Social Media

 We all know social media is a double edged sword right? Even though many of us are aware of the positive and negative sides, it still affects us in many different ways we may not be aware of. Social media has a huge impact on society, controlling the way we live life on the daily. Social media is a beautiful way to connect with people, express yourself, share a passion, etc. Social media is also filled with people saying mean things, false information/drama, comparison, knowing what everyone is doing all the time/who they are with, diets you shouldn't try, people living “perfect lives”, etc. It can affect our mental health in many ways and capacities, even when we are not fully aware of it. 
I recently watched The Social Dilemma on Netflix and it opened my eyes to some of the harmful parts of social media and how it is affecting society as a whole. The documentary is by Jeff Orlowski, mainly talking about “how addiction and privacy breaches are features, not bugs, of social media platforms.” Social media is addictive and it is made that way on purpose. There is always more to see, notice how you can always load more, for endless tweets to read, pictures, and videos to see. After watching the film I turned all of my notifications for every app off besides text messages and phone calls. Notifications play the biggest role in addictive factors. It also talks about comparison with teenagers and how dangerous that is especially for young people, and young girls in particular, according to statistics. The film also touches on how it feeds you more information you want to see, such as politics, personal interests, people, etc. There is more of a divide in society than ever. I think it was an important conversation to bring up in the name of peoples lives and the future. 
Even if one has a good relationship with social media it can occasionally negatively affect one's mental health. I think it is very important to go on social media breaks every now and then because it can help someone realize how detached they are from reality, which is what and who is physically surrounding you. Whenever I spend less time on social media it makes me realize how much I actually look at it because it feels weird without it. It is refreshing to put it away for some time even if it is just one day, and realize that life is everything around you, not what’s on your phone. I think then you are able to separate it better when you do go back on it and have a better relationship with it. To me that means separating it from my real life and only using it for the positive, learning not to compare myself to the way someone looks or the life they live  (everyone struggles), and not getting caught up in any part of it. I would say my relationship with social media has gotten better from growing up, maturing, conversations about it, knowing what is important, learning how to expand my knowledge properly, what is real and what is not, and putting in effort to learn how to use it positively. However, it is always a battle of being able to recognize when it is rubbing off on you the wrong way and being able to remind yourself that you might need a break, or not to get caught in whatever aspect it is that is affecting you negatively. For example, if I catch myself comparing my bad day to someone’s “perfect” life, I am able to give myself a pep talk and remind myself that social media is mostly a highlight reel. The scary part is not everyone is able to remind themself, which is why the conversation about social media and how it affects mental health is so important. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/09/movies/the-social-dilemma-review.html

Privacy

 The discussion of privacy is becoming more prominent as we speak. The more technology evolves, the more privacy issues there are to consider and learn about. These TED TALKS opened my eyes to even more privacy issues than I knew about, and provided me with more insight on the ones I already knew existed. I enjoyed the analogy about tattoos. Tattoos tell you a lot of stories, saying a lot about a person without always having to be explained. People often think something of someone by seeing a certain tattoo, which may be correct, not correct, or close. This idea was compared to “electronic tattoos”, which could tell more about a person such as who/what they are without you having to say anything about yourself. An example of this is facial recognition, which is able to take a picture of someone, then having their name and information. 
Another discussion of privacy in the surveillance equipment industry. This allows police departments to gather a vast amount of information. I was not aware that everyone driving on the street was getting tracked by a picture being taken of their license plate, I thought it just took a picture of someone speeding or something. It can see where you are or where you are not. I would assume that when a picture of your license plate is taken, other information comes along with that. According to the TED talk, someone can make a good idea of who you are based on that information. The information is converted prom the license plate into readable text. I was not aware that everyone's information is being kept in records by local police. Another example of surveillance equipment that I find interesting is the stingray that sends tracking signals inside people's houses to their phones. Something I have always heard people talk about is other people being able to listen in on a conversation, or that our phones are listening to us. The part that makes me feel uneasy about that is someone you really don’t want listening could be. 
I agree that some of this technology definitely comes with a cost and can go beyond just protecting us. Our ciber civil rights definitely need to be looked over as technology continues to grow, and it is hard to know what/what lines need to be drawn. A lot of times it is a double edged sword, and there will be good and bad that comes with all of it.  

