Final Blog Post #12

 In What Ways Does Social Media Platforms Act as So-Called "Disruptive Technologies"? 

Disruptive technologies are innovations that fundamentally change how consumers function. The innovation is superior and therefore replaces other systems and habits. Social media is a prime example of a disruptive technology by how it has negatively impacted the common consumer. This blog will explore the many different reasons why social media is disruptive regarding the users sense of self and identity, especially to adolescents and future generations. 

While the popularity of social networking sites continues to grow, so does the users’ time on each page. Studies from the Kaiser Foundation show that American youth spend an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes per day on entertainment media. If you total that up, it roughly equals up to eight years of wasted life simply from scrolling on social media. This has numerous effects on young people and their behaviors, which is crucial during the period young people are still developing their personal identities. All in all, living in a media saturated world is changing the way people's identity is being formed which is the main reason why I see social media as a disruptive technology to the flow of life.

Adolescence is described as the period between childhood and adulthood; as well as the developmental stage in which parental influence decreases and peers become more important. Not only does the influence of peers become more important, but the need to be socially accepted, even if you must act like someone you're not, becomes highly salient in the adolescent years. With social media now being added to this statement, the need to be socially accepted becomes even higher. 

Digital Identity

A vital part of growing up is forming our identity. Identity is defined as a reflection of how you perceive yourself, as well as how others perceive you. When having access to multiple social media platforms that can retrieve information about anyone in seconds, it is not uncommon to see a false persona of someone. This is also called a digital identity, compared to an offline identity which is your true self.

This reminds me of the famous painting of the Two Fridas by Kahlo Frida and provides a good visual of this if put into modern day terms. Though the painting is represented more towards in-person interactions revolving around a changed identity, it is also a useful visual in terms of understanding interactions online. The painting portrays Frida, (the creator of the painting), as two side by side images of herself. The left self portrait signifies Frida’s husband wanting her to be someone he desired. The right self portrait shows Frida how she wanted to be seen or truly felt. The direct meaning behind the painting was that her husband wanted her to be someone she is not, creating a false identity for Frida. However, Frida felt compelled to become the person her husband desired which caused her to neglect some of the qualities of her natural self, creating an identity conflict.

The painting of the Two Fridas heavily connects to online and offline identities because it shows how you portray yourself as someone you're not in order to receive acceptance from others, thus having two or more identities that are in conflict with one another. online identity is typically different from one’s real self because people try to portray the perfect sense of appearance and self expression online to receive validations of “likes” and followers, portrayed as acceptance, in hope to avoid rejection from peers. According to a Psychology professor, Mara Van Der Meulen,

people shift to a different persona online to deceive others of their actual life, which includes making everything seem perfect on these platforms in a way they find most desirable and acceptable to others’ because they aren’t able to do so in real life. Simularily, a user has space within social networks to create an online identity that falls within certain peer categories that can be seen as popular or beneficial through a larger view and can change that identity presentation accordingly.

Photo Editing and Photoshop

Additionally, something even more concerning in our society right now, is related to how peer feedback can strongly influence the way people view themselves. Girls are especially sensitive to the media’s ideal thin-body appearance. With peer feedback supporting this, it leads to low self esteem and high body dissatisfaction among people. Media imagery of super models for example, leads to heightened body dissatisfaction for average aged girls, leaving teenagers at high risk for developing eating disorders like anorexia and depression.

Though eating disorders are common when wanting to achieve the ‘perfect image’ of yourself, destructive behaviors manifest in other ways as well, such as young adolescents editing physical online appearances to achieve how they want the world to see them. A Nature Communications article states that when looking at a perfectly clicked picture, we start to admire it, but most pictures we see are not exactly how those people or scenes look like in real life.

Social Media is a place where everyone wants the approval of others, so people try their hardest to post the best picture of themselves they possibly can, even if they have to change their physical identity through an app or filter to make themselves look skinnier or reduce the appearance of blemishes. It is very common for people to feel the need to distort their reality to feel better about themselves and create a false representation of how they want the world to view them. This constant exposure to “perfection and false perfection” from social media ripples toward other young adolescents, ultimately leading to the destruction in development of self-identity and self-esteem in young media users. The concept of identity used here is on a more personal level and suggests that people have desired self-images of themselves that they wish to attain at some time in the future. Hence, individuals aim to transform their current individual characteristics into those of their virtual self-image.

