Blog #6: Antiwar

After looking through the Antiwar website, it is clear that the objective of this website is to voice opinions on diplomatic relations that may not always be shown in mainstream media. Upon looking at the information on the website, it gives a different perspective on news stories that can be seen in the mainstream like on CBS or Fox. The perspective is more a criticism of the involved parties action. For example, the page includes an article titled White House: Trump 'Fully Supports" Israel's Gaza Slaughter which overviews the things that the current administration is doing to contribute to the conflict. Perspectives like this are important because they are focused on ways of mitigating the impact of these wars. While this is a news story that I may have seen on my personal news sources like this article from AP News about Trumps plan to gain ownership of Gaza, it is not always a perspective that is covered in the mainstream. It is also interesting to acknowledge any bias within the stories on Antiwar because like any news that we have today, it is all skewed or biased to match a certain political view. That being said, a website like this may not be easily accessible to the public because it takes some "controversial" stances on world relations and doesn't agree with the current or past administration's actions.

The second website looks a little more similar to those that we see in the mainstream media in a blogger style format. The satires are very similar to the ones on Antiwar, consisting of mainly criticisms of the United Stated with other countries, and the US Governments role in various crises. For example, this article overviews a potential disaster occurring if the US were to be at war with Iran, given the rising tension. The article is criticizing the responses from the US and the UK, among other European countries. Upon googling this same issue, an article from Fox News pops up which explains a similar story, but from the perspective of how the Trump administration is responding to it. Moving forward, it is important for websites like the two mentioned here to be accessed by the general public in order to keep people informed on all parts of an issue. Reflecting on why these websites may be censored, the US has a sense of patriotism that can sometimes border nationalism, which may cause some of these websites offering criticism to be censored. It is interesting to see news like this being censored given that there is a strong emphasis on freedom of speech. 

Final Post: My Relationship with Technology

 It is no secret that the invention of technology has revolutionized our world in a countless number of ways. While the impacts of this amazing innovation have had both positive and negative consequences, we all have a different experience with technology. When you were born, where you grew up, your family dynamic, social class, and economic status are all things that factor in to your use of technology. During this Media Law and Literacy class, we have talked about technology and reflected on how it affects not only the world around us, but our own personal lives. 

To spark our reflection, we watched a series of videos that had different outlooks on technology. First was this video from the New York fair in 1964 that featured an amusement ride called "Futurama". While the features of the ride may have seemed outlandish at the time, they were quite hopeful for the future of how humans use technology. The ride included an increase of space travel, ocean exploration, and even a tourist attraction placed in the sunken city of Atlantis. Comparatively, these things do not entirely exist in the way that this ride fantasized about. When doing my own research, I looked at some of the predictions for modern technology innovations in 2025, and found this article from Forbes Magazine that outlines some predicted improvements in AI technology, among other things. The article points to increase in research on robotics as something that will pose a potential threat in the coming years. This was interesting for me to read because when I was growing up, having fully functioning robots was what seemed outlandishly futuristic, and now this is a technology that is being integrated into our society. 

To highlight another incredibly influential piece of technology, especially in my life and the lives of other people born in my generation, is the mobile phone. I first got a phone when I was in sixth grade, which is surprisingly later than some of my peers. I remember how excited I was to get access to this type of technology because it meant I had access to a whole other world that had been created by the internet. I could now become connected with anybody I wanted to, and while it seemed exciting at the time, that brought up its own issues. Despite the entire billion dollar economic industry that the invention of mobile phones created, it wasn't all positive. I found an article that talks about a personal experience from someone in my generation and their experience with having access to such technology at a young age. From The Uproar , the author talks a lot about the value that Gen Z has put on phones and its role in our childhoods. I agree with much of what is said in the article because I feel the same way. By having access to this media at such a young age, my perspectives of the way the world works and my role the world was heavily altered. 

While researching some of the impacts that have been found when children have long exposure to the internet and devices, this article from the Conway Medical Center came up. They had many informational talking points that directly correlate to some of the issues that are seen amongst Gen Z, and things that I have found within myself. For instance, one of the main detriments to children using technology is that they develop a shorter attention span. This has absolutely happened to me, because I have found that I have a hard time focusing on homework or in a class that extends for a long period of time. Additionally, what is interesting is that the media has adapted to only make this problem worse. With things like TikTok and Instagram Reels which have a younger audience, they are meant to only entertain your attention span for 15-30 seconds. Even kids shows have become shorter, with episodes being only 20-30 minutes. Going back to my personal relationship with technology, I have tried to find new ways to build up my attention span again by watching longer shows and movies, and even taking a break from the screens and taking some time to read when I am in need of entertainment. 

As I start to navigate my adult life, I make a constant goal for myself to find hobbies and interests outside of using technology in order to stay grounded. While technology has very positively impacted my life and allowed for me to pursue a career in media, it is important to set limits for myself. I try to build meaningful personal relationships through in-person interactions, because I believe that you can never truly know someone if you only know their online persona. As I continue my college career, I will continue to make myself aware of how technology is affecting my life, positively or negatively, and to make sure that I am keeping my focus on the moments of my life that I can't capture with technology. This class has been a great way to learn more about something I am interested in, while also helping me be very self reflecting. 

Blog #7: EOTO Reaction 2

 The second Each One Teach One presentations captured my interest, as they were all about theories. I am someone who enjoys studying behavior and trends among populations, especially as it relates to media, so I researched further some of the theories that I heard about from my classmates. Since the theory that I studied was all about how people interpret and change their acceptance on laws, it was interesting to see some of my classmates cover various ideas like technology, cybersecurity, and communication.

The first presentation that caught my attention was about the Five Eyes (see Wikipedia page). This is an intelligence sharing alliance that dates its creation back to World War II. This includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the US that shared information about different safety intelligence. Upon googling this theory, there is a copious amount of current news that is covering the five eyes. For example, this article includes a podcast style interview from The Atlantic that overviews how the current administration poses a possible threat to the unification of the Five Eyes. The article appears to be criticizing Trump for extending Russian talking points, claiming that the remarks posed as a threat to the alliances that the US made after World War II, including this one. I found this interesting because this alliance seems to secure a lot of information about safety, and exchanges resources. Many Americans may look at situations such as the one mentioned in the article as dangerous and a threat to the safety of the US.

 

Another presentation that interested me was about echo chambers (see Wikipedia page). This theory stuck with me because it seems as though it is becoming more and more relevant as technology and social media evolve to allow everyone to have access to information all of the time. After further research, I found an article on GCF Global that describes echo chambers as "fueled in part by confirmation bias". I think this is extremely relevant and important because as social media algorithms are getting very complex at showing users the type of content that they are used to, it becomes very easy for users to fall into these echo chambers. When looking at current news involving this theory, I found an article from Forbes that points to peoples tendencies to only look at one side of political news, and how that has led to an extremely polarized society. The article distinctly points out the use of feedback loops within social media platforms which is why these users are seeing content and creators that align with their opinions. With the amount of fake news being posted, it is easy for someone to pigeonhole themselves into only seeing one side of media, especially as most people do not look at a variety of sources for their news. 

Overall, I learned a lot from the Each One Teach One second projects, and upon further research I have realized that a lot of these theories and organizations are being heavily impacted today. Whether it is through social media, rising technology, politics, or overall access, people and their opinions are constantly changing and it is important to always be aware of the things that affect us negatively, especially in media.