Final Blog Post

The Relationship We Have With Technology

Technology is one of the greatest things to ever happening to our modern-day society. We rely on it to win presidential races, to find out information within seconds, and, as a fun hobby we get to share with others. The benefits of technology are a long laundry list detailed in every which way. However, over the past few years as technology becomes more and more popular there seems to be more problems that arise. Whoever invented social media probably was not thinking about cyberbullying, revenge porn, and making people into lifeless souls. Technology brings out the best and worst in us as people and whether you're old or young everyone has a relationship with it.

Technology is at the center of everyone's lives and some people prioritize it over family, others well being, and their well-being. While this is unfortunate, this is not the part of technology that bothers me. I think that society's relationship with technology is toxic because we abuse it. It sounds silly that overusing TikTok can have a real effect on our lives, but studies say differently.

Youth suicide rates are rising now more than ever in our country, and social media is playing a factor. NBC News covered a story where a 15-year-old girl, Sadie Riggs committed suicide due to cyberbullying and name-calling online. A prime example of people abusing their privilege on social media to hurt someone else. A 10-year-long study at BYU showed that girls who use social media 2-3 hours a day starting from the age of 13 are at higher risk for suicide when they become young adults.

Social media also encourages unhealthy trends that kids think are normal. The University of Utah's blog explains a challenge called the blue whale challenge. Teens on Snapchat are encouraged to cut and burn themselves which can lead to injury or death.

As I attack society for their use of technology I have a relationship with technology that I should discuss as well. I think my technology use is in the middle between healthy and unhealthy but learning to be on the healthier side. I only use my computer for educational purposes keeping that side of my technology life very healthy and intentional.

As a student-athlete, we have rules about what we can and can not post on social media. That takes away any temptation I may have to post anything bad. I do not comment on others' posts unless I know them personally and if I do comment they are always positive or silly comments. I also never tend to receive negative comments online and if I do I do my best to ignore them. My use of technology starts to become unhealthy when I look at my screen time on my phone.

I spend far too long scrolling on social media aimlessly looking at videos that are not healthy for my mind and soul. Scrolling for too long can cause one's brain to rot making them feel lazy and unproductive. While I don't think my scrolling habits cause danger, it is also something that is not positively benefitting me.

I think that technology is both teaching me and misleading me at the same time but it depends on what platform I am using. When I am looking at a news article usually my family has sent it to me or it is a required educational article. I learn about recent events that have happened around our country like the shooting in Florida state that I looked up. Whenever I look at news websites I am rarely misled.

The problem is I am rarely looking at news websites. As a young adult in this society, I am attracted to the fast news on social media. Fast news is quick videos where people cram in stories to try to get the point across. This misleads me a lot because people lie and often leave out the whole story. I am unfortunately the young adult who gets a lot of their information from TikTok because it draws my eye and it's convenient. 

It does concern me that technology is misused and abused. People are doing it unknowingly and harming their brains and others in the process. It is not a coincidence that as social media rates get higher so do suicide rates. These statistics are being ignored and overlooked by the public. People are losing their loved ones due to something that's happening behind a screen. Will we create a society filled with robots and lifeless souls? I am concerned about society as a whole but mainly my generation specifically. We all spend way too much time on social media and we fill our head with lies. It makes me uncomfortable that people are using conspiracy theories as their main news source. What is the solution when people are convinced that false information is fully true?

Antiwar

 Antiwar

I have always found it interesting that we are constantly hearing about the horrors of the wars that the United States is in but never about the solution. We see examples of political leaders jumping at the opportunities to invade countries, but never hear about the people who do not want to get involved. These people do exist but are silenced and hidden from the public by the media. The media wants us to be narrow-minded and naive thinkers.

Before this assignment, I had never heard of the websites Antiwar.com and theamericanconservative.com. This may have to do with the fact that my mind is constantly being filled with "how much money the United States is giving in aid to other countries". While this may sound like a heroic move, we are often making the problem worse and killing our very own people along with foreign innocent people. On the Antiwar website, I clicked the first article I saw that had to deal with Yemen and the United States.

Recently the Trump Administration fired airstrikes killing 53 people, including women and children. Trump administration justified the airstrikes by saying it was a way to protect global shipping. However critics argue that the Red Sea being shutdown does not have a large impact on the United States at all. This shipping route is mainly used to get goods from Asia to Europe. 

Sometimes antiwar does not have to deal with avoiding violence. Sometimes it has to deal with people being in places they do not need to be in. There are over 2,000 soldiers in Syria for no reason. With ISIS not being a focus anymore there is no need to put our people at risk. But the media will never tell that story. They will only have Americans believing that there are people over there "fighting for our freedom".

