Final Post

The way technology has changed and shaped how we view things is not something anyone could have even imagined. I know my generation grew up with all the technological advantages, whereas my parents and grandparents are still understanding and adapting to all the new inventions. Although we are all grateful for how technology has changed our lives when it comes to television, cell phones, and computers, making it easier for us to work, learn, communicate, and gather information. But it's important to also recognize that with technological advances, there are also downsides. 

As I mentioned before, our generation grew up with technology, making our digital footprint start when we were young. I know when I was 12 and got my first phone, I downloaded Instagram and posted on my Instagram page; was it anything bad? No. But those posts, pictures, comments, likes, and everything I did at that age are on the internet forever. Having a clean digital footprint isn't always the case for many teens.  A teenager, Brooke, a 15-year-old from California, but at the time of this story, she was 12 when she got her first phone. Brooke became so obsessed with it that she claimed, “It was my heart.” A year later, police showed up at her home, stating she was getting blackmailed by her nude photos. 

The power social media can have on teenagers is so strong that most people won't understand until they go through it. Social media is as bad as drug addiction, you stay up for hours, you follow random people, you send things to people, and you post things because, at this time, you're not thinking of your future or how these things are not just a quick post or photo. All of these things dont just impact your future, but they also impact your mental state. People will stay up for hours scrolling through social media, losing sleep. Following random people and posting random things can change your view on things and how people view you. What goes on the internet always stays on the internet. 

Not only has technology changed how we communicate online, but it has also changed how we communicate in person. I can't count how many times my friend group has asked to all hang out or have a game night, and 70% of that time, everyone sits on their phone. Phones can kill friendships, you lose the emotional part of a friendship when everything they say has to do with something on their phone, you lose how to genuinely have a conversation with someone, and you lose your social skills. If I wanted to sit on my phone and say nothing, I would have just stayed in my room. “89 percent of Americans say that during their last social interaction, they took out a phone, and 82 percent said that it deteriorated the conversation they were in.” The fact that this is almost 100% is embarrassing how people choose to have a conversation. As amazing as technology has changed the way we communicate online, it's completely taking away our communication offline.

I just mentioned two negatives, so let's move into the positives of technology because it is truly amazing and keeps advancing. As a full-time student, technology is all of our saving grace. It allows us to watch lectures we could have missed, participate in group projects, complete assignments, and gives us the opportunity to learn in our own way. From a teacher's perspective, it gets papers graded faster, keeps them organized, and gives them unique ways to teach the class, keeping us engaged. “76% of students say that technology makes learning more engaging.” Since technology is now the center of life, kids can’t just listen to a teacher lecture them for 7 hours on end, they need visuals, they need engagement, and they need participation to be able to stay intent in the class. I know now in my old elementary school, all the projectors are touch screen, that little incentive makes the kids want to engage and have the opportunity to go up and write on the board. Kids learn by what they find fascinating, and that's now technology. 

Not only has it helped in everyday education, but technology played a massive factor when COVID-19 struck. Not only did technology help us with school, work, and even dining. It played a crucial role in the digital health world.  Throughout the pandemic, there has been a growing availability and diversity of digital health tools, including telehealth, smartphone health apps, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Each of these technologies has contributed in unique ways to reducing the spread of COVID-19. What is even more impactful is these tools didn't just go away when the pandemic stopped, but they continue to grow and make our world a better and stronger society. A traumatic outbreak occurred in 2021, but so many powerful technological advances happened, and that's something no one would ever trade. We grew as a nation and invented things no one would have realized we needed if that pandemic didn't occur.

 

Overall, technology is who we are today. There is no way to escape this reality; there are only ways to control it. Being aware of the power technology has on us as a whole is so important. Using technology as a positive and not as a tool to have shortcuts or ruin people. “Technology is best when it brings people together” Matt Mullenweg. 