IN THE AGE OF AI

 IN THE AGE OF AI is a profound film getting into the nitty gritty of artificial intelligence. I have known that it is more complex than I am currently able to comprehend, but I had no clue about the important ins and outs people should be taking away from this film. I found the form of artificial intelligence deep learning a fascinating concept. It is crazy that it can mimic the human brain, and then use its “own brain” to do the rest, it almost doesn't even seem possible that it can possibly know something we hadn’t known before. Or as they say it, “play a game we haven’t played.” While this was a great success, there are consequences that come along with it. 
 The AI future is a part of the new generation, and a lot of time is being spent critically thinking about how it will affect the future. China is the fastest moving country in the world of AI, from using other forms of identification in grocery stores, self driving cars, drone delivery, shared bicycle rides, and much more. The U.S. is ahead in technology, but China has ten times more data and AI is run and fueled by data. The more data the better the AI works. Maybe this is the part that is scary? I can't even comprehend how fast the film was explaining some of the technology works. The identity identification is what probably freaks me out the most. 
The young 24 year old that built a self driving golf cart, led to a company making self driving trucks, which I found fascinating and did not know was a huge breakthrough currently happening more than I thought it was. I like the motive behind creating the safest way for people to get around.
A quote I liked in the film is “there are many aspects of the world which we can’t explain with words.” That part of our knowledge is very interesting and I can actually understand what he means by that. Machines have the potential of creating new solutions to so many things due to their creativity. An example is breast cancer. It is a positive thing that we are overcoming the limitation of our own minds as a human race. A negative thing is the amount of jobs that are potentially going to be threatened by AI. However, a very good point made is that about twenty, thiry, forty years ago, about fifty percent of the jobs people had back then are gone today. This would be history repeating itself again as new technologies occur, which is why it may not be as concerning as it seems. However, the AI invention covers bigger industries, which may be a new concern that has not happened before, since obviously, AI has not happened before. With AI it is said that the middle class may go away. But with the negatives that come with the initial process of many people losing their jobs, there is a cost, and where is the line drawn? I never thought that AI would have a lot to do with inequality. This film talks about how AIs impact could make it worse. Rich people could become more rich and the poor more poor with no middle. It is a worry that there may be a crash that could be very difficult to come back from. 
Finally, the part that creeps me out the most, is the discussion the film has on algorithms. The fact that you “release data” and companies do what they want with it leaves many people an uneasy feeling. I have learned through this film and also THE SOCIAL DILEMMA, which I have watched on my own, that this is crucial to become aware of in order to be in control of it. In the film it says “we may not be the users of social media, social media may be using us.” Surveillance Capitalism was brought to my attention, and how businesses want to learn as much about you as they can. To go with that I really enjoyed hearing the story about the right to go to a company and ask about the data collected on you and the right to not allow your information to be sold. The beginning of that is a huge part in preventing the spread of information about an individual. I have realized that it is going to take a lot of work to make sure AI is done right in order to have a positive outcome on society, and there are numerous factors to consider in order for it to do so.  

EOTO Terms and Concepts

    The Illusory Truth Effect, a theory also known as the illusion of truth, describes how when the same false information is repeated over and over, it is believed to be true. It even happens when people should know better and when people initially know the information is false. When the truth is being evaluated, people take the information given to them and rely on whether or not the information is familiar or in line with their understanding. It is logical to compare new information to what is already known to be true, but repetition makes statements easier to process/believe compared to new unrepeated statements, which can lead to believing the repeated statement whether it is true or not. 
    

    The Illusory Truth Effect does not happen by accident.  Marketers, Propagandists and politicians understand that repetition gets people to accept your message. When companies or politicians repeat things again and again, we should recognize that this is a deliberate strategy to get people to accept what they are saying as the truth. The commercial below may be marketing a product that may or may not work, but if you see this ad often enough, will you be tempted to give it a try?  
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_SwD7RveNE
  

     The implications affect both individuals and society as a whole. An individual may actually be well educated and informed, but they may still end up making decisions that have serious consequences. Or at the very least, they walk around oblivious to what is actually truthful. This could be something as harmless as a nutrition fad an individual read about that is doing them no good. Of course, society as a whole can also be affected by the decisions of individuals prone to the Illusory Truth Effect. Society can be affected once a statement moves past just an individual. In the age of social media, it is incredibly easy for misinformation to spread quickly across huge numbers of people. Victims can even include people who don’t believe what is being said. An example of that was the toilet paper shortage at the beginning of COVID 19. Even though there was plenty of toilet paper in the country, and even though grocery stores were not going to close, some news organizations and parts of social media created the illusion that all businesses would shut down and shortages would be everywhere. The fact that so many people thought there was going to be a shortage, actually created one. Another example with more serious consequences was the anti vaccine movement in parts of the U.S. A false rumor regarding vaccines causing autism in children started widespread fear. This led many parents, some highly educated, to not vaccinate their children against measles. Even though measles was declared eliminated from the United States in 2000, cases have been going up steadily in recent years, as can be seen in the chart below.  

