The first memory of my relationship with technology was at the end of Elementary school when all my classmates were getting excited over Facebook. My family at first was very much against me making a account but over time they were convinced and I able to create an account. There were a good three to four weeks of elementary school when Facebook became increasingly popular and my friends began actively creating accounts. I was probably 7 or 8 years old at the time and thought I was super cool due to the fact that I had a Facebook account where I could communicate with, and play Facebook games like Restaurant City and Ninja Saga with my online and school friends. At the same point in my life, I had a Gameboy Color to play Pokémon Sapphire and old Tony Hawk games. Another gaming platform which I enjoyed growing up was the original first generation Xbox.
From ages 10-15, I graciously received my first ever phone. It was an old Android Blackberry; a phone which the only thing interesting about it, was the stylus and a game called “Brick." At the time this seemed like the peak of entertainment. I barely used my Blackberry for anything other than a poorly made gaming device. Around the same time, my neighbor came by my house in a generous mood with a first generation Xbox saying he wasn’t interested in using it anymore. From then on my interest in gaming devices like Xbox and PlayStation skyrocketed and I discovered even more ways to mess around and enjoy myself with friend’s I’ve made from across the nation. Around the age of 14, my parents bought me a desktop. This not only helped me manage and complete my school work, but also allowed me to expand my knowledge of and interest in the internet. As I turned 15, my social media presence began to develop as I made accounts on applications like Instagram and Snapchat.
At the time, both Instagram and Snapchat seemed like apps where users would post either humorous events which happened throughout their day or positive hyper representations of what their day was actually like. I wouldn’t fault Snapchat for such practices because it seems like more of a playful app that shouldn’t be taken as seriously, but Instagram was and is a platform which people view with the understanding that what they are seeing is true. During the 2016 election in senior year of high school, my relationship with social media platforms like Facebook completely changed. At a time, I knew very little about politics and which side I agreed with, it seemed like everyone and their Grandma was posting their political opinions and complaints on Facebook. Additionally, I went to an intensely democratic school and went home to a republican family where the political ideas were much different. Students with any republican opinions would be instantly ostracized without a second to explain themselves. The amount of toxicity was too overwhelming and I couldn’t handle the amount of arguments and complaints which I saw online, leading to my eventual leaving of Facebook.
If I were to examine my current social media presence, I would see a ton of old yet nostalgic videos posted on Facebook with some more modern pictures posted on Instagram. Realizing the amount of hate someone can get from their online presence emphasized by events like the 2016 election, I became less and less motivated to share my opinions on social media platforms to an audience. Most of the people I see on Instagram are not like me and would be happy to post 3-4 times a week displaying the perfect life they’re living, but I’d rather be the one to post something once a month or couple of months that truly represents the world that I'm living in. I am not one to appreciate those who over exaggerate their lifestyle or body through mediums like social media and would rather people be more truthful in the representations they post depicting their lives.
Sunday, May 2, 2021
Saturday, May 1, 2021
Blog Post #5 - Diffusion of Innovations: TikTok
TikTok is one of the few social media platforms which I feel disconnected from and unequipped to engage with. I stayed off the app and remained a very ant-TikTok kind of guy for the majority of my relationship with the platform. The bulk of the content I saw from the website seemed to be catered towards a younger demographic. Additionally, the dance/ lip-singing videos in my opinion were either extremely cringey, hypersexualized, or both. Most of which would circulate through millions of phones becoming extremely popular due to the platform’s surprisingly ingenuitive algorithm. All that being said, I did download the app, and TikTok now takes up at least 3 hours of screen time for me a week. TikTok won.
I couldn’t stay off the app any longer. It seemed like each of my friend groups continued to share, post, and watch more and more videos on TikTok. Eventually I found enough entertaining niche content which I enjoyed watching and coming back to. I would consider myself to be part of the “late majority” when applying the position to the Law of Diffusion of Innovation theory. I remember the “innovators” and “early adopters” of the app when younger audiences were determined to find and create the new “Vine” (which was another wildly successful social media site similar to TikTok today but with shorter videos). As the controversial rumors involving the Chinese company’s allegedly facial tracking/documenting of its users began to fade, the app’s popularity continued to grow as it entered the “early majority” stage.