EOTC 2: reactions

Everyone is always told to be careful what they hear on the internet because it might not always be true, and it's sad that the more the internet grows, the more true that saying becomes. We are always told to be careful of certain websites and apps, but it's more apparent that everyone and anyone lies on the internet, no matter what app you are on. You will never get the truth 100% on the internet anymore; there will always be a third party to twist words and make the story either sound more interesting or put it in how they want to see it and not how it went. 

The first concept that interested me was “The Twitter Files & Government Censorship." Twitter is a big social media used by people of all ages to find a lot of different important, political, national, weather disasters, celebrity dramas, etc. Unlike TikTok, Instagram, or Snapchat, Twitter is more opinion where you directly interact in the comments with other people. Sometimes, this can lead to bigger issues because it's everyone with strong opinions going back and forth, but at the end of the day, it is free speech. What I learned is that once Elon Musk took over Twitter, he found what is now known as “The Twitter Files." These files showed the world how the government was intervening with what was being put onto the internet. They were banning accounts and certain news because they didn’t want the people hearing the opinions of the people. Elon Musk wanted Twitter to be a place for free speech and no restrictions. This is just another bullet point on how you can never fully trust the internet and whose hands are in the power of social media.

A theory that caught my eye is the spiral of silence. It's crazy that in a world of diversity, inclusion, and equality, there are still so mnay people afraid of speaking out on how they feel. In High School, I understood this theory because I was a 15-year-old girl who wanted to be made fun of, so I usually lied about foods I enjoyed, like tuna salad. After all, I was scared someone would make fun of me for it. Growing up in this new society, I've always believed in the expression of yourself because, at the end of the day, this is a free-speech country, and that is something no one should take advantage of. On the other hand, in this world and society, speaking up leads to violence or hate. It's always the people with the loudest voices that stay quiet due to the fear of hate and losing what they built themselves just because they have a different view of someone else. 

Understanding different theories and concepts through the use of social media is what's gonna lead us to a better and more trusting world. There are just so many more that have a major impact on the way we view things and understand things. I enjoy hearing people's sides of issues because they give me a lot of different views and pull in a lot of great points I wouldn't think of. It's so hard when now, no one wants to speak up, and the ones who do, their facts are never right they just want the views. How are we supposed to live in a world with free speech, when speaking turns to hate? 

Antiwar

You always hear about how the US is funding a war or the basis of the war, but you never hear the voices of antiwar activists in the mainstream as a whole. Coming across the two websites, https://www.antiwar.com/ and https://www.theamericanconservative.com/, has completely shifted my thoughts on the military and governments streaming on the wars. I believe we can all agree that the United States is a very patriotic country where we take pride in our military and how each soldier and veteran fight selfishly for our country's freedom and rights. This leads to the silence of Anti-war voices. Antiwar isn't anti-military. Every day, I am thankful for the courage, sacrifice, and honor each soldier has for our country, but antiwar activists show us the side of the war that the government wants to hide.

The war with Israel and Gaza is one of the biggest political debates right now. As we know, the United States has aided Israel during this time of war. But why is it that we never hear the big news platforms talk badly about the war? Why is no one speaking out to end this war? Well, there are people speaking out/protesting, but you won’t hear these voices unless you do more research and look at the smaller voices that have more courage to speak out, such as Antiwar.com. 

 To go along with that, journalists and big news platforms are scared to speak out on these topics because they don't. Right now, we are in election season, both the Democrats and the Republic side have supported/aided/ and engaged in a war before. This makes it the hardest for people to stand up because no matter what or who is elected, the people speak how the government is seen. “Twelve former Biden administration officials who resigned over policy on Israel and the Gaza war say the government’s actions have endangered US national security.”  These 12 United States citizens had to leave the government because they realized their voices were being controlled. Antiwar websites give you the voices of the actions the government doesn't want us to know. The United States has “free speech,” yet there are so many people being controlled on what to say, and those people have the job to tell us the truth but are scared to tell us.

