Final Post

 Final Post

I would say I have a healthy relationship with technology, but my parents would probably disagree. I have an incredibly large online presence due to my disability and advocacy work this is forced me to have a healthy relationship with my technology,  well, and also not being able to type or write without some accommodations. being able to use speech-to-text opened up my world as a competent writer and allowed me to explore writing as a creative Outlet. In the sense that writing has opened up so many doors for me and that is thanks to technology I would say  but I and many disabled writers have a healthier relationship with technology. I can see however while that parents would think I do not have a healthy relationship with technology because I'm on it for excessive amounts and they are from an older relationship who does not understand quite as much how it's helped me.

Outside of Technology opening up doors for many people most Average Joe's,e do not have a healthy relationship with technology. People today are on it constantly and sometimes your information about themselves and other people could be considered private, Many people make the mistake of making their accounts public so anyone can see what they post about themselves and other people.A part of people's unhealthy relationship with social media is that they do many activities involving others but without their consent. This is especially true with the phenomenon of  “Sharenting”  AKA where parents have a social media presence about their children without those children's consent.

“I had just turned 13, and I thought I was just beginning my public online life, when in fact there were hundreds of pictures and stories of me that, would live on the internet forever, whether I wanted it to be or not, and I didn’t have control over it. I was furious; I felt betrayed and lied to.”

Not only do these children not have control over their own online presence but also I don't think mothers realize that what they post about their children can be used not only by any average person who stumbles across their page even if they're private but also the government to track that information and use it against them.

https://beautifulbizarre.net/2023/03/03/social-media-impacting-artists/

Teenagers today have grown up in a world where social media is the norm,  this is an increased rates of mental illness among teens and Body Image issues, especially among teenage girls. Many of them feel the pressure to be perfect because of how heavily edited their social media is. “When you go to post your own picture or even appear on a Zoom call, you may be shocked and disappointed by the fact that you don’t look as glamorous or as perfect as what you see on social media…Dr. Byrne notes. “For some people, this can be a source of anxiety and even shame.” That anxiety and shame can quickly turn into self-esteem issues and even body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), a mental health condition in which you’re consumed by thoughts about how you look and the defects you think you see.” (Cleveland Clinic) Unfortunately, this has become so normalized by the use of social media in excess that  a lot of people don't think they have a problem. What would help is people realizing that social media is too much of a good thing and setting limits for themselves as best they can.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/social-media-and-body-image/

https://www.fastcompany.com/90447583/our-collective-privacy-problem-is-not-your-fault

EOTO 2

 I think the thing I found most interesting was of the world's first iteration of AI called Eliza. I found it interesting that the first iteration would be in the form of a digital therapist rather than something that could actually do more like turn on lights or make things move. I wonder why they didn't do that way? What I thought was the most interesting about Eliza was the fact that her inventor really regretted making Eliza because he was before his time and thought that AI was going to take over the world. little did he know how right he was going to be! today AI everywhere and is taking away lots of human jobs, it even has started putting filler words in conversations with humans to make it sound more authentic. It's wild to me that AI can mimic modern human speech patterns and even sound like an actual human is talking .Although AI has been helpful to me in particular I think this is taking it too far Eliza's  inventor is probably laughing at us in the cosmos to be honest. It's like he was predicting the future!

The Monster Itself

Another thing I find interesting is the phenomenon called “cord cutting.” Cord cutting is when people are getting rid of cable subscriptions in favor of screaming services as a way to watch television. I knew that cord cutting was happening but  I figured a lot of rural communities still had cable TV because it's harder to get Wi-Fi in less urban areas. I also didn't realize that it was causing a bigger discrepancy between Boomers who are having trouble accessing and learning how to use the technology,  and the Gen Z who  feel as though cable is irrelevant and that boomers are jacking up the prices of streaming services and cable for no reason. I think Gen Z needs to relax and give the older Generations a chance to learn and catch up to us.

The Age of AI

      (Sorry about the formatting I’m not sure what happened but I couldn’t fix it)

