Final Post: My Relationship With Technology

My Relationship With Technology

By Davis Trax

Well here is is. My final blog for the semester. And if it isn't obvious enough, this one is months after the last one. This semester has been an incredible learning opportunity for me. I really have learned more about our country's history in the 1st Amendment and internet privacy. This class has been eye opening in a really good way. My knowledge of the 1st Amendment, the wrong and right usage since its formation in the Constitution, and the timeline of our country using the 1st Amendment as a lens. Then moving on to privacy of the web and how the government should or should not be watching us and keeping tabs on our internet history. It really got me to thinking about MY relationship with technology. I began to analyze my own usage of the internet both before I took the class, and how it has been over the last two months.

When I was younger, I used to hear from my parents how different technology was, but the way technology has advanced since us Generation Z people were kids, it seems like a different world. The iPhone was created by the time I was 4, and it did literally nothing compared to the iPhone 13 we have today. I could go on and on about it, but I will digress for now. Before I took this class, like I said, my relationship with technology was the same as it is now. I used the internet the same amount and I used my phone and laptop the same amount, but I didn't realize how much I didn't know. Obviously, you're going to learn something in every class that you take, and I knew I was going to learn a lot, but I didn't realize how much I didn't know, and looking back I realize that I should have done more research on how amazing VPNs are and how important staying protected on the internet is. Now I know I keep talking about the fact that I didn't know a lot of stuff, but let's get into what I did prior to this class. I would go on the internet a lot, but be unprotected and in incognito mode because I thought that was all I needed to do to stay safe. I wouldn't have to spend possibly hundreds of dollars a year to pay for something I didn't need, but what I learned even outside of the class was that hackers can sell your data even when you are on incognito mode. If it weren't for the Media Law and Literacy class I had taken, I wouldn't have been interested in checking out the data for myself. 

My digital footprint is pretty large and a lot of that isn't even my fault. If you look up my name on the internet, you can find my social media and basketball photos and LinkedInBeyond that, I am a huge sports fan and I like knowing everything that goes in the sports world so I have lots off social media. I primarily use Twitter and Instagram, but I am sometimes on Tik Tok too. These are a just a few of the ways I consume sports media. When I go on these social media accounts, I fall into rabbit holes for other interests like roller coaster accounts such as ElToroRyan or Coaster Studios, and then I watch some of my favorite musicians like Queen or Michael Jackson. If you went on my Instagram search page, all of the reels would either be music related, specifically for those two artists, roller coasters or basketball. It is a prime example of how Instagram, like all other forms of social media, cater my account and my page to what I see and watch. If I am looking at a lot of Siberian Husky videos, which right now I am, they will show up in my Instagram feed, even though I watch them mainly on YouTube. It is incredible how these platforms make the effort to hook me on more rabbit holes regarding subjects and topics that I can't get enough of.

The biggest thing I remember learning that doesn't apply to my own life is online censorship. During our class, we were in the middle of the World War III scare. All over social media, we could see people talk about the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and how we would probably get involved and start World War III, and those voices that we saw were those in favor of the war. This is because the government wanted us to to think going to war was a good idea, but that's what sells in America which is why larger corporations printed and spoke about the perks of going to war, when there are many opinions out there who don't agree and believe that our country shouldn't go to war, but they aren't listened to because of online censorship.

I am very glad I had the opportunity to take this class. I learned a lot from it. I use a VPN whenever I am on the internet and expand my view to more than just a few of the same sources before coming up with my own thoughts. Thank you Professor Smith.