These perspectives are important for society to hear, for the people to know, and for the world to understand. I didn’t know these websites existed until a couple of days ago, which is sad because, as citizens, we should be told the truth even if it might go against the “norm” of what the government/military wants to tell us. It is our job as the new generation to change things; we need to dig deeper and spread awareness on these types of websites. Antiwar shouldn’t be a hidden website instead it needs to be a tabloid. 

Illusory Truth Effect

As we know, social media is how everybody gets their information, making it the most powerful source of knowledge, which always has many pros and cons. A con with this is that there are so many people on the internet, which leads to there being so much information. Social media is a news overload. You hear so many sides, opinions, and sources, and it is hard to comprehend what is real or not. For a lot of people with information overload, they rely on using “shortcuts.” What I mean by shortcuts is wanting to find out the facts and wanting to do it fast. This leads to the Illusory Truth Effect. 

The Illusory Truth Effect is “When we hear the same false information repeated again and again, we often come to believe it is true.” Social media being so reliable to everyone and the ability to post so many opinions can lead to many misconceptions and misinformation. People will share false news on the Internet, leading to many viewers, and after hearing it repeatedly, the followers come to believe it and continue spreading it under the idea of “awareness.”

You can see how the misinformation that goes viral on social media can be fuelled by ulterior motives and cause conflict and harm. For example, in the story on Pizzagate, back in 2016, there was a rumor on social media that accused the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria of being the home of a child sex abuse ring involving Hillary Clinton. Edgar Maddison Welch spent three days researching, reading, and watching videos about this “news.” Edgar took it so seriously that he decided to take action into his own hands and showed up at Comet Ping Pong pizzeria with an AR-15 rifle. He raided the pizza place, scaring all employees and customers, and when he got to the backdoor where the children had been “claimed to be,” there were kids playing ping-pong terrified. Edgar was then sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison due to the fake information he heard on the internet. Not that Edgar did the right thing, even if it was true, but fake news can turn people bad. Edgar had said at court that he went into this thinking he was “saving people.” It is truly important to really do research before making accusations and not just believing and only listening to one side of the story.

Fake news rarely benefits the audience; instead, it often serves those who share it. While it may provide advantages for politicians or marketers, the consequences of being caught can be severe. For instance, a marketer might exaggerate claims about a product to boost sales and recognition. Although this strategy can yield short-term results, it raises serious ethical concerns. Many skincare and makeup brands promise outcomes that often don’t hold. This is particularly evident in TikTok, where brands frequently ask influencers to promote their products with misleading claims. Madi Lewis posted a video online saying that if the price is right, she is willing to lie about the product. This makes it extremely hard to know what brands are real or fake because if we see so many influencers reviewing them and saying all these amazing things, we often believe it's true, resulting in purchasing that product or item. It is extremely important to do your own research on a brand to see if their advertisement is genuine or a stunt. 

The Illusory Truth Effects harms everyone, your educational level or knowledge doesn't make you unaffected by it. The Illusory Truth Effect is very tricky to avoid, especially because it is. our unconscious and automatic processing system, we usually don’t realize when we’ve fallen prey to it."  It is extremely important to use critical thinking when researching or hearing new information from the internet. It sounds very obvious, but you would be surprised how people just fall for the first thing they hear. If you have a slight hesitation about it, do a quick fact-check. It's better to take those two minutes to find the truth rather than digging yourself a hole into a whole bunch of lies. 

Age of AI

AI, also known as Artificial Intelligence, has completely changed the world. Not only has it improved our knowledge and technology, but it is now taking over jobs and completely changing the way things are done.  As a college student, AI has completely changed the way homework and assignments are done, and the biggest one has affected numerous honor code violations. “AI use was detected in about 1 out of 10 assignments, while only 3 out of every 100 assignments were generated mostly by AI.” Although there are so many benefits of AI, there have also been many downfalls in the knowledge and effort students/workers put into work. 

The start of AI was a game that Southwest Asia saw as a sports spectacle called Alpha Go, which is a game that essentially teaches itself. It was sought to be the deep learning intelligence, where the machine fed games and would study and learn these games, creating moves the human brain can't even fathom to comprehend or understand. Alpha Go is what opened up the people's perspective to how big AI could change our lives. 

