Final Post

Technology, social media, and artificial intelligence are all things that have infiltrated our society and daily lives. While these new technologies can be extremely innovative and beneficial, there are a few downsides to these devices. For me, my phone has become a big part of my daily life. All of my news, connecting with friends, posting pictures, and so much more come from my phone! Having my device around me at all times has become such a staple in my life, I don't think that I could see myself today without it. Though information and news is so easily accessible from a phone, it's very important to keep in mind it might not always be true. Misinformation is everywhere in the media today, so it's crucial to check all sources before passing information along. 

As for how phones and social media play a role within my friendships and family members, I would say it mostly has a positive impact. Connecting with friends and family has never been easier. All of my cousins, aunts and uncles, all at the click of the text or share of an instagram post. Communicating with loved ones is simple and easy through phones and social media. A few downsides to unlimited social media and phone access would consist of social isolation and decreased physical activity. Though when managed properly, phones and social media make connecting with others quick and easy.

With social media shaping our lives every step of the way from what we post, say online, and even the things we thumbs up, we must always be very conscious of what we are putting on the internet due to our digital footprint. A digital footprint is the trail of data you leave behind when engaging in anything on social media. Employers, family members, colleagues or anyone with access to the internet can access this information which could potentially shape their perception of you for the better, or worse. 

Phones and social media are one of the greatest inventions of our time. From communicating to anyone at the click of a button, to having a fully functioning laptop in your hands at all times, the greatness of this technology is undeniable. With properly managed time and a balanced lifestyle, these devices can be a great tool for us to use in all aspects of our life.  

EOTO reflection: Misinformation and Disinformation

 After watching many EOTO presentations, a certain topic that really stood out to me was the Misinformation and Disinformation presentation. Both of these topics are in almost all news sources we consume to this day, and it can often be difficult to tell the difference between these two topics. Misinformation is known as something that was published with no intent to spread something false, and is often by accident. Disinformation is something that is purposely spread to cause confusion and false information on purpose. 

Knowing the difference between these two topics is very important because disinformation has intent behind it, while misinformation is not intended to be malicious in any way. With this being said, misinformation or disinformation, the information provided is still false. False statements are all over social media, so we must take the extra step to make sure we check our facts, and continue to spread true information.

A way we can combat misinformation and disinformation in the media is using multiple news sources to collect information. by doing this, we are getting many different perspectives and sides to a story, so that we can better understand the entirety of a situation, rather than just a part of it. 

Age of AI

The age of AI is finally upon us, and it's happening rapidly. Everyday jobs are being replaced quickly with technology, and artificial intelligence is all around us wether we realize it or not. The "age of AI" documentary from frontline PBS shows us just how advanced these technologies are, and what the future of AI truly will look like.

Within the first ten minutes of the documentary, a game similar to chess was played between human and AI. After a few rounds, the human was left with only one victory compared to the four wins of AI. This was a big moment for artificial intelligence, because "It's not that robots have beat humans, it's that one intelligence has surpassed another". This quote really stood out to me because we are now comparing humans so closely to a machine. 

With AI taking over many to all aspects of our daily lives, privacy has become little to none. Phones, surveillance cameras, radios and more are listening and learning at all times. Our phones are programmed to constantly listen to what we say for personalized ads. This is a huge breach of privacy. Though it may seem invasive, it can be helpful and efficient for us at times. In this day and age almost everything we need or want is at a click of a button, and with AI working at all hours to make sure you are seeing the ads you want to see, shopping has never been easier! 

The age of AI is upon us, and there is nothing we can do to stop it now. Technologies will continue to grow and advance, while humans will continue to blindly use them. 

EOTO: Framing Theory

Framing Theory is often known as the process by which people develop a particular conceptualization of an issue or their thinking of an issue. This is often demonstrated in various news sources, when broadcasters present an issue to the public, but only share one side of the story. This creates judgements and biases of a subject before the person receiving the information fully understands the subject, so that they could make their own opinion about the situation. Israeli psychologists were the first to systematically study this topic and prove the framing theory affects our decision making. Framing theory can often be mistaken as agenda setting theory, which is the exposure to a message many repeated times that leads you to believe it to be true just based on how much you see it. Though these theories sound and are similar, framing theory is more precise in showing you a story exactly how you should see and feel about it. 

