Final Blog Post: My Relationship With Technology

    Personally, I do not feel like my relationship with technology is healthy, but I do feel like it is improving. I will spend hours each day on social media scrolling through seeing information that holds no benefit for me. Sometimes I end up doing this to procrastinate other tasks or assignments I have to get done that day. Because of this, I feel like I spend too much time using technology, especially social media. When looking at the screen time recorded by my iPhone, it shows that I spend about 6 hours each day on my phone, which can total to around 42 hours (minimum) on my phone each week. I spend about 2 and a half hours on TikTok, 30 minutes on Snapchat, 30 minutes on Instagram, and just about 5 minutes on Facebook everyday. The rest of the time spent on my phone will be focused mainly on texting, listening to music, using Google or Safari, using the photos app, or checking my emails. According to Tech Jury, it has been stated that "an average user spends 2 hours and 31 minutes daily on social media," (Georgiev). With this information shared, it is another reason that makes me believe I need to reduce the amount of time I spend on my phone because I spend around two times the amount of time on social media compared to the average person. But, I also have an Apple Watch, laptop, and iPad that I will use throughout the day that adds to the amount of time I use technology each day. My laptop and iPad are mainly used for schoolwork and my Apple Watch is used for logging workouts regularly. 

    When I spend time on my phone I believe that the information I look at on a daily basis does not make me smarter and I believe that what I see is content that provides me with useless information. But, the time I spend on my laptop and iPad is where I feel like I am being provided with information that can make me smarter. But, that is only because I am using these devices for different purposes. I believe that most of the time what we see on the internet is misleading information. For example, I have watched TikToks that go into details about a specific diet or health trend. In these videos, the people that are spreading these messages are not nutritionists, doctors, or people working in the health industry. Even if the information they are spreading is false (especially when they don't know much information about the topic), people tend to believe these influencers because they have a large social media following, rather than their credibility or education. The spreading of false information concerns me especially for the reason that was previously mentioned. This makes people feel like it's okay to start a specific health trend when it may truly cause dangers for your body. People would rather get their information from social media instead of doing research, which makes me nervous for the society that we live in today. 

    I also believe that it is really important for me to find a healthy balance for my social media and technology usage. I am a Social Media and Digital Communication major which means it is inescapable to stay away from social media and all other forms of technology. While I believe that my relationship with social media is better for work purposes, I want to try to find that healthy balance of my social media usage for my personal life as well as my future career. I do not want to spend my timr working all day on social media just to finish my work day to use it for personal reasons. Being glued to technology 24/7 is something that concerns me and is something I need to work on for the future. 

    For my friends, I do not know anyone who has an amazing relationship with their social media and technology usage. Social media at some point throughout my friend's lives made them feel sad, anxious, angry, guilty, etc. I tend to notice that it does more harm than good for society. But, for my parents, I feel like it is easier for them to stay away from social media because they did not grow up with it. For example, my mother has an Instagram and Facebook account, but she doesn't go on them often. She uses Facebook mainly to connect with old friends and family and to post pictures she enjoys. According to Gitnux, it has been stated that "over 75% of Gen X use social media, with 37% of using it daily," (Generation X Social Media Statistics). When looking over this statistic, I definitely feel like my mother fits into this category. My father, on the other hand, does not have any form of social media and he never uses technology often. If he is on his phone he is either on Google, taking an occasional photo, reading work emails, or sending text messages from his friends and family. He is content with the relationship he has with technology because he does not let it control his life, which is something I unfortunately let happen to me frequently. 

    I believe that technology can play a good and bad role in relationships that we share with other individuals. I believe that technology can be an amazing tool to use to conntect people who are far apart. Having the ability to message, call, or video chat with someone who is located in a different state or country and getting a message back instantly is a fantastic way to keep in touch with others. But, it also can have a negative impact on relationships if people live close to one another. Individuals can be so caught up with texting or using social media to contact their friends and family that they may not take the time out of their day to communicate with people face-to-face. In this sense, I believe that it can put a strain in the relationships that are close and meaningful. 

    For example, I believe that this video created by Julian West is an amazing representation of the ways technology impacts us on a daily basis. Everyone becomes so distracted with what is on their phones rather than what is right in front of them. If there ever is something so eye-catching, people tend to record it or post it on social media. Everything needs to be captured for people to believe there is value behind it. I believe this makes people not appreciate what they have right in front of them. It shows how technology is in control of our lives and no matter how hard we try, we can't put it away. 

