Final Post: Our Relationship With Technology

Our relationship with technology isn't an easy one to understand or pinpoint with just a few words. The internet and everything around it have brought us all closer, but at the same time very far apart with its many genres and subgenres of this vast expanse of innovation. Everything on the internet has become controversial at some point, whether that be on a larger and more global scale, or on tinier scales through smaller parts of the internet. But this all shows that the internet has and will never be a place for pure unity. 

Technology as a whole has produced a lot of good through our lives, bringing fresh innovation, new and improved ideas, socializing to a new level of ease of access, and so much more. But alongside it is the unwanted and prevalent side effects that are so prominent everywhere you look. 

If we take a closer look at some areas of technology, we can see in some areas like cars and automobiles that the emissions from these pieces of technology effectively produce harmful waste toxins into the environment and a massive scale, but when trying to test out pure electric cars, it creates a ton of new problems that aren't easily solved. These can be shown through the process of battery productions that utilize significant mineral inputs to make and when used up, the hazardous materials seep into the ground, the cars becoming expensive bricks at the hit of specific weather or conditions, and much more.

This definitely isn't the only bad part about recent technology, but there's also plenty of good that has come from our innovations that have changed the world for the better in so many areas of life and ease of access for us. Through things like the internet, we have been gifted with the ability to communicate through so many avenues that being kept in the dark about anything is practically gone through the amount of news sources, people talking about stuff online, chat places, apps, and so much more. The amount of further ideation that has taken place through the access to the internet can be seen in everyday life usually just by turning your head. We've made advancements in games, communication, language barriers, traveling, land barriers, and so many other things from minute details to huge entities of change that have spawned the ability to interact with the world in so many other ways.

Sadly, not all good things can last. With these new and improved ways of communication through the
internet has brought a lot of new terms to light that have become prevalent, like cyberbullying, online harassment, revenge porn, ghosting, micro cheating, and much more. These have sadly become common practice for most individuals who use the internet, and all of this and more has become so oversaturated in anywhere you look on the internet. 

There's a saying that social media killed romance, and it really is a true statement when you look at how people act to each other, understanding that they usually have a way to get away with things easily on the internet, which puts an awful precedent on everyone in relationships. These things and more can be seen anywhere you look and on whatever apps you use, prompting a lot of people to shy away from social media to not have to worry or deal with what more chronically online people deal with and worry about.

In my experience with social media, it's become a great tool to utilize for basically every occasion, brining a great ease of access right to me whenever I need it and heightening my ability to communicate with everyone around me, and especially my friends and family who are in other states or live farther away. My girlfriend and I are very secure in our relationship, so we don't have to worry about this looming threat brought on by social media that things could and are going wrong at every turn, and not to trust your partner. 

Social media might bring a lot of good but can also bring a lot of bad to every part of everyone's lives as a whole but shouldn't be purely set apart by all the bad it can bring. It's able to bring my friends and I closer together through things like humor, communication, sending each other stuff, games, calling, and many more other features that wouldn't be available without it. While I'm definitely not addicted to any of it, it's really easy to get lost in all of it if you're not careful with how you spend your time, which happens to me a lot on accident. I keep myself informed, but not overly shoving my nose into every little thing and making that my personality, rather preferring to spend my time with the people around me and having a good time without relying on staring at my phone to do it.

Overall, social media, the internet, technology, and so many more areas of innovation have spurred on an era of both good and bad in their own rights, but that's just how it is with basically anything that happens in the world. You shouldn't overlook the good and only focus on the bad as most news sources have you do and try to direct you to. Focus on everything as a whole and discard the normality of worrying over nothing and only writing specific things of technology off as bad because some people say so. It's brought a lot of good and a lot of bad throughout the years of ideation and will continue to throughout our lives, and we can only hope it goes up from here.

EOTO #2 - Spiral of Silence

In our second EOTO, we had to choose a certain topic again and I decided to write about the spiral of silence. The spiral of silence is something that you don't actually know that this type of action and thought process actually had a name for. Still, it showcases the process of having a type of opinion that isn't shared with the majority of people. Since said opinion isn't represented by the majority, you'll be less inclined and more scared to share it with others for fear of backlash and opposition towards your less notable opinion. 

This theory isn't something that most even know exists, like most theories to be honest, but it's just a natural understanding that we all share that if you have a certain thought on something that isn't particularly represented by the majority of people, you're less inclined to let that thought be heard, mainly for the sake of keeping your peace and not having to accept ridicule and backlash. You're able to stick to the hardwired fundamentals of your body when placed into an uncomfortable situation, but this discomfort ends up creating the spiral of silence, a habit that is insanely hard to break away from.

