Bonus Blog - Final Presentation Speech - My New Opinion on Blogging

My New Opinion on Blogging and Word to Future Students

Now that I have gotten a chance to use Blogger as part of my class experience, I wanted to share my thoughts about using this tool and about blogging in general. Before this class, I had never written a blog before. For that matter, I rarely ever read blogs. 

As someone who has dyslexia, I have never enjoyed reading for fun or for school. Instead, I prefer to get my information from videos or audio. Also, although blogs can be full of information, it is sometimes hard to tell if the writer is credible. This being said, most professors I encounter discourage blogs as a source for papers and presentations. However, after blogging, I have seen how important it can be. 

First, I think blogging was a fun experience purely for the fact that I felt like a news journalist. Instead of writing my blogs to get a good grade, I took this opportunity to pretend that the whole internet would see my blogs. I wrote to an unknown audience and I had to assume that they knew nothing of what I was writing about. Therefore, this allowed me to work on professional writing and ensure that I gave context when needed. This made me feel productive because I was practicing writing useful to my career rather than the academic style I learned in school. I really liked the ability to express my opinions through my writing and use my work to persuade possible readers.

However, blogging also came with its challenges. Although I loved professional writing in this class, up until this point in my life, I was only used to doing academic writing which made the beginning of this class difficult for me. In fact, on my first blog, I spent a good hour or two reading random blogs and news articles to figure out what makes professional writing different than academic.

On the other hand, I found the outreach of blogs impressive. One of my major takeaways from this semester were the two websites Professor Smith gave the class as examples for an assignment. Specifically, I found antiwar.com fascinating. This website is formatted just like class blog posts. Also, they have an open submission form where anyone can have a chance to have their writing posted on the website. I believe websites and blogs like these help shed light on issues not covered by the major news networks. 

I think these websites are important because they help spread awareness about ideas, opinions, and movements that not everyone agrees with. They also give anyone, including you, a way to express your beliefs to the public. In this way, I think blogging gives suppressed people a sense of empowerment to persuade people to their beliefs and to express themselves. In the same way, blogging can be a tool to rally people together and shed light on the wrongdoings of the government or other organizations. I believe blogging can help hold people accountable for their actions.

Altogether, I think blogs are a powerful tool for free speech and spreading information and opinions. Personally, I think using Blogger this semester has been a great way to practice my writing skills, learn about alternative ways to reach the news, and learn from people who are not like me. 

To future students keeping a blog throughout the semester, my suggestions are to read news articles and blogs. I find that one of the best ways to learn is to learn by example. I also suggest scheduling every week to have blogging time because, especially since my class was in the last half of the semester, the writing added up quickly. Finally, I suggest having fun with the blogs and pretending you are a journalist. It make the blogs not feel like chores, and it also helps you keep in mind who your audience is while you write. Overall, blogging has been a great experience for me and has altered my perception of it throughout the semester. 

Final Blog Post

How Our Relationship with Technology Effects Our Health

Some of our favorite technology consists of our phones, computers, and smart devices. Technology companies capitalize on the ease of these products by adding smart features to our everyday tools and appliances. As ridiculous as it may sound, our new refrigerators, washing machines, cars, and more have advanced features like internet connections and Bluetooth. The new generations growing up only using the internet and smart features will have no idea how to live without them. In fact, they would be nearly helpless if they lost electricity or the internet. Since it is such an important part of our lives, we ignore the warning signs that modern technology has horrible effects on our mental and physical health. 

Effects on mental health:

Unfortunately, as our world becomes more digital, it can be hard to put the phone down, which leads to decreased brain health. For young adults and teens, phones can be an even bigger struggle. According to recent studies, researchers estimate that 20% to 30% of adolescents and young adults have a phone addiction. Addictions like these stem from lack of awareness, lack of self-control, increasing social media presence, and fear of missing out. This problem is further escalated by the absence of parental guidance.

The more one uses social media or stares at a screen, the more likely they are to have increased attention-deficit symptoms, decreased emotional and social intelligence, shyness, impaired brain development, insecurities, depression, anxiety, and more. More specifically, social media plays a main role in major depression and anxiety among young people. When common use of social media in adolescents started in 2012, depression among teens began to rise, and within eight years, it had increased by almost 10%.  Additionally, from 2007 to 2015, self-harm and suicide among teenage girls doubled, while it increased by 30% in teenage boys. While social media and smartphones are not fully to blame for this increase, they largely contribute.

