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.