    If you were to search up my full name on Google, you would find (in order) my LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and my Facebook account. When going a bit deeper you would find articles from High Point University, my high school, as well as obituaries from my relatives who have passed, and you may even find some public records such as my phone number and address. If I was looking at myself through an employer's point of view, it makes me feel confident knowing the first website they have access to is LinkedIn. This would help to give an employer a lot of background information about me they may not be aware of. It would not concern me if an employer were to check any social media accounts I have. I make sure to be careful of what I post online and I am confident that it is never anything that would get me in trouble or give an employer a bad image of who I am. Checking my YouTube channel, it was created soley to upload video projects required for courses I have been in this semester. These projects do not give away much information about who I am and has nothing uploaded that may cause concern. I believe I have a good image of myself represented online and I plan to keep it that way, especially as I get closer to having an internship or career, it is crucial to keep this good image that I have of myself going. While I do not like that you can find out my phone number or address online if you do a bit more digging, that is information I do not know how to get off the internet. While this is a concern I have, I know that it is common to find this information about anyone if you just looked it up. 

Each One Teach One: Reaction

    A concept that I found interesting to learn about from the other Each One Teach One presentations was about the rise of propoganda. Propaganda is the effort to manipulate other's beliefs, attitudes, or actions by means of symbols such as words, gestures, articles, and banners. Propaganda is used to influence or persuade an audience to encourage certain perceptions of people or ideas. The concept of propaganda dates all the way back to ancient times but it became more well-known during WWI and WWII. Propaganda is still used today and still has relevance in our society. 

    Propaganda was always a topic that was mentioned briefly in my high school history and sociology classes. But, I feel like taking the time to go further into depth in this presentation really helped me envision how much of an impact it truly had, especially during the war. Especially during a time where there was no technology or social media available to share mass media and news, the use of propoganda especially through posters and flyers was the best and most efficient way to share a message. 

    Propaganda can mainly be found in the news, journalism, advertising, entertainment, education, activisim, and through the government. It can be used in political campaigns, public relations, diplomatic negotiations, legal arguments, commercial advertising, and collective bargaining. One of the most popular examples of propoganda is the "We Can Do It!" poster. According to the Library of Congress, "Rosie the Riveter came to be a symbol of all women working in the war industries in World War II," (Working Women and World War II). This form of propaganda was revolutionary during its time period because it was promoting women doing men's work while they were away fighting in the war. Even though women were doing this because of the absence of men, women were finally given the opportunity to be treated equally, especially in the workforce. Even decades later, this form of propaganda still holds so much meaning and is one of the most famous forms of propoganda all throughout history. 

    Propaganda is usually targeted towards a specific group of people. This could either be at a local, national, or global level. The most relevant examples of propoganda we have seen in today's society is from the Russian and Ukrainian War. Each country has tried to change people's perception on the war and they have done this by creating stories under the impression that one country is better than the other. This can lead to sharing fabricated news stories and false information all over the news. All throughout this war, there were false claims spread by both pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian activists. A very popular example was Ukrainians stating that Russians threw bombs to the "Ukrainian headquarters", which caused a lot of chaos and confusion when posted on the internet for millions of people to see. This piece of information can skew the reader's views on each country participating in the war, whether the information is accurate or not. 

    However, sometimes people end up questioning the success that comes from propaganda. According to Facing History, "[propaganda] validates beliefs people already hold," (The Impact of Propaganda). People tend to believe propaganda is only successful when it focuses on topics that people already have positive views on, rather than persuading them to change their whole set of ideas. Propaganda can be known for destroying any alternative perceptions or understandings we may have created over a specific topic. There are instances where propaganda makes individuals feel like they all need to have the same views and it can be seen as wrong for having a differing opinion from everyone else. 

    Even though it can be hard to tell whether or not propaganda truly sways the opinions of U.S. citizens, propaganda can play a large role in the policies and thought processes that come from the government. The government releases powerful propaganda messages to the public as an aggressive way to articulate specific goals and strategies to receive support. Because of this, especially during the rise of propaganda usage during World War II, the government was able to recruit some of the nation's strongest artists, filmmakers, and intellectuals to their cause. 

    Even if propaganda is not demonstrated in the same ways it was in the past when it was most successful, propaganda is still being used today. This is something to always look out for especially to gain information about a war taking place. Propaganda can tie into the subject of fake news, making sure people understand that everything that is posted online is not going to be 100% accurate. Facts and opinions can be swayed to make one side look better than another. The more research I did about this topic, the more I believe I was able to learn what has been propaganda in the past and what was 100% factual. Learning all about propaganda during the Each One Teach One presentations, it helped me become more aware regarding what sources I use to get my information online as well as the author of the story. More information online is fake than what I realized and because of what I learned this will help me avoid consuming false information in the future.