Technology & Me

Towards the end of middle school, I became an avid Snapchat and Instagram user before even having a phone. Social media can be a great tool if used responsibly.

Which social media sites do you use?

Snapchat: "Chat, Snap, and video call your friends from wherever you are."

A social media app that takes selfies with filters and allows individuals to easily connect with friends and family, the mega-popular social media app is totally innocent -- wrong. 

Snapchat is a very image-focused platform, increasing anxiety and can lead to body insecurities, eating disorders, FOMO, and bullying, but how can we fix this?

Instagram: "Sign up to see photos and videos from your friends."

Goes hand-in-hand with Snapchat. More than a billion people use Instagram. Everyone experiences social media differently. However, worsening body image concerns are seen in every 1 in 3 teenage girls.

The Instagram platform rarely delivers "stopping cues," unlike magazines, television shows, or video games.

What information about you could a visitor glean about you, even indirectly, by visiting your pages on social media?

Google Search... "Nicki Zapien"

1. Instagram Account: Personal
2. Facebook Account
3. Deleted TikTok Account: No Posts
4. Rainbow Bridge from Elementary School
5. Seacoast Online, a Local News Article

Google Search... "Nicolette Zapien"

1. LinkedIn Profile
2. Instagram: Class of 2025 Student Government Association
3. Sentinel Articles in the Local Newspaper
4. Seacoast Online, a Local News Article
5. York High School Honor Roll

Is My Relationship with Technology Healthy?

I have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD), which studies have shown to heavily increase the likelihood of depression. iPhones update us on our average screen time usage weekly. I average nearly five hours a day scrolling through Instagram, checking LinkedIn, and texting my friends. The suggested limit of social media use is 30 minutes per day.

Social media activates the brain's reward center by releasing dopamine. Each platform is designed to be addictive and quickly associated with anxiety, depression, and physical ailments.

Having social media impacted me too. It led me down the road of cyberbullying, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders.

However, social media has also been a great tool in my life. I've used social media not only to stay connected with my friends and family but as a social media manager for the Culinary Art Club at High Point University. I currently run the social media page for the Class of 2025 Student Government Association.

Cyberbullying: is using digital technologies to bully others behind a screen. It most frequently occurs on social media, messaging platforms, etc.

1. Posting lies, embarrassing photos, or videos of someone
2. Sending hurtful, abusive, and threatening messages
3. impersonating someone and harassing others

Physical Impacts:

1. Exhaustion, a Loss of Sleep, or Insomnia
2. Stomach aches
3. Headaches
4. Eyestrain
5. Back Pain
6. Neck Pain
7. Decreased Physical Activity

Mental Impacts:

1. FOMO
2. Negative Emphasis on Interactions
3. Comparing
4. Not Prioritizing Yourself
5. Suicidal Thoughts
6. Don't Engage in Risky Behavior
7. School Work and Relation Ships are Suffering

Is Social Media a Valid Source of Information?

Although I don't use social media to get my news information, around 18% of adults in the United States gets all their news from social media. From a Pew Research Center report, 18% of adults knew less about the pandemic, the 2020 election, and politics in general.

Social media comprises disinformation, which is false information, and misinformation, which is information someone spreads and is unaware that it's inaccurate. 

How to Use Social Media the Right Way:

Setting screen time limits is one of the many ways to properly use social media. 

1. Plan social gatherings with friends, and stop comparing. 
2. Exercise daily to increase endorphins, which release the effects of stress and improve overall mood.
3. Delete Social Media altogether.

EOTO News Deserts

News Deserts are rural and urban communities with limited access to credible news and information. As industries evolve, newspapers are facing a widespread loss and grow larger in size every week. As a result, journalists are losing their jobs, and people need to be made aware. 

Why are Newspapers Important?

Newspapers offer the most reliable information. Newspapers help inform communities about local events, provides insight into current events, and incorporate puzzles, novels, and comedy. In addition, newspapers steer away from an opinionated stance on a controversial topic. 

Who is Affected by News Deserts?

Newspapers create a geographic identity and build a community. Stories and editorials were a way of contacting the community members to be active and engaged. 

Over time, small and isolated communities have become incapable of affording news and media coverage. Access to news information allowed residents to debate important issues, influence policy and politics, and build trust in our institutions. 

Communities without guided decision-making cannot reach their full potential. Public journalism serves society as a confrontation to significant issues. 

Community member involvement decreases when there is no coverage, and so does voter turnout. The poor, uneducated, minorities and isolated people are the most vulnerable to news deserts. 

A fifth of the population lives in a news desert. Politically, economically, and journalistically, the nation has become severely divided. The lack of affordable and accessible local news, which holds society together, has broken.

