop up at the click of a button. Even if the person who posted isn’t familiar with the person behind the account, those comments dig at a sensitive wound. Or maybe it’s not specifically about the user of an account being attacked but the viewers who see harmful content. Perhaps a certain body image is being portrayed by influencers and both young women and young men start to compare theres to this ‘ideal’ image. Subconsciously or consciously that person will begin to view themselves differently either emotionally or physically and cause self-esteem issues that will ultimately affect that person’s mental health. With teenagers still developing at their age and going through puberty, they are at one of the most vulnerable places in life mentally, emotionally, and physically. They are just starting to shift from children to adults and are continually growing their perception of themselves and others. 

    As for myself, I know that mentally, I am continuously at risk of these self-esteem issues every time I open up a social media app especially instagram where followers and likes as well as the shape of your body are all important in today’s generation. I also have an unsettling feeling knowing that anyone can look up my account and judge a glimpse of my life even if it is private. The small glimpses I do put on social media consists of only the general things I’m comfortable with people knowing about me. Overall, social media is based around a disguise that you put up for the public. Everyone wants to be portrayed a certain way even if that’s not necessarily their true self.

    On average, Americans spend a little less than 17 hours a week scrolling through social media according to this article. Users are susceptible to a wide range of content that can be both negative and positive. This puts users in a vulnerable position because at the end of the day, these social media companies are backed by people who always have a narrative they want to push. Social media is truly set up to push a user into a spiral of content. Without even realizing it, the algorithm can set up your stream with only republican or democratic backed content. I definitely noticed this pattern during the 2020 election when my entire feed consisted of only Biden supporters at rallies. Although I don’t identify with one political party more than the other, I felt manipulated and misled as I wasn’t receiving any diverse content that juxtaposed the content I was getting. Though as much as there can be content with only one dialogue, I’ve found other accounts that have opened my mind up with explanations and reasonings that have made me think twice about my prior beliefs. For good or for evil, social media can fall into both realms.

I think that the truly unhealthy part of technology is that the average person forms an addiction just like any other substance abuse issues. As stated by this article, “Americans spend an average screen time of 5.4 hours on their mobile phones daily” which is a little less than 38 hours a week. When we truly think about it, not even family or work can match the amount of time spent on our phones. Picking up your phone is truly comparable to taking a drug as every text, email, or social media notification you get, releases a chemical known as Dopamine. This releases a neurotransmitter into our bloodstream whenever something makes us feel good such as sex, food, shopping, or anything else that people enjoy. As reported by this article, every time your brain releases this chemical, it starts to notice a pattern where your, “brain [begins] to associate ‘cell phone’ with ‘dopamine.’ And since your brain naturally craves easy hits of dopamine, it [starts] to crave your phone”. Another scary aspect regarding a person's dependency on a phone has to do with the phobia of being without your phone known as Nomophobia. According to this article, “94% of participants reported feeling troubled when they didn’t have their phone with them, 80% felt jealous when someone else held their phone, and 70% expected to feel depressed, panicked, and helpless if their phone was lost or stolen”. People will literally feel mental and physical effects as their mind and body are not able to comprehend not having constant and easy access to technology. I remember getting my phone taken away by my parents in high school and would have the worst anxiety without it. I would use my parents' phones just to use any type of technology. Without even realizing it, phones have been implemented in every way of life to the point that you can’t even remember going through your daily routine without it. With anything that’s good in life, moderation is the key. It is absolutely necessary for people to not only limit their usage on phones but to implement hobbies that don’t rely on technology for your mind to take a break. 

Blog #11: Living in the Age of AI

    When people think of artificial intelligence, they automatically correlate it with the narrative of robots overthrowing the human race and taking over Earth. Though after watching the documentary, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are other factors that play into the creation of artificial intelligence. One of the quotes that really resonated with me is when the inventor who made Baby X mentioned that the potential of artificial intelligence is limited to the creator. This means that artificial intelligence isn’t going to be able to adapt and integrate past the way that it is coded. People have it ingrained in their head that robots are going to be able to harness the quality of manipulation and overpower the way that humans processed its technology. Though that’s simply not the case because creators can hard wire and apply technical features to make it mimic a human, though at the end of the day it simply does not have a soul connected to a consciousness where emotion and feeling is ingrained in them. It seems that they are trying to construct Baby X with a humanlike consciousness though its reactions and responses are still centered around the way it is programmed. One of the main arguments said in the video is that their goal is to, “enhance humans not replace humans”. Their purpose is not to generate another species but to develop different aspects where Artificial Intelligence can improve lives. An example of this is the two men who were able to put on a digital based hand where its actual thoughts translated into the movement of the additional appendage.

