My Love Hate Relationship with Technology

                                             My Love Hate Relationship With Technology

Technology is something the average person can no longer live without. Personally I am your average twenty one year old college student. I love to hang out with my friends and family, go to the beach, listen to music, and socialize with others and as silly as it sounds I would not be able to do mostly everything I enjoy doing without the use of technology. 

I was born in England and my family immigrated to the United States in 2006. All my extended family still reside in England therefore we have to communicate over the telephone or FaceTime. I will forever be thankful for technology for the gift of being able to stay in touch with my family across the pond. My heart will forever be in England and with the help of technology I do not feel like there's an ocean between my grandparents and I. 

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I am also thankful we have technology and social media. While I do think social media does have some negatives and does create toxicity and can be fake most of the time I am thankful for the community it provides. I use the social media websites Facebook, Instagram, I Message , Snapchat, and TikTok daily to communicate with both my families overseas and friends from Charlotte. I love seeing what everyone is up to and makes you feel like you are there with them enjoying the happy times. 

Technology and social media has also given me a support group I never knew I needed. When I was seventeen years old I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and I haven’t looked back. To be honest for the first few years I felt very isolated and lacked confidence with my health issues. Fortunately with the help of Instagram accounts like Beyond Type 1, and  the JDRF or Facebook groups I have found a lot of support and a community of people who know what I am going through everyday and will forever be thankful to social media and technology for giving me my confidence back when it comes to my Diabetes. 

Beyond Type 1 Instagram link

Beyond Type 1 Website

JDRF

I am also thankful when it comes to health technology as due to technological advances in the medical world I can take more control of my Diabetes. I wear a continuous glucose monitor on my stomach or my arm called a Dexcom G6. I connect a new Dexcom every 10 days to my phone using Bluetooth. The app then alerts me when my blood sugars are going up or down 24/7. I will forever be thankful for technological advances when it comes to Diabetes care as I can manage my illness with confidence and get my life back. Without my Dexcom I would have consistent fear when it comes to blood sugars especially at night time. With Diabetes you are always on a moving train and the Dexcom helps me pause and relax once in a while. It is also not enjoyable being a human pincushion and with the help of technology I am no longer one. 

An example of my Dexom app. The average persons blood sugars are always in between 80-120. Dexcom Website

Rocking my Dexcom with another Diabetic at a Jonas Brothers Concert! It is always fun meeting new people with Diabetes as they understand the up's and downs of the disease.

I also do think that social media and technology has made the world a more dangerous place unfortunately. We can never escape technology as we live in a very digital world. I am constantly looking at what others are doing and comparing myself to others which is not healthy. I have had thoughts of not being good enough or pretty enough and sadly I do think that is due to the fact that you constantly see many unrealistic beauty standards online. Technology has taken away some of my confidence when it comes to looks but it has given me my confidence back when it comes to my health which is worth more to me.

I also think you can not escape technology as it is everywhere which can be unhealthy. It is always following you and we rely on it so much. Without technology many would feel lost including myself. I can not imagine a world without technology and social media and it is not going anywhere anytime soon.

EOTO REACTION- The Email

 Wow! The EOTO projects were very impressive and I learned some really cool and new information. The project that really stood out to me was learning all about e-mail. 

For as long as I can remember I have always had an email address  to communicate with family who live overseas in the United Kingdom,  Australia, and New Zealand. Email though is an amazing way for companies to send newsletters about upcoming "drops' ' that are happening within the company. Personally, I use email to buy clothing at boutiques or clothing stores. I have a subscription to send me pictures of new clothes, I click the link and then boom I can purchase the clothing item in one click. 

I also use email to get news updates. Getting email news updates is very helpful as I am a busy college student who does not have time to sit down and watch a 30 minute newscast every night. 

Email is an amazing way to communicate with others about almost anything and I can not imagine my life without it.

An example of clothing stores or companies sending me deals over email.

              News update from New York Times via email.

EOTO- Gate Keeping

 Gatekeeping what is it? In my personal opinion gatekeeping is a term used a lot but many do not understand what it actually means or has their own different meaning. I was excited to take a deep dive and learn more about what gatekeeping is. 

First thing first was what does Gatekeeping actually mean. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines gate keeping as “ one who tends to take guard” or a “ person who controls access”. I decided to get some more definitions from other websites. Communication Theory.org defines gatekeeping as “ [a gatekeeper] as a person who decides what information should move to a group or individual and what information should not…  The gatekeeper is having its own influence like social, cultural, ethical and political.” The Cut. com describes gatekeeping as “ When an individual or group controls access to goods and services but particularly to information and people with power”. Based on the information given by these three websites I have decided that my own personal definition of gatekeeping is when someone or something decides ( or decides)  not to share information they want to make public; this could be anything from their personal life to big government information.” 

I think what makes gatekeeping so fascinating and unknown to what it really means is due to the fact it can be so broad. Before doing this research I had only really heard of gatekeeping on a more lighthearted note. Being a twenty something “girly girl” college student I am a big follower of beauty bloggers and social media influencers. In the influencer world a gatekeeper is someone who gets criticism for not sharing the products they use or where they go for meals, etc because they do not want people who follow them to use the products so they do not sell out. If an influencer is accused of gatekeeping online they usually face a lot of criticism for not being real and upfront with their followers and ultimately usually lose the following they gained online. At the end of the day an influencer is supposed to help followers find products, not hide it from them. 

Now that gatekeeping at the end of the day is not really that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things but gatekeeping can get way more serious. Throughout taking Media Law and Literacy I have realized that many big corporations are not telling the whole truth about what they know about us which is really scary to think about. Many online websites like Facebook ( or Meta as a whole), Google, and Amazon ( mostly for Amazon Alexa) get our information after we go on their websites and store it and discover everything about us. This is honestly very scary to think about as they never shout it from the rooftops that they know our information, in fact if it was not for investigators finding out they do store information the world would have probably have ever known. 