However, technology is not all bad for brain health. In fact, if used correctly, technology can increase the overall health and speed of the brain. Specifically, certain apps, video games, and digital tools can increase memory, multitasking skills, intelligence, and other cognitive abilities. For older generations, these software can slow down aging in the brain and improve overall quality of life.

Effects on physical health:

Although symptoms may seem subtle at first, smartphones and other technology can seriously damage one's physical health. Addiction to our devices can cause eye strain, disrupted sleep, physical inactivity, hearing loss, cancer, and increase existing risk factors. Specifically, prolonged screentime can create various musculoskeletal issues, such as a hunched back or neck and "text thumb", which can be painful if left unchecked.

However, technology can be a helpful tool for keeping our bodies healthy and fit. For example, many apps help track our bodies, such as fitness, dietary, and tracking the progression of chronic diseases and illnesses. Additionally, our phones and computers aid in finding medical records and speaking with medical professionals. 

Keeping the relationship healthy:

Technology is not a bad tool. Unfortunately, we are responsible for the havoc it can wreak on our health. To keep ourselves healthy and happy, we must use the tools we are given with responsibility and maturity. Most importantly, limiting screen time and digital use is crucial to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Experts recommend no more than 30-60 minutes on social media and, at least, 3-4 hours without screens daily. 

In my opinion, I believe technology can be a tool for good, and it is one of the most important things about humanity. However, it is up to each user to choose how they will use it. Our world is becoming increasingly digital; therefore, much of what we encounter online is fake, and we need to ground ourselves in the reality of what life is about. Although we live in a world where we jump from one high to the next, sometimes we need to take breaks and enjoy everything around us, not just what we see online.

Blog Post #11 - The Progressive Era

My Theories on Anti-War Censorship

During a time of constant war and unrest in places in the world, such as Russia and Ukraine or Israel and Iran, many people agree with the U.S. going to war but many are against it. However, although many speak out against our military involvement abroad, we rarely ever hear antiwar opinions. I almost always see news or social media reports praising our government for our involvement or support of an ongoing situation. I find it so surprising because we send our money off to fight wars while our country is in severe debt and we send our troops off to risk their lives for the wrong reasons.

If you look at our most popular news outlets, almost all of them support our actions during wartime, and we rarely see reports disagreeing with the government. Unfortunately, many reporters and journalists risk losing their jobs if they write an antiwar-themed article or report. For example, Ashleigh Banfield, Phil Donahue, and Jesse Ventura are all examples of job loss or demotion due to speaking out against war.

While journalists and reporters are being suppressed for their speech, many sources are suppressed as well, such as Antiwar.com and The American Conservative. What I found is many of these sources are all conservative or right-leaning institutions.

As someone registered as an independent and likes to hear both sides, I find this bias frustrating. According to Newhouse School of Public Communications' study, only a small percentage of our press affiliates as conservative. Although some studies suggest that the media does not have bias, I believe this information holds significant weight. 

Through most of the last century, we have seen the liberals be the voices for antiwar movements; however, I believe we are starting to see the roles switch. Due to the Ukraine/Russia conflict, conservatives are less in favor of fighting a war than liberals. In fact, 31% of Republicans are in favor of U.S. involvement in comparison to 69% of Democrats.

I believe that the suppression of antiwar opinions today not only stems from government encouragement, but more so, I believe that this suppression comes from a political bias within our news networks and publications. Furthermore, as trends suggest, this lack of free speech and press will only continue to get worse with our current actions. Regardless of your political leanings, you must ask yourself if you want to be a part of this political echo chamber or change how our news structure is operated to allow free speech without consequence.

Blog Post #10 - EOTO 2 Reaction

My Reaction to Misinformation, Disinformation, and Malinformation

For the second EOTO presentation, I found Elliot Baratta's talk about misinformation, disinformation, and malformation interesting and relevant especially during a presidential election year. These types of misleading information are increasingly important because, being users of the internet, social media, and television, means we are constantly in contact with information not verified with proof or fact. As Baratta pointed out, something as small as the drinking age at Disney World to Trump visiting the troops can be fabricated to tell a much different story. 

First, Baratta talked about misinformation. Misinformation is false information given to someone without the intent to mislead. This information is frequently labeled "fake news" and can be seen everywhere, including in news outlets, social media, articles, and more. In his presentation, Baratta gave an example where ABC reported that Disney World was lowering its drinking age; however, their information came from something other than a credible source and was proven false.

