Final: Is Technology Good or Bad?

Technology has been around for all of my life, I don't think could picture a world without it. Most days when you are walking or even just sitting in a crowded area, have you ever noticed how many people are just staring at their phones or laptops. We live in a society where our generation depends on technology, and I don't just mean our phones. The definition of what classifies something as a piece of technology is a "machinery or equipment developed from the application of scientific knowledge".

While doing a project on the History of Streaming Services , I found out that when most people are sitting down watching Netflix, they are binge watching. Binge watching is when you are sitting down for an extensive period of time watching a series of a show. When people are binge watching they are spending about six hours on average per day watching Netflix or other streaming services. I don't know about you but that is almost a forth of your day spent inside when you could be doing something productive. 

There is also a negative aspect on the thought of how bullying has increased and the outcomes are terrifying. Most biggest fear is making sure they are well liked in school but if you aren't the internet could be your worst enemy. In middle school my class was shown this movie called Cyberbully, this film illustrated what it was like for a person who got made fun of and bullied through the internet by girls hiding behind a screen. The bullying had gotten so bad to the point, she thought that the world would be a better place without her in it. Today we see this happening so much it is sickening, and people need to speak up about this very serious topic.

Now technology isn't something that should just be seen as something that is "ruining" this upcoming generation's minds but should also noticed for all the good that it has brought to us. If there were no cars, buses, airplanes, or trains invented people would have to walk and it would take forever for you to get to your final destination. Even when you are sending a letter or package to a loved one, how do you think it gets there. The answer is through our transportation system. 

Transportation has changed the way we communicate and trade, it was easier, safer, faster, and more comfortable. Whenever people would be traveling by animal or on foot people would only be able to travel a total of about 20 miles a day, whereas today we can travel up to thousands of miles on average. Transportation enable the ability for us to trade with many different countries. Without the trade world we would not have half of the things we have today because so much of the inventions we have come from many other countries, like all the laptops that college kids use, they come from China. 

The invention of A.I changed the learning world forever making it easier for people to access answers they are looking for a lot quicker. Businesses could use AI to reduce the investment of time and resources they would use on a human employees. This would save businesses a bunch of money since they wouldn't have to pay for the employees and achieve higher output levels. 

When it comes to talking about technology people always think about teenagers on their phones, but there are a lot of positive technology inventions. Technology has significantly transformed our worlds, going on in the future instead of focusing on creating new inventions, we should look to fix some of the negative aspects of the inventions we have now.

EOTO 2: What I Learned

I thought learning about the Spiral of Silence done by my classmate Kyra Clark was very interesting and she did an amazing job. The Spiral of Silence is a theory which states that an individual's perception of the distribution of public opinions influence that individual's willingness to express their own opinions. This concept was created by the lovely woman, Elisabeth Noelle Neumann. 

The spiral of silence is present in everyday life because, many people are afraid of speaking up due to thinking they will be judged by others. A big issue that represents the spiral of silence is domestic abuse in relationships. people believe that if they say something they may be judged by others or they just won't be believed. 

Domestic abuse is such a serious topic and isn't spoken up about enough. Around 50% of abuse cases are reported to authorities only 50% and the likelihood of it happening is 1 in 4 relationships. Women or men who do't report it believe they are trapped because they might not have the finances or might be threatened by their significant other. 

Like everything else there are pros and cons to the spiral of silence. With the spiral of silence we can determine how much the media can influence what people will and won't say. When it comes to the media, people want to fit in and follow the recent trends, so when doing studies this can really help get data for the case study. It could also make it out to be that people who speak out about their opinion are the minority if they do not see it the same way. 

I feel that the spiral of silence is a very realistic thing that explains the reason of people not speaking up. People should want to voice their opinion no matter what other people might think because, you never know if other people will have the same mindset or not unless you try. I hope one day that people can feel like they can voice their opinions without feeling like they will get "cancelled" for what they have said.

EOTO 2: Five Eyes

 The five eyes is not actually something that has five eyes. The Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance between five countries: United States, Canada, The United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. 

It all began with the UKUSA agreement in 1946 and it still stand to this day. It was created for cooperative signals intelligence sharing among these nations. The alliance is known for its close collaboration in intelligence gathering and sharing. Its primary goal is to gather, analyze, and share critical intelligence, particularly related to national security, terrorism, and military threats. It is one of the most significant intelligence-sharing arrangements in history!