    Though with anything that has advantages there are also downfalls. According to this article, “more than 72% of Americans expressed worry about a future in which machines [will] perform many human jobs”. I think that this is a valid reason as companies will be able to use machines instead of paying workers which would cause job loss and increase the gap between the lower class and the upper 1%. As reported by this article, “Robots could replace as many as 2 million more workers in manufacturing alone by 2025”. The creators of artificial intelligence should continue to focus on the smaller groups of people whose lives would significantly change and not the money hungry corporations who could easily take advantage of this advanced technology. Overall, I think that artificial intelligence is a slippery slope where it has high positives and high negatives.

Blog #10: EOTO About Other Presentation

    As seen by group 2, online influencers have become the new wave regarding media celebrities, ad promoting, and potential income for the average person. People are able to become instantly famous with a viral post in any genre and any type of way. From cooking tips, cute videos of dogs, to dance trends, anything can become popular overnight. 

    On TikTok, an older man simply riding a skateboard down the street, drinking Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice, and sinking along to Dreams by Fleetwood Mac garnered around 71 million views. As the video went viral, not only did Mick Fleetwood recreate the same video, but Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice gave him a promotion deal as well. According to this article, Ocean Spray Cranberry juice was sold out in many stores and the classic song received a, “374% jump in sales and a 89% jump in streams” as well as made it back to the Billboard Charts after being released back in 1997. With rapid sensationalism occurring at the drop of the hat, endorsements and sponsorships are becoming ever present in videos produced by micro and macro influencers.

*TikToc video that went viral

    The advertising has also boomed from virality of media stars as these fresh influencers welcome any type of promotional deal as free agents. A-list celebrities also tend to be very selective with brand deals and are willing to give a lot less promotional material for a more expensive price tag. Many of these media influencers are also closer in age to a brand’s targeted audience and come off as more relatable to the younger generation.  As stated by this article, “the influencer marketing industry is expected to hit $13.8bn by 2022”, which supports the notion that this ad strategy has and will continue to become one of consumers main ways for purchasing items. 

    With so many younger people looking up to these media influencers, it's significant that users are made aware when a recommendation is an actual ad deal or sponsorship to restrict manipulation by the influencers. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has also set guidelines regarding endorsement deals such as,”any influencer with a material connection to the brand [must] clearly and obviously disclose [any] material connection…every time they promote the product” as stated in this article. With so many facades associated with social media, it’s hard to tell what’s real and fake, this is why these are important ethics to enforce as the younger generation is especially more at risk of misleading information. 

Blog #9: Diffusion of Innovations

    When we think about interracial marriages today, we don’t think twice about people of different races being together and creating biracial children. Though not even 50 years ago, marriages of different races were banned in 13 states. Years prior when the Civil Rights Act of 1967 was enacted, the separation of colored people and white people had just become permitted. With this new societal change, the romantic union of people with different skin colors was a highly futuristic idea that was not widely accepted. With racism still running rampant, states like Virginia still upheld their anti-miscegenation laws which forbid interracial marriage. The previous precedent, Pace V. Alabama of 1883 was voted as constitutional under the notion that both black people and white people were punished equally for participating in an interracial marriage. A Virginia couple, Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving had wished to get married but as stated in Virginia law, a white man could not marry a black woman under the reasoning of upholding racial integrity and prohibiting interbreeding. While trying to go through a loophole, they had decided to wed in Washington and come back to Virginia though when they arrived they were arrested and put on trial where they were sentenced to a year in prison. Under the guidelines that the couple left Virginia, the trial judge suspended the sentence for 25 years. When the case went to the supreme court, they ruled in Loving’s favor and stated that, “Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual, and cannot be infringed by the state” and overruled the prior supreme court case. 