On the other hand, Baratta also talked about disinformation, which is false information fabricated to intentionally harm, mislead, or manipulate. He stated that this type of information is frequently found regarding politics but can be found everywhere. Baratta stated that in 2019, news reported that Trump did not visit his troops during Thanksgiving or Christmas; however, this was completely false. In fact, he was the first president to visit on both holidays in the same year.

Finally, Baratta discussed malinformation. This term is one that I have not heard of before, and I found it the most interesting. Malinformation is true information that is taken out of context to make something seem worse than it is. One example that Baratta gave was an edited video of Trump throwing fish food into a pond impatiently while visiting Japan's Prime Minister. However, the full video shows that he was following the lead of the Prime Minister, and did not seem to have any ill intent. 

I thought Baratta's presentation was important because, as internet users, we run into false information constantly. For example, when watching TikTok, I constantly verify videos I see through my web searches. From my experience, I believe up to half of what I see is completely false or taken out of context. It is frustrating because trusting everything I see would save me so much time in research; however, this will always be a problem. It is important to always be cautious of what you hear and see which is an important part of media literacy.

Blog Post #9 - Age of AI

The Age of AI is Frightening!

I remember only a few years ago when it was first announced that ChatGPT was released to the public. I was confused because, as someone who understands programming, AI in science fiction did not seem possible. After testing it, it is somewhat similar to many previous smart tools, such as Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana, and others. As we know it today, AI is not like the kind in movies that will overthrow humanity; however, it is still a helpful but dangerous tool.

According to In the Age of AI, a documentary by PBS, AI is a tool for automation that threatens jobs in all industries. One of AI's greatest strengths is its ability to complete routine processing jobs. These jobs include cashiers, fast food workers, and clerical jobs, which statistically are shown to be held by women more than men. Therefore, AI largely threatens women's jobs in this country and worldwide. I find this information concerning, not only because I am a woman, but also because this will continue to shrink the middle class and grow the lower class. With factors such as inflation, increased layoffs, and world events, my generation feels pressured to come into the world as adults and make ends meet. With the addition of job loss due to AI and automation, this news is frustrating to someone in my demographic. 

Additionally, AI poses a serious risk to privacy in our daily lives. Many big technology companies, such as Google, already invade our privacy through their terms of service to collect data on the public. This data helps them to sell our information or to target certain advertisements. Using AI, these practices will continue to be more and more profitable for these companies or the government, and data analyses will be much easier.

When first learning about AI, I did not think I needed to be afraid of it because I knew it could not take over the world like in the movies. However, I realize now that I should be afraid about how it will affect the economy, the job market, and my privacy. In my opinion, laws and regulations should be passed regarding the use of AI. I believe that rules should be in place to choose what jobs AI can do to prevent job loss and poverty. Leading companies in the industry should also set examples for the rest of the world by limiting their use in the workplace. Additionally, violation of our privacy and data collection of the public by AI should be illegal.

However, although AI is a powerful tool that can be left in the wrong hands, it does not mean that AI is an evil tool. In fact, it can create tremendous good if used correctly. Personally, I like AI more than search engines for finding complicated answers online. I can give it a detailed prompt with several conditions and receive a well-explained answer to my question. Also, it can run many more scenarios than we can, as seen with AlphaGo in South Korea, that can be applied to several areas, such as medicine and finding cures.

Blog Post #8 - EOTO 2

What is an Online Influencer?

In today's society, much of our lives is dominated by online media. Most of our entertainment, communication, news, shopping, and information comes from the internet. Although the internet has many flaws, it has also created many opportunities and jobs for its users. One of these opportunities is a career as an online influencer. 

Online influence has been around almost since the beginning of the internet starting in the form of blogs. However, it is important to note that online influencers do not only include the stereotype that most people think of. For example, many people will mention Charli D'Amelio, James Charles, Zach King, and others when asked to name an influencer. However, these people only make up a portion of online influence. Online influencers can include social media personalities, athletes, reporters, journalists, industry leaders, Hollywood, and you as the consumer. 