The alliance however does not just stop at these five countries. You have the Nine Eyes which is the original five plus Denmark, France, The Netherlands, and Norway. Wait it doesn't stop there either there are Fourteen Eyes, which is the Nine eyes plus Germany, Belgium, Italy, Sweden, and finally Spain. These alliances all enhance global surveillance capabilities; they also spark debates about privacy and the boundaries of national security.

You may think this is a very good alliance for us because we can find out information very easily but what does this alliance mean for civilians of these countries. The alliance does uphold national security and tackles global threats, which contributes to our safety. The price that we pay through is our privacy. The secrecy surrounding the intelligence-sharing activities of the Five Eyes countries makes it difficult for the public to know how their data is being used and whether it is being exploited for purposes beyond security.

If a country belongs to this alliance they could spy on another countries citizens and share what they find. For example, if it is illegal for a country like the United States to spy on its own citizens, it could potentially circumvent that limitation by requesting information from its Five Eyes partners. These nations can collect data on foreign individuals or their own citizens, and share that data freely through the alliance. This is how the loophole of spying came into play. Instead of directly violating domestic laws by surveilling their own people, governments can use the intelligence of foreign nations to monitor communications, track movements, and gather other forms of data without formally breaching national privacy protections. It's a way of sidestepping domestic legal frameworks while still collecting valuable intelligence.

Now this alliance is not all bad and is very helpful in many other ways. It advances our technology and cybersecurity, by allowing joint work to be done. Coordinating on issues like hacking, cyber espionage, and digital warfare enables member states to develop stronger defenses against evolving threats. It also allows for a stronger military alliance between these countries, and the cooperation contributes to regional stability, particularly in conflict zones.

I personally believe this alliance is a good thing for society but it really makes me question if I have ever been spied on.  The alliance could really come in handy if another world war starts because we would have many alliances, but part of the alliance being a thing is to help prevent anything like that from happening. 

The Diffusion Theory

 Will electric cars be the only option in our soon future? This debate that has been going on is a very good question, because some people believe that electric cars are better or the environment or that they are a cheaper way to go in the long run. 

In 2010, Tesla had been released and available to the public to buy. Most had decided to change because they believed for it to be better for the environment and a cheaper option for them, since they would have to buy gas. There are groups to describe the different types of adapters to new inventions. 

There are 5 different types of groups in the Diffusion theory. The first group is 2.5% which is the innovators, they people you think and create the idea from a cloud of thought and make it come to life. The next group which is 13.5% of people, is the early adapters, the group who is very enthusiastic and accepting of the invention being presented. This group also helps business and innovators spread the word about the invention and brag about how much it has changed the buyers lives. 

Once the word is out that the invention is very beneficial for many others the next group decide that they want to hope on the latest trend, this group is the Early Majority which is 34% of people. Now they wouldn't be the first people to buy a new invention, as they would be maybe a little skeptical they would adapt eventually once they realize it is becoming a new trend. 

Now that most of the people around have gotten the invention and believe that it is good then another majority of people decide that it is time to adapt to a new thing. Late Majority which is 34% of the population as well, takes up a good bit of the population but there is always a certain person we know that no matter what people say or do, they will just not go along with it even if it is more convenient. 

This group which makes up 16% of people is called the laggards, makes sense because they are lagging on the most recent technology change. When we were learning about the Diffusion of innovation model, my teacher told us a story about how he once was a laggard. 

When the portable phone came out, he had decided that he did not want to have one because he wanted to feel disconnected from the world on his time off. I mean can you blame him? It wasn't until he had run out of gas on the highway and he was not around many other cars, that he had wished he had a phone to call for help in these types of emergencies. He then decided after that day that he would go to the store to buy a phone and adapt to the new technology that he was going to be forced to accept. 

I find it very interesting that there are people to this day like my very own grandmother does not have a phone, I could not imagine my life without mine. It makes me really think how different society today would be if certain inventions never took off like phones and electric/self driving car. 

The Progressive Era

The Progressive Era is one of the most known turn-of-the-century political movement interested in furthering social and political reform. The movement was started after WWI, when the The Birth of a Nation was released. The movie was causing riots and fist fights, which caused Ohio to ban the movie.