Gatekeeping is a basic principle that can be light hearted or have a deep meaning. At the end of the day we have probably all been a “gatekeeper” at one point in our lives!   

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Blog post 8- Privacy Online

 This week’s blog post was all about the invasion of privacy online. The Internet is a very scary place that we rely on every minute of every day.

A video that stood out to me was the Juan Enriquez Ted Talk, “ Your Online Life is A Permanent Tattoo”. The Ted Talk was an “aha moment” for me personally. For many getting a tattoo is a big deal as it is on our body forever unless we pay the “big bucks” to get them painfully removed. While very different, posting something online is permanent and will always be on the world wide web once posted. Even though you can “ delete” a post off social media or online the traces will be there forever and views can screenshot or still see posts so therefore it really is not gone forever. It is important for everyone to understand that and make sure they are actually proud and think about what they post online fits their personal brand or viewpoints

We live in a very scary world so it is also important to know and realize that  our privacy is not really protected online. Once we put in our email’s or information online databases know all about us which is terrifying. It makes me scared for older generations as they are more gullible than my generation ( Gen-Z). We just have to make sure we are extra careful online and use fake emails, or names to not be a victim of anything from the internet! Be cautious it's scary out here! 

Blog Post 7- A New Innovation

 One innovation that has changed my world is Instagram. Instagram was created and founded in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger but is now owned by Meta. Instagram is a very fun and easy to use social media app that lets users post up to ten photos or videos in one post or they can do instagram stories where posts are only on users feeds for 24 hours. 

I personally use Instagram every day to connect with friends and family who live overseas in the U.K but I also love it as I get to follow organizations that are important for me. 

I am a Type One Diabetic and like to meet other people who also have diabetes. At times being a college student with diabetes can feel isolating and hard but I follow many instagram accounts like beyondtype1 or the JDRF. These instagram accounts help connect other diabetics together which helps me not feel alone and gives me the opportunity to connect with others who go through what I go through on a daily basis. I would have not found out about these organizations or have connected with people if it was not for Instagram. I find it hard or challenging to open up to my friends about my Type 1 Diabetes as they can not relate to what I am going through. Therefore I find these instagram accounts as a way to open up to other diabetics and to help me know I am not alone.

While at times Instagram can be stressful or used as an app to compare yourself to others I am forever thankful for the opportunities it has given me and helps me connect with people who go through what I go through!

The Age of AI- Frontline Dcumentary Review

     In class today we watched the PBS produced show Frontline's documentary on the Age of A.I                ( Artificial Intelligence).  The documentary was very eyeopening and viewers learned all about the scary reality that is coming due to the fact AI is taking over the world. 

    One of the biggest reasons for Job loss here in the United States is due to AI especially in the automobile industry. Even now AI is taking over the acting industry. A relevant topic with this is  WGA strike. Many writers are going on strike as they are not being paid enough but also AI is writing scripts and information for the writers instead which is very sad. A.I is also taking jobs in the hospitality industry. Panera Bread, McDonalds, and many more fast food restaurants are turning to self serve order systems which is taking away many jobs for people.  While it may be faster for customers to order at a tablet it is very unfortunate jobs are being taken away and many do not know where to turn next. 

click the link to learn more about the strike

    It is also scary how much all these online websites and google, facebook, and other social media sites know about us. These sites want to know so much about us. Google looks at everything we browse and looks at traces of what we look up to know about us. In my opinion this is absolutely horrifying and makes us think how much do people know about us. Google and Facebook " cast a net for data". 

    

Artificial Intelligence is taking over our world and it is a very scary reality. 

All About Google

Close your eyes and picture the internet, I bet there's a good chance you are thinking of Google right now. Google has taken the world by storm since its founding. Let's take a deep dive into the history and the amazing impact Google has had on society and the world. \

Google is an American founded website search engine. It was created by two Stanford University students Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998. Ever Since Google's founding it has taken over the world which is honestly kind of scary! In fact in 2023 Google was responsible for 98.2% of the market share which shows how much of a dominant search engine it is. Google also gets 8.5 billion searches a day which is truly insane to think about. I think that information alone proves how much we really rely on the internet and technology to communicate with one another. Google makes anything and mostly everything available to us at our fingertips. In 2013 Google had an internet shortage ( basically it stopped working) for five minutes and due to that forty percent of the world’ internet usage dropped. That proves that as a society we really do depend on Google to get our information, and really live our life. 

Without google nothing is available to us. Google is our gateway to information and our way to connect with the world. With that being said it is our way to access information that may not be good or valuable. It can also lead to misinformation which can lead to bad communication. The use of google can also lead to cyberbullying and cruel information online. If we did not have google people would not be able to access the websites online that lead to cyberbullying and misinformation. I often think about the January 6th riots and wonder if we did not have google or the power to get on websites or social media sites would the riots or protests would have happened? I also wonder if without google and the internet we would not be as divided in political views. If we did not have the power to share information or create accounts expressing our political views, maybe we wouldn't be as divided as a country or be so vocal about political views. Google is a truly amazing resource but with all good things there are some negatives but overall I do find Google truly amazing and could not imagine life without it. Google also has many resources now like google maps, google earth, google scholar, google images, google chrome, and doodle for google. 

I can not imagine a world without google. I personally use google chrome which is google's fast and free internet web browser ( https://blog.google/products/chrome/) for almost everything I do. Without google I could not do anything I do on a regular basis. I wouldn't be able to communicate with loved ones overseas, complete homework assignments, and everything else the internet provides for us. Google is truly amazing and provides us the ability to know anything.