Final Blog Post

 My Relationship With Technology 

My ideas of what technology did for the world has completed shifted during the duration of this course. I used to believe that technology was only good and had a bad reputation because of bad people. However, I have learned that technology was made to be bad. It is an overly-addictive, habit creating, spying monster that has overtaken most humans' lives. 

Am I Addicted to Technology?

I decided to turn on a setting on my iPhone called Screen Time. I went about my normal habits and at the end of the week, looked at my settings and it showed that I was on my phone for a total of 49 hours and 3 minutes. One week has 168 hours, I decided to do a little more math to see how much I was really wasting on my life. I take a total of 18 credits this semester which means I should be spending a total of 36 hours a week on schoolwork and 18 hours in class; totaling 54 hours for school. I get about 6 hours of sleep per night to equal 42 hours in a week. Also blocking out 7 hours a week for eating and 5 hours for my Resident Assistant position per week puts me at a total of 157 hours out of the week. Leaving me only 11 hours to be with my friends, talk with my family, workout, or anything else I would choose to do with my free time. If I was not using my phone for 49 hours in the week, I would have been able to get a lot more done than what I did.

With all this information, I would say that I am addicted to my phone and technology in general. The apps that I spent the most time are social media which has other consequences which were never thought of before.

Struggles of Social Media

Social media is extremely distracting towards college students in particular because of the accessibility and addiction. Most college students have their phones with them constantly and check it every couple of minutes. A study done concluded that college students check their phones 11 times a day at least. Not only is social media and the usage of phones a distraction to everyday life, but it also causes serious effects on mental health. During one of the most stressful times in a person's life when they're trying to figure out who they are and what they want to do; the distraction of social media is everywhere. The constant fear of missing out or FOMO is something that all students deal with. Especially when one is sitting in Cottrell and doing homework and they see all their friends posting on Snapchat at a party, they are going to feel a certain sadness of not being at that party. This feeling can lead to heightened anxiety and start generating beginning signs of depression. 

Googling "Ava Sames"

I can confidently say that I have never Googled myself before taking this course. The first thing that comes up is my LinkedIn which is thankfully something good because I like to show up with something professional. However, the next 3 items on Google are my Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest - all social media sites. This does not make me as excited because there are more important things to my life than my personality online. Something I found interesting was the next item that appeared was my soccer ranking in high school. As a competitive athlete, you are always trying to be the best and it brought back a lot of memories from soccer. It was also fun to remember that I was ranked in the top 200 of high school women soccer players in all of New Jersey. The last item on the first page of Google is the Podcast that I created and produce. I was a little disappointed to see this so far down on the page because it is the thing that I put most of my effort into behind school. I decided to take a look at the photos because I think that could be a very important part of something an employer would look at. Something that was fascinating was my grandfather’s obituary from his passing last year. Some old projects from my first year at High Point and high school came up as well as some random people with similar names.

Privacy

A lot comes to mind when I think of the word privacy. In my opinion, privacy means keeping things to yourself and not letting anyone else know about it. However, it is clear that nothing you put on the Internet will ever be private. If you post something online, it is there forever. I never realized that until this project when I saw my Ask.fm from 6th grade. While everything I said when I was 13 was not the most polished, I thankfully had parents that monitored all of my online activity and would not let me post anything wrong or inappropriate. Having an online presence comes with a lot of responsibility especially at an age when you are competing for jobs. No privacy means that employers are able to check everything that you have ever posted or written. That is an extremely terrifying thought when you think something is only going out to your friends then it is able to be looked at by someone who can determine your future. 

Overall

In conclusion, I have learned many things about myself and the internet. I have learned that I need to put my phone away and take a break sometimes. My online presence will never go away, and I have to own what I release to the world. Lastly, I can't get wrapped up in a 5.8-inch screen or my life is not going to be the best that it can be. Overall, I feel more connected to the internet and at the same time, I want to throw it all away. But that's the balance, right? 