Solutions to News Deserts

1. Identifying what states are considered news deserts and what states are at risk of becoming one.

2. Implementing policies at a state and national level that addresses disparities and availability. 

Taxpayer support historically benefits news organizations. Meta and Google compensate news organizations for their content. Grants and philanthropic funding are solely for-profit and nonprofit news organizations. Funding specific reporting projects that include education, criminal justice, health, and global organizations. 

3. Reestablish journalistic practices.

Nonprofit groups, traditional media, and universities are stepping up to provide journalism coverage to isolated areas.

Living in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)

 Is A.I. Taking Over?

The A.I. is a set of tools intended to maximize a function. As a result of A.I., people are losing their jobs, and countries are increasingly offshoring. All kinds of companies are affected, and our privacy is constantly violated.

Huawei

China is almost entirely a surveillance state. Huawei is the backbone of A.I. technology. Such technology has the tools to identify individuals prone to terrorism or who need to redo their education. 

China, and the United States, are two different worlds, and being antagonistic to A.I. could ultimately impact United States citizens if the two nations don't work together to produce sound. Huawei has created 5G and 6G networks to increase the connection speed creating fear that China is looking at messages and phone information.

National Security

The United States is working on integrating A.I. into defense systems. It will be used to do tasks such as processing financial data. 

A.I. will predict mechanical failures in weapons and perform complex
analyses in warfighting scenarios. 

In addition, A.I. will benefit national security through drones, facial recognition, and battle recommendations, including missile strike targets.

Google

Larry Page and Sergey Brin are two founders of Google. Whatever people do on the internet leaves a digital trace. Google implemented digital tracing to increase income secretly. Revenue amounted to 23 billion and increased by 3590% from 2000 to 2004. 

Google technologies are now found in homes that listen to everything ranging from your voice to sneezing. Facebook followed in Google's footsteps and was caught. 

Tracking helped determine if you were a racist, a homophobe, happy, sad, lazy, gullible, etc. Browsers now have a 3rd-party opt-out that signals all websites you don't want your information tracked. Also, websites tend to have a "don't use my information" icon. California allows citizens to go to companies directly and ask what information they have about them. 

Instagram

Spiral of Silence

The Spiral of Silence Theory is closely connected to Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, a German political scientist. Beyond the scientific community, the Spiral of Silence Theory has made its way into social psychology. The theory focuses on how public opinion sways, specifically in moral and emotional debates.

By constantly observing other people's behavior, individuals identify which views and behaviors are approved or rejected in the public sphere. Unconscious perception affects the willingness to express opinions on controversial issues because people fear their opinion is unpopular. The unpopularity of an idea discourages people from saying it, but popular opinion has a different effect. 

Origin of the Theory:

Noelle-Neumann and her staff began collecting research from the 1965 German Federal election campaign discovering voter turnout calculated 45 percent support for the Christian Democratic Union-Christian Social Union (CDU-CSU) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SDP), making it impossible to determine the outcome. Toward the end of the campaign, the CDU-CSU produced a surprising increase and won against the SDP. Queen Elizabeth II visited Germany accompanied by Christian Democratic German chancellor Ludwig Erhard, increasing support, and SDP feared expressing their opinions.

How the Theory is Broken Down:

People with unpopular opinions fear social isolation and isolation pressure. Exerting isolation pressure is a form of rejection. An example is frowning at someone. 

Supporters of popular opinion tend to express themselves loud and clear. 

The number of people in support of an opinion is not crucial to the weight of the Spiral of Silence. It depends on how assertive and publically defensive people can be with their opinion. Therefore, the opinion of the minority can be perceived as the majority in the public sphere.

Mass media cumulatively and concordantly agreeing with one side of public controversy increases its popularity, giving it a greater chance to win the spiral of silence.

What the public opinion approves and rejects changes from place to place. However, it stabilizes society because the spiral of silence resolves conflicts.

How it Affects Different Segments:

On May 25th, 2020, George Floyd's death renewed the racial justice movement, demanding changes in policing, politics, sports, art, culture, business, education, media, etc. His death resulted in protests and Black Lives Matter chapters throughout the country. As a result, many states passed police reform laws, and companies began hiring minorities to appear more diverse. 

The movement reinforced "cancel culture," which has become intensely involved with the nation's political discourse. Some use cancel culture to hold people accountable, and others use it as a tactic to punish. The Black Lives Matter Movement was the popular opinion of the spiral of silence, and people opposed to the Black Lives Matter Movement often feared social isolation if they publically expressed their opinion.

How has the Spiral of Silence Impacted Me:

Political views have been an ongoing controversial topic that has impacted me, my family, and my friends. Talking about politics tends to ruin relationships, as people are less likely to listen to other people's points of view. Due to the extreme polarization in the United States, expressing political views increases social isolation.

 

Diffusion of Innovation

The world is constantly being changed by technological updates and breakthroughs. Whether it's medical technology, appliances, or a new app, the demand increase is fast. As long as people are willing to purchase new inventions, Diffusion Theory will initiate the process of new innovation catching on and becoming outdated.