This theory was created by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, a German political scientist who crafted this theory and wrote a book about her research on this certain type of behavior through all of us and based on our perception of how we'll be perceived for having a different opinion. This social psychology explains how sways in public opinions might come about, taking into account both moral and emotional debates on both sides.

Her work on the spiral of silence is based on both controversy and contradiction but held to the degree of a rational, autonomous individual, which has made it one of the most cited and replicated social science theories of all. 

Some of the major points of her findings about the spiral of silence are that most people are afraid of isolation, making them yearn to fit in with the surrounding crowds. People constantly observe other's behaviors in public to figure out what is acceptable and what isn't, warping their personalities and thoughts around those acceptances.

The implications of these ideas though, is that when someone could have a good or better idea for the good of society, but doesn't align with the popularity and majority, society could be handed worse options due to an individual not willing to speak up, afraid to go against the public view. Most people have their opinions and thoughts reduced to nothing when they compare them against the crowds of people following one train of thought, but when people speak up about how they feel on different topics, it can lead to much more insightful and further understandings than before.

I see this happen a lot on videos on TikTok and Instagram, where I'll constantly come across videos of people challenging each other to debates in the street or wherever, and this leads to very interesting thought processes that usually goes against the queries of most people on whatever topic is being discussed. This is a natural break in the common way of the spiral of science, since most times a lot of separate and rarer viewpoints are brought up in these conversations, leading to the people that watch them to start either agreeing, or disagreeing further about said topic, but changing the normality of only one popular opinion.

This has led to the change of sticking with the uncomfortability that seems to be rampant among most people and brings new light to topics that haven't been discussed this far due to the spiral of silence. It showcases that there isn't any weird or embarrassing part of expressing a less notable opinion when compared to the majority and social pressure, and the difference in opinion keeps our society running and functioning with new and innovative ideas on multiple topics, rather than just one set understanding.

I understand both sides of this heavily since I am usually in the majority that isn't brave enough to express their own opinions on account of major backlash and shunned morals, but usually, I do have the better options that I want to share. I hate that I usually feel this closed off to most others due to this but have been working on caring less about what others think so I can be myself openly to others and share exactly what I think, rather than following a majority vote towards one set areas.

The spiral of silence is a disheartening endeavor to look into and understand, but it's important to gain this information since it is a valuable insight to further understanding of the world and the people around you, leading to a better look about yourself and others in the long run.

Blog Post #8: Diffusion of Innovations

The diffusion of innovations theory is something that most haven't heard about or even realized is a real thing, even though it's become very prominent everywhere around us. It's derived from modern society, where it is constantly in motion all around us, but it isn't something that has been brought forth into light as an actual theory most understand and know about. It seeks to explain not only how but why and at the rate at which new ideas and technology spread through the consumers, market share, and much more.

The theory follows the notion that diffusion is a process where an innovation is communicated through a series of channels over a period of time by a group of participants. 

This theory was crafted by the late Everett M. Rogers, an American communication theorist and sociologist, who proposed that five main elements to this theory influence the main spread of an idea, those being the innovation itself, adopters, communication channels, time, and a social system. The entire process relies heavily on the social capital that's being influenced and utilized, alongside the innovation having to become widely adopted throughout its lifespan to be self-sustaining. Through said adoption, the innovation can end up reaching critical mass, which is just a sufficient number of adopters of a new technology. 

The innovation I'm going to focus on is Instagram, starting from its first big boom onto the scene and original critical mass milestone hit. In mid-October of 2010, Instagram was launched as a fairly simple site, just a picture-sharing and social app that people could talk to each other on. It began to reach its innovation step 2 years later when it began to implement new features that enticed more and more people, and then finally mass exploded into stardom when it included Android users that could utilize the application. The adopters hit its critical mass capacity around this time of 2012, and it effectively made an enormous breakthrough into the mainstream media as one of the most influential and prominent apps that was being utilized daily by millions of users and hitting around 50 million users at this time.

Most people got attracted to this app and became adopters due to the certain features it provided you with, with photo and video sharing, editing, tweaking, social aspects, and so much more that enticed early users and ended up expanding it so heavily that just kept roping in more and more people to the app. 

Some were later to the party, usually being younger kids who were just downloading the app after learning that others around their age used the app, or people not on social media much that got convinced by a close person in their life, family, friends, etc. that convinced them to do so, theses being the main 2 types of later adopters.