*Mildred Jeter & Richard Loving 

    According to this article, since 1967, only 3% of marriages in America were interracial and by 2017, the percentage rose to 17%. Biracial babies have also multiplied from 5% to 14% as 1 in 7 babies will be multiethnic. The culmination of societal changes has been the prevalent factor affecting the rise of marriages among different races. As America grows farther away from discrimination and white supremecy, the rejection of those old fashioned prejudices becomes more adopted by the newer generations. As reported by this article, 53% of millennials and gen Z believe that interracial marriages is good for society which is 23% higher than the baby boomer generation which consists of individuals born from 1946 to 1964. As more race-based issues are brought to the surface, ideas and beliefs adapt and reform to more tolerant and liberal societal norms. 

Through the lens of the Diffusion theory, the pioneers of interracial marriages would be charactarized as those who challenged anti-miscegenation laws in Pace V. Alabama of 1883. The early adopters would be Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving whose story finally made it legal to marry another race. As people became more comfortable with the togetherness of blacks and whites, this era would be characterized as the maturation phase as, “Only about a third of Americans viewed intermarriage as acceptable in 1986” according to this article. With even more people accepting the idea of multiethnic marriages, America has entered the saturation point in 2021 as a study reported that 94% of Americans support interracial marriages. Although, diversity among couples becomes more and more unusual along with biracial babies, Americans still has to trail the long tail of the graph to make up for the 6% of society who is not tolerant. 

Blog #8: EOTO

Overton Window

    The Overton Window can be defined as society’s acceptance of ideas as they evolve over time. As the narrative of a certain issue transforms, people’s ideologies and beliefs reflect the change in attitude. Not only is it centered around the acceptance of new ideas but the rejection of old norms. The Overton Window is also the basis of politics and what policies are enacted to keep up with society’s demands. The theory behind it is that politicians are restricted regarding what policies they can support or not support as they risk a loss of supporters if they decide to seek ideas that are not seen as acceptable options by society. The Overton Window can also coincide with Roger's Diffusion of Innovations and the phases that people respond to. While the Overton Window reflects the transformation of what is politically possible, Roger's Diffusion of Innovations correlates to the momentum of a certain product or idea. The Overton Window starts from the range of unthinkable and continues on to radical, acceptable, sensible, popular, and ends in policy. The person who came up with this, Joseph Overton, a famous libertarian, whose sole purpose was to shift the Overton Window and to aid the mainstream towards unpopular ideas. He recommended, “not to advocate for minor, incremental changes to an already accepted idea, but to make the case for a currently ‘unthinkable’ idea” according to this article. With logical explanations and supported material, people would eventually be more open to these ideas.

    When we hear our parents say, “back in my generation”, it truly supports a different era with distinct values and beliefs that are not common among our time. When we think about gay marriage, interracial marriages, or civil rights in general, the narrative in the past seems completely radical and not at all what’s accepted today. Though as time went on and phenomenons occurred the mindset surged towards a more enlightened thinking. In regards to civil rights, segregation of races was a prevalent way of life up until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which, “prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin” according to this article. This wasn’t even 60 years ago where people of different color were restricted from coexisting with one another. This ideology of racism is completely unacceptable as society will not allow this narrative. Though it took a gradual change as society forbid slavery, banned segregation, allowed interracial marriage, and authorized the voting of every citizen regardless of race. As the public grew towards a new world-view, the policies enacted reflected that movement.

    In regards to how generations are broken down, the four most recent are Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Gen Z according to this article. Baby Boomers who are born between 1946 to 1964, lived through post WWII, the Cold War, and the hippie era. Generation X, people born between 1965 to 1980, experienced the Watergate scandal and a rise of personal computing. Millennials, those born between 1980 and 1996 witnessed The Great Recession, 9/11, and the rise of social media. Gen Z, those born between 1997 and 2015, encountered the boom of smartphones, social media, a global pandemic, Black Lives Matter movement and never knowing a country not at war. In regards to all of these shaping events, it’s inevitable to have a wide range of conflicting beliefs among generations. These phenomenons occurring in different eras is the culminating factor that shifts the Overton Window.

