Me Myself and My Phone

It is hard to think about a world without technology, yet I remember a time before I had a phone. I would have to plan or knock on friends' doors. We would play manhunt, jump off small cliffs, and would tell stories. Those old days of my life before a phone were my childhood but that time before the iPhone does not exist now. Quite honestly, that scares me more than anything because my generation in the early days didn't have phones. The current generation is born into a world where everything revolves around technology. They will not know the world before the iPhone X and Netflix. It scares me because how can we as humans understand each other when we can't look at each because we are on our phones.

My relationship with technology is well complicated because it has made my life so easy. I am sitting on my bed writing a paper listing to music; before writing this, I was watching youtube after I will play a video game. I did and will do all of that without leaving my bed which is amazing because I can learn and do anything all from my bed. Technology is made and should be used to inspire and make life easy. Unfortunately, this is not what is used in some cases. My relationship with social media is rocky. I use social media to stay informed and to learn, but social media most time makes me lose track of time, so I put a timer on it, so every day, I only spend 15 minutes on social media. I do this because of links to depression on social media. If I can make myself happy by spending less time on something unnecessary, then why would I not do it is my logic.

When asked about my great weakness, my answer is time. Time is one thing I have that slowly runs out, just like everyone else. But, it is time that gives life meaning. Technology is all about time. It takes time, but it gives back more time. Technology allows us as humans to save time by traveling and messaging. The time to travel from the USA to Europe in 1620 was six weeks to three months. The time to send a message in 1800 from the USA to Europe in 1620 was six weeks to three months. Today New York to Paris by plane is 10 hours. That message only takes seconds. Technology has made the world smaller for the better because everyone in the world can now come together to change the world. The power of a tweet of #BLM is powerful and reaches everywhere. Technology for the better has connected everyone together.

My online footprint is when I look up "Jake Drew NC." I find three things, my Blogger, my Linkedin, and my mile time for my old high school. I think that explains how I use technology in a nutshell. My blogger is my school work. It shares and expresses my thoughts on a grand scale, with my blog having the opportunity to reach everyone in the world. My Linkedin shows that I want people to see my hard work and my progress in achieving my goal of changing the world. As time has moved on, I have been using Linkedin more because I see the importance of it in getting a job and impressing people. Then finally, my mile time in high school is really that we as people don't have control of what people post online, yet it is always going to be there. My mile time is something I don't control, but it if was a bad thing, it could negatively affect me, and it would always fallow me. That's the internet, something that always follows and watches you but something you can't control. 

The power technology is vast. It is a tool and weapon. It comes down to how it is used to decide what it is. I always and will always use it as a tool to learn and to connect to the world. Technology is not good or bad. It is not black or white. It is gray. Something, when in the right hands, can change the world. It just takes one click to do it.

Learning about Theories (Overton window)

The power of an idea is crazy because that one idea can change the world as

we know it at first that idea is seen as radical but over time it becomes

popular and then it becomes a law. Once a law it changed the world.

As some watches trends rise and fall due to public opinion, it's kinda crazy to

hear about the invisible window that dictates laws and policies that we as people

know about but don't understand. This leads to the theory of the Overton window.

Theories are so interesting because there, not 100% true there just an idea.

It is so crazy to think of the idea of the Overton window. This imagery window

determines what's good and bad within the mainstream population. It is something

that when you stop and think about, you can see all the things that were seen as

radical and the, over time, gained support and then today are laws. It is also

interesting because the window is determined by the population though it is

through lawmakers to make this window. To me, it shows me the importance

of lawmakers because they help define the borders of the window. They slowly

shift up and down the window to make rulings. History has changed a lot in the

past, and it is crazy to think of all things today that are seen as normal vs. back

then. The idea that African Americans can be free, women can vote, gay rights,

and many more are all at one point were radical, but today it's just normal.

We have evolved and changed for the better. I know we are not perfect, but

I think everyone knows we need to evolve, we need change, and we need to

become better because we can be better and will be better.

Changing to AI

Change is hard. No matter how small, change scares people. It scares me, but change is something people constantly have to face. AI is a big change, but it makes life easier. AI though I fear it at times, is something that will get rid of jobs no one wants.