China took this opportunity with Alpha Go and knew that this was the way they would change the world and, eventually, beat the US in e-commerce. “We will catch up to the US by 2025 and rule the world in 2030.” It's not even 2025 yet, and they have completely beaten the US with the technology AI has created for them. They are the start-up of phones, which has been extremely helpful to the start-up of AI. Almost all their currency is facial recognition, and so many amazing features the US has never come close to. 

So that's also the past, but what about the future we know AI is getting more and more prevalent and becoming bigger than anything anyone ever imagined, but how is this gonna affect the human population? AI can do certain jobs better than the smartest human in the world. It will completely disturb and destroy the labor force. There are certain jobs AI can’t do; it is said that AI will replace white-collar jobs faster than it will blue-collar jobs for multiple reasons. White-collar jobs can easily be replaced by software and can make the work environment go faster and smoother. At the same time, blue-collar jobs involve hard work, labor, strength, and hand-eye coordination. AI is way more designed to be a robot for reading, programming, or even organizing, not building, moving equipment, or construction. All of these factors are things I see every day, people losing jobs because why pay a person to do it when AI can do it 10 times faster and better? 

As a college student in a Marketing major, I do worry about the things AI can improve on and soon take over my job. AI is getting more advanced every single day, and yes, I love AI if I need a quick fact check or maybe I need an answer really quick. Counterjack that, I don’t believe it is making the human nation smarter, it is a way to cheat the system. If you need an email written, just type it into Chat GPT, if you need an essay or report due by the end of the night, easily write the prompt and send it in. AI has made the younger generation more lazy. 

EOTC #1 Reaction

Communication has evolved tremendously over the last 100 decades. As we know today technology is our main source of communication, which took a lot of adaption and change in each society. As a college student growing up with all this technology around us, it's hard to believe a world without it, but during the presentation, it was amazing to see how much technology has changed and adapted to our society’s needs.

The first presentation I thought was fascinating and funny was Carrier Pigeons. In the 5th century BC, carrier pigeons were established in Assyria and Persia by Cyrus the Great. At this time, they used pigeons to pass along messages to warn groups in Mesopotamia. Carrier Pigeons
was a change of the game back then when it came to long-distance communication. It was the fastest and most reliant way to send signals and messages, and also, when war broke out, it saved thousands of people in need. Some specific owners trained the pigeons to always fly back to the “home base.” This technique saved so many soldiers in WW1 that the pigeons would fly across enemy lines when other communication options were destroyed or too risky. Specifically, one pigeon named Cher Ami in English, meaning “dear friend,” saved nearly 200 soldiers by sending messages back and forth during the war. It is truly amazing to see how much society has adapted to new and more effective long-distance communications, i.e., email. 

   

The second presentation I found to be very interesting was Bluetooth. Jaap Haartsen invented Bluetooth in 1994 alongside with wifi and the internet, three very important parts of our everyday lives. At this time, mobile phones were growing fast, and they needed to be improved in some way. “Dr. Haarsten figured out a way to use frequency hopping techniques that required a little amount of energy while simultaneously blocking interfering signals.” I have never understood Bluetooth, and honestly, I still don’t think the knowledge and science behind it will forever confuse me, but I use it every day. For example, when I'm in my car, walking to class, or even airdropping a picture to my friend. All of these use Bluetooth and have completely changed the game of our lives. Growing up, everyone had plug-in headphones, which had upgrades and new plugs until, eventually, our society changed to fully Bluetooth headphones, which I believe completely changed how people listen to music and do their everyday lives. I see people in their cars by themselves with AirPods in; you would never see that in the 1900s. 

These are just two of many eye-opening presentations. Each person explained the impact of so many important types of technology/communication we use in just one day. Without these inventions and evolvement, our communications would be unrecognizable. We went from a pigeon flying and sending messages to a quick text that can go anywhere in the world. In my eyes, that is truly amazing, and the people who think of these things change the world completely. Communication is now so easy and a click of a button, which has led to so many issues but many amazing opportunities. Our communication is only evolving more with AI, and I can only imagine what that will bring to the world in the future.