The main effect of framing theory is manipulation. It is your awareness about situations and topics, and gives you a false perspective of a situation. You may think that you know everything about a subject after listening to just one news source, but in reality that news source could be extremely biased and leave out very important pieces to the story to their advantage. Whether we realize it or not, our decisions and choices about something heavily rely on how it's presented, worded, and even looks. The most common framing seen most often is something that draws positive gain, or negative gain towards an object, person, or situation. Another reason that framing theory takes place is because our brains are wired to make shortcuts to preserve time and energy. This is also known as “heuristics”. Heuristics are shortcuts in the brain that help us make quick decisions about things in a timely manner. Though this is helpful to us in many ways, it leaves us more susceptible to framing theory due to the lack of fully processing the situation before making a definite decision about it, and not re-evaluating. 

How can this be avoided?

The best way to avoid and overcome framing theory is to understand that other people will not see the problem from the same perspective as you, and collect news from multiple sources. With this being said, it's crucial to seek information from multiple sources and different perspectives. To fully understand a story, you must be willing to look past the simple frame that framing theory is showing you. Though framing theory is mainly seen in the news, we can see it in many other aspects of our lives, even including the grocery store. While shopping for groceries you see two different beef products that cost and weigh exactly the same. One of them says 80% lean, while the other says 20% fat. After comparing the two, you come to the conclusion that the 80% lean meat seems like a healthier option than the 20% fat. In reality, these are the same steaks, but the packaging led one to be in favor of the other.

Diffusion of Innovations

 

Diffusion theory is known as a theory that seeks to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technologies spread. A well known professor in the study of communications named Everett Rogers first popularized this idea in his book “Diffusions of innovations”.

Today I am going to be talking about Instagram, and how it’s viewed through the lens of Diversion Theory. The original Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Kreiger in 2010. The app was originally designed to be a platform for users to upload nice edited photos to share with family and friends, to where today it is known as a photo sharing, calling, and messenger app with over 1.21 billion users. Many people became early adopters to this app because it didn’t seem like an oversaturated social media app. Instagram was viewed as a simple photo platform, which intrigued parents and photographers at first. The app was also beginning to be heavily used by children anywhere from ages 12- 18 at the time. Many people became early adopters to this app because it became popular very quickly, and had fast and new technologies that other apps did not have.

As for late adopters, older people thought this app to be unnecessary, or too mainstream to use. Though this new technology is fun and easy to use, there are many downsides to the Instagram app. Some of these downsides are instagram addiction, non realistic lifestyle image, and oversharing information. Instagram can be very harmful to the younger generations of kids using the app due to how easily they can be influenced, and inappropriate content showing up in the explore page. Though over 21.1% of the world’s population uses this app, there is a good amount of people who choose not to use this app for good reasons. Not being invested in the instagram app can lead to clearer mindspace, no instagram addiction, and a better perception of what the reality of life actually looks like.

Reaction to EOTO: Gatekeeping

 Gatekeeping is often known as restricting information and controlling access to something. Gatekeeping can also be closely related to censorship which is the suppression of speech, public communication or other information.

Gatekeeping is an issue in today's society due to how it can affect what information we receive and the distorted narrative behind it. Not only does gatekeeping distort information, it shifts the attention from important news stories we should be focusing on, to lesser important quick news stories designed to grab your attention. An example of this would be influencer drama posted every day on snapchat news stories, or tiktok. These “news stories” are simply space fillers and attention grabbers to shift our attention from real and important issues the media doesn't want us to see. 

The best way we can combat gatekeeping is to make sure we always fact check news sources, and hear all sides of a story to fully understand the subject. The media loves to be in control of what we see and think about things, so we must combat the way the media controls our information for the betterment of our society. 

Anti War

 After doing some research and looking at a few political websites I can confidently say they all have one thing in common. They all want war. But why could this be? It's all about power. In the midst of a violent and cruel war, the government has power over the falling country and is able to collect large amounts of money. Antiwar voices are always casted away because the government doesn't want this side to be heard. It’s all about power and control, and when the topic of anti war surfaces, it's shut down. If you take a closer look at the https://www.antiwar.com/ and https://www.theamericanconservative.com/ website, you can tell that the information is not laid out neatly or nicely. It seems like the publisher was urgent to get this information out in any way that they could. Headlines are close together, and lots of information in various places are placed all over this website. It's overwhelming to look at, and confirms one thing. The fact that I had never seen this information before, and there was a reason for it. The government only shows us one side of things, and boosts topics that we “should” hear. This isn't fair. There shouldn't be punishment or hidden information simply because we have another opinion. If we don't have unbiased opinions and truthful information about both sides of an argument… is this country really free?