Final Post

 Final Post 

Technology has shaped and changed the way we view things as a society. People like our grandparents and parents didn't have the advantages we have today. They are still learning and getting to know technology as we know it today. My generation has grown up and developed into the digital age. Although most people are very grateful for things such as cell phones, television, and computers. Thus making it easier for communication, work, learning, and finding out information. However when talking about technology and all of its positives it is also important to understand the negatives. 

Growing up I remember getting my first phone, It was the summer before fifth grade. I was starting a new school, where I knew nobody and it was mainly to be used to communicate with my family. I remember my mom telling me once something is put on the internet it is their forever. I didn't think much when I was younger. However now being in college and starting to apply for internships and jobs, it is the number one thing I need to be cautious about. Not getting an opportunity just because of an social media post is very degrading. 

Although when I first got my phone I thought I was so cool, looking back I wish my parents would have waited a little longer. Social media can play a huge role on kids and teenagers mental health. Things like comparison, cyberbullying, addiction, FOMO, and the idea of a distorted reality are many negative effects we see in the use of social media within technology. I know my friends and I lived a very wholesome childhood and had no worries about what other people thought of us. However when starting to get into using social media hearing what people thought of us made comparing our selfs to the perfect image a reality.  Trying to find a healthy balance between the use of technology and the real world can sometimes be a big struggle. 

Although technology has its downs it has also because a very useful tool. Technology has helped us connect with people from around the world that we might not be able to talk to every day. However now they are only a phone call away. A great example of this could be during the pandemic. Without the use of online learning we wouldn't have been able to do school. Even through just being a college student living far from home. I couldn't imagine my family not being a phone call away. As well as just accessing information in general, technology has made it a lot easier to find important things out. At times especially like todays days dealing with the election and different major real world things happening it is good to have live updates at your finger tips. 

Overall I think that technology has its ups and downs. I think it is very important to use technology carefully. Since we see technology every where to in our homes, at work, and in school there is really no escape from it. Finding ways to limit it throughout your everyday life can help to improve your overall mood through out the day. As well as using technology in a effective way in and not unaffectedly. 

Antiwar

 Antiwar

    When thinking about the topic of war we usually see stories of it on the news with pictures of survivors. However we never really hear much about antiwar activists in the main news stream. While looking through the antiwar websites I came across two articles. "Israel Kills Dozens More in Gaza, Including an Orthopedic Surgeon" and "Airwars Finds Israel Killed Over 5,000 Civilians in Gaza in October 2023". While reading these to articles they has me very surprised. These articles both were very detailed and shared different information that we wouldn't necessarily be seeing while watching the morning news. These articles had a lot more facts and details about what is actually going on. 

    Another thing that I noticed was that these websites weren't like any other news website I have seen before. They were very jumbled and had a ton of words when you opened the websites. Different head lines appeared with many sub-headlines to other articles related to them. The articles also all mostly seemed to be short but had a bunch of information within them. A few of the articles as well had pictures to see what was really going on. 

        After reading these two articles and making these observations it has completely shifted my perception on how wars are put out through the news and media. Seeing how much the government and the military see when there at war that isn't shared is shocking. The United States is a very patriotic country where we take pride within our military. However most of the time we are not getting the whole story it seems like. The antiwar activist stories most of the time get hided and not put out within the media. 

EOTO 2 Reflection

EOTO Theories 

    While listening to the different presentations aside from my topic of agenda setting and gatekeeping, another topic I found interesting is the spiral of silence. The spiral of silence is a theory when someone has an opinion on a topic that is controversial topic. Majority of that group has the opposite opinion on the same topic. This theory shows that people might change or hid their opinion in group settings. This is looked at as more of a negative thing because people might be to nervous to share their own opinion on a topic that people might not agree with them on. 

    An example that we commonly see this in this is threw politics. When having friends and family that agree in different things politically, this can lead to different arguments and falling outs. This is when the spiral of silence comes into play, people choose to stay silent instead of speaking up for something they believe in. Speaking from experience my family is very spilt down the middle politically. During the holidays it is always a topic we try to avoid or switch the conversion. This is another perfect example of the spiral of silence that people might not even release is happening. 

EOTO 2 Agenda Setting and Gatekeeping

 EOTO 2 Agenda Setting and Gatekeeping

    For this EOTO project my group was assigned to the topic of theories. My topics were agenda setting and gatekeeping. To start agenda settings is when the media focuses on a topic, the more likely to public is to see the topic as important. This mainly applies within social media, however we see it everywhere. This really shows how much power the media has over us in order to change social debate. As for my other topic of gatekeeping, which is the act of controlling and limiting the access of something. We also largely we see this social media, as well as our careers, and everyday interactions. 

    Agenda settings was first introduced by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw. This was first introduced in the 1970s. They wanted people to know “the media doesn’t tell us what to think, but it tells us what to think about.” A commonly used example referenced theater, thinking of a dark spotlight on a stage. The spotlight it self doesn't change the actors actions or lines. However it changes what we see and when we do.

    To talk more about Gatekeeping, this topic works closely with agenda setting theory. This topic relates to the process in which information is went through before it reaches the public. Editors, journalists, and people that work in public relations act primarily as gatekeepers. They decide how news is shared, framed, and delivered.

