Friday, April 25, 2025

Blog #11 - Final Post

    Technology is a very interesting thing. There is so much good to come with technology, it makes the world an easier place to live in and the questions we have get answered instantly. Now with AI, nearly all information is at our fingertips whenever we want the answer. Technology allows for your favorite music to be played at any moment at any volume, it allows for you to video call your friends and family wherever you are on the face of this planet, it allows you to endlessly scroll and lose yourself to funny videos or pictures. The internet is awesome! But like anything, there is also a down side. 

   
    Through writing these blogs, we have heard many terms being used like cyberbullying, revenge porn, ghosting, and more. All of these terms address the bad side of the internet, things we hope to never be affected by. Unfortunately, with so much of our personal information already out on the internet, its become much easier to stalk other people, find out private information, see private videos, or tear someone down through bullying and blackmail. While the internet is not itself at fault for these issues, they all occur using the internet and social media. 

    The relationship that we have built with the internet is one of a deep connection. Society as a whole has become so infatuated with their own personal devices that so many people miss out on real life to live a virtual one instead. Apps like Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and so many others as well as games like Minecraft, Fortnite, and Call of Duty constantly draw people's focus. Whether you are just watching a video, playing a game, or watching a video of someone else playing a game, the internet has our society in the palm of its hand. Think about times you have been in areas of bad wifi or low cell service, think about the anger and frustration that has caused. It is truly insane to think that just 20ish years ago much of this technology didn't even exist, people didn't have mobile phones or apps; they just lived life. 

   
    Personally, I feel I have a somewhat healthy relationship with the internet and technology at this point in my life. While I spend a lot of time on my phone or watching TV, being a student athlete forces me to focus on athletics (and academics) on a daily basis where, for hours, I am not on my phone, computer, or TV. However, I can see that without baseball, I could be vulnerable to have a very unhealthy relationship with the internet. I already use it so much in my limited free time, I sometimes worry what would happen if I had more. With that being said, having a healthy relationship with the internet definitely requires sacrifices and strong will. It is so easy to sit on your phone for hours just doom scrolling through TikTok or Instagram without a solid thought enter your brain. Being willing to make sacrifices of not watching your phone at all time is definitely necessary for this healthier relationship, but would absolutely be worth it. 

Blog #10 - EOTO #2 Reaction

    I felt the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was very fascinating. Growing up, Monopoly is a classic board game to bust out on family game night and work to outlive your family in a grueling and long game. As you grow up, you start to learn about actual monopolies in life, about companies that don't legally have a monopoly but it might feel like that. Learning in class that it was the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 that prevents these major corporations from running monopolies, creating a competitive atmosphere across all businesses and opening up a free market in America. 

    The reason it is important to prevent monopolies in business is because, eventually, a major corporation such as Disney would have the ability to overtake other markets and potentially monopolize a majority of businesses across America. This would cause consumer choice to fall immensely, forcing citizens to have very limited options into what businesses they purchase goods and services from. Monopolies also cause innovation, research, and development to decrease drastically. This is because without the incentive to create new products to compete with opponents in business, there will be no innovation seen.



Blog #9 - EOTO #2 Research

    News deserts pose a serious threat to American society and reveal that most Americans chose to get their news via online platforms. A news desert can be defined as a community, either rural or urban, with limited access to the sort of credible, local, or comprehensive news and information. News deserts have become much more frequent across the United States and show that people would rather get news online rather then in paper. Now, we are seeing century old weekly papers that were able to survive even the great depression struggle to make ends meat. This turn from paper to computer has caused historic news sources to crumble and fall into bankruptcy.

   

    This change was very foreseeable, as technology has advanced, so has society. Why would people continue to buy and wait on physical papers when they can read the news on the same device they can listen to music, play their favorite crossword, or find other sources telling similar stories from a different perspective. The ability to read news on the computer makes the process much easier, cleaner, and less wasteful. Still, old school newspapers are good to keep around and the progression of news deserts needs to stop.

    While newspapers are more costly and difficult to deliver, they still hold an important role in society. Tradition is a value not to be overlooked, and plays a major role in why people continue to buy a subscription to a weekly paper. Many of those who had been reading a physical paper on a weekly basis do not intend for that to end, hoping to keep that tradition alive. News deserts are a major threat to those who value this tradition, preventing people from getting a news paper from previous sources; or any source at all. 


    While the majority of society might be less affected by this change to online, the groups most effect are the older or less wealthy. This is because, as previously discussed, the older generations may value tradition above change, not looking to read news online but on physical paper. The less wealthy are effected through potentially not having the money to purchase the devices necessary to read the news online. Moreover, once the device(s) is owned, many news sources require a monthly or annual subscription, which not everyone can afford or is willing to pay. 

