Final prompt

Technology and Me

Technology has been a part of my entire life. My dad is a whole tech nerd so he always had the newest technology in the house. Which means I had access to said technology. There isn't a time I don't remember having some type of device starting from my iPod touch when I was 7.

This being said, I think having unlimited access to all the technologies I had have cause a few issues. I was easily distracted by them and prioritized whatever game or YouTube video I could watch in them instead of doing things like homework or chores. Not only did it distract me but certain apps like vine caused an even shorter attention span for me.

This is because i had access to technology at such a young age I didn't Know how to manage my screen time and my responsibilities. This poor management stayed with me to this day. My screen time for my phone alone is way to high and my dependence on technology is higher. Dependence on technology had a negative effect that is accepted by society. No is fighting to have a less convenient way to communicate, share, and receive information. This dependence is stirring up how we function in society. It is affecting job opportunities, lowers the amount of privacy we have, and how we communicate.

 

I also think a shift is social rules will be coming. Once the majority of people alive have had technology since they were children the way we function in the world will change. For example older generations are more likely to call on the phone then text. A lot of how people communicated with each other in person or through technology will be different in the coming decades because of all the advancements. Based on some poll information younger generations communicate more through technology than face to face. And older generations communicate more face to face. But this is primarily gen x and boomers. This means that there are more generations alive right now who use technology to communicate then not and that will only grow as more people are born. 

We can already see some social changes in technology after Covid, zoom meetings and remote working is becoming more normal then it was before. People don’t feel the need to have every interaction, even in business, face to face. I think this was a big shift in technology and the workplace. In my family in particular my step dad and step mom never went back to in person work after Covid and many others did not as well. Even me, I currently have a remote web design job. Technology is going to create a shift in so many different aspects of life and we are just seeing the beginning of these changes.

privacy online

Limited Privacy

"Electronic tattoos" otherwise known as an online view of who you are. Apart from tracking across nearly every application or website we use, but face recognition is also on the rise. There is little space to move in private in such an online world. Especially when so many online resources we use, sell our information and in turn our privacy. These electronic tattoos can also be seen as our digital footprint. Everything we search, post, or view is tracked and saved so we should be careful navigating the internet.  

Government tracking of our every move. They can know where we are at all times, who we are interacting with, and who we interact with on a regular basis. They can also keep a record

of this. Treating everyone as if they have done something wrong when no crime has been committed. This form of tracking can and is being easily abused by not only the government but also everyday law enforcement. This is actually very scary because this can cause more discrimination of minorities and minority neighborhoods. Also the fact that it is done without a majority of people’s knowledge is wrong and should not be allowed. 

Surveillance through calls and messages can be read and accessed through wire taps. These wiretaps can then be hacked by anyone with the knowledge to do so. Meaning it can be used by people to cause harm to others. Tech companies can work against this, like Apple, by encrypting phone calls. Though they could be useful to catch terrorist and other criminals. They are also being used to monitor people who have not committed a crime and are not planning to commit a crime. These taps can also be used by enemy states to monitor us. I think it is more dangerous to have no encryption than to have it. Yes the government will have it harder trying to look into people of interest but the rest of us will be safer. 

It has been clear for a while now that we have little privacy online. It is only now that it is becoming aware that we also lack privacy offline. Our devices listen in even when we aren't using them. We can be tracked just by driving our car or by having a phone in our pocket. Ways we can protect ourselves can include; using phones that have encryption, and using web browsers that block tracking, cookies, and ads. When it comes to privacy offline I'm not sure there is much we can do besides try and get laws passed preventing these types of tracking. 

 

Age of ai

The Ai Transformation

 One of the main take away was how fast we are changing into automation. The video showed that the automation movement goes further than just factory jobs, it is affecting the cashier job as well. Many stores have self checkout and use that as the primary checkout section instead of a person behind a counter. Now even some fast food restaurants are doing this as well. Once fully automated that is millions of jobs, many held by women and younger people. 

