How media plays a role in my life

I remember when I was in elementary school and my mom got the first iPhone to come out. This was huge, and now I am twenty years old and iPhone just launched its fourteenth Phone. Growing up I was lucky enough to have a mother who wouldn’t allow me to have social media accounts such as Facebook, and Instagram so there aren’t too many embarrassing photos of me online. Back then of course I would ask her all the time, but now that I am older I am thankful I didn’t have access to the internet in the palm of my hands as a child. The internet is an amazing tool, but it can also be extremely dangerous. When I was in high school and was allowed to have social media such as Instagram and Snapchat I was completely distracted from the real world. Cyberbullying was a serious thing and body image for a teen girl in high school was challenging. My parents were always watching over my socials so if you look me up on the internet, there aren’t any pictures and the only thing that comes up is my LinkedIn. Part of this is also because I have an extremely common name.

 Technology is filled with wonderful abilities and social Media is used to connect with friends and family from all around the world and grant access to all kinds of information. It is also the new way of marketing for businesses all around the world. I found a love for social media and its ability to be a tool in my day to day life. If I want hear about something on the news, I go to social media to try to find videos and more information about what’s going on. One time I lost my passport on campus and someone found it and direct messaged me on Instagram to return it. Last week, I got a dog kennel off of the Facebook market place. I have grown up with social media, so I am lucky enough to know how it works and to also be aware of the dark side it comes with. I try not to spend a lot of time on my phone or sitting around watching TV. My brother however, will lock himself in his room and play video games all throughout the night and then sleep all throughout the day. It’s important to be active and to be mindful of not putting out too much information out there where everyone can see it. I know when I worked in a nursing home, I had to assist a lot of the patients with their accounts on their phones and had to tell a lot of them to not give their information out to spam calls and emails. A rapper I listen to was shot because his girlfriend posted where they were eating. Hackers can access emails and even bank accounts. I think with artificial intelligence is advancing every day and don’t see that changing in the future. Though it is taking people’s jobs I think it is also granting new opportunities if you know how to balance media from the real world. Some things I pay attention to are things like not giving out my information, not posting thing I don’t want everyone to see, and always fact checking the information I receive and being sure to stay interacted with the real world by not having my phone while I eat or talk with others. I think it’s important we teach our next generation the dangers with videos such as the ones we watched in class FUTURAMA and Tears for Fears. 

Everyone has a right to their own privacy and social media a lot of the time takes advantage of people. If you post something to the internet it is there forever whether that was your intention or not. I read an article provided on the class blog called I'm 14 and I quit social media after discovering what was posted about me. A young girl shares her story of finding out about everything that was on the internet about her life when she was given access to it at the age of thirteen. The young girl says "I had just turned 13, and I thought I was just beginning my public online life, when in fact there were hundreds of pictures and stories of me that, would live on the internet forever, whether I wanted it to be or not, and I didnt have control over it. I was furious; I felt betrayed and lied to." She felt her privacy had been violated, which it had. There were dozens of pictures of her posted on the internet that she never even knew existed. One important thing that she said that really stood out to me was how "Teens get a lot of warnings that we aren't mature enough to understand that everything we post online is permanent, but parents should also reflect about their use of social media and how it could potentially impact their children's lives as we become young adults." I think it is important to give your children restrictions on the internet and to teach them balance from a young age especially because they are the future and as technology is advancing they need to learn to live in a world that isn't just an iPad or tablet. It is just as important to their social skills and development as it is to their overall health.  
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

EOTO Mediasphere - Alternative Media

Alternative media are media sources that differ from established or dominant types of media in terms of content, production or distribution. It is not attached to any corporation and is also known as independent media. Alternative media is not restricted to any particular 

format and can be inclusive to print, film/video, street art, websites and more. In one of my recent posts I talked about cites such as ANTIWAR, and The American Conservative. These are both examples of Alternative media sources. Alternative media is initially linked to politics and international relations. Some people can no longer trust mainstream media, and rely on these sources for information that mainstream media doesn’t share. It offers independence from government control. Since it’s not tied to any specific corporations many people find it hard to trust these sources, and since they are more underground they might be difficult to come by. Alternative media advocates the interests of those that are excluded from mainstream media such as the lower class, political and ethical minorities, labor groups and LGBTQ communities. These sources challenge the dominant beliefs and values of our culture and helps the spread of marginalized viewpoints. “Foregoing the comfortable, depoliticizing formulas to advocate programs of social change” (Hamilton358). Alternative media affects our generations political views, global connection, voting, and alerts the public on topics mainstream media gate keeps. 