 Personally, these deserts have little effect on me thankfully. My family and I are fortunate to live in an area of New Jersey that values physical papers with many donors supporting sources such as The Monmouth Journal and The Two River Times. I also am more likely to use my computer to find news as its incredibly easy to do a quick Google search to find information about something I am interested in learning more about. My father, on the other hand, certainly appreciates a physical copy of the paper. While he is not opposed to using his computer to research and learn about local happenings, he greatly appreciates getting a paper once a week delivered. 


    

Blog #8 - Diffusion Theory on AI

    Diffusion Theory can be defined as looking at different reasons why a new invention is adapted by society and the rate its popularity grows. With great recent advances in technology, new inventions are abled to be studied through Diffusion Theory as its important to understand how new technological advances spread so fast through society. For instance, AI is great to look at through Diffusion Theory because of how recent its been brought to the public's attention and how much it has grown in recent years. 
Diffusion Theory Model

    Early adapters of AI are those who were first brought onto the scene. These are people who had more advanced technology available to them and likely used AI to build its programming, find specific and discrete information, or other various corporations and businesses who had access to AI and needed quick access to information. 
 
  Early majority are more likely those who found ChatGPT earlier in its history, likely around 2019/2020. Many students are those who were part of the early majority as AI chatbots like ChatGPT were able to assist with giving academic information, as well as to help with formatting and writing papers and essays. A majority of businesses who were not part of the early adapters are also part of this early majority as many businesses use chatbots to help with finding information, planning, and giving ideas and advice.

    While many people find AI incredibly helpful, especially those part of early adapters and early majority, it also received scrutiny for diminishing creativity and finding out information the more difficult way. People will argue that AI makes it too easy to find out information and it will cause humans to begin relying on it for all sources of info. 


    Personally, I think AI and chatbots such as ChatGPT are fantastic for a multitude of reasons, but its crucial that we do not fully rely on it. I will use ChatGPT to help with formatting papers, finding out non academic information, and give me ideas both in and out of the classroom. I think that AI finders that professors use are excellent because they help keep students honest and having academic integrity, but thats not to say that AI shouldn't be able to help out with certain academic aspects. 

Blog #7 - Antiwar

    Being antiwar is not uncommon in the United States, but it is extremely uncommon to hear about antiwar in media. Especially in mainstream media, many big corporations and platforms refuse to cover antiwar topics. Antiwar protests are seen nation and world wide, places like college campuses are becoming well known to host many protests about wars in Gaza and Ukraine. It can be assumed that a big reason that many major news corporations such as CNN, NBC, and FOX do not cover antiwar efforts is because they are, in some way, connected to supporting pro war efforts and costs. While it is not necessarily a bad thing to want to help people fighting in a war, by not covering antiwar protests, these platforms are essentially glorifying countries going to war and only making these wars last longer by not covering the people who want the wars to stop. 


    Antiwar protests have been seen frequently since the 1960s and the Vietnam War. While the news have always covered the physical protests, they never discuss what and why people are protesting. Instead, many platforms elect to make it seem as if these protests are a bad thing and hurting the American military and war efforts. In reality, the right to protest is a coveted American right granted in the First Amendment, and platforms should make an effort to cover why the people are protesting as it is patriotic to do so. 

   

    Looking at the websites The American Conservative and Antiwar.com, it is very interesting to have not heard of these platforms until just today. Likely pushed away from modern news sites and platforms, it is upsetting to just learn of these sites as a 21 year old when I feel so much pro war ideas and propaganda has been forced upon me through the news. Rather than discussing issues with the war itself, I feel Americans will typically be told how potentially dangerous other countries are and why they need to be stopped. One example of this was hearing about the weapons supposedly being held by the Middle East through the 2000s and 2010s. While we later found that these weapons never existed for the most part, it still pushed Americans to go to war overseas and occupy the Middle East; which we still do today nearly 20 years later. 

    To finish, its incredibly alarming that, for a person to hear powerful antiwar voices, they must search for obscure websites rather then be told this important information by the mainstream news. It is clear that many of these big platforms are connected to pro war voices and corporations in which they are entitled to cover what is so scary about this war and how America and it's people can help. 

Thursday, April 24, 2025

Blog #6 - EOTO #1 Reaction

    In class, we went over many different forms of communications through time. I did my presentation on the fax machine and it's long history and advancements over the years. While I felt near everyone did very good presentations, Bluetooth really caught my eye. Bluetooth has become an essential part of life, enabling users to connect to speakers, cars, watches, or anything else that is compatible. Much of new technology relies solely on Bluetooth compatibility to work, requiring another device for it to work properly. 



    I also chose Bluetooth because of the presentation and the information given that was very surprising. It is often assumed or joked about that our phones are listening to us, which they likely are. But learning that Bluetooth is a big reason for why not just your phone but nearly every device is able to listen to you is shocking. More then that, the fact that it hears what you say then gives you adds or suggested material based off what its heard is eerie. On the other side, it was very interesting to learn that Bluetooth is used in many tools you might not think, such as dental supplies. In summation, Bluetooth is a fascinating thing with so much more that will likely be upgraded or advanced in the future, and it does not rely on internet for function. 