Fake Digital Identity Becomes Fake Offline Identity

Erving Goffman quotes, “individuals develop a sense of self from creating an impression they wish to give to others.” Through likes and comments on social media, we receive the most instantaneous feedback on the adjustments we should make to our identities, which eventually becomes a part of our identity itself. Essentially, adolescents depend on social groups to figure out who they are, and social media becomes an exercise in relentless public judgment.

As I was scrolling on my instagram feed earlier today, I casually saw this everyday post of a girl asking her followers to tell her what she needs to change to be more pretty and to be brutally honest, (image to the right). How crazy is that that she is so desperate to make herself more ideal for her followers that she needs to ask them what to change for more approval. All this leads to is self-censoring and editing of offline identities to match their online ideal identities. This is where people then struggle to reconcile different versions of themselves, what is true and what is not true, especially when managing online and offline friendships.

For reasons relating to personal identity, I believe that maybe there should be an age requirement of eighteen or older for unregulated use of social media platforms since this technology is so disruptive. In this blog, we only explored how the technology was disruptive with identity issues, but there are an abundant of more prominent issues regarding social media, take decreased brain development for example. Having access to all of this information at a young age all in all leads to lasting damaging effects. Whether through time limits, required parental consent, or other nationally mandated means, limiting adolescent use of social media has the potential to drastically increase the quality of life of the young people who currently use it. While limiting social media this way will have positive effects on how adolescents interact with one another, perhaps the greatest effects will come from the protection of the personal identity so that everyone can fulfil their truest sense of self.

Blog Post #11 What I Learned from EOTO #2

 For this EOTO, I learned various new terms and concepts from my classmates that I have never heard of before. The two presentations I found most interesting were about false flags and the gatekeeping theory.

False flags was an entirely new concept to me, and I was especially fascinated to find out that they are still an issue in our world today. The idea of false flags is when a country uses a flag that is not their own. The purpose of a false flag operation is typically to manipulate public opinion or to justify an aggressive action against a targeted group or country. People will usually commit horrific crimes while carrying the flag of their rivals or while costumed as their military, in order to turn the rival country's population against each other. In turn, the country that actually committed the crime will receive more support. The impact of false flags can be significant,  because if a false flag operation is successful in deceiving the public, it can be used to justify military action or other aggressive measures against that particular targeted country or organization. 

It was surprising to hear that even the United States is suspected to have completed a false flag operation. Apparently, the U.S. claimed to have a battle with Vietnam when it did not really happen in order to get the Americans more passionate about going to war with Vietnam. 

Additionally, I have already known about the gatekeeping theory before this EOTO, however, this concept has always amazed me by its relevance to our society. In my opinion, I believe this theory is based around people wanting other people to fail for them to succeed in a way. For example, someone could find this awesome product that treats all acne, but they won't tell anyone about it for various reasons. 1. They want their skin to be looking the best compared to everyone else because of competitive reasons. 2. If they tell people about it and it becomes popular, they don't want it to be sold out in stores so they cannot get it anymore or to become potentially expensive. However, the gatekeeping theory doesn't only revolve around good products or places that people want to keep secret, it also is very relevant in politics. Certain news sources that remain on a certain political spectrum, may only include information that makes their viewpoint stronger, while knowing other certain important information that the public should know, they may choose not to include because it may lead the audience in different directions. 

The way this theory was presented in class is that certain information gets passed along various filters, or"gates" before it reaches an intended audience. For example, journalists and publishers typically get to decide what's stories get covered, and what stories will never reach the public. But, sometimes when the information does get passed down, it goes through these gates of people deciding what to include and what not to include for their own self reward. In everyday interactions, friends decide which news to share with each other. Another social example of gatekeeping is a personal one where I had a friend who knew I was getting cheated on by my boyfriend, but she chose not to say anything because telling me that information, though it would benefit me, did not benefit her. This theory all in all, leads to corruption and is something society needs to move forward from. I really like how this theory was presented, it caught my eye and made me pay close attention.