TikTok still is filled with cringey and hypersexualized content, but now older audiences are trying to get popular doing the same things creating a toxic cesspool of users being unnecessarily rude, bullied, objectified, and harrassed. The same audience who spread their negativity towards the younger audiences. Additionally the application has very poor censorship. Incredibly inappropriate videos get posted and shared around hundreds of thousands of times before the algorithm removes them. Yes there are a decent amount of positives which came from TikTok, but I still feel strongly that it’s corrupting our newer technological generations, teaching them that such negative or hypersexualized practices are acceptable/encouraged.
Friday, March 5, 2021
Blog Post #3 - Civil War & Reconstruction
On Friday, February 12th, a “Defund the Police’ demonstration/protest was organized by the Black Lives Matter Movement promoting the economic reformation of the police. During the event, tensions between the roughly 100 protesters and the police began to grow increasingly more hostile with 11 protesters arrested and 2 cops injured. The NYPD’s spokeswoman reported that each of those arrested were charged with obstructing governmental administration, assault, disorderly conduct, and unlawful assembly. Sam Costanza, a Photographer for the Daily News was recognized by one of the BLM protesters and wrongfully accused of being a Cop. According to the FoxNews report, “About a dozen people surrounded the photog, shoving him and beating him with their fists and other objects” leaving him with a broken nose before receiving assistance from authorities. One protester who chose a rather unique approach to non-peaceful protesting was 19 year old Angel Rivera who was untimely arrested for biting an officers thigh and kicking another’s foot. From the NYPost’s article covering the events which occurred that night, “Rivera was charged with two counts of assault on a police officer, two counts of assault, one count of resisting arrest, obstructing governmental justice and unlawful possession of a noxious matter.” Noxious matter referring to a container of some kind able to spread suffocating fumes or vapors with the intent to immobilize another person.
When considering the events which took place in Manhattan on February 12th, one must consider the reasoning as to why authoritative measures had to take place to stop the protest and minimize potential risk. When the protest began, we can assume that it began peacefully with minimal aggression or hostility from either side (protesters & police). At this time the protesters were well within their 1st Amendments rights to continue their assembly. It wasn’t until some protesters and other citizens there began showing more signs of violence and combativeness, when their 1st Amendment right to peaceful assembly had to be taken from them. This in turn, increased aggression requiring additional police intervention. When applying the first bedrock principle to this protest, it’s possible that some protesters were frustratedly unaware that 1st Amendment protection is not absolute and continued their aggression believing the police to be acting unconstitutionally.
Wednesday, March 3, 2021
Key Blogpost #3 - EOTO Terms & Concepts
The Spiral of Silence is a psychological and communicational theory referring to people’s tendency to audibly shield their true beliefs due to their perceived assumption of it being oppositional to that of the majority. The theory goes on to discuss how humans are always observing and mentally taking note of their environment, the social interactions they’re a part of, and how they individually compare to the people around them. There are plenty of reasons as to justify why one would feel obligated not to share their opinion, but the primary reason highlighted by the theory is fear of isolation. The fear that those around the group will treat an individual differently and/or negatively once they know they have opinions contrasting from that of the group. Spiral of Silence could also apply in a professional environment to an employee who fears speaking out about or against the company they work for assuming it would get them fired and/or punished in some way.