Blog #5 - Privacy

     In a world full of technology, privacy is essential for protecting yourself and those around you. Governments, hackers, and criminals alike all want your information. While there are ways to be safer, use VPNs, different communicating apps, or other strategies, ultimately, much of your information will already be put online due to lack of privacy given by major social media and communication companies. Staying private online, while difficult, is possible but requires avid attention and a willingness to potentially miss out on features that are more revealing towards your profile. 


    While I have not personally been hacked, I have been around friends whose Instagrams and TikToks get hacked and they lose total control of the account. Another frequent form of hacking is when hackers take photos from the persons profile and create an alternate profile. These fake profiles typically urge people to follow claiming they will start posting private content of the individual or they will post a link that make people looking at the account vulnerable to also getting hacked. These issues directly effect me, my family, and friends because these privacy issues pose a major threat to everyday life. There is always a chance that your Instagram, Snapchat, X, or other social media platform gets tapped into and you not only lose the account, but the hacker gains all posts, saved posts, and drafts from the app. Especially on an app like TikTok that allows you to make drafts (posts that don't get posted), privacy is crucial as many of those drafts are not made to be seen by the public eye. 


    In my opinion, the government should continue to take steps to make these apps more private. While it makes catching criminals and terrorists more difficult because you cannot tap into their messaging and socials, it gives the general public a higher sense of security and privacy. While Silicon Valley corporations continue to build encryptions making hacking more difficult, I think its important for our government to feed into this and help make increasing privacy a more pressing matter. By doing this, it also allows for the public to be safer from foreign governments as well, something that our government should for sure be fighting to accomplish. 

    While there are many steps to staying private online, I think the biggest one is to make your account private. Though this seems obvious, it is surprising how many accounts continue to stay public for no apparent reason. Being public on social media gives you a much higher likelihood of being hacked or kicked out of your account. Another recommendation would be not to answer spam calls, texts, or emails. We now live in a world where getting random calls, texts, and emails are extremely common, and answering these, even for fun, puts you at risk of data leaking or getting tricked and scammed. 

Blog #4 - EOTO #1 Research

    The fax machine first originated from Alexander Bain's Electric Printing Telegraph in 1843. This would serve as the primary source of digital communication until the invention of the telephone. Later in 1880, English inventor Shelford Bidwell invented the Scanning PhotoTelegraph which was the first "fax" machine capable of digitally sharing photos and images. Just eight years later in 1888, Elisha Grey created the TelAutograph allowing users to sign images and send them across long distances. While the evolution of the fax machine carried into the 20th century, these three 1800s machines served as benchmarks for digital communication as a whole. 

    Continuing into the 20th century, the AT&T Corporation further advanced the early fax machine technology in 1924 by sending photos through telephone or wire transmission. This was major progress as sending 2D images now became much easier, no matter the distance. That same year, the RCA (Radio Corporation of America) developed the TransOceanic Radio Facsimile and became the first to send a photo overseas; from New York to London. Again in 1924, the AT&T Corporation invented the first fax machine capable of transmitting the worlds first color facsimile. This would become incredibly important for photos and different color ink on important documents. During this time, in 1924, it would take approximately six minutes to send a fax. 

Fax machine circa 1968

    Fast forward to 1960, technology world-wide had advanced drastically since just 1924, and fax devices were no different. The U.S Army sent the first photograph via satellite facsimile from America to Puerto Rico. In 1964, the Xerox Corporation placed a patent on commercialized modern fax machines that use telephone transmission. This same machine two years later could be connected to any phone line making fax machines optimal and common in many businesses. 

Fax machine circa 1970s

    In just 50 years, 1924 to 1974, the average time it took to send something via fax cut in half, dropping from six minutes to just three. In 1982, fax machines were sold for an estimated $20,000 per machine, which would be just under $65,000 today. 

Fax machine circa 1980s

    More recently, faxes are sent via satellite using internet. This started when, in 1982, GammaLink created the first computer based fax board called the GammaFax. This would start the wave of adapting fax to current technologies. In 1996, the general public were given the opportunity to use a internet fax service, allowing for faxes to be sent and received over the computer. Faxes sent via internet and computer are still used frequently today, and with its popularity came several other corporations offering internet fax. In 2010, eFax launched an iOS app through Apple products allowing users to fax directly from their devices. Android followed Apple the following year, allowing their users to also send faxes through their devices. 

Fax machine circa 1990s

    The fax was incredibly important to the development of digital communications. While fax machines popularized in the 1980s and seen in many offices are now considered obsolete, fax as a form of communication was able to adapt with new technology and move primarily online. Platforms like eFax have made this progression very easy, allowing users to still send the faxes they need and love to do. Faxing is still incredibly relevant today, still being used by businesses across the world and continuing to progress with the times and make communicating easier. 




Blog #11 - Final Post

     Technology is a very interesting thing. There is so much good to come with technology, it makes the world an easier place to live in an...