An example is truck drivers who have a 91% turnover rate. AI will allow people to be more creative because labor-based jobs can, to some degree can, be automated. Companies like Amazon have started making stores with no cashiers because they use AI to track people and what they pick up and buy. AI is the future, and I am excited to see it used to boost the economy.

True privacy does not exist today because we are all being watched. We are always being tracked. The idea of privacy is nice, but with our lives being based around technology, it will not exist. I think im fine with being tracked though I really don't think the government or anyone will find my search history or cookie that interesting. I know this is something I should be mad about, but I accept it because technology is a privilege. The only benefit to this tracking is really if someone is doing bad things and they are being tracked, well, they will be found. I am a hard-working middle-class person who follows the rules, so I'm not scared. I am scared about the future of freedom and what freedom will become.

The world will change for good or for bad but it is up to us in the future to decide. I don't know what will happen in the future, but whatever it becomes, I will work to make it better and to make a future worth protecting. I will change the world.

EEEECCCCHHHHOOOO=Echo Chambers

    The hardest thing in life is to be lost and not know it. To be stuck in a circle with knowing. Because of this, I found it kind of surprising not to understand what an echo chamber was. After researching and understanding what it is. I became fascinated by it because it affects modern-day society, making it so divided and creates to the idea of fake news.

What is an Echo Chamber?

    An echo chamber is when a person only looks for and seeks out ideas that match his own ideas. In doing so, it reinforces what the person thinks or believes. This creates a problem on many levels due to the person only thinking and siding with his one idea. In doing so, it has a negative effect on society. This echo chamber will, over time, lead to bias and, at the extreme, discrimination of other ideas.

The Positives 

    There is only one major positive to an echo chamber. That positive is a feeling of community due to hearing the common ideas that you have in common with other people. This makes it, so you start to feel like you are being heard and understood. This overtime leads to the problems if trapped in an echo chamber because their person only knows their one community.   

The Negatives

    The negatives of an echo chamber are division in the news. This can be seen in two main political new sources on opposing sides in the USA, Fox, and CNN. This division is a problem because it divides the country because each mainly or only shares facts that benefit their side prescriptive. It also leads to the breakdown of the marketplace of ideas. The idea that the best idea will appear due to discussion and debate, but when people start to polarize themselves, it creates a problem. Echo chambers make people stuck to think only one idea their idea is right, which angers me in politics because both sides, in some cases, argue different ways to solve a problem, but only their parties' solution is valid. The echo chamber also leads to what is called fake news. People who are stuck in an echo chamber hear the opposing side but refuse to lesson to it and claim it's fake news. It's not like they dont hear the other side. They just reject the idea that it could be true because it conflicts with what they believe is true.

The Future of Echo Chambers

    The echo chamber, over time, will lead to greater division in the world. My Dad and I have a term when talking about division in politics. It's called “ping pong politics.” The best to explain what it is there is two-party and battle-causing division, and there is no middle ground. There is only ping and pong. There are no middle-ground choices because the average person in the US only knows and seeks the two sides. This division has led the two parties to get more and more divided over time due to their ideas. As someone who seeks both sides and attempts to understand both sides, it pains me to see no middle ground. I fear that if no middle ground can be established in my lifetime, we as a county can't stand together again.

Privacy

Every day I spend time online, whether it be because of school, fun, or just trying to stay informed. Due to all of these, Social media is a big part of my life because, in part, my future job will revolve around public opinion and demand. Things like Instagram, Meta (Facebook), and Twitter are not just used to show off but it a way for me to connect and understand the world around me better.

It's kind of crazy to think tho the amount of power some companies have over you just because you clicked a box and made an account. Contract of adhesion to me was a new thing to think about due to it is just so easy to click yes move on but now that I know more about it I now stop thinking should I click the box what am doing by just clicking a box. This small thing affects me and others around me because we don't have the power when posting or viewing Meta, Ingram, and Twitter. This makes it hard to crack down on things like data mining where companies gather as much data on a consumer as they can to target them to buy or do things. This data leads to behavioral marketing to really key in on what you could or do like to buy more.