   I think the biggest thing I learned about AI is how scared it is making people. I didn’t think that people actually thought that it was gonna take away their jobs because I didn’t think it was that developed but I was very much wrong. I also think that frightened me the most because it is a lot easier to automate something then pay someone and it’s a disabled person who already has to compete with her able-bodied peers for jobs and prove herself, AI becoming more prevalent that I’m even less likely to get a job between higher performing peers and now more automated jobs. I also find it kind of scary that companies like Google know all about us without us even realizing how we’re giving them the information. I find it kind of sad that Google is originally against it but then had to sell the information and support advertisements to make more money, I felt like they were peer pressured into not being themselves. The only thing I found cool about it is how it might eventually make my life easier when it comes to doing daily tasks. Such as turning on and off lights and opening and closing doors, however this comes at a high cost that I don’t think I’m ready for, specially since that intelligence is smart enough that it can outsmart a human in other situations. What I thought was interesting is how we are in a battle against China and I wonder what will happen if China wins which I feel like they will because they are already using AI in different capacities then we are. I’m also wondering if with the writer strikes going on if the US or other countries are going to have bureaus/committees that are going to regulate AI, it seems like the next logical step so that way it doesn’t completely take over human creativity or work ethic. are these gonna be government related bureaus or are they going to start their own independent organizations? I’m hoping for the latter  as I think it will be hard to convince the government to not use AI to its own advantages.

Diffusion of innovation: Starbucks version

 Blog Post Number 7

 Diffusion of Innovations Starbucks Version

I chose Starbucks because it’s a company that everybody loves and gained quite a bit of popularity in the early 2000s/1990s and I wanted to figure out just exactly why they seemed to grow so quickly, and yet in the 2020s are having trouble keeping employees.

Pioneers (1971-1980) Starbucks was founded as a coffee, tea, and spices importing business that would occasionally serve the coffee they imported as a way for potential customers to get a taste of what they would be buying. Quickly gains popularity in the Pacific Northwest and multiple offers to expand into a chain that gets denied.

Early Adopters/Late Majority (1987-2007) Gets bought by Howard Schultz, expands from 20 stores to 100 in the US, and goes public at the very end of 1992. It had a massive international expansion in 1996 and had over 2,500 locations worldwide at the end of the decade. has a massive closure in 2007 to re-evaluate extensive procedures and find multiple chains of coffee supply companies and bakeries to rule out new products 

Laggers (2007-Present) Today despite the pandemic and multiple changes in leadership Starbucks has over 32,000 stores worldwide. It is it started rolling out different concepts such as a higher-end version of its stores called Reserve Roasteries in 2019.  They started training their own coffee farmers with what they call their “C.A.F.E. Principles” to make sure that the coffee is ethically sourced despite accusations of child labor, in regards to labor many Starbucks locations are trying to unionize in order to receive a fair wage and fair treatment of its employees, because of this many stores in more liberal areas are being boycotted by its customer base and outsold by other businesses in support of the unionization

References

Petruzzello, M., & Bondarenko, P. (2023). Starbucks. In Encyclopedia Britannica.

Blog 8: Privacy

 Privacy

Blog Post #8

Privacy affects everybody in my life. I knew that companies could figure out what you wear and what you do to give you better advertising experiences because I've experienced that on my own. but I did not know that the police had cameras everywhere to track license plates and basically everything you do in case you're a criminal. I am not a criminal so this doesn't  make me feel very safe. What if they see me do something that they think is illegal? what if the camera doesn't tell them everything and they arrest me based on false pretense? What the government should be doing is not allowing companies to track US in the first place but they should also be gaining our information on license plates in a different way or just tracking people with a criminal record. that could be their punishment for committing a crime that they be tracked for a certain number of years before the data is eventually wiped after their punishment is over. If the police have to use our data for any particular reasons they should be signing forms that say they won't leak it to other people. Commercial companies however should not have our data at all and the government should make it illegal for them to have data beyond what we give them to buy things and even then they should be able to erase it after we use it. we can protect ourselves from invasions of privacy by not saving our information in our computer or browsers because then companies have an easier time accessing the information. We can also refrain from sharing information that could be confidential over certain phone lines or social media sites. (My doctors do this when I have to have virtual appointments,  they use a software that has HIPAA compliance so my information and what I'm saying in the session doesn't get leaked) If the police Need your information give them a burner email and make sure that you only tell them what they really need to know and not anything else.

EOTO 2: Confirmation Bias

Confirmation Bias

Ladies and Gents:The Man Himself Mr. Peter Watson

Confirmation bias, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is “the tendency to interpret evidence as one’s existing beliefs or theories.” Confirmation bias is unintentional and usually results in ignoring information that is inconsistent with previous beliefs. For example, I am more likely to ignore information that supports conservative beliefs because I, myself, am not a conservative. It is easier for people to not have confirmation bias if they are emotionally distant from the issue. The phrase “confirmation bias” was first used by Peter Watson in the 1960s. He wanted to see how far people would go to back up already formed hypotheses, even if new information came out that disproved the original hypothesis.