EOTO Peer Presentation #2

 In class, we were divided up into groups and given topics to research and teach the class. One of my classmates gave their presentation on propaganda. Propaganda is the attempt to persuade an audience or someone towards a specific idea. It gained its popularity and became widely known during World War ll. The US military would hang posters, most popularly the "Uncle Sam" poster to persuade people to join the draft to fight in the war. On the other side of this Nazi, Germany would use this to further preach the idea that large groups such as the Jews deserved prosecution. Something I learned about propaganda was that it is divided into seven different types. These types are Name calling, glittering personalities, transfer, testimonial, plain-folk, card stacking, and bandwagon. I think the two most common that I see today are card stacking and bandwagon. Card stacking is when true facts are split with false facts that make the propagandist look better. This occurs when people take a story and put their own little spin on it. Bandwagon is the idea that since other people are doing it, you should do it as well. This is most frequently see inn the sports world, when fans tend to only like the most popular/winning team. 

Diffusion of Innovations

 According to the Wiki article on the Diffusion of innovations theory provided on the class website, this theory seeks to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spreads. As a Advertising, Public Relations major with a minor in Social Media marketing I could use this theory to analyze many of the platforms I use in my day to day life. The wiki article enlightened me on Everett Rogers, a professor of communication studies who popularized this Theory. Rogers argues that diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated over time among the participants in a social system. Rogers proposes that five main elements influence the spread of the new idea: the innovation itself, adopters, communication channels, time and a social system. 

So let's put this in perspective. In my EOTO presentation, my topic was the creation of the printing press. After reading about the Printing Press on HISTORY, I became competent in its creation. The innovation itself, invented around 1436 by Johannes Gutenberg, this adaption employed a screw-type wine press to squeeze down evenly on the inked metal type. It's adopters-  people started to adopt this innovation quickly and was the key to unlocking the modern age. Communication channels - with the newfound ability to inexpensively mass-produce books on every imaginable topic, revolutionary ideas were placed in the hands of every literate European. It's time - Bookmakers would employ dozens of artisans during this time to painstakingly hand-copy illuminate manuscripts. And then the social system, everyone around this time the printing press spawned an entirely new industry of printers, brick-and-mortar booksellers, and enterprising street peddlers. I'd say this invention was pretty successful. 

The Age of A.I

 Artificial intelligence is growing faster and faster every year. It is taking careers and jobs from people and reshaping the world we know. Supermarkets are being filled with machines that are doing the shopping for the customers. Just like how shopping malls and stores are being replaced with online shopping, or how most people use digital money people are becoming more reliable on technology. Though this technology is making life more efficient, this can allow for a serious invasion of privacy. Having something as simple as your phone listening and watching everything you do can be violating. According to the Documentary we watched in class In The Age of AI , women disproportionately hold the jobs that today are at highest risk of automation. Processing information, processing paper, transferring data all has huge potential for automation as well now that we have machines calculating all of the data. Another thing that is brought up in this documentary is how though the software is growing rapidly, there is research that says half of Americans couldn't afford unexpected expense and there is a lack of economic stability. This allows for national security issues as it leaves countries vulnerable to hackers. This also plays a huge roll in identity theft. I've been able to use a picture of my friend to scan into her phone. In no way am I a technology wizard, so imagine what someone with some actual experience in hacking could do. I know for me personally, if someone got into my phone they could figure out every single thing about me. 

Privacy

Mass surveillance is something that affects not only me, but every single person in America. With my information given out it increases the possibility of getting my accounts hacked which could lead to my bank accounts, emails and so on. With technology advancing into license plate readers, camera’s and cell phone tower dumps, the government is able to collect individual data on its citizens and track where they have traveled. After watching some TED talk videos provided on the class website, I have a whole different view on mass surveillance. Privacy is something each citizen has a right to, and with this new technology the government is able to see how private citizens interact. As brought up in one of the videos, a phone conversation between just you and your friend could be listened to by your own government. But not only just your own government, but someone else’s or even stalkers and hackers.  Companies should be more proactive in protecting our information with their encryption technology. Government officials such as British Prime minister David Cameron believe all communications such as emails, text, voicemails should be available to the government. Every single time you are online and asked to give out your information, it is okay to lie. That website doesn’t need your address or your phone number. Technology is a great thing, but in the wrong hands can be used against us. 

EOTO Peer Presentations

 I always knew carrier pigeons were a thing. However, I didn't realize how prominent asset they were during War. A classmate of mine gave a presentation of the history of carrier pigeons, and I learned a tremendous amount that I have never even thought was possible. They used these birds to transmit messages back and fourth to homelands from war with updates. Since carrier pigeons were used so frequently during these times, it was common to shoot them down when seen to try and prevent messages from being sent. Pigeons were even transported in tanks with small port holes in the sides for them to be released from.