Although Instagram is still prominently riding high and showcasing how dominant of an app it is even to this day, there are glaring downsides to it that you can see and find just a few minutes of being on the app. Prominent issues like botting, where you buy followers, likes, and comments on your post can be seen literally everywhere on Instagram, leading to an annoying rise of scams and buying your way to fame, the extremeness IG models take photos to with their lighting, effects, and their looks, which only serve to get them popular for their body and for comparison with them. 

Stuff like the comparisons people immediately start making to these people who look "too good" becomes incredibly detrimental to people's self-image and leads to heavy self-deprecation and depression over not liking your own body image. Bullying also becomes rampant due to things like these, where under almost any and every post you can find there will be people bullying others, and Instagram has literally become known for the insane amount of people that harass others like this.

There are still plenty of positives throughout the entirety of the app that can be found very quickly, like the good people under most posts providing actual insight and realistic expectations, formed groups of like-minded individuals, a place to express yourself, and much more overall. The positives I think personally outweigh the negatives and are the reason scrolling through Instagram is so enticing and enjoyable and brings more help than harm to others and the media around.

Blog Post #7: Why Antiwar Voices Have Disappeared From The Mainstream News

A confusing sentiment of the mainstream media is the attraction and further push towards showcasing the "War Party" to everyone willing to pay attention to the media. The enticing notion that this war system of mainstream media is through the government and military pushing the idea of their moral compass and ideals onto the people listening and are actively purposefully attempting to shut down the media sources proclaiming antiwar sentiments. This is why sources like Antiwar.com and The American Conservative are sources that no one really knows about unless purposefully searched for and scouted out.

A major reason for sites like those to be purposefully hidden and harder to find and access is due to the blatant media bias that is shown to these antiwar ideal-driven sites. These sites proclaim a different stance that isn't usually brought up or shown in the media often at all, and push their own way of thinking that the media doesn't want to show for the sake of keeping their pro-war ideals in the mainstream, mainly due to major news outlets having a lot of political or economic ties that are enhancing the support towards national security or military actions.

These antiwar outlets are purposefully showing the more uncomfortable side of this spectrum of media, proving that not everything the media is showing is completely true, but rather unearthing the harsher narratives that most try to ignore for the sake of feeling secure and safe in our own country. The mainstream media pushes these narratives deeper into the abyss of the internet, forcing you to go way out of your way to find others who share harsher sentiments about everything about the wars and these actions taking place, mainly to maintain a more stable global order. They cover the worst subjects that are usually failed to be shown, like the economic instability that is brought forth, the unnecessary deaths caused by militaristic actions, destruction, more violent but true sides, and a lot more overall that won't gain the spotlight of the mainstream.

A part of this mainstream media is that it's entirely governed by only a few major companies. This practice is called media consolidation, where the media is controlled by a set of governing bodies with major influence and power who run the news and media sources, forcing their own narratives that only they want to display. 

The pie chart on the right displays how in 1983, 90% of the market was effectively owned by 50 companies, but in 2011, 90% of the market was controlled by only 6 companies. This shows the drastic difference in what's happened to our media as a whole. It's become controlled by set outlets that only display their specific narrative to the public, usually consisting of pro-military/militarism and national security type of viewpoints, so smaller sources, and especially ones that show separate viewpoints than the ones these networks are constantly pushing for, won't be pushed forward and showcased at all.

Thousands of independent and smaller outlets of news sources won't be brought forward into the mainstream due to not aligning with the ideals of the controlling major news outlets but should always be made a point of and focused on in some type of light, so people won't be left in the dark about one side of the argument and information overall. 

I've always heavily encouraged research about topics since you won't always get the full story about whatever topic is being explored, which is heavily seen with militaristic news and raging wars more than anything. These smaller sources bring a completely separate, but helpful side to understanding a minority of opinions and information that won't be shown normally. Global problems shouldn't be showcased with only one opinionated and specific narrative but should be shown with a complete understanding of all of it as a whole, with the harsh realities in tow to maintain a clear and concise viewpoint of said issues.

Blog Post #6 - EOTO Reaction: Carrier Pigeons

The carrier pigeon is the first and fun starter to the EOTO presentations, and I learned some confusing but fun information that I never knew about carrier pigeons. 

The exact date is actually unknown, but the first instances were likely in Ancient Egypt and quickly became the fastest way to get a message from point A to point B. These pigeons were specially trained to provide specific messages to a certain recipient, secretly and discretely.

This was where my understanding of carrier pigeons was fully halted, since I’ve only ever learned about the basics of them and where they came from, but not the actual history of the carrier pigeon or their impact. I only knew about their existence and utilization in some wars and how they were trained to provide messages discretely. 