The filmmakers ended up suing the state of Ohio, saying it violated their First Amendment rights. The filmmakers were saying it was a prior restraint, which is when the government stops you from speaking or writing before you've even done it. 

The court wanted to side with Ohio, but for that to happen they had to prove that the movie was not protected by the First Amendment. They decided that the movie was purely action and not speech, therefore the film was not to be protected by the First Amendment. This being said, had solidified our first great dichotomy, which is call the Speech Action Dichotomy.

There are a lot of situations in society where we see this happening, people voices being silenced for speaking their minds about the government. Websites like Antiwar.com and The American Conservative are websites that you wouldn't see everyday that you research information on different news stories. Do you ever wonder why that is?

Although the government can not silence these specific voices, they can control what other voices are more of a first option, available to the public more than the voices they wish to be silenced. I believe that all types of opinions should be a first choice or second choice offered, because different types of news bring different ways of things to view topics and if you are blocking people from getting the full story from different views then their opinion might be biased. 

Knowing this information, I will look for different viewpoints on different topics before creating an opinion because I like to have all the pieces of the story before judging and questioning peoples decisions. Now as much as I want to have all the pieces there also could be a negative viewpoint of this law. There are some pieces of new that people are not happy with that they decide to revolt and do a protest. know a protest is an okay thing to do unless it is an unpeaceful protest then law enforcement is obligated to step in to protect peoples property and lives. 

I really liked looking into this era because it made me realize that I did not always have the full story or the full truth was been hidden from me. It also made me think that if the government wants something to go in their favor they have the power to try and change it, but why don't we?

Does Privacy Even Exist?

How do we know if what we are saying in a private conversation is actually private and not heard by others? The TED talk that I found brought the most light to this major issue in society was done by Finn Mystrad

He uses the example of the Kayla doll, a blonde innocent looking little girl doll, but it was anything but that. The doll used speech recognition technology in conjunction with a smart phone app to recognize a child's speech and perform conversations with the users. 

The companies could harvest masses of personal information while your family could be chatting in the safety of their homes. The companies could then use these recordings for target advertising. It is the biggest false sense of security; families believe this harmless doll can act as a friend but then could be secretly spying on them. 

Even when someone who is not in the room of the doll if they are close enough to it and have the app on their phone, no password needed; they too can connect to the doll and even talk through the doll. This raised major red flags because kidnappers or buglers could manipulate the child into giving them information or even meeting up with them. 

The doll has been banned in Germany and was taken off the shelves for businesses like Walmart and Amazon. The doll is currently in the Spy Museum in Berlin. 

Everyday people are exposing themselves to the threat of their privacy been taken advantage of by just simply connecting to the internet every day. When living in a society that is ruled by technology it really makes you think how much of your own information is out in the world, that you do not even know about. Apps and websites get you by getting you to agree to the terms and conditions because, who ever really reads all the terms and conditions of every app and website they visit. 

Finn used a very good example when he put his theory to test. He got a dating app and made a profile, but little did he know in a small little check marked box it said that he was agreeing to give them access to his personal photos on Facebook. It also was saying that all his dating history that was shared privately, could be used in third parties for all time. 

I do not know about you guys, but I think it's safe to say I will never use a dating app ever and will always think very closely before I share my personal information out on any type of app/social media. 

EOTO Presentation learning

 During the EOTO presentations, we were told to blog about one technology that we learned about from someone else. I have chose to talk about the postal service. Although people might not think of the postal service as a form of modern technology, the postal service is something that has always been a way that people send letters, packages, and etc. 

In 1775 when the second Continental Congress established the first post agency, appointing Benjamin Franklin as the first postmaster general. A postmaster general was an overseer of all operations and ensuring that the agency fulfills its' public service mission and maintains financial sustainability. 

From 1829 to 1971 the postmaster position was a part of the presidents cabinet. Whenever the Post Office Department was recognized into the independent U.S Postal Service which meant they were chosen by the USPS Board of Governors.

In 1776 the would deliver mail by horseback riders or slaves walking on foot. They soon evolved to horse-drawn wagons, which allowed the person delivering to be more comfortable and be able to deliver bigger items or more items. In 1820 they started using boats to deliver mail over large bodies of water. The invention of the bike changed the mail delivery world upside down, even though it wasn't a high paying job at the time it was very time efficient with speeding up the processing of getting more mail delivered. The bike did slowly die off as automobiles were invented but it wasn't until 1986 that the iconic mail truck we see in todays society was created.