Citation

The Effects of Social Media onCollege Students Repository Citation

The Social Dilemma: Social Media and Your Mental Health

Anxiety, Loneliness, and The Fear of Missing Out

Diffusion of Innovation - Blog Post 6

 Diffusion of Innovations

What does it take for someone to always decide they want the new and best things? Is it a new camera on the IPhone 13, or a better processor on a MacBook Pro? Maybe it is something so minuscule as your best friend or neighbor has it. Keeping up with the Jones's is something that everyone does without even thinking about it. So how do these ideas spread so quickly throughout the world? 

Think of the first television for example, it was not perfect and had a lot of kinks to work out, but it still became a phenomenon, and everyone had to have one. However, not everyone is going to be an early adopter (13.5%) and some people still do not own televisions no matter how common they are. 

The idea of a television spread so quickly and easily because people were finally able to see the things they wanted to. Of course, there were radios to get news, sports, and entertainment but, there is something different about seeing something with your two eyes. Watching a sporting event used to mean going to a ballpark and watching Babe Ruth hit his 700th home run. Now, all it means is sitting on your couch with some chicken wings waiting for the Huston Astros cheat their way to another World Series ring. 

The early majority (34%) and late majority (34%) are the highest percentages of people because they need to make sure that this is safe for them and something that they would even want in the first place. At this point in time, I do not see a reason for people to not have a television because the positives are extensive.

In The Age of AI- Blog Post 10

 In the Age of AI

The movie "In the Age of AI" is horrifying, it really opened by eyes to what privacy means and how little of it I actually have. I always make a joke about how my phone is listening to me and how my FBI agent is going to arrest me one day, but those might not be jokes and I just did not know. 

I want to analyze this movie from the end. Towards the end of the movie Alastair Mctaggart explained a conversation he had with a friend who worked at Google about privacy. His friend told him "You would be horrified if you knew how much we knew about you." This line really scares me because how much do they know. Do they have a file with my name on it with every website I have ever been to, every item I have purchased, every text I have ever sent? What else could Google know about me? As a 20-year-old, I have spent more than half of my life using the internet and Google so what could be so interesting about me?

One thing that Google might be able to use with my information is figure out how to persuade me to do or buy certain things. Google has admitted to using their platform to change people's views on voting, so why does this matter? Google has also figured out that they are able to persuade people without them even knowing it. This matters for my life because I have shopped at the same places my entire life and I am now realizing that I do not even get ads for stores that I do not go to.  Google has been able to keep me at the same stores my entire life simply because they are the only things I search for and it does not give me any other options. Does this happen for other things? Does Google pick what I do, where I go, and what I buy? 

All of these conversations are terrifying and the more I think about them, the less I want to use technology. However, technology is so important to everyday life, it would be impossible to function without it. All in all, most websites I visit are stealing my information, and I just have to be okay with it. 

Blog Post 7 - Someone Else's EOTO

 History of Television

From Wendell Epps, I have learned many things. How to be a better sportswriter, how to conduct a better interview, and now the history and impact of the television. The television was created in 1927 by a man named Philo Taylor Farnsworth who was only 21 at the time the television was created. 

The first television broadcast would happen only a year later in 1928 from the first mechanical television station W3XK. In 1939, the first sports game aired between the Princeton Tigers and the Colombia Lions. Then in 1941, NBC aired the first commercial which lasted 10 seconds and gave NBC $7.00 in revenue. Later on that same year, the first major news story had been aired about the Pearl Harbor bombing. 

After WWII, CBS and RCA had a rivalry against who could make the best color television and these color sets became available in 1966. By the late 1990's, 98% of all Americans had a television set and watched for about 7 hours a day. 

Other historic moments in television include Neil Armstrongs first steps on the moon in 1969 with millions of Americans watching. The creation of ESPN in 1979 which is still my favorite television channel. The first live telecast of an open-heart surgery in 1983 and due to such high ratings, I believe this gave many channels ideas of doctor shows such as Grey's Anatomy. 

The impact that the television had on everyone’s lives was huge. It led the path for services like Netflix and Hulu. It also gave Americans an escape from the real world and helped people get news from something other than a black and white piece of paper. Lastly, thank goodness I can watch football every week.

Ted Talk Post - Blog Post 5

 

False Flag - Blog Post 9

 False Flag

 

https://www.history.co.uk/article/the-truth-about-false-flags-from-nazi-germany-to-the-vietnam-war

Supreme Court - Blog Post 2

The highest court in the United States of America lays the ground for deciding what is constitutional and what is not. The Supreme Court of the United States or SCOTUS for short is made up of 9 justices is responsible for evaluating laws and checking the other branches of government. 