    We see these two topics of agenda setting and gatekeeping working very well together. When they do work together their influence is amplified. By selecting what information gets put out, gatekeepers then set a basis for what topics get shared with the public. An example of this would be seeing different information on how the covid vaccine is good and is looked at as a good thing. Gatekeepers will then go in and try to change peoples minds and put out negative effects on the vaccine in order to get then not to use it. Thus just shows how much the media can influence our generation these days. With the digital age being at a high right now it is important to know your sources and where your information is coming from in general. 

   Overall agenda setting and gatekeeping work hand and hand to influence our media. Sometimes it can be in a positive way but people mainly see it as a more negative thing. Making sure your sources is reliable and as least bias as possible, to insure your getting the best information possible. This is important because you don't want you opinion to get changed do to these theories. Especially when dealing with controversial topics it is important to stay true to who you are by finding good trustable news sources. Agenda setting and gatekeeping are always things to be aware of in order to better your work. 

Privacy, Online & Off

 Privacy, Online & Off 

    Throughout growing up in the age of the "digital age" the internet has always been discussed. My parents always warned me to carful of things I post, because once its out there its forever. This was never a serious thought on mind until the college application process started. I remember having to fill out different forms with my social medias. After doing this, joining a sorority, and looking for jobs I learned quickly that it was very important to watch what you post. 

    Something that always stuck with me was what my mom said to me "Once somethings typed online its out their forever" When I was in middle school I got my first phone. I remember I would always have a lot of little arguments with my friends. They would always blow up out of proportion and end up getting online. One thing I learned is that it is really easy to say what you in online. But when being face to face thoses things might not be as easy to say. Also when communicating online its hard to get the tone a person is going for. 

    Throughout the Ted Talk"Your Online Life, Permanent as a Tattoo" they talk about comparing a tattoo to the digital footprint. Tattoos are very alike to the digital footprint. They are both permanent and visible at the same time. These digital tattoos can change they way we think of others on how we view them. Both on a personal level and a professional level it is important to keep things like this in mind. Posting pictures with alcohol, drugs, and inappropriate images might seem fun now because of the age we are at. However there are major consequences to these actions. 

    Another Ted Talk that stood out to me was "The Small and Surprisingly Dangerous Detail the Police Track About You" by Catherine Crump. She goes into talking about law enforcement and how they use different tracking devises to track people. She talked about examples like lisence plate readers which allows officers and law officals to know where people have been. She goes into saying how to much of this could be a good thing as well as a bad thing.

    Overall being aware of what you have posted ad what is being posted about you us super important. If you are not aware this could result in almost life changing events. You wouldn't want the reason your next job offer doesn't go through because you had something posted that they didn't like. 

EOTO 1 Com Tech Timeline

 EOTO Com Tech Timeline 

    My topic for the EOTO com tech timeline was the newspaper. The news paper, a form and publication of mass media and mass communication issued weekly or daily. Used to provide information, news, and other features to tell the public important things. The newspaper has been around for many years, although it has changed and grown over the years it is still resent to this day.

    The earliest form of newspaper can be found in in Ancient Rome. It was called the "Acta Diurna", which means daily doings. This was made by the government in order to tell the public about different information. Such as events, deaths, births, and gossip. This is also similarity seen in China, throughout the Tang dynasty. Their they used handwritten sheets to share important information with he government. 

    John Gutenburg  was known for making the first printing press. This sparked the first ideas of newspaper. Originality it was used to print bibles, however once word got around it was used to make newspapers. People from all different places were making and buy presses to make their own creations. The first known newspaper that I can date back was created in England. It was named the Oxford Gazette and the latter changed to the London Gazette. The newspaper made its way to America in 1609 and was called the "Publick Occurrences". This however only lasted on issues due to the government shutting it down.     The newspaper is till clearly a current thing to this day. There are many pros and cons of the newspaper. Some pros being it improved awareness and communication, provided credibility and analysis, as well as spread literacy and education. Also to include the benefit of local news, being able to find out what is going on around you. It also provides many opportunities. Some cons of the newspaper are creates bias, environmental impact, digital age decline, costs, less timley.

    Although the news paper is still around it isn't as popular as it used to be. Now with the digital age and social media being so popular it is less appeling. People would rather look up news or a article online the actually sit down to read a paper. Also with the use of online information it is quicker ad more timely. However the same pros and cons still come into play, bias being a big one.

    We see lots of newspapers now available on line such as, The NewYork Times, Wall Street Journal, etc. Especially for me as a college student I would rather read news sources on line rather then an actual paper. Simply because I live in a dorm and wouldn't want to make the trip to the mail center for a paper that I could just lookup online. However I think that the newspaper still applies to a certain target audience. People that grew up not having technology probably would still prefer to read the paper rather then a website. I know my grandparents still read the paper every morning. However the paper isn't for everyone these days.

    

EOTO Reflection 1

 EOTO Technology 

Telephones/Cellphones 

Through out all of the EOTO technology presentations the topic of the telephone / cellphones interested me the most. The telephone originated from Alexander Graham Bell, he discovered the basics if the telephone. From there he connected with Thomas Watson in order to make the first telephone connection. As time went on the payphone was eventually created, invented by William Grey. This was a public phone that was operated by coins. However people still wanted this new technology in their own home. Shortly after the payphone the rotary phone was created by Almon Strowger. This was phone that people could keep in there homes. As this topic evolved people wanted to find a way to have. Later on cellphones became a thing in 1972. These were very beneficial because people could take them on the go. They also didn't have to carry change as well as find a place with a phone.