    Just as we debate over the merits of vaccination, abortion, and climate change, under the notion of the Overton Window, the stance of these issues could possibly be stabalized in the future. I believe that it affects everyone as a whole because our beliefs and values are consistently being challenged as current events occur and we are more exposed to a different way of thinking when we watch the news, surf the internet, or scroll through our social media. Without even realizing it, what we believed to be right 5 years ago can be completely changed today. 

Blog #7: Privacy

    When we think about technology, there’s usually a positive connotation associated with it as it is characterized as one of the most innovative breakthroughs of this era. Though as we utilize technology in every way and revel in the usefulness of the product, we become blindsided with the flaws and downfalls that come with deceiving tendencies. Almost like makeup, we interpret our phones and computers based on the amazing practicalities of being able to communicate in any given way, having a calculator, flashlight, weather updates, calendar, music, maps, and a camera at any given moment. Though we fail to take into consideration the lack of privacy, ongoing tracking, and potential surveillance that the small devices carried in our pocket can serve as. We believe we know the key aspects of what our phones can do as it is put in simple terms by tech companies, though we are uneducated about the technicalities regarding what information is taken from our interactions through our phone. 

    The question of what the government should do regarding these issues is a hard question to answer because they are taking just as much advantage of the lack of privacy from devices. As stated in the video, the police are utilizing high-tech cameras put on cruisers and surveillancing every license plate to build a profile on a person. Just like Google builds a description of your likes and dislikes to target ads centered around you according to this article, the government is processing everything about you in a different channel. I definitely believe that the government can enact policies and bills to protect the public from tampering with individuals' privacy. 

    I know that tech companies practically state in the terms and conditions that they have the right to invade your privacy when you click the accept box at the bottom of the page but I don’t think that it should even be an option to have that low level of security for users. To keep up with social media and other tech sites, users are nearly forced to abide by their terms in order to use the app. I think it affects everyone as a whole because we are all being exposed to the same technology abuse regardless of your gender, race, religion, or political party. To protect yourself from invasions of privacy, people should start by not using the password saver embedded in the phone, disallow apps from tracking your location, and do not allow cookies when you go on sites. By taking these small steps, it will help protect yourself from your phone.

Blog #6: EOTO About Other Presentation

    One of the most notable technologies that I learned about was based on Netflix and the way that it has shaped this generation. On the timeline of television, Netflix was one of the first streaming and subscription based media and video on demand. At the start of the company, Netflix was purely a movie rental service back in 2007 which operated much like Redbox where you would rent a movie and receive and return it via mail. They released their first stemming service known as “Watch Now” which limited users to 18 hours a month. The issue with this service is that it was only accessible through browsers on a computer. By 2008 to 2010, they were able to partner with electronic companies such as Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo Wii, Apple products, and other internet connection based products. With this new availability, the subscriptions rose to 20 million subscribers as Netflix also spreads to Canada. Netflix was then able to focus on their individual TV and movie network as they received 31 primetime Emmy nominations in 2013. By 2016, Netflix was able to expand to an additional 130 countries and programming in 21 languages. As years went on, the company would grow to 180 million subscribers and become prized with nominations for novel documentaries, hit movies, and entertaining T.V. show according to this article.

    Although Netflix gained a monumental 16 million subscribers during the COVID lockdown in 2020, their growth has slowed dramatically in 2021. As people were forced to the confines of their home during the rapid spread of Covid-19, their source of entertainment was centered around streaming services including Netflix. Not only were movie theaters shut down but production sets were derailed with the strict restrictions placed due to the virus according to this article. Although people used Netflix as a way to have entertainment, the demand for new content was more than Netflic could keep up. When Netflix releases a T.V. show, users are able to binge watch all the episodes at once as the episodes aren't released on a weekly basis. So although there was a need for entertainment, the demand was frustratingly high as people would finish a season and demand another season as soon as possible. 

    Now that COVID restrictions are being lifted and more of the population has been vaccinated, people are not as confined to their home as they were before, meaning that people are more busy to focus all their time on binging season. Theaters have also opened up which leads people to watch movies in an auditorium rather than their usual comfort of their home.