With war being such a heavy topic in one's heart, you would think people would try to avoid and stop it at all costs. That is not the case for some of our political leaders. It is as if they want our country in debt and in danger for eternity. The reason why the public has to do a deep dive on the internet to find antiwar voices is because nobody wants you to hear the truth. The truth is uncomfortable for most and they want to avoid it at all cost.

EOTO Reaction 2

EOTO Reaction #2: Disinformation

People may think that lying is simply being dishonest, but different types have different purposes. Disinformation is false information intentionally spread, often through rumors, to influence an audience. People often get misinformation and disinformation confused. Misinformation is information that a person thinks is true but is not. Disinformation is when a person knows it isn't true but says it anyway. 

Disinformation is very harmful but the idea started as a lighthearted community builder. It started in 1620 as dramatic entertainment to unite people. But we see disinformation used all the time in today's age especially in areas such as politics. One of the biggest disinformation stories came in 2016 when it was said that Pope Francis was endorsing Donald Trump. While some may see this as ridiculous, surprisingly a lot of people believed it at the time.

Disinformation hurts more than it helps. In the Russian-Ukrainian war, both sides spread disinformation to hurt the other party and justify their actions thinking they would get the upper hand. Russia tried to say that the invasion was okay and justified because Ukraine was being run by Nazis. Fake videos and images were spread around the world trying to get the public to swing a certain way. These attempts at influence ultimately ended in destruction. Thousands of people have died, been injured, or have been displaced. 

With disinformation being so dangerous it is important we know where to find it and how to deal with it. Disinformation is mainly found online through social media, recommendation engines, and AI tools. We can catch disinformation by simply doing a background check on the article. Is the author known to be reliable? Is the article peer-reviewed? When was the article published? These are all questions we must ask ourselves to ensure we are not consuming and spreading false information. 

Disinformation spreads rumors on real-life events making it confusing for the public to know what's really going on. It can break trust, create division, and make a person more confused. It is crucial to take the appropriate steps to spot disinformation so that the rumors can be put to rest.

 EOTO #2: False Flags

From a very young age, we were all taught by our parents not to lie. It hurts people, breaks trust, and is overall immoral. However, there is a certain type of lying that some people may see as justifiable. A false flag is a strategic operation put in place by the party at fault to pin the blame on another party. There are different types of false flags. There are military false flags such as one country flying another country's flag to confuse the enemy. There are political false flags like how in 2022 the United States accused Russia of planning a false attack to justify the invasion of Ukraine. Lastly, there are conspiracy theory false flags like the people who think that the United States had something to do with 9/11. 

False flags do have some positives even though this thought may be controversial. In the military world, it is very important to get a one-up on the enemy especially when you are the underdog. False flags 

can gain tactical advantage in war. It can mislead a party into making bad decisions like using resources they did not need to use and overestimating the circumstance, or on the contrary underestimating it. False flags could also rally citizens behind a specific issue making it easier to push an agenda. 

While there may be some good, the negatives outweigh all of it. False flags are straight-up lying no matter how somebody tries to spin it. Lying to the public makes people hate a specific group that was not at fault. The public will feel betrayed once they find this out and it makes things worse for the party who planted the false flags. People are not typically forgiving of political leaders.

It is usually a one-and-done type of situation. If the majority can't trust a higher-up, they will never hold another leadership position again and their reputation will be ruined. Not only are relationships being destroyed within the community but worldwide as well. False flags can hinder international relationships with allies, putting your country at risk. Overall false flags are simply unethical. 

We already live in a divided society as it is. Everyone has an "us vs them" mentality. A false flag would be the straw that broke the camel's back. False flag operations can result in the bombing of a city, the destruction of homes, and the death of innocent people. This can leave individuals with lifelong trauma and PTSD. False flags destroy social unity putting protests and riots at the forefront of people's minds. 

While false flags may be harmful to all, they affect certain groups of people differently. Wealthier people tend to have more money and more resources. If a false flag operation were to occur and homes were destroyed, a person with more money would be able to repair their home or buy a new house a lot faster than a person with less money.

Individuals with less money may be out of a job, or out of a house, and could find themselves stuck in poverty. People of color also find themselves to be heavily affected by false flags. Minorities are more likely to be the targeted group in a false flag operation. Minorities are less likely to trust the government as it is. 

False flags create a huge mess, that feeds the internet's toxicity. My generation is already caught up in the lies of the internet. We are gullible to believe anything and will run with it. A false flag operation would make the media spin the narrative even more. When lies are being passed around left and right, people won't even know the truth if it hits them in the face. We are growing up in a world where we don't know the full truth behind stories because lies are shoved in our faces. 

 The Use Of AI

 

Artificial Intelligence has been a tool that has competently taken over society as we know it. If you asked me what AI was two years ago, I would not have an answer. In today's time it is all anyone can ever talk about. Artificial Intelligence is a development of computer systems that is capable of using the intelligence of a human. People use AI for rephrasing sentences, finding articles, and analyzing data. 