The next big instance was through the Roman Empire. This method of delivery was initially for the wealthy who wanted to deliver their mail faster than those on horseback, which is a common ideology of the upper class today, with them being more privileged than the lower class, and being able to have opportunities like this at their disposal. The Roman Empire was when this type of delivery method was utilized the most by the upper class when compared to Ancient Egypt and is when the basis of carrier pigeons really took off.

Another area of the world where the pigeons were highly regarded was in the Middle East. These pigeons are also known for being extremely helpful during the World Wars, more specifically and most prominently in World War I especially where they were used extensively to send hundreds of short messages on land, in air, and at sea. These carrier pigeons were utilized for specific espionage and emergency messages, seen heavily in no-man's land when attacks were about to take place. Around 100,000 carrier pigeons were used throughout the British, French, American, and German militaries throughout the Wars. 

There are many stories about these pigeons, with some of them being how a pigeon flew twenty-two miles in twenty-two minutes to deliver a message that helped with the rescue of two wrecked seaplane piolets, or how a pigeon fought against a gale with an emergency message of four airmen who were wrecked at sea, where it died from exhaustion shortly after arrival. One other incredible story is how one of the pigeons was shot in the left eye while attempting to deliver a message through hails of gunfire and heavy artillery, but despite the injury, the bird was still able to deliver the message. These pigeons were so incredibly vital to the information gathering and relaying from destination to destination and deserve so much respect for what they accomplished and fought through during these wars.

They are still actually utilized in the world today, mainly through the Royal Family collecting them, and a small area that still utilizes them for pigeon racing. The population of these pigeons is likely much higher today due to their past usefulness that it would be otherwise obsolete if they weren’t so utilized in their previous endeavors. The study of pigeons and their continued usefulness today laid the groundwork for the RPRA or the Royal Pigeon Racing Association.

This showcase of expertise with pigeons created an understanding of not only the birds but set a groundwork for how we wanted our messages to be carried, through the air, and faster than others. These pigeons might just seem absurd overall but actually contributed so heavily to the forms of communication we utilize today, and most likely should be recognized as a groundwork for the privilege of normalized communication we have and understand today.

Blog Post #5 - Privacy, Online and Off

 A major concern in recent years that everyone has nowadays is privacy and their personal security towards their information online, one of the most important things in this day and age is your information, so privacy is a necessity. The problem that we're facing is the breaching of this privacy and access to our incredibly valuable information, that practically displays everything about us. We basically live through technology; the world wouldn't be moving or revolving if it wasn't utilized so heavily to fit our needs and circumstances that show new avenues of innovation. But with this new innovation, more security is needed to catch up and progress alongside it. 

A main part of our security that needs to be addressed is tracking. Most apps and our iPhones, in general, are utilizing tracking to track our location and keep tabs on where we go and what we do. Apple has revolutionized technology for the better, but with it comes this tracking and invasion of privacy that most have ignored and overlooked.

Another part of this tracking is through advertisements and what is directed at us online. A major understanding of this tracking is through what is advertised to us personally based on what we see online and what we direct our attention to. Something about this tracking that's always stuck with me is a story I heard years ago about an experiment a married couple ran, where they turned off their internet, devices, electronics, and whatever else could be seen as a "device" completely and talked specifically about one type of thing per day. This ranged from a certain stuffed animal to games or movies, etc. Once they turned their internet back on and started utilizing their devices again, almost every single advertisement was strictly towards those specific things they would talk about. 

This shows that there's a constant breach of privacy, no matter where we go or what we do, due to the need for these electronics and their usefulness in our lives. Our improved technology brought along a security risk at all times, especially with our normal lives being constantly monitored. Alongside our normal lives, our data is stored practically everywhere we go on the internet and can be accessed at will by the companies we give it to just by visiting their sites at the easiest or agreeing to their data collection at the hardest.

Another area of concern is through our government, where back at the end of January the government, and more specifically Donald Trump and the Trump Administration's Office of Personnel Management, attempted to pass the notion of setting up an encrypted type of unique email system specifically tailored towards government officials to mass send them emails. This is probably one of the stupidest forms of privacy that can easily be figured out and eventually hacked. Thank God that they received such severe backlash for this ideation since the ease of access that people could gain if something went wrong through this encrypted email system is insanely vast. 

Privacy is something that everyone should be concerned about, but it's become an overlooked and avoided understanding of safety towards people, mainly for the fact that we usually try to ignore whatever privacy concerns are brought up due to them being lengthy and annoying to read. Most people's attention spans are lower nowadays, especially younger people, and they don't have enough care to carefully look over what is at stake for doing something as simple as signing a document. 