Blog Post #10 The Diffusion of Innovation

 The Diffusion process of the Telephone

The diffusion of innovation is a concept that explains how new ideas, products, or technologies spread through society over time. Alexander Graham Bell's telephone is a classic example of how this theory can be applied and how his invention had an impact on society as a whole for all future generations to come.

A recap of blog post #7: In the late 1800's, the telegraph was the dominant form of long- distance communication. The telegraph used Morse code to transmit messages over a network of wires, but it was a limited device since you could only transmit short messages. Bell however, saw an opportunity to improve upon this technology by creating a device that would allow people to communicate with each other over long distances. Bell began working on this idea of the telephone in the early 1870s and received a patent for the invention in 1876. 

At first, the telephone was not widely adopted. It was first advertised to mainly kings and queens who could afford it. Bell and his associates had to work hard to convince people of the usefulness of the telephone. They conducted demonstrations and even sent telegrams using the telephone to show its potential. The first telephone exchange was established in 1878 in New Haven, Connecticut, and it took several years for the technology to spread beyond a few cities. 

The diffusion of the telephone was influenced by several factors. The telephone was a complex device that required a lot of wires and other infrastructure to work properly. This made it difficult and expensive to install, and took a long time to be put in place as well. At the time, many people were also hesitant to adopt new technology, especially one that was unfamiliar. 

Beginning in the early 20th century, the telephone had better evolved and started to become more popular to the public. By the 1920's the telephone became a desktop rotary dial phone. This enabled people to conduct business over long distances and grew the infrastructure world. The touch tone pad phone and wall phone were then introduced in the 1960's and 1970's and became accessible to the typical household. Telephone books, 9-1-1, and cordless landlines evolved soon after. 

Then the rise of the internet came into play in the late 20th century which led to a further era of new communication technology. It was made originally for researchers and scientists, but it quickly became a tool for the general public to access information and communicate with each other. In the 1990s, the first mobile phones with internet capabilities were introduced, and the era of the smartphone had begun.

Today, smartphones have changed the way we access information. They are mini- computers that allow us to access the internet, send messages, make phone calls whenever we want, and a wide range of other functions. They have become an essential part of modern life, and they are used by people of all ages and backgrounds. 

overtime the benefits of the telephone had become a global technology in the United States. In 1914, at the start of World War 1, there were 10 people for every working telephone in the U.S. By the end of World War II, 1945, there were five people for every working phone. In 1998, there was one phone for every man, woman, and child. Now, even the homeless typically have phones. This entire process, transformed the way people communicate with each other forever, and the diffusion of innovation process from the telephone continues to grow and will most likely never end. 

Blog Post #9 EOTO Terms and Concepts

  THE SPIRAL OF SILENCE THEORY

The Spiral of Silence Theory is a communication theory proposed by German political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann in 1974. The theory explains how public opinion is formed and how it affects individuals' willingness to speak up or remain silent on certain issues. It is based on the idea that people have a natural tendency to seek acceptance and approval from others, and that this desire can lead to the suppression of unpopular opinions. 

Noelle-Neumann argues that individuals are constantly monitoring their social environment to determine which viewpoints are popular and what opinions are not. People are more prone to keep quiet when they believe their opinion is in the minority because they are afraid of being rejected or socially isolated. On the other hand, people are more willing to speak up when they believe their viewpoint is shared by the majority because they feel more confident and secure in their position.  

You can visualize the spiral effect in the image to the left. The spiral effect unfolds as a result of people's impressions on the dominant public opinion which then influences their next actions and in turn influences other people's perceptions too. As more people remain silent on a particular issue, the perception that the majority supports the dominant opinion becomes even stronger. This sets up a vicious loop that can result in the restriction of free expression and the exclusion of minority viewpoints. 

This Spiral of Silence Theory is often used to explain why certain issues may not receive the attention they deserve or why some people may not speak up on important matters. For example, a person who holds a controversial opinion may choose to remain silent for fear of being ostracized by their social group. Alternatively, a person may publicly express a popular opinion that they do not actually hold, for fear of social isolation or backlash. The theory has also been used to explain why some people may choose not to vote, as they feel that their vote will not make a difference in the in the face of a dominant public opinion. 