    

    
    While the Illusory Truth Effect has mostly negative consequences for individuals and society, the fact that it exists leads many people and organizations to fact check and think critically when they hear something. There are now news organizations and websites dedicated to checking facts, statements and rumors. www.snopes.com is an example of this. If the negative consequences of the Illusory Truth Effect cause more people to think critically, more news organizations to fact check, and make more people aware of attempts to deceive them, some good will result.

https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/illusory-truth-effect/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusory_truth_effect

Through The Lens Of The Diffusion Theory

 When looking at the cassette tape through the lens of the Diffusion Theory, I am able to apply the theory to its history, growth, and popularity. One reason the popularity of the cassette grew was because it had characteristics for both individuals and organizations. Individuals adopted it because they were more compact than the previous technology, eight track tapes. People could customize them, bring them on the go, and easily share them. Organizations, especially news organizations, adopted them because they were easily able to record interviews or speeches. The cassette grew fast because there were a high number of early adopters. This was because the technology was so far superior to what it replaced. Also, music lovers were drawn to the quality and flexibility. As with any idea or technology, there were late adopters. Late adopters could have been people who did not want to spend money on new equipment to accommodate cassette tapes. One would have needed to buy a cassette player for their home stereo, and replace their car stereo, if they wanted to start using cassettes. They may have also had a large music collection in other forms, such as vinyl records. There were some downsides to the cassette technology. The two main downsides were quality deterioration with many repeat plays, and the tape could come unwound out of its case. Other than quality issues, I do no see any negative consequences from the technology, in fact, music sales continued to increase and journalists had a superior technology for interviews allowing them to do their job anywhere. The positives far outweighed the negatives, which is why the technology continued to grow over time... until a new innovation replaced it, and the Diffusion of Innovation process started for something new. 

ANTIWAR

 In reviewing the two websites I found that The American Conservative website seems to be a true Republican leaning group, that happens to differ with the Republican party when it comes to overseas conflicts. They are interested it taking an "America first" position, and in their view a lot of overseas conflicts have nothing to do with what is best for America. Antiwar.com also disagrees with oversees conflicts, but seems geared towards both Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, who view these conflicts as a form of Imperialism. These two websites show that two different parties can advocate for the same thing. The media rarely presents different parties agreeing on something, which is why these websites are never mentioned on mainstream news. Mainstream news needs to attracts viewers in order to make money, so unfortunately, they often stereotype a certain party in order to attract viewers. In the case of military intervention, Republicans are usually portrayed as pro war. However, it is interesting that the Anitwar.com website was founded because of conflicts led by Bill Clinton, who was a Democrat president. 

EOTO: Cassette Tapes

 Cassette tapes are flat rectangular containers made of plastic or lightweight metal that hold magnetic tape for audio or video recording and replay. It was designed to be inserted into a recorder and used immediately, rather than needing to thread a portion of the tape manually before starting to record. There were audiocassettes which recorded audio, and videocassettes which recorded video. Audiocassettes were introduced were introduced for home use in the 1960s. Videocassettes were introduced in the 1970s. Both could contain prerecorded material, or come just blank to create your own content. The cassette was one of the first technologies that allowed people to share music and recordings to a broader audience. Cassette tapes were the beginning of the progression of even better technologies that were introduced later.  Before it, music was not easy to bring on the go. No more waiting for the stereo. For the first time people were also able to record tracks of audio themselves. It was a more improved technology compared to reel to reel which was mostly just used for radio and not personal use anyway. The Cassette gave people the ability to not only listen to their favorite music/audio, but create their own stuff. For example people could create playlist like what we do with Spotify or Apple Music today. 
As mentioned before the Cassette was the pioneer for even more improved technology to come. In the 90s, the compact disc, or as I use to call it when I was a kid, CD, became the next best thing. In the early 2000s, which is when I was born, Cassettes weren’t being used anymore for practical reasons. However, old technology does often have a comeback for the nostalgic factor, and old fashion vibe. The Cassette has its small moments of being used even today. Whether the Cassette is back in trend or not, it will always be a revolutionary technology that presented people with the opportunity to record in their homes, and have video/audio on the go for the first time ever. 
Here is a timeline on the history of the audio cassette: 
1935- reel to reel recordings were invented, which were primarily used for radio stations and for professional recording studios. They were not handy for anyone to use at home. 
1958- the first reversible cassette tape was invented, but never really became popular. It was more like a trial. 
1962- Philips invented the first compact cassettes for audio storage. 
1964- cassette technology allowing people to record at home was released in the United States. 
1966- the first music albums were released on the cassette format. 
Mid 1970s- cassette decks were introduced to cars, replacing 8 track players which were used previously. 
1979- Sony released Walkman - a portable music player. 
2001- CDs were invented which made cassettes become history. 
2009- Jadakiss “The Last Kiss” was the last major label release on a cassette. 
A Commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uv1PxInJnY


https://www.britannica.com/technology/cassette
https://legacybox.com/blogs/analog/history-of-the-cassette-tape
https://legacybox.com/blogs/analog/the-history-of-the-audio-cassette-a-timeline