As the video said women are the most at risk to loose there jobs due to automation. It also puts people who don't have access to information and higher education at risk. It will increase the inequality between people. When jobs go from working in a factory, behind a counter, or simply working in a store turns to Ai , the jobs will become people working on these AI machines. This requires higher education, which requires money and opportunity which is not universal.

The other takeaway is how Ai is being used to watch us. As shown in the video parts of the would use Ai to track every single movement people make. This can be highly dangerous depending on how its used. If used to keep people safe there is little issues but when used to control and scare individuals is when issues begin to rise. China is implementing this in a way to control and scare the citizens. What is happening in china right now is called surveillance state.

This ai watching goes further than just cameras on the streets. It can also be in you house through you r phone microphones, Alexa, or any other device that can listen and respond to you. Which can be used for advertisers. They hear what you talk about, what your interests are, and they can even detect what mood you are in. From there they can advertise things to you it thinks you what. This is known as surveillance capital.

EOTO #2

 Illusory truth effect 

The illusory truth effect it when someone perceives a claim as truer if they gave been exposed to them before. It is one of the main reasons why advertisements and propaganda worm and why people fall victim to misinformation and fake news. This effect can also work when the person had previous knowledge of it being false. It is most evident on subject matter that people perceive themselves experts of. 

The premise of the illusory truth effect is repetition. Repetition affects what we perceive to be true. studies that have been conducted don't typically go over 3 repetitions, while as in the real world repetition happens at a much higher rate. This is why there are current research taken place to examine exposure to high repetition rates and their affect on judgement. 

Two parallel experiments have been conducted. The first had a group of people come in and were shown trivia statements. The repetition rate for them was 1,3,5,7, or 9. The other experimental group brought in a group of people and showed them trivia statement. There repetition rate was 1, 9, 18, or 27 times. A week later both groups were brought in and showed the same trivia statements again. Those who encountered more repetition were more likely to perceive the statements as true. 

There are many theories as to why this effect works as well as it does. The most commonly referenced reason is the Processing fluency account. The processing fluency account refers to the metacognitive experience of ease or difficulty that accompanies an account.  information that is repeated is processed more fluently and in turn is perceive as true. This occurs because they have discovered that fluency is predictive of fluency.

This is all supported by the study that concluded that illusions of truth can happen without repetition. For example people tend to trust and perceive information as true when it is presented in an easy to read format or easy to understand speech. Speech that is presented in a less perceptually fluent format are less likely to perceive as false. 

There are a number of concerns about the consequences of the usage of this effect. The danger of fake news, misinformation, and conspiracy theories and how fast these things spread can be detrimental. This is only heightened because they have seen that despite being clearly disproven belief in misinformation can persists. This is due to people being exposed to fake news repeatedly so they perceive this information as true. 

This is why it is hard to get people to believe something that is hard to think about.  Using complicated words and explaining complicated topics have a bad outcome in terms of believability. They also found there can be a maximum to repetition. This is why a lot of advertisement that use this theory use subtle variations in adds or "subliminal messages". This is done because familiarity can make people believe, agree, or like what they hear or see but to much repetition can cause contempt.

Diffusion of Innovation 

The diffusion of innovation theory explains why, how, and how fast a technology spreads. Created by a professor named Everett Rodgers made this theory popular through his book Diffusions of Innovations originally published in 1962.  he bases it off of 5 factors;  the innovation itself, adopters, communication channels, time, and social social system.

Streaming was one of the biggest innovations in the way we watch media. The original major streaming service was Netflix, it has now expanded to a multitude of companies such as Hulu, Hbo Max, Disney+,  Peacock and many more. But the original innovators of this trend that started in all are  the creators of Netflix. Netflix is what popularized the idea of streaming.