Let us look at its definition to better understand how online influence consists of all these people. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, an online influencer is “a person who has become well-known through use of the internet and social media, and uses celebrity to endorse, promote, or generate interest in specific products, brands, etc., often for payment.” However, I like the Merriam-Webster Dictionary's version better, which says an online influencer is “a person who inspires or guides the actions of others.” Combining these two definitions, we can conclude that an online influencer is someone online who guides or promotes brands or ideas.

What do they do?

Online influencers serve many purposes to the public. They are personalities, experts, or consumers who spread opinions and information to the masses. They may do this through various outlets such as social media, blog websites, television, articles, and more. Their main goal is to become "opinion leaders" of users on the internet and brands use these positions to help sell their products or agendas. 

For example, let's say a sports brand wants to launch a new line of products for women athletes. A smart marketing strategy for the brand may be to approach someone like Serena Williams, Simone Biles, or another woman famous on social media for athletics to post or advertise the new line. These people act as representatives or spokespeople for the brand, and for some people, this can be a fruitful career opportunity.

However, when choosing an influencer, brands analyze several underlying mechanisms to find the best fit for the position. These mechanisms are credibility, trustworthiness, attractiveness, expertise, popularity, and familiarity. These characteristics enable brands to see how consumers will react to an influencer promoting their products. Of these, I believe credibility and trustworthiness are two of the most important. If an influencer has a reputation for spreading misleading information, consumers are less likely to buy a product or think highly of a brand.

How do online influencers affect us?

The position of an online influencer has both good and bad effects on our world. First, online influence has created thousands of jobs in the U.S. and worldwide. This is especially true for younger generations such as Generation Z and Millennials. Not only are there plenty of opportunities to get a job, but this career can be quite profitable, as many people make hundreds of thousands of dollars. In addition, online influencers are a quick, easy marketing tool for brands that boost the economy as seen when the influencer market jumped from 2 billion to 13.8 billion in 2021.

Influencers also have a platform to spread awareness and information. This can have a good effect as they can teach people about topics and organizations that support things such as a cure for cancer, world hunger, deforestation, and more. Or they can simply spread information about the news or events happening in a certain field. However, this is not always the case and unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world. Quite often, influencers may also use their platforms to spread misinformation or complete disinformation. This can be seen frequently in politics for the masses to side with the influencer's chosen candidate or bill.

Finally, influencers can ruin the reputation of a brand through their actions. We frequently see stories in the news and on social media of personalities being canceled for accusations of sexual assault, abuse, racism, and more. Not only do these actions hurt the reputation of the influencer, but they can also fall back on the company they are contracted with if the situation is handled poorly. For example, when this controversy appears, brands drop their contract or fire the influencer; however, if they do not take action, the internet will not fail to flame the brand as well.

Blog Post #7 - Diffusion of Innovations

Diffusion Theory Applied to the Apple Vision Pro

A couple months ago, I saw the Apple Vision Pro on almost every feed I watched. When Apple started releasing this newest form of technology, almost everyone I saw said it would be an achievement for virtual and augmented reality. However, not long after its release, it lost popularity with the media, and only a small amount of consumers bought it. In fact, many purchases were returned for various reasons, further insighting its lack of popularity.

To better understand the Apple Vision Pro's lack in popularity, let us look at the Diffusion of Innovation Theory. As illustrated in the image on the left, this theory is represented by an arc-shaped graph starting from innovation and ending after market saturation. 

Since its release in February 2024, the Apple Vision Pro has received a massive amount of complaints and backlash from users. Many users have also returned their devices for health, privacy, comfort, and usage concerns. It has also received criticism for its bizarre appearance and that it can become a barrier to in-person connection.

These complaints disappoint loyal Apple consumers who purchased this device on its release and soon after. This disappointment has not fallen on deaf ears with numerous articles and reviews expressing distaste for the product. These public complaints and the price of $3500 have deterred many people in the market for the Vision Pro.

Although the initial turnout of the Vision Pros was successful, I believe many of these early adopters supported the product simply because it is an Apple product. Now that they have been tested by the public, I doubt Apple will be able to get them over the chasm section (shown below) of the diffusion chart successfully. 

I think the downsides of this technology severely outweigh the positive features it possesses because of the price, privacy concerns, and the health effects caused. However, I think the general public cannot become adopters because of the price alone. If the price was more affordable, I think more people would try it and would be less likely to listen only to the reviews. As for myself, I think many other companies have already made headsets like this that are safer and more affordable, so although I think this technology, in general, has potential, I do not believe Apple's is viable at this time.