Final Post

 

Final Post

   Throughout this course, I have learned a lot about technology. Since a young age, I have been surrounded by smart technology and artificial intelligence. I had an iPod by fifth grade, iPhone by 6th, as well as an iPad. Getting access to technology at such an early age was definitely for communication with my parents and staying in contact with them when I was at extracurriculars. It has always been a huge part of my life and society as a whole, so I have never known life without it. Technology has given the world so much and has advanced, grown, and adapted throughout the years. Although its impact has had both negative and positive effects, I know that our world has benefited from its advancement over time. Throughout Media Law and Literacy, I have been exposed to more about how integrated technology really is in our daily lives. 

My relationship

My relationship with technology cannot be described as healthy or unhealthy because there is so much baggage that comes with it. In terms of physically using technology, my daily average screen time on my phone is 4 hours and 21 minutes. This is not a terribly long time considering I use it to connect with others and will use it for work and school purposes as well. Therefore, I think my relationship is healthy, and I spend a lot of my time interacting with others face-to-face. 

I have always used social media in a professional way, needing to use it for branding purposes through pageants. I have used it working for companies and running the social medias for two different stores I worked at when I was in High School. I feel like running those accounts and enjoying it was a reason why I still use social media as often as I do. I also am now studying Strategic Communications and minoring in Social Media Marketing so using social media could become a full time job for me. 

Throughout Covid-19 and quarantining, I did not originally have a healthy relationship with technology because it was my only way to communicate with others. I was on my phone and computer all of the time while at home and developed a very toxic relationship with technology. All of the negative effects that came with social media were amplified and constant in my daily life. After a while, I realized how toxic it had become in my life and started to spend more time outdoors and exercising. I started to learn that I needed to limit my screen time and use my screen time in a positive manner. I used to sit and scroll for hours and the algorithm will take a hold of me and send me down a spiral of related content. Once realizing this I believe that can be the first step in getting away from the hold that social media can have on you.  

Social Media 

Social media is one of the biggest uses of technology. The use of social media has rapidly grown since the end of the twentieth century and has changed how we communicate with others. There are currently an estimated 4.7 billion users around the world. Social networking sites, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube, have had many an immense impact on society by connecting the world and giving a close-up look into each other's lives. I have all of the above listed social medias and use them all consistently in my everyday life.

Social media has taken a toll on many users' mental health, including my own. All of the negative effects, such as FOMO, depression, body image issues, and anxiety, have heightened in all of us with the rise of social media. Social Media has also increased the amount of cyberbullying, adding to the effect that technology has on mental health. Harassment and bullying on online platforms have increased, especially in an anonymous form. Access to direct contact with others makes it so dangerous for anonymous bullying as well as anonymous threats. Everyone's personal and private information can also be more easily exposed and permanently live on the internet. This causes an increase in stalking, identity theft, fraud, and account hacking. Although, this did increase the strength of cyber security and helped create better media laws on the internet.  

I feel I definitely give technology more time than I should. Although I will spend time face-to-face with others, technology can still be a major distraction in my life. I have to rely on it every second due to work, school, extracurriculars, and contact with my friends and family. It can end up taking up a lot of time in my life, but the reasons listed above are important to me, so I feel like the amount of time I give to technology is valid.  

In the sense of technology in a news aspect, you have to take everything you see with a grain of salt. It is important to understand that everything you read, see, or hear might not be true or come from a reliable source. Technology has been revolutionary in connecting the world and sharing news in a matter of seconds or even live. We have access to pretty much anything and everything. This has made us smarter in gaining more knowledge; we just need to be aware that the news could be fake or misleading. I worry about these things sometimes, but I feel comfortable that the news is not ideal; I believe it is what we must deal with in order to keep our freedoms. It is an accepted part of the society we live in, but we can stop it from occurring as often by fact-checking and being more aware.

Technology creates a huge draft between generations. Older generations, like my grandparents, do not understand how to use technology and will get frustrated with it often. They have a very negative relationship with technology because it is ever-changing, making it hard for them to keep up. Technology has become a vital tool that you need in order to communicate and connect with others, leaving non-technology users disconnected and essentially left out of society. It is hard for the older generations to grasp the concepts of all of these new technologies and social platforms that they did not grow up with. This lack of understanding of how to use technology can heighten their chance of believing misleading information and getting taken advantage of. They can either completely and blindly trust the internet and technology to be honest in its information or do just the opposite and think all technology is evil. It has its obstacles for many, but it can also be a great way for them to connect with their friends and families that they may not see as often.  

Online footprint

Thinking about your online footprint can be so scary because anything and everything posted on technology can be traced. As we have learned in this course, on most social platforms, once you post something, you lose the right to take it back, and it will belong to that platform from then on. You enter contracts all of the time on social platforms, giving away your rights without even knowing it. This makes it hard to know just how big your online footprint really is. Everything you post can and will follow you for the rest of your life. It is a scary thought and it is why we need to be conscious of what we post and think before we post. Since I did pageants in the past I have a pretty big digital footprint when you look me up online, but I have always been conscious about what I post because of this. 

Final Thoughts

When I reflect on my thoughts and relationship with technology, I cannot help but feel thankful and resentful of all of its factors. I am thankful for all that technology has given us, but maybe it is too much. When does technology cross the line from helping into overstepping? Just because technology has helped in the past does not mean it will always be helpful in every scenario. We have become desensitized to technology's power and hold on to our society. As long as we are aware I believe our society can combat the negatives of social media and not let it overtake our lives. Using it to our benefit and in a positive way.