An example I have is a planned and made a Meepo board ad during the time I was looking at youtube videos, the store pages, and other items that could help me better understand the company. Once I was finished everywhere I went online had an ad for Meepo. I would be looking up something completely different but there it was each time an ad for Meepo. It is because of this lack of power and mass marketing it makes it hard for us consumers to not buy something even if we know we don't want it because we become exposed to it everywhere. It gets even more dangerous when places like the government gett involved with third-party doctrines where they go to private companies which have our data and make deals for it to allow them to compete with their own agenda.

This creates a fear that every click we take every search we make is being watched and it's being tracked. How can we stop this invasion of privacy well it starts with a VPN a virtual private network software that helps hid your IP so companies have a harder time tracking down your specific data Other ways to stop tracking are DuckDuckGo which does not track your browser unlike companies like Google with Google Chrome. These small steps can help better protect you and your personal data but it starts with you wanting to be and stay private. 

Diffusion of Ideas Netflix

Netflix was not an innovator in the stream. They were an early adopter who saw a chance to succeed. What they did was game-changing because they were ready for streaming. It is so fascinating to me that Netflix was not the first, and it definitely is not the last streaming service to be made. Companies like Amazon and Youtube beat Netflix to streaming, with both companies making their streaming service more than a year before Netflix. Amazon and Youtube, the innovators who collapsed in the early days, were the early adopter of Netflix, succeeded due to not being prepared and not developing a large fan base. Where Netflix had a million subscribers doing DVD rentals so the change to stream just made life easier for consumers, and for Netflix, they would also make original shows with Lilyhammer, which made consumers have to come to Netflix to watch. The money and success of Netflix would make big companies want a piece of the pie. Soon after, Amazon would make its first show to compete with Alpha and Betas.

This would lead to a new age of stream and cause the streaming wars. Companies like Disney, Apple, and Warner Media all made their own media streaming service, making them the early and late majority. These companies have this streaming war because there all after a similar market of people. Due to this, each one has to make content with these companies making their own shows and movies to draw consumers in to give incentives to sign up with them. The rise of all these companies has caused the company Netflix to fall, with the market being over-saturated with so much content. People have to pick and choose what they want, and sometimes, the one that pushed the market to its peak Netflix is not chosen as the one consumers want. The Laggards are companies that have not switched their model to streaming and the internet. Other laggards are people who use DVDs and movie theaters. The reason for not going to streaming services is probably due to them being scared of companies tracking data and dont willing to pay money for a monthly fee for movies. The final negative is binge-watching or watching a lot of content in a short period of time. Tho there are negatives, I believe the positives outweigh the negatives with people now having access to thousands of movies on their phones and computers. This allows new ideas to spread and allows the film market to expand. Due to this access, I believe all people should access one of the many streaming services because it allows people to watch more films and shows.

Motion Picture

It is funny to think how far we have come from 1877 and a bet. The first motion picture was made due to a simple bet. The bet was that a horse, when running, would have all four legs in the air. The way he planned to prove this was he lined up 12 cameras to take photos one after another; what he did by doing this was he made the foundation for the motion picture. He would make the zoetrope to show that he was correct. 11 years later, in 1888, Louis Le Prince would make the first motion picture camera. Movie theaters would start to become a thing with the first one, the Nickelodeon, in 1905. Over time, movie theaters have grown to over 200,000 worldwide, and movies have become a billion-dollar industry today all because of a bet.

As someone who is working to enter the industry of motion pictures as well as someone who works in a movie theater it is so interesting to learn about a time before movies and the early day challenges that today are fixed with a button or something that makes it so easy it is forgettable. The future of movies will be to be bigger and better. The future is something that will be so interesting because movies have changed with themes. In the early days, the time of Charlie Chaplin and silent movies were the big things. It would then go to color and see the rise of spaghetti westerns where there would be the rise of Clint Eastwood. Today is a time of superheroes with Spiderman, Batman, and the Avengers being the big thing hitting new records and hitting new heights. Movies have made a lot of money and it is that good because it means these stories and themes will stay around and are impacting society.