One of the things that surprised me was how big of a money maker AI is. In the video it mentions that AI is the ultimate tool of wealth creation. We have reached a point where companies are falling behind if they are not using AI. AI has allowed companies to make a mass amount of money and completely pass their competitors. AI is used for marketing, investing, personalizing customer service, and improve design making. While AI is taking away human jobs it is also creating millionaires in the process.

 AI definitely has its pros, but the cons of this tool frighten me the most. AI has allowed technology companies to steal peoples private information now more than ever. In fact stealing personal information is what technology companies rely on. The video explains when Google was just starting up, the company hit a point where they needed new ideas of making money or else it would crash. Google started to gather information from people online (with their permission) to create and personalize advertisements. These ads drew people to certain websites and allowed Googles worth to sky rocket.

While gathering personal information is good for Google, it is not good for the individuals who are getting their information collected. Google can know where a person is at, what their favorite store is, and all of there other desires in seconds. While this helpful tool is going to change the world, everyone should limit their use to create a a safe environment.

 Wednesday, February 12, 2025

EOTO Reaction #1: The Ball Point Pen

We all use ballpoint pens daily and don't think twice about using them. But there was a time when there was no ballpoint pen. One of my classmates did a deep dive into the ballpoint pen to teach the whole class its history.

The idea of this pen originally came to mind over 130 years ago in 1888 by a lawyer named John J Loud. John J Loud aspired to have a pen that could write on wood and leather. But he did not want this device to look anyway. He wanted the pen to have a revolving steel ball and a socket to hold it in place. While Loud had high hopes, his patent could not take off because the ink was not distributing evenly.

In the 1930's a Hungarian journalist, Laszlo Biro, noticed that every time he used a fountain pen the ink would smudge. Frustrated with the result Laszlo teamed up with his brother Gyorgy who was a chemist at the time. Gyorgy created an ink that would not smudge and spread easily.

With the quick-drying ink, the days of drippy and splotchy letters were over. This new pen created a continual line of ink never seen before. The pen was patented in the early 1940's. Marcel Bich bought the patent in the 50's. Marcel started the company Bic that we all know, love, and use today. This was a cool fact that my classmate shared as I have a lot of Bic products.

The ballpoint pen changed the world of communication for the better. It was the first pen that did not leave a total mess on a piece of paper and could also write on other surfaces as well. The ballpoint pen allowed people to write whenever they wanted as it was very hard and inconvenient to carry around ink and a feather. I'm glad I got to learn about a device that is still used today and relevant in our daily lives.

Privacy, Online & Off Ted Talks

Friday, February 7, 2025

Privacy, Online & Off Ted Talks

  In this day and age, everything is public. Your private Instagram account is public, the photo that you deleted is public, and the phone call that was just between you and your Mom is public. Using technology is all fun and games until our privacy is invaded. 

An issue that directly affects me is the electronic tattoos talked about in the first TedTalk video. I grew up in a generation where social media was the center of society. Unlike my parents who had to learn how to use cell phones, I was very used to a screen in my hand at a young age. I love using social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and X (Twitter).

I enjoy sharing videos on these platforms and watching my peers do the same. But this enjoyment only lasts so long when you realize all of the information that you have ever posted is out there for everyone to see. A tattoo is a piece of art on someone's body for the whole world to see. Electronic tattoos are the same thing. They are digital pieces of information for the publics eye.

With iPhone facial recognition people's contact names will appear when their face is shown in pictures. But what most people don't know is that strangers' names can appear in pictures too. These TED Talks made me think twice about sharing videos and even taking pictures. 

One way that we can protect ourselves from an invasion of privacy is by using encryption communication tools. The third video talked about how Silicon Valley Companies have built strong encryption technology into their communication products. IPhone messages cannot easily be wiretapped and WhatsApp has built a strong encryption technology into its product. We have to encourage each other to use encryption communication tools that cannot be easily wiretapped like imessages, FaceTime, and WhatsApp to ensure our safety.

In the last Ted Talk video, Darieth Chisolm mentions a social media term known as "revenge porn". This is when a controlling ex-partner uses their phone, laptop, or any other technology device to post inappropriate photos, videos, and other explicit content without consent. One and ten women under the age of 30 are affected by revenge porn. As this is an alarming number to the average person, there is no law or federal bill criminalizing revenge porn. The government needs to make a law to protect cyber civil rights as they are at stake. This way individuals can get justice and the criminals can be put away.

Having to think about our government or even other governments having a hold of our personal information is a scary thought. Unfortunately, this is our reality in this age. NSA is requiring police departments to retrieve sensitive information about us. Because of this, the governemnt can create a map of patterns of how citizens interact. That is why we need to use safety tools, always double-check what we are posting, and pay close attention to who we spend our time around. While it all may seem like common sense, these small steps ensure the safety of one's life.