The postal service is something that has given many advantages to us in life but like everything else it does have cons. When you are sending a letter or package to someone you expect for it to be seen by those persons eyes, well that is not always the case because there is a major problem with people opening other peoples mail and it is then never guaranteed to get to the person it was entitled for. People have also been caught drug smuggling, which is a major problem in the mail and many other forms of transportation. 

The postal service is something I believe will never go out of business because it is one of the biggest ways people communicate and online shopping exists. Although many competitors have tried to challenge the postal service, they just aren't even close and are quickly losing money in the process. They did lose a lot of business during Covid, people have moved their forms of communication to technology. They will forever have business especially due to mail in ballots. 

I loved learning about the postal service because I feel like people my age do not use it as much because they do not know enough information about it, specifically how it works and how to send letters. Hopefully the postal service is around forever because they strive to make it available and affordable to everyone. 

The History of Streaming Services

Before streaming services and renting services were available for people to use, people would go to movie theaters, or they would have to wait till the film had been showed on the television. (I know so hard to believe people would actually go out). In the late 1970s, early 1980s VHS's (Video Home System) were available to be rented and then later in the 1990s DVD's (Digital Video Disc) followed. To get these rentals, people would go to movie rental places like blockbuster and Family Video.

The first known renting service that was located in Los Angeles, California, was Video Station. Video station was founded in December 1977 by George Atkinson. Although Video Station was one of the first rental services it was not by far the biggest, that award goes to Blockbuster. Blockbuster was the biggest rental service from its founding date in year 1985 till the early 2000s until Netflix came along.

When you rented a movie from one of the renting services, you had to make sure the movie was returned on time or you would get fined with ridiculous late fees, which still happen today in the world. After Reed Hastings was charged a $40 late fee from Blockbuster, for returning "Apollo 13" late, he had decided that he wanted to invent a renting service that didn't charge you late fees for returning the movie in late. Later him and Marc Randolph came up with the idea of Netflix, which didn't start the way you know it today. Netflix started as a mail in DVD-by-mail service. 

In 2007 after YouTube launched their online video sharing company, Netflix had decided to make an upgrade where you can instantly stream movies and TV shows from the digital library with just a click of a button. 

Blockbuster had attempted to launch their own online rental streaming service to keep up with the trend. Their effort to stay in business was a good one but they were unfortunately too late, so many people had already transferred their business to Netflix, so Blockbuster officially filed for bankruptcy in 2010. Other companies had entered the race since then like Hulu in 2010, Prime Video in 2015, Disney + (releasing movies that were released by Walt Disney studios) in 2019, and finally HBO Max in 2020. As surprising as it is none of these seem to be a threat to each other as many families have either one or even multiple in their homes. 

Netflix and other streaming services have to make sure they are keeping up with the latest trends and making sure they are streaming shows that are very popular because we live in a society where we expect our modern needs everywhere we go. If a store or website does not have exactly what we want we will leave and go to another one until we find exactly what we are looking for, because somewhere will have it. 

Now as we all love to watch our favorite shows and movies on our free time, over 70% of those watching series on Netflix are binge watching. Binge watching means watching multiple episodes of a show in rapid succession. Those who are binge watching are engaging on the site for an average of 6 hours a day. That is 1/4 of your day spent staring at a screen and potentially ruining your eyes. 

Stanford University did a study in 2013-2015 that showed that the overuse of Netflix and other streaming services can lead to issues such as sleep deprivation, weight gain, hormonal imbalance, and slight brain damage. 

Binge watching can also lead to gradual relationship breakdown and a decreased ability to form new relationships. About 10% have reported issues within their relationships and about 72% has said it has no impact at all in their relationship. I personally feel like no matter if the issue is so small or not everyone's relationships have been changed by streaming services and people just do not want to admit that they are allowing technology to effect the relationships they have with others.

Streaming services have turned our world upside down, is it for the better? I am still trying to figure out an answer myself, but I believe they will forever be around and evolving and adapting alongside us. It is sad to see that people do not go to the movies as much because it is more isolating to stay inside but, Covid also had a major effect on that as well, so its unclear why people have stopped going to movie theaters and hopefully one day they make a come back.