Pew Research Center also did a study using 1,801 adults testing the Spiral of Silence Theory
and how it is relevant with social media. The study concluded that "in both personal and online settings, people were more willing to share their views if they thought their audience agreed with them." We see this a lot with social media, not only with certain opinions, but also with people only posting pictures not of their own liking, but for what they think other people will accept and consider to be 'okay' in society and what content will receive the most likes based on their following audience. This is all surrounded by a significant source of fear and anxiety that people have because of our natural need for social validation and acceptance from others. Certain news channels and reporters will also only share information that they feel their audience will like to listen to even if it is not necessarily true or the more right opinion. 

One practical implication of the Spiral of Silence Theory is that it emphasizes the importance of creating safe spaces for individuals to express their opinions. We need to start encouraging open dialogue, and creating a culture of respect and inclusivity. By creating an environment where all voices are valued, individuals may feel more comfortable expressing their opinions, even if they are in the minority. The Spiral of Silence Theory remains a valuable framework for understanding how public opinion is shaped and how individuals can be empowered to express their opinions. By creating a culture of respect and inclusivity, we can help ensure that all voices are heard and that minority opinions are not marginalized. 

Blog Post #8 What I learned from EOTO #1

During our Each One Teach One presentations, I learned many things about the media technologies. So many of my classmates had great presentations that taught me a lot about the history of the media that we use very day. One presentation that specifically caught my eye was the one about the history of emoji's. 

I was surprised when Ben presented his title because his topic was so different than the rest of us. I didn't see the relevance to emojis and the impact they have had on the way we communicate until after his presentation.  Ben started off by telling us that emojis have actually been used since the 1800's. The first emoji was actually used be Abraham Lincoln as he used ";)" in one of his speeches. Shocking right? since then emojis have grown tremendously and have become apart of everybody's everyday use with communicating. Emojis express how we are feeling when it is hard to interpret with using just text and words, or they simply just replace the words itself. My mother for example, really only communicates using emojis.  If I ask her how were day was she simply sends a 'thumbs up' which to me reads, 'it was a good day for her.' 

Additionally, another presentation I found profoundly interesting was the invention of the radio. I did not realize before how the radio completely changed the speed of communication. The first wireless communication led to the development of many other inventions that used radio waves, like the television, mobile phones, and satellite communication. Without the radio, news would take extra days and weeks to reach to reach the general public, and when that happened, most news was irrelevant by then. Music and entertainment also became revolutionized during this period. Before people had to use records and live music for their joy, now you could listen to music whenever you wanted, even during traveling. 

I was also fascinated by the creation of paper. It is definitely another overlooked type of media similar to the emoji, but this is actually something that would be very difficult to live without. Before paper, it was very difficult to store and share information. Or even, create information. Everything had to be done basically be word of mouth. When paper was created and mass-produced. We then saw the pencil, pen, type writer, ect., then come to life. Making our lives much easier.  

Overall, learning about these three technologies was very beneficial to me considering I did not know any facts or information about them before. They are all things we use everyday without thinking, but without them, I am not sure what life would even look like for me. I definitely appreciate these things much more now after learning the history of them and how they have impacted the world. 

Blog Post #7 The Age of AI

In the film, In the Age of AI, we see the complex issue of the new realm of artificial intelligence arise.  It is a documentary that explores the impact of artificial intelligence on society and the economy. The film features interviews with AI experts, entrepreneurs, and researches who discuss the potential benefits and risks of AI, as well as the ethical and social implications of its widespread adoption. The documentary explores various applications of AI, including autonomous vehicles, healthcare, and finance. It also examines the ways in which AI is changing the nature of work and the job market, and the potential impact of these changes on individuals and society as a whole. 

There are many positive attributes regarding artificial intelligence. In the documentary, it shows how you can get a loan in only eight seconds using AI, where as before, it was an entire long process. It also has the capability to replace human drivers to reduce human error on the highways. A company called Embark, has already created self driving trucks to deliver long distance items and commercial goods from California to Arizona. The path is created by a human and then delivered by an AI computerized truck. The truck is said to be 10 times safer than a human driver. So, to reduce traffic fatalities which is the number one fatality in the United States, the solution is to make artificial intelligence take over the highway to do the long distance rides and deliveries. 

