Final Blog Post

 I think my relationship with technology is pretty healthy. I used to go on some social media sites to see what other people post and keep in contact with my friends, but several months ago I deleted all my social media apps. Nowadays, I mainly only use technology in the form of video games. I use my computer to talk to and play online games with my friends. I only really use my phone for music and talking to my parents. I also sometimes use my phone and computer to watch YouTube videos. The only other form of technology I engage with is video game consoles. I do sometimes spend a lot of time playing games, but since I am majoring in game design, I feel it is somewhat essential for my career. I don’t really have much of a digital footprint either. I deleted my Facebook (which I very rarely used) a few years ago and my accounts on other social media platforms don’t use any of my real personal info. 

I believe that technology mostly improves my life and does make me smarter. The way I use technology and the internet, I gain many of the benefits it provides without having to sacrifice much of my privacy. Technology and the internet also play a very important role in my relationships. The only reason why I still have friends I originally met 7-10 years ago is because I’ve been able to keep in touch with them online. Because of technology, I get to talk to my friends several times a week, even if they go to different colleges. I have also been able to make friends in other areas of the world through online interactions. This has been really important for me, especially in a time like during COVID. Even though I wasn’t allowed to leave my house for about a year, I still had people to keep me company online.

I believe my digital footprint and online presence is positive, if it even exists at all in the first place. My parents, however, use social media and the internet a lot more than I do. My mom constantly posts to Facebook and keeps an Amazon Echo in almost every room of the house. She doesn’t really try to keep her life private online. Overall, I think technology and media have the potential to have a very positive effect on our lives, as long as we regulate our usage and be careful of our privacy.

Blog Post #11

 I learned a lot during the EOTO 2 presentations. First, I learned about false flags. This is when something is incorrectly blamed on a party or country, which usually ends up in war. Then, I learned about total information awareness, a system of a large database created by combining as much information as possible about as many people as possible through computer algorithms and human analysis. I also learned about the difference between disinformation and misinformation. Disinformation is false information which is intended to mislead, while misinformation is just false or inaccurate information. I never thought about the fact that the increasingly popular streaming services prevent emergency broadcasts. I also learned that media consolidation is the concentration of ownership of our news sources into the hands of fewer and fewer corporations. Overall, the second EOTO presentations taught me a lot about online issues and privacy concerns.

Blog Post #10

 AI technology has many benefits and revolutionary uses, but it can also become very dangerous and threatening to our privacy. It was especially surprising to learn about face recognition and social credit in China. This took AI to a new level of invasiveness, as usually AI would only affect your online privacy, but now it’s able to affect you in the real world as well. AI can improve our lives in many ways. It can make our lives easier, and there are even some medical improvements. I think AI poses a big threat to our world, and we need to be careful about how much we develop and implement it.

Blog Post #9

 An echo chamber can be defined as “an environment where a person only encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own.” This can be caused by exclusively looking at the same news sources, only talking to certain people who agree with you, and advertisement algorithms. Confirmation bias can increase the likelihood of echo chambers, which is “the tendency to favor info that reinforces existing beliefs.” Echo chambers can happen online and in real life. A “filter bubble” is created when websites track what you click on and how long you stay on certain sites. They use this information to recommend similar articles or sites that will further enforce the opinion you have. Echo chambers cause people to gradually obtain very extreme and polarizing perspectives. Most of the time, echo chambers are caused by the advertisement and news site algorithms that will recommend you articles that will only reinforce your existing views. 

Sources:

“Digital Media Literacy: What Is an Echo Chamber?” GCFGlobal.org, https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/digital-media-literacy/what-is-an-echo-chamber/1/. 

Brown, Megan A., et al. “Echo Chambers, Rabbit Holes, and Ideological Bias: How YouTube Recommends Content to Real Users.” Brookings, Brookings, 2 Dec. 2022, https://www.brookings.edu/research/echo-chambers-rabbit-holes-and-ideological-bias-how-youtube-recommends-content-to-real-users/. 

Blog Post #8

 Privacy has become a great concern in the digital age. Everything you do is now being tracked and monitored. Your information is being sold to many different companies every day. This raises many issues as your life is no longer private, and people can even steal your identity. The government needs to take care of this by limiting how much companies are allowed to track you. As time goes on, there are less and less ways for us to prevent being tracked. However, right now you can protect yourself by staying signed out whenever you visit websites, using a vpn, and not posting to social media.

Blog Post #7

 The invention and concept of video games can be viewed through the lens of diffusion theory. During the “early adopters” stage, it was primarily computer enthusiasts who were interested in early video games. However, as the technology soon allowed for more complex games, arcades became increasingly popular. Arcades were so successful because it only cost a quarter to play most games, so people wouldn’t realize how much money they would end up spending. During the late 70s and early 80s, people were hoping to bring the arcade experience to their homes. This was when video game consoles first started to gain popularity. In the 90s, debates about violence in video games began. This is what caused many people to be reluctant to buy video games. The concept of video game addiction also became prevalent. I believe that the positives of video games outweigh the negatives. They are mostly harmless, and when used in moderation, they can help people to relax and have fun.