 “In the initial experiment that led to the development of the concept, psychologist Peter Wason gave subjects a group of three numbers, 2-4-6, and asked them to identify a rule the sequence was following by testing their own groups of numbers. The rule was extremely simple: three increasing numbers. But he found that subjects would fixate on guessing sequences that confirmed their initial hypothesis.” (Bouygues)

 There are multiple types of confirmation bias. Bias information sourcing is seeking out information that only supports your belief (AKA the example mentioned above, This is something we do every day on social media when we read articles or posts from people with beliefs that are similar to ours and tend to ignore the true source that might have another point of view that doesn't coexist peacefully with our beliefs). Another form is data interpretation bias. Data interpretation bias comes from perceiving data unevenly which can cause incorrect results. For example, using someone else's data in a research study and only including the data that supports your research. A third type of confirmation bias is memory bias which is subconsciously recalling information in a different way so one’s own beliefs seem supported. One example of this is reinforcing a stereotype. (Indeed)  For example, I may or may not do this by preferring to wear a more traditionally “Feminine” color palette (pinks and purples) 

You can “debias” or lessen your personal confirmation bias by testing your hypothesis to make sure that alternatives or negatives (from the original bias) are factually correct. This is called “consider-the-opposite” strategy. An example of this is when we are asked to see someone convicted of a crime, “innocent until proven guilty.” (Morewedge) I personally think that we as humans subconsciously create confirmation bias to help us cope with the uncomfortable feelings of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is when your actions go against your beliefs.  What does this have to do with confirmation bias?  The more somebody reinforces something you already believe the less likely your actions are going to go against that belief, hence no more dealing with cognitive dissonance…or so we thought. Unfortunately, people still deal with cognitive dissonance on a regular basis as many people do actions that go against their beliefs daily, (ex: Someone who is pro-life going to get an abortion)

References

Bouygues, H. L. (2021, April 16). Confirmation bias: What you need to know. REBOOT FOUNDATION | Promoting and Developing Critical Thinking Tools and Resources. https://reboot-foundation.org/confirmation-bias/

Casad, B. J., & Luebering, J. E. (2023). confirmation bias. In Encyclopedia Britannica.

Morewedge, C. (2022, June 6). Confirmation bias in journalism: What it is and strategies to avoid it. The Journalist’s Resource. https://journalistsresource.org/home/confirmation-bias-strategies-to-avoid-it/

The curious case of confirmation bias. (n.d.). Psychology Today. Retrieved September 25, 2023, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/seeing-what-others-dont/201905/the-curious-case-confirmation-bias

What is Confirmation Bias? (n.d.). Indeed.com. Retrieved September 25, 2023, from https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/what-is-confirmation-bias

 

Anti War

We Want Peace

 

We have to seek out obscure websites to hear Anti-War opinions because the government makes money off of war and does not want it to stop. According to The Medium: “Over several years, America has been producing about 37% of the weapons and arms used for mass destruction across the globe. The weapons industry is considered a big wealthy business that supports an annual global arms trade worth around $100 billion.”

 It's common knowledge that the US is trillions of dollars in debt due to its lack of neutrality in many foreign affairs. We can infer that the United States pays off a small percentage of its debts by using money it makes through weapon manufacturing and sending weapons to foreign countries. 

“These companies sell weapons to countries such as Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Sudan. Without considering if these nations follow the concepts and principles of democracy/civil rights. To fight these wars, the US Department of Defense buys ammunition from nations such as these.” What this means is no matter what side the US is on when it comes to a war if it is fighting against countries that pay them to create ammunition the US will always come out on top in some way even if they lose because they are making money off of the war whereas these other countries are not. We may have gone into foreign affairs with good intentions in the first place, but now our intentions are more corrupt than we probably could have imagined. 

So why do not a lot of people know about this? simple it's because most major newspapers are probably paid to keep quiet or are ignorant of just how much the government spends on war. they use our political divisiveness as a scapegoat for what's really going on in the United States government. Abraham Lincoln once said:  “A house divided against itself cannot stand” The government is using our division as a way to distract us from what's really going on and not have us support what might be the right thing to do so it can continue to profit. The US worries that if people learn more about anti-war philosophy the country will advocate for more peaceful adaptations which means less money for the United States.

References

Casualties, I. (n.d.). Antiwar.com. Antiwar.com. Retrieved September 20, 2023, from https://www.antiwar.com/

Home. (2022, June 7). The American Conservative. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/

House divided speech - Lincoln home national historic site (U.s. national Park service). (n.d.). Nps.gov. Retrieved September 20, 2023, from https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/housedivided.htm

Rode, R. (2021, October 17). How does the USA make a profit from war? - Riya Rode. Medium. https://medium.com/@roderiya28/how-does-the-usa-make-a-profit-from-war-e53e4f9f03b1