Additionally, the impact of AI on health care has been extremely beneficial so far. AI has improved doctors errors and has helped create care plans and cures for cancer patients like never before. It is also able to predict which patients need surgery and which would be better without the surgery. After doctors went through the number of patients who have had surgery regarding breast cancer, AI discovered that only 10% of those people actually needed the surgery and the other people would have been better without it. It can also predict which patient's cancer is more likely to come back and when exactly that may happen. 

Even the best of us do not have enough computer power in our heads, AI makes it very helpful for us since it is much more efficient and intelligent. AI can solve 10 advanced mathematical problems and principals in just under one minute, when it may take a human 5 minutes to do one problem. AI can process information a billion times faster than us. AI is able to think, imagine, and see things in ways that we never have before, which helps us in turn, be more creative. We now have new approaches to climate change and cancer cures, two very pressing and current issues in our world, thanks to artificial intelligence. One interviewer from the documentary said "You would have to be a huge pessimist to not find the good news in AI."

However, with all of these amazing things about AI, there are also some scary cons to it. This is only the early decade of a multiword adjustment. That being said, we don't know much about it yet, its powers, what it is truly capable of. We all have an underlying fear that technology is going to take over the world one day, and I believe with AI, this is actually going to happen. The most scary thing about it too, is that there is no turning back now, because it is already here. There are many ethical issues with the use of AI such as people cheating. People are cutting their work short with the help of AI which is a good thing, but also a negative thing for obvious reasons. AI is also said to threaten 50% of jobs in the next 15 years. Not just blue collar jobs, but mainly white collar jobs due to there analytical process that can easily be replaced by a machine. 

Something that has recently just happened on to all users on Snapchat, 332 million people, is we now have our own personal AI Chatbox. It wasn't something we had to accept, it just appeared on our Snapchat screens this past Friday at the same time for everyone. You can not remove this new feature. It stays at the very top of your screen labeled "My AI" before all of your recent chatted people on the app. You can't even move it to be at the bottom of your friends list, it will only stay at the top. You can ask it anything like how you would ask ChatGPT for example. But now, it is at your finger tips, available for everyone to use that owns a Snapchat account. I provided an example of some questions you can ask it too image on the left. The response time was nearly a few milliseconds. This is insanity to me. 

Since the start of our world there has been five beginnings, these beginnings mark periods of significant change to human existence. According to Robert Kelly, the order of these beginning's are technology, culture, agriculture, the state, and finally the fifth beginning we are in right now, cooperation. With this, I would be surprised if artificial intelligence doesn't become the new sixth beginning. Overall, artificial intelligence presents a thought-provoking look at the opportunities and challenges presented by this rapidly evolving technology, and offers a glimpse into the future of AI and its potential impact on our lives. 

Blog Post #6 The Progressive Era

 Why Do We Never Hear About Anti-War Voices on the Mainstream News Channels?

As I was reading through some of the articles on Anti-War.com and the The American Conservative, I realized just how toxic the media is. I wish I knew more about these types of voices because I have learned new opinions and theories that I have never heard before. 

We believe in the news that we see everyday like FOX and CNN News, which is why we typically do not go out of our way to anti-war sites, or go out of our way to research what the media doesn't cover because most of these sites tend to seem not credible and suspicious. 

However, after going through these websites I have realized that the people writing these articles are not just regular people, but professional politicians who are highly educated on these topics. Whether we don't hear of anti-war voices because the government censors this type of media still, or because the media chooses to not cover this information due to biases and the revenue they are more likely to receive; the media is just flat out lying to us.  What and who are we supposed to trust?

The idea of protecting dissent right now is crucial because the popular idea is currently going to war. Therefore, the mainstream news channels choose to spend their air time covering the idea of going to war because that is the majority view and they want to aid those people in more knowledge who hold the majority view. They push for this voice to be heard rather than the opposing side because of the majority of viewers who want to hear what they want to hear. 

Those who speak out against war are often the first to be suppressed, particularly because it is a subject that is viewed as contrary to the government's interests. Despite living in a democratic society, those who oppose war are perceived as opposing the government, which is generally not accepted, despite our right to freedom of expression. 

It is clear to me that there are dishonest individuals working for manipulative organizations who try to persuade everyone to agree with them. There needs to be more peace among disagreeing voices so everyone has their right to express themselves equally without being censored or having to be afraid to voice your opinion and disagree with the majority.