Final Blog Post: Society's Relationship with Technology

For the better and for the worse, technology has taken over the world. It is everywhere we look and essential to our every day lives. This includes people using it during their jobs, getting an education, communicating, and for entertainment. Today's society has an undeniably strong and inseparable bond with technology.

Many modern advancements only exist because of technology. For instance, Artificial Intelligence is booming in today's day, but it would not exist if computers and the internet were not invented. Similarly, we might be able to use AI to create even newer technology for the future. Technology will continue to advance off of previous developments. I believe this can be seen as both positive and negative.

On the positive side, technology continuing to progress can make lives easier and more efficient. For example, instant communication through text messages and phone calls improved how quickly news was spread. At any point in time, technology has the potential to continue developing with more life-changing innovations. Hopefully, this new technology will be focused on solving large issues in society, such as climate change and poverty.

On the negative side, however, society might be too reliant on technology. Its continued progression towards even more efficient living might be robbing people of integrity and hard-working qualities. Also, technology can become dangerous and be used against others. If the wrong people get access to that technology, such as weapons or tools for online scamming, consequences can be fatal for innocent people.

My Relationship with Technology

I would describe my relationship with technology as a love-hate relationship. I love using technology to take pictures, shop online, play games, text friends, and play music. However, I tend to struggle with stepping away from my phone when I am bored and want entertainment, as it isn't healthy to sacrifice exercise and everyday needs.

Social media addiction is fairly new but already extremely common across the world. It is estimated that 210 million people worldwide suffer from it. In my personal experience, social media's purposefully addictive algorithm hinders my productivity, happiness, and life experience.

I often feel regret after getting stuck on social media, as it sinks in that I have wasted time that I could have put towards something more useful, such as exercise, school work, or even sleep.

While social media is a negative part of my relationship with technology, I love other aspects of my phone, like the camera. As a Media Production major, everything I am interested in is built on technology. It is a fun way to communicate news, entertain, and artistically express oneself.

With these two activities in mind, I spend a lot of my time with technology. While it is mostly healthy, I aspire to use social media less often and spend my time more wisely.

Society's Relationship with Technology

I think my experience and feelings towards technology, specifically social media, are extremely common. I have had conversations about the prevalence of social media with my friends and family members, and they typically have a similar experience.

On the positive side, I think society benefits from the advancement of technology. For example, GPS systems are extremely useful for easy navigation while driving.

Additionally, navigation apps like Waze allow users to communicate road hazards, traffic, and police sightings to other drivers on the road. This is one way technology brings together society.

On the negative side, I think social media is causing a loss of individuality among youth who are still finding their identities. Fashion trends and styles of humor circulate the internet and eventually the world. This is because many kids have low self-esteem from comparing themselves to strangers on social media and just want to fit in.

On the same note, cyberbullying can occur on social media and it is devastating for kid's mental health. Researchers from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia did a study and found that "participants who experienced cyberbullying were more than 4 times as likely to report thoughts of suicide and attempts as those who didn’t" (Reynolds).

In conclusion, technology has advanced very far in a short amount of time. It will continue to evolve into unimaginable forms for the better or for worse. Social media has taken the world by storm and most likely will not be stopping in the near future.

Antiwar

The antiwar website represents Libertarian individuals who believe in non-interventionism and are opposed to imperialism and, most importantly, war. The mission statement explains that the nature of the State "includes an ever increasing threat to individual liberty and the centralization of political power." 

The founders of the website value transparency with their viewers and want to reach through to their audience past the media filters and censorship. This media censorship makes it difficult for people on the internet to come across information that spreads a certain message.

The government can control these online filters, especially on social media, therefore controlling what information citizens are taking in. This is dangerous because it opens the door to government manipulation and scheming.

Antiwar.com is aware that its website may get filtered because of its exposure of government agendas, but nonetheless, it is passionate to "reveal the truth about America's foreign policy". The website aims to keep it's audience, everyone around the world, informed about the overseas plans of the American government.

This is exactly why antiwar websites are not in mainstream news. They reveal the government's actions and intentions that they prefer to keep under wraps. This article, "Whose Views Made the News? Media Coverage and the March to War in Iraq" mentions how the government manipulated public opinion before the 2003 war in Iraq by not offering a diverse set of perspectives on military action in Iraq through news outlets. 

As a result, the public was fed a higher rate of pro-war information and couldn't properly evaluate the situation from a neutral perspective. This helped the Bush administration go through with the war with less opposition from the American people.

Overall, antiwar websites and outlets are tougher to come across in the media because the message opposes the government's agenda. It is important for citizens to intake news from a variety of sources and perspectives to fairly weigh out different arguments. However, media censorship makes this highly difficult.

In The Age Of AI

After watching the Age of AI video, it is worrisome to me that so many jobs have great potential to be overtaken by AI. Unemployment would become a large issue if basic jobs, such as being a cashier, no longer require humans.

For example, fast food restaurants including Panera already use an electronic self-ordering system for customers instead of speaking to a cashier. Although this may be convenient, efficient, and save the restaurant money, it can lead to fewer people being able to find a job to support themselves.

Many people in the United States do not have economic stability, and more advanced jobs typically require education or experience that some do not have access to. Therefore, they are not able to afford to buy a course to advance their skill sets for a higher-paying job or can't afford to spend their time stepping away from their jobs to learn new things. This is an upsetting predicament and is realistic to become a widespread issue.

A.I. Surveillance

This video taught me a lot about the surveillance of AI, not only in America, but also in China. It was kind of frightening to learn about. Particularly, China having cameras on every major street to watch and identify the citizens feels very invasive.

In addition, there are camps for educating people more about politics, and they have reported deaths. This system is inhumane and hopefully will not make it's way to any other countries. 

I agree that AI could be used to advertise things to people who may be interested, but it's not acceptable to use surveillance to give certain people specific messages to sway their political vote. Manipulating citizens to vote a certain way is unjust and immoral.

While AI can be useful, I think it is important for laws to be made that restrict the government's power on surveilling the public. People deserve privacy in their everyday life and should not be invaded by new technology.

EOTO #2: Reactions

I learned an abundance of information from my class' Each One Teach One: Terms and Concepts presentations. 

Total Information Awareness

One particular topic that I found intriguing was Ananda's presentation on Total Information Awareness. She defined it as a concept involving the collection and analysis of vast amounts of data to predict behaviors or identify potential threats. It was used as part of the United States' counterterrorism initiative after the 9/11 tragedy.

Data integration is used to build profiles of individuals and groups to identify potential threats. Communications, travel, social interactions, and more are constantly surveilled with technology, such as facial recognition. It also involves predictive analytics, which is used to predict crime and fraud before it happens.

The benefits of Total Information Awareness involve increased security and prevention, as well as efficiency and convenience. The downsides of this concept include a loss of privacy and potential government overreach. It can result in a cultural shift in society, where people self-censor and adjust their actions due to constant government surveillance.

I think Total Information Awareness is a useful tool for preventing terrorism, but it definitely feels invasive of privacy. Many people probably feel uncomfortable continuing on with their everyday tasks and activities while knowing they are being watched. 

How secure is access to the surveillance and facial recognition data against online hackers? Will issues arise if other countries gain access to the United States' information? Overall, Total Information Awareness can be beneficial, but comes with many concerns that the citizens who are being surveilled might not be comfortable with.