Diffusion Theory is a robust theory popularized in 1962 by Everett Rogers. The theory explains how and why and how ideas and technology spreads. People in a social system communicate innovation over time, creating a diffusion process. Diffusion Theory is broken into five parts. 1. Innovators / Pioneers 2. Early Adopters 3. Early Majority 4. Late Majority 5. Laggards

Example... iPhones

Apple debuted the first iPhone in 2007, created by Steve Jobs. The company releases a new model each year. Ongoing improvements began with internet connectivity, text messaging, and a built-in camera. Over time, battery power, photo quality, and more have supported updating phones, increasing their demand.

1. Innovators/ Pioneers

After creating the iPod, Steve Jobs worried that soon, music would be installed on mobile phones and would fall behind. As a result, Jobs created the iPhone and transformed the music industry with iTunes and the iTunes Store.

2. Early Adopters

The first iPhone sold for roughly $600, but the pricing didn't prevent consumers from lining up outside the doors to purchase the item. Early adopters are quick to buy products in their early stages because they are adventurers, instinctive, and fearful of missing out. Companies use Early adopters to their advantage by pre-releasing the products. In addition, the products are to help maintain relationships.

3. Early Majority & Late Majority

Early adopters determine whether the early majority will invest in new technology. The early majority are always hesitant to buy the product. By 2008, Apple sold $11 million worth of iPhones. In 2015, sales increased to $231 million. In 2018, Apple sold more than 217 million iPhones. People in the early majority realize investing is an economic necessity and a means to keep up.

5. Laggards

Laggards tend to be a part of older generations and doubtful people. Older generations weren't as exposed to technology as future generations have become. Some people not interested in purchasing iPhones say it's because of their features and high prices. Laggards also come from underdeveloped countries or are uneducated in computer literacy.

EOTO Radios

History:

Not so commonly used anymore, but the radio was once a wildly popular source of entertainment. Hans Christian Oersted was the first to acknowledge that a magnetic field is created around a wire with a current running through it, making this discovery in 1820. 

Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian, presented the radio in the early 1850s. In 1899, the radio was created with electromagnetic waves and delivered the first radio to the world. The first radio was used to telegraph the results of America's Cup yacht races at sea to a station in New York.

Guglielmo Marconi founded his own commercial wireless company in 1901. The demand for the radio increased rapidly. Lee de Forest, the American inventor of the patented audio signal detector picked up by antennae, allowed radio frequencies to be amplified. 

Reginald Fessenden successfully used electromagnetic waves to transmit a voice message in the 1900s, resulting in the first public radio broadcast on December 24th, 1906.

In 1919, the first commercial radio station was built. Listeners used the radio station to tune in to current news and world events. 

Satellite radio technology developed in the late 1990s, initiating its launch in the early 2000s. The updated radio presented clear audio and utilized digital reception. 

Radio helped to develop people's relationships with sports, entertainment, news, and advertising cultures, especially during the Depression and world wars.

Amusement brought people together through music, dancing, comedy, and sports. Its impact on the music industry allowed people to access an assortment of music. 

Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald rose to fame through their exposure through the radio. 

During wartime, the radio was used to inform citizens about what was happening. Authorities took advantage of the radio to promote propaganda. 

Ultimately, radio initiated the innovation of the internet, television, and many other technological advancements. 

Progressive Era

No one wishes to go to war unless it's the last option available. As United States citizens, we must criticize the government as it is our right under the First Amendment. Of course, when war is a threat, mainstream media tries their best to hide it from the public, especially during the Progressive Era.

World War I

In World War I, society was filled with antiwar activists. Antiwar voices advocated for America to not enter the war. As a result, many people were persecuted and thrown in jail for expressing their views. However, no matter how destructive war can be, there is always going to be someone who benefits from war. 

The First Amendment

Americans have the right to freedom of speech and to criticize the government. Taking away antiwar voices is unconstitutional to punish people for stating their opinions on war, and the government is unauthorized to influence how we think by punishing people.

Sides of War

In a war, there is always the good side and the aggressor. For example, Russia and Ukraine are currently at war. Russia deployed its military in Ukraine on February 24th, 2022 attempting to seize Kyiv and other major cities. Many countries, including the United States, supports Ukraine, posing them as innocent. 

Once people indicate which is the good side and which is the aggressor, societies want to display their support for that country, so they can have accessibility at their most vulnerable state. Not choosing a side or choosing the aggressors is frowned upon which is why it's challenging to find antiwar voices.

Why War is Good and Bad

War is beneficial because it compels societies to become more organized and reduces violence. It's also believed to decrease violence between civilians and instill fear from authority figures if you break the law.  The reason war is bad for society is that it impacts the health and well-being of a nation by destroying communities and families, disrupting the economy, and resulting in long-lasting psychological harm.