The theory was created by a German political scientist named Elisabeth Noelle-Neuman. Communicationtheory.org’s article on the theory claims that, “Through this Spiral of Silence theory Neumann indirectly explains the Jews status during World War II under Nazi’s control. Here, Adolf Hitler dominated the whole society and the minority Jews became silent due to the fear of isolation or separation” (2011). In Germany during WWII, Jews feared for their lives on a daily basis. Due to their steadily declining social status at the time, members of the Jewish religion had to minimize the chances of “isolation or separation” and often the most effective means of doing so, was to remain silent. The theory however is not absolute and has some weaknesses. One notable defect being the internet and how it allows users to feel less threatened socially, resulting in higher levels of confidence in reference to posting opinions which don’t support or go against that of mainstream mass media outlets. The internet grants users the ability to recreate themselves through their virtual presence and voice their more critical opinions from a position which expects fewer emotional repercussions from the other party.
I have never been one to enjoy debating politics unless it’s in a safe environment for all parties involved. The reason for my distaste regarding political discussion is solely due to the 2016 United States Presidential elections. I was in my senior year and attended an extremely democratic high school with students and friend groups that would immediately shun you away if they found out or heard you support any traditional opinion from the right. In addition to that, I would drive home each day to my parents who both majorly share republican ideals. Thankfully I never received any kind of noticeable pressure from my family as to where my political affiliation should lie. I stopped using Facebook altogether due to my disdain for how much political toxicity was displayed over and over on the platform by my friends and family. I remained deep in the spiral of silence and preferred not partaking in political discussion for many years of my life before I started putting more effort into discovering my true political beliefs. I know that I am not alone and plenty of others preferred to remain silent rather than risk social isolation.
Sunday, February 21, 2021
Blog Post #4 - The Progressive Era
After browsing both Antiwar.com and The American Conservative, I feel incredibly uninformed and uneducated on the sheer amount of foreign entanglements the United States has become involved in. It feels wrong to be misguided on mainstream media in the direction of less controversial subjects. Regardless of whether or not it's going to be profitable for said news networks to discuss the United State’s positive and negative involvements in foreign affairs, I strongly believe that these topics should be released and emphasized more openly/often.
It could be argued that the U.S. government hasn’t been the most transparent with what specifically is going on in each militarized foreign operation, however it should be the duty of not only the U.S. government, but also American news reporters to actively seek out and release critical information involving the nation’s foreign affairs. It seems that popular mainstream news networks overtime are accustoming their audiences to less and less stories involving around the United State’s involvement in foreign affairs until a “major” story arises like a bombing or gunfight resulting in the loss of American lives. News networks should be confidently posting articles involving the U.S.’ international relations without the fear of being silenced or receiving subsequent punishment. The less these topics are discussed, the higher the odds are of the said information to be misrepresented or misconstrued. Having to go to an obscure news source to find information about anti war material lowers the reliability and educational expectations of mainstream news companies. Hopefully audiences realize that these popular networks are withholding information from them and choose to branch out and research new means of acquiring information.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/web-categories/foreign-affairs/
https://www.antiwar.com/
It could be argued that the U.S. government hasn’t been the most transparent with what specifically is going on in each militarized foreign operation, however it should be the duty of not only the U.S. government, but also American news reporters to actively seek out and release critical information involving the nation’s foreign affairs. It seems that popular mainstream news networks overtime are accustoming their audiences to less and less stories involving around the United State’s involvement in foreign affairs until a “major” story arises like a bombing or gunfight resulting in the loss of American lives. News networks should be confidently posting articles involving the U.S.’ international relations without the fear of being silenced or receiving subsequent punishment. The less these topics are discussed, the higher the odds are of the said information to be misrepresented or misconstrued. Having to go to an obscure news source to find information about anti war material lowers the reliability and educational expectations of mainstream news companies. Hopefully audiences realize that these popular networks are withholding information from them and choose to branch out and research new means of acquiring information.
https://www.antiwar.com/
Blog Post #2 - Founding Era Timeline
The “Founding Era” for the United States of America transformed and established the government we have today through revolution, patriotism, the pursuit of freedom with liberty and justice for all. The beginning of such an era began on a sour note however and could be argued as a stain on the timeline. In 1619, an English privateering ship docked in Jamestown, Virginia, looking to purchase numerous African slaves in exchange for food. English landholders and colonists knew they could take advantage of the slaves as a resource and put them to work in their labour-starved colonies like Jamestown.