 This court was established in 1789 by Article three of the United States constitution with the Judiciary Act of 1789 being signed by President George Washington. This Act stated that 6 justices would serve on the court until their death or their retirement. The court had originally set to assemble on February 1, 1790 in New York City at the Merchants Exchange Building but ended up having to be postponed to the next day. 

 The courts early meetings did not have any hearings, but were just as important to smooth organizational pieces. SCOTUS had its first hearing and decision on August 3, 1791 with case West v Barnes. The wearisome, financial case between a farmer and family he owed money too, had reached a decision after just one day. 

 Some of the most influential court cases have been: 

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), which did not allow African-Americans who were slaves to become citizens 

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896),which continued state segregation laws Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), which provided lawyers to people who couldn't afford them 

"Mapp v. Ohio (1961), which held that evidence obtained illegally cannot be used in criminal cases 

Texas v. Johnson (1989), which found that flag burning and other potentially offensive speech is protected by the First Amendment 

Roe v. Wade (1973), which ruled that women have a right to an abortion during the first two trimesters U.S. v. Nixon (1974), which found that the President cannot use his or her power to withhold evidence in criminal trials 

Lawrence v. Texas (2003), which struck down state anti-sodomy laws 

United States v. Windsor (2013), which revoked the U.S. government’s ability to deny federal benefits to same-sex couples 

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), which legalized same-sex marriage across all 50 states" (History.com) 

The Supreme Court justices are decided by the President of the United States and confirmed or denied by the United States Congress. The first Supreme Court was made up of Chief Justice John Jay, and Associate Justices John Rutledge, William Cushing, John Blair, Robert Harrison, and James Wilson. The number of Supreme Court justices ranged between 5 and 10 throughout its first years and eventually settled on 9 in 1869 which still remains today. 

 Source: https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/supreme-court-facts

Top 5 News Sources - Blog Post 1

 

Barstool Sports will always be my number one source of news. They have so many options of podcasts and videos for whatever one specific person wants to listen to. They have sports shows, reality shows, and help shows. Two of my favorite podcasts of theirs are "Pardon My Take" and "Chicks in the Office." They have something for everyone and is my personal favorite. 

ESPN is my second favorite source of news because I absolutely love sports. ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN+ are all channels that I will play on my T.V. or laptop all the time. They have great informative shows on players, teams, and coaches and they stream the games that I watch all the time. ESPN is great because if you just want to watch sports, you are able to do that but, you also have the ability to hear much more about the game and the people involved.

Fox News is another favorite channel of mine to get news about current events and what is going on in the world. There is so much information that is packed into one episode of Fox News. One is really able to get a grasp on what is going on around the country and the world by just watching Fox one time. 

Twitter is another place where I really get a lot of my news from. It is a fast moving platform where information can change in a matter of seconds and one can still be up to date. It is a good platform because there is a possibility to turn on notifications and receive news based off of just how fast one is able to read.

The last place is get a lot of my news from is Bleacher Report. Bleacher Report is a place to be completely up to date on sports news such as trades, scores, and injuries. For me, it mostly gives information about trades in different sports about the teams that I like. This is a setting that you can add to the app and it will give news only about one's favorite teams or sports.   

Get To Know Me!

 Hey! My name is Ava Sames. Thats me ->

I am a junior at High Point University studying Sports Communications with a minor in Marketing. 

I love learning about journalism and media but I know that media is a business and I wanted to have some background that would be beneficial. 

On campus, I run my own podcast called HPU Sports Talk. That is a screenshot of my show on Spotify! 

I am really proud of my journey to start the podcast and where I am planning on taking it. "To the moon," they say! 

My goal is to one day work for Barstool Sports and be a part of a show. 

Some fun quirky information about me is that I absolutely quesadillas. But, quesadillas are not only what you get from Moe's. You can make a delicious breakfast quesadilla with eggs, peppers, and mushrooms. Or, you can have an American quesadilla with buffalo chicken and provolone! The possibilities are endless.