What we do shouldn't be anyone's business to scour through, and we should be completely protected at all times instead of having a constant worry about having our information stolen. We cannot have these businesses and powerful entities deliberately getting our information and marketing it around, further creating a breach in trust overall with better technology growth throughout the world and who creates it. 

There are still plenty of ways to limit this tracking, with Apple recently adding a function to the iPhone and its apps, where most apps are forced to ask if you'd allow your data to be tracked across other websites for more accurate advertising and posts directed towards your interests. This shows a bit more about the tracking that goes on behind the scenes that most don't realize or understand but is a better act of privacy than what we had before. 

EOTO #1 - Compact Discs (CDs)

I chose the compact disc, or CD for my Each One Teach One (EOTO) presentation. These small, circular discs provided an entire generation of people with a new and innovative way to store and record types of information, bringing an entirely new age of innovation to the masses. These discs proceeded to take over the next generation of people all over the world, once these compact and easy-to-use discs were introduced into the mainstream market through their mass production and quick handleability.

Starting with the earliest known precursor to the compact disc, the optophone was first made and utilized in 1913. This precursor was an incredibly early device that attempted to utilize light to record and playback sound signals on a transparent photograph. 

It was primarily created to help people who were blind experience the news and printed letters on paper. It translated letters into tones that could help those who were completely blind to practically "hear" light. This became the precursor and earliest inspiration to the compact disc, even with its massive size comparison, mainly giving the inspiration of the "hearing" of light.

Onto the compact disc, a compact disc is most basically described as a molded plastic disc that contains digital data. The discs are scanned by a laser beam for the reproduction and recorded sound. These compact discs utilized a format called Compact Disc Digital Audio, or CDDA, which typically provides around 74-80 minutes of audio on a disc. The compact disc is a further evolution of laser disc technology, where there was a focused laser beam utilized to enable the high information density that is required for producing better quality digital audio signals.

The American inventor, James T. Russel is primarily credited with the creation of the compact disc, mainly after gaining the patent to make them once he invented the first system to record digital media on a photosensitive plate. He was granted said patent in 1970 to produce the CDs once he succeeded in his invention of the first digital-to-optical recording and playback system. With the photosensitive platter, he had somehow found an ingenious way to record tiny "bits" of both light and dark onto the plate, each being just a tiny micron in diameter.

How this worked was mainly through a laser, which read the tiny binary patterns, then had a computer convert the data gained from the binary patterns into electrical signals, which were then transformed into an audible or visible transmission.

It took about nine years of creation to finally unveil the first prototype CD to technology enthusiasts in Europe and Japan, which garnered a huge buzz in the technology world. This excitement was further shown when both Philips and Sony ended up partnering and teaming up to begin fully working on CDs for public use. This came to fruition for both companies when in two years, the first commercialized CD player was launched to a Japanese audience, that being the CDP-101 model. It took just a year later before they released it to European and American audiences as well, to an incredible amount of success in the industry, thus starting the CD revolution that came forth from it, effectively moving from cassette tapes to compact discs. 

Cassette tapes were the most recent precursor to compact discs at the time, them being what was taken over by the compact discs a bit after their release and slowly faded out of the mainstream market. Cassette tapes utilized magnetic tape, and the music would play from the left to right side of the tape, and once one side was played through, you'd flip it over to hear the other selection of songs on the other side. Even though cassette tapes were smaller and could be used a bit more efficiently, CDs soon took over and became more popular since you could just skip straight to the song you wanted to listen to. There are a lot of smaller parts of CDs that just worked better overall and makes sense why they became so much more mainstream and popular when compared to cassette tapes. 

A part of the earlier production of compact discs is that they weren't erasable, meaning that data encoded onto their surfaces could be read, but weren't able to be erased or rewritten.

This problem was eventually solved with the introduction and development of WORM in the 1990s, alongside writeable/rewriteable discs. WORM, or write once read many, is a function that describes a data storage device, where information that is written cannot be modified. This protection ensures that the data cannot be tampered with once written to the device. 

WORM, alongside the writeable and rewriteable discs, solved the erasure and rewriting problem for compact discs as a whole and created the final push to put them at their peak popularity throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s due to their amazing capabilities and utilization throughout the world. 

In recent years, CDs have exponentially declined in usage and popularity, mainly becoming a niche thing of the past that hasn't seen much action apart from small groups and stored information. Since 2008, CD sales have fallen by around 10 million or more each year, and that number gets considerably lower every single year as people have basically all moved past CDs in this day and age. That doesn't mean that they shouldn't be ignored or forgotten overall though, as they were an amazing period of innovation and data storage that influenced so much on the world overall and should be remembered as a benchmark of creativity and information.