Years down the line, tensions between England and the colonists continued to rise leading to the American Revolutionary War and Declaration of Independence in 1776 which affirmed the United State’s decision to fight for their national freedom from England. Colonies were additionally urged to create State Constitutions specific to their state’s popular vote.
By 1782, the Articles of Confederation was written becoming the then 13 colonies’ Constitution. It wasn't until 1783 when the Revolutionary war was over and the Treaty of Paris was signed. Six years later in 1789, the U.S. Constitution was ratified allowing congress to finally convene under a national constitution. In the early 1790s, the Bill of Rights was ratified and the 10 amendments were established. Such an act established the nations positive and negative rights. Positive rights being a U.S. citizen’s right to be helped in situations like healthcare, a fair trial, and a minimum standard of living. Negative rights being constitutional rights which are unable to be interfered with by the government. One 1803 president case which created a doctrine was Marbury v. Madison. The case resulted in the establishment of Judicial Review by the Supreme Court which allowed them to review all actions made by any branch of government and determine their constitutional merit.
It's not until over 100 years later in 1925 when the Judiciary Act was passed allowing certiorari, or the ability for the Supreme Court to be more specific with which cases they choose. This rough timeline highlights key moments within the Founding Era which laid the foundation for governmental practices today within the United States.
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Key Blogpost #2 - EOTO Com Tech Timeline
At a time when wireless telegraphy was in one of its earliest stages, and wireless communication was just recently able to reach across the Atlantic, Reginald Fessenden decided to change the game. Fessenden, an engineer for Thomas Edison’s company, General Electric, created an alternator transmitter allowing for an increased number of electrical ticks and for Fessenden himself to speak over the air. On Christmas day in 1906, he christened the Electromagnetic Spectrum by reciting passages from the bible and playing “O Holy Night” on the violin over the radio for anyone with a receiver to hear. Overtime, additional regulations were instituted regarding how and which companies could operate on the spectrum.
In 1912, the Radio Act of 1912 was passed giving the secretary of commerce the authority to split up the spectrum delegating which parties could send messages on which frequencies. It wasn’t until the Radio Act of 1927 when the Federal Radio Commission (later known as the FCC) was established and took control of the EMS’s regulations. By then, licenses had to be purchased by those interested in operating on the EMS for a specific amount of time. At this point, the EMS was something that nearly anyone could access. Over the next few years, tens of millions of dollars are made by radio stations from advertisements. Noticing the increasing impact radio was having on our culture, President Franklin D. Roosevelt started his “Fireside Chats” where he spoke inclusively to his audience and calmed the panicked American people during the hard times of the Great Depression. An act which better established his positive relationship with the American people and increased his political popularity. By the late 1940s, hundreds of millions had been made from radio, yet television was taking over the popular scene.
One major impact of Radio was its ability to create popular culture within the United States. What it meant to be a kid in South Carolina and the popular culture surrounding that area was much different than that of a kid living in Missouri. But now companies and their products could be advertised nationally reaching an audience far greater than what was previously thought possible. There became a societal need to stay informed and up-to-date on all the news, advertisements, music, politics, religious sermons, and the popular dissemination of ideas provided through radio. The distribution and direction of furniture within the average American household was rearranged to focus the room’s attention around the radio. It wasn’t until the increased popularity of the television was the American household affected by such a drastic change to its traditional values.
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The “Founding Era” for the United States of America transformed and established the government we have today through revolution, patriotism... -
On Friday, February 12th, a “Defund the Police’ demonstration/protest was organized by the Black Lives Matter Movement promoting the economi... -
TikTok is one of the few social media platforms which I feel disconnected from and unequipped to engage with. I stayed off the app and rema...