Rogers Diffusion

 Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph started Netflix on August 29th, 1997. This was the first DVD movie rental introduced to the population. In 2007, they turned their DVD-mail movie rental into an online monthly subscription for $15.95 through a “Watch Now” service. Fly forward around 20 years, there are now $277.65 Million Netflix subscriptions worldwide. Now, let's review how they have gotten to this point and how Rogers's Diffusion of Innovation helps describe the audiences they targeted and maybe why some people don't have a subscription. 

Pioneers: 

As stated above, Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph are the founders of Netflix. They had both worked together at a Software Company called Pure Atria, their company was undergoing a merger, causing them to both lose their jobs. Marc and Reed would go to work together every morning and discuss the idea of starting their own business. The whole business plan was: Marc would run it, and Reed would fund it. Marc had later heard about the new hot DVD Japan had just created and knew that this was his ticket to success. That is when they came up with the idea of shipping DVDs for monthly rentals. In 1997, Reed and Marc knew they had to target a specific audience for this to work, leading into the Early Adaptors. 

Early Adaptors: Households with ages 17-60, but more specifically, families that had incomes of $30,000 and up. It was also clear that Netflix targeted their audience on psycho-graphics and not demographics. In these psycho-graphics, three fundamental groups were sectioned into, and Marc and Reed wanted to reach them. First was frequent movie renters, they wanted to make it so families, couples, and even single people had easy access to the movies they wanted to buy and did not have to go to the store and rent it and then go back to the store and return it, which leaves to the second group, people who were too busy to go out and buy/rent the movies, same reason as before, they wanted people to have easy access. Lastly, which I believe is the most important, an audience of people who value their money and want to get a “bang for their buck.” Netflix opened a subscription, and in that way, you weren't paying late fees or delivery fees, instead, you could watch as many movies as you wanted that month, and it would roll over to the next month. This idea became even more successful when they opened up their own online streaming website. 

Early Majority: 
In 2007 Netflix began streaming directly to TVs and computers through a “watch now” service, this lowered the cost of a physical DVD subscription to $5.99 a month and an online subscription to maintain the same at about $15. In 2013 Netflix started its own original shows, the first show was Lilyhammer followed by House Of Cards. Once Netflix started to expand and start its own shows, its audience took a shift. ‘Most of the audience are teenagers, college-goers, entrepreneurs, working professionals, etc." Netflix, alongside other social media, has a one-hit wonder, also known specifically as the “Netflix effect.” For example, in all reality TV shows, people go into these shows not being famous or only maybe a few thousand people knowing their name, to then millions of people knowing personal information and millions of followers. They also target young individuals as a marketing tactic for new trends or fashion ideas. Netflix One Night fame can completely change someone's life in a matter of seconds. 

Late Majority, Laggards, and Long Tail: 

I would categorize all these audiences together because virtually everyone is familiar with Netflix. If someone doesn't have a subscription, it’s likely not due to a lack of knowledge about the platform, but rather a lack of interest in movies or financial constraints. Many households share family subscriptions, allowing multiple profiles under one account, which makes it accessible for everyone. It’s also important to consider older generations. For example, my grandma knows what Netflix is, but she doesn’t feel the need to pay for a subscription just to watch a few movies. Many of the films on Netflix aren't tailored to her age group; her interests lean more toward news and significant live events. While she doesn't have her own account, she uses my parents' subscription when she wants to watch something. This is why I group these audiences together. I believe there aren't many people who would outright refuse to join a family Netflix account. Many older individuals may not seek out a subscription, but if given access, they would likely enjoy using it. 

Netflix has had a huge impact on how people/families now binging movies or TV series. They built from the ground up gaining the trust and loyalty of their subscribers. Netflix has also adapted to each generation and premiers the shows and movies they want their audience to be interested in.