 

It was people who were the early adaptors in this sense. We changed the way we got media. There has been a steady incline of consumers streaming and downloading's content from there home. From there there was a increase in dropping cable for streaming sites. Since 2012 cable companies have lost 25 million subscriber s moving to streaming services such as Hulu. It was people searching for a cheaper yet convenient way to view media that changed how we got media. 

it was cable channels turning into streamers that were the late adopters. They came to the game about a decade after streaming first started. Major media outlets tried to hold onto to traditional fall out for a while, some allowed for streaming of shows but you had to have cable to watch it. Now there are sites like Hbo max or Peacock that allows you to watch a cable channels show through streaming services instead of owning cable. Even having deals where its 24 dollars for a whole year. those who stuck with cable or switched late had access to less media and less options. there are numerous amount of shows that are steaming exclusives and those that aren't are rarely have reruns because they can be found on a streaming service. 

communication channels such as the internet have also made it so streaming gets more and more popular. Today you could watch a 4k movie in your house from a streaming platform as appose to years ago the best quality was found in a movie theater and even then 4k is much better then that. the fast internet and increase of internet usage has a lot to do with the spread of its popularity. As time goes on the internet will just gain uses and even more viewing capabilities. In addition to this interactive tv is also an option found
on streaming services. 

Social systems have had two different impacts of streaming. one being everyone isn't watching the same stuff anymore so there is less communitive talks about that one popular sitcom because there is no longer one popular sitcom. on the h=other hand this means a lot of people will promote there streaming show and service to there friends and in turn spread the use of streaming sites as a whole 

Antiwar voices

Realities of War 

I think, as said in class, War is important to American political figures. They want war because it allows them to make changes in the law with less questions. wartime allows for big and sometimes corrupt changes such as when it was allowed to jail anti war voices. I also think America kind of appointed themselves as the world police using war to accomplish there own desires. To many public war voices might turn the view of America to show how it truly operates. it also might lead to the decrease in military budget which is incredibly high. 

I think propaganda has a lot to do with it as well. Soldiers are made out to be hero's and they want you to join and be a hero to. Even now with military ads they want to appeal with peoples want to do something important and be someone important so they must portray it as such. They build up soldiers so much and if it weren't for there lack of support for veterans I might even believe them. they build a kind of fog over the realities of war so that majority of people don't see how made it really is. like the before and after photographs of Libya, I didn't even know about that until this class. there are so many instances like this that the negative effects America did are not reported on because it would make America look bad. 

War is also a big profit for America. America goes to war and will then  use that places resources for themselves. Oil is the reason for a to of wars. and since America puts so much money into there around forces they have enough resources to go out and start these wars for resources. 

The terrible reality of it all is America has been comiting war crimes or borderline war crimes for decades and they don't want that to be known ore common thought. so they do what they can and silence voices when they get to loud. Unfortunately a lot of places we get out news from benefit on being on the governments good side so they suppress these anti war voices. which is probably why its so hard to find anti war sites. 

EOTO repsponse

Carrier pigeons  

After listening to all the different types of technologies and there evolutions. the one that stood out the most and was the most memorable was the carrier Pidgeon. it is a technology that doesn't often come to mind when thinking about different technologies because it is such an old form of communications that sound more like something from a story then a part of communication history. 

Before the presentation I was under the impression that carrier pigeons were not really used and if they were used it was for common communication between people. I learned in the presentation that they were used as communicators during war. carrying vital information back and forth that were vital to the battles at hand. One  highly memorable part of the presentation was learning about the bird that was shot and still continued her flight and a couple more after. despite being gravely injured. 

The carrier pigeons were not only used but depended on during the war because they could go were soldiers couldn't more safely. some, like the Pidgeon mentioned earlier, were rewarded for there work. which was kind surprising to me because when you think about dependent war communication a bird isn't what comes to mind and yet they were. Frequently used as well, it wasn't just a couple of instances there were hundreds of designated pigeons that communicated throughout the war. 

Although it sounds like a medical form of communication it had modern use that allowed for communications even between naval ships and land during the war. which back then was so important and difficult to do. Carrier pigeons are obviously no loner used to old vital information, or any information really, but there history is so interesting and rich. There are even sites that have pictures of some of these pigeons and what there post and job was which is very interesting to see.