Skip to main content

Technology and Me

 Technology and Me


In today’s world, it is nearly impossible to avoid technology and social media altogether. You can cut out specific parts or outlets of media but it will always eventually get back to you. Being that it is such a fast-paced and constantly-changing form of communication, it will always find new ways to draw you back in.


Social media can be amazing and can bring people together in ways that were never possible before. You can make friends with people all over the world and be able to talk to them and keep up with their lives but it also has a staggering way of keeping us separate and isolating people into the dark aspects of their own lives.



It also can leave a permanent footprint on your life. Employers can find your social media and be able to find even deleted posts and updates in order to learn about who you are as a person and to find out if they would want you in their work environment. 


I personally don’t post to social media often. It creates a toxic environment because people are able to be anonymous and hide behind their screens. This gives them more confidence to post hateful things on people’s feeds or updates without fear of repercussions. This increases cyberbullying which can then lead to further isolation. 


The main forms of social media that I use are Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Linked In, Reddit, and Snapchat. I check Snapchat, TikTok, and Reddit almost every day, Facebook and Instagram 2 or 3 times a week, and Twitter and Linked In about once a week. Facebook and Instagram are for keeping up with friends and family. TikTok is just for entertainment. Linked In is for jobs. Reddit and Twitter are for news and updates on games that I keep up with.


I rarely post on any social media because it can create such a potentially toxic environment and I don’t want to put myself into those situations if not necessary. When I do post, it is strictly to share achievements or fun events that took place.



Michael Price wrote an article in 2011 called Alone in the Crowd. In this article, he discusses how technology has changed our face-to-face interactions and relationships. Technology has made us more distant from each other even though we can reach people much easier. It isolates us into these “boxes” that make us feel as if we have to be perfect at all times and that we have to portray this “perfect persona” so that people will like us. 


He also talked about how technology has reduced people’s intimacy. It is much more difficult to see the “real you” than it used to be. People have so many walls up that it is much harder to break through and to be able to have a real conversation with people. 


Andrew Foster wrote about how technology can be isolating even in social settings. It has drastically shortened our attention spans and made it almost impossible to carry out basic conversations without feeling the need to resort back to our phones. Our phones allow us to obscure our faces while conversing and will then make us lose attention much faster.


While technology is not all bad, it definitely comes with its downsides. Technological isolation is extremely common nowadays and it creates many problems for people’s day-to-day lives. So I will leave you with this question, is it worth it?



https://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/06/social-networking

https://medium.com/@andrewfoster/how-does-technology-isolate-us-even-in-a-social-setting-eb232bf8b932

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cord-Cutting

  Cord-cutting is defined as “the practice of canceling or forgoing a cable television subscription or landline phone connection in favor of an alternative Internet-based or wireless service.” (Oxford dictionary) Basically, it involves moving from live TV services to streaming services. Since the 2020 pandemic, cord-cutting is up by 23% (fortune) and more and more people have been buying internet services.  eMarketer shows that advertisements have dropped over $10 billion and they have projected that it will climb back but won’t reach the original $70.59 billion until at least after 2024. That drop is almost 15% and it hasn’t been this low since 2011 (Tech Crunch).  The math is there if you are wanting to save a buck here and there. With internet costing around $60 a month plus subscription services adding around $30-40, that's still nowhere near what an average cable cost would be. Spectrum offers just internet for $49.99 a month and you can add cable to that for an additional
Post a Comment
Read more

How does social media leave a permanent footprint?

  How does social media leave a permanent footprint? Whatever you put out on the internet, whether that be pictures, timeline posts, your resume, or just your random thoughts, will always be out there. Even if you delete those posts, someone could’ve screenshotted it or recorded it. Along with your social media posts, people can also find out more about you through your credit scores and your bank accounts. With the age of facial recognition, people can find out everything they need to know about you just from a simple picture in a crowded area. Juan Enriquez says that the internet is just as if not more permanent than tattoos and like tattoos they can show the world a specific image or feeling that you are wanting to share. That image can stay around for longer than we are alive. He says that because of this, we are getting close to immortality. Companies can take the info that they learn about you and use it to market their products specifically to you. Enriquez used an example of
Post a Comment
Read more

Understanding Youtube

 Jada's blog post taught me a lot about the beginnings of Youtube. I didn't realize that the site was meant to be used as a dating website at first! That really goes to show what all can change in ideas in a very short time. When people think of these ideas, some of the downfalls of them are that they are too stubborn to significantly change their idea. For these creators, changing their idea to adapt to how people were using it worked out for them big time!     Many startups think that they need a shiny new office space with high-tech equipment to get started. What these people don't realize is that many of the big companies started off way smaller than that! Youtube was founded in a garage and was later sold for 1.65 Billion dollars. They needed very little to get their idea off the ground. Of course, once they grew they probably needed a lot more, but at the start, many ideas don't need grand foundations! 
Post a Comment
Read more