Final Blog Post

While researching information about myself, I found my own online footprint to be quite interesting and I found myself in several different areas. For starters, I was able to find my name linked to my address and voting registration since it is a public record in my home state. In addition, I found my name mentioned in my grandmother’s obituary from legacy.com which dated back to March 2019. In another sense, I found my personal athletic statistics on the Connecticut MileSplit website since I was a track athlete back when I was in High School. Lastly, I found myself linked to the variety of social media platforms that I frequently use on a daily basis.

The four social media platforms that I use on a frequent basis are Linkedin, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook. While I google-searched my name to obtain information, I was only able to find my Facebook and Linkedin online social media platforms. While these platforms are deemed as more public online profiles in a sense, Instagram and Snapchat are more private and people would have a more difficult time finding my user profile.

Instagram is a great source to use while in college with your peers. It is really geared toward the younger generation. It is also a good way to get current news about certain topics. Posting images on this platform really allows for a lot of creativity and it is a way to get yourself out there to a lot of people in your school. Posting on this platform can help boost self-esteem when people like and comment on your posts and it makes you feel good about who you are and what you are doing in life. In another sense, Instagram can make people feel very bad about themselves. People who are maybe not as popular can feel rather lonely when they see others having fun with a lot of their friends. This platform could very well be a huge reason and factor in why the current youth generation has a huge increased rate of depression, anxiety, and suicide. In a way, it can be very toxic and people will feel bad if they are not living up to their own society's cultural norms and standards.

Snapchat is really another interesting platform among the youth generation. It is a way for people to communicate with each other by sending pictures and videos back and forth. It is not the safest platform since people can essentially track your location but luckily there is a privacy setting that ensures people do not have to share their location. In the current society, Snapchat is another aspect that causes a lot of self-esteem issues. People often feel anxious and distressed when recipients don’t open or respond to their messages and it can cause a lot of issues. Snapchat also is a way that people can mute or really just “ghost” others if they feel like they are unimportant and if they want to stop talking to them.  

I like Facebook because it is another great source to obtain news going on in the world. It is scary because through the Facebook platform, specifically, people can find out how old I am, where I live, my interests, where I go to school, and essentially the people I associate with. The good thing, however, is that there is a special privacy setting that can limit the amount in which people can see my personal information. I was intrigued and fascinated by this idea because I really do not want everyone to know a lot of personal aspects about myself. I immediately changed these settings to private because I feel scared when people have a lot of important access to my personal information.

Aside from Facebook, I could say that I feel much safer when using my Linkedin platform. Linkedin, for example, is a great way to present yourself and your skills to other people in the professional world. Linkedin is a great way to connect and with professionals and it is a way to get a job in your career path. Both of my parents use Linkedin and they are rather satisfied with how it has set them up with careers and people in their own field. Linkedin does not give away too much information and I feel the information it does give away can only benefit you in a professional manner.

In my personal experience, I would say that I spend way too much time on social media each day. It often controls the way that I think and behave throughout the day. I really should limit myself to how often I am online and I think doing that would be healthier and rather beneficial. After doing this blog post and conducting my own individual research, I would say that I am too addicted to social media and I need to make an effort to change my ways and habits. The only benefits I see to social media are obtaining news and networking with professionals that will help land you a job. Otherwise, it can be quite toxic and cause a lot of stress and anxiety.

Blog Post #10

According to Wikipedia, the term “false flag operation” essentially means an act that was committed with the clear intention of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on the other party. This term could be popular among conspiracy theory promoters in referring to covert government operations. When examining this specific term, people should keep in mind the role it has played in the history of the world as well as current-day political events.

While considering several current events in society, it is important to realize a specific example of when a false flag has occurred. The Oregon Republican party essentially called the January 6th capitol riots a “false flag operation” because, in their mind, it was mainly an event that discredited the GOP along with supporters of Donald Trump. This idea was mainly a theory and there was not much evidence that came from the specific claim. Basically, the whole prospect and motivation behind this claim were that liberals disguised themselves as right-wing Trump supporters in order to take full power and control. They could have been doing this to give the Democratic political base more motivation and support to impeach the now-former President, Donald Trump.

In another instance throughout history, there was a clear-cut example of a false flag operation. On the night of August 31st in 1939, an abundance of Nazis dressed as Polish soldiers while storming the Gleiwitz radio tower on the Poland-Germany border. When doing this, the soldiers left behind the body of a Pro-Polish German farmer as well as several concentration camp prisoners. The result was that the farmer and the concentration camp prisoners were murdered and dressed up in German uniforms. The idea behind the attack was to justify Germany's attack on Poland the following day.  

In a final sense, another reasonable example of a false flag operation was the event of the Reichstag fire. This historical event took place on the night of February 27th, 1933, and essentially a communist sympathizer named Van de lubbe, was arrested and charged for setting a German parliament building to fire. This really gave Hitler and his propaganda minister the excuse they needed to purge Germany of opposition, especially the communists. The sweeping emergency powers this event gave to Hitler and the Nazi party was essentially a reason why people think the Nazis themselves burned down the Parliament building instead of a single Communist sympathizer. 

Overall the idea of a “false flag operation” is rather unique and interesting as it opens up our perspective about something that we may not have thought about throughout our everyday life. It is probably not something that has affected us personally but at the same time, it is important to have the education and knowledge about this specific term so we could apply it to certain events in history. It is probably not something that affects people on an individual basis but it has most definitely played a role in the shaping of military operations, government, and politics within our society as a whole.  

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

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/535882-oregon-republican-party-calls-the-capitol-riot-a-false-flag-operation-to?rl=1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag

 

Blog Post #12

Confirmation bias is the tendency to process information by looking for or interpreting information that is consistent with one’s existing beliefs. As an example when you are in an argument, you are doing everything you can to form your own viewpoint to win that argument instead of making an attempt to understand the other individual involved. People are not trusting all the facts, they are basically just protecting the information that they want to hear. One of the bad things about confirmation bias is that it really leads to flawed decision-making. With Confirmation bias, you are so blindsided by information and it's to the point where you are making assumptions about people before you even get to know them well. This can cause you to have trouble meeting people and making friends in college or in your life in general. A lot of people have confirmation bias with their political viewpoints or beliefs that are in their life in general. As another example, people often have a slanted confirmation bias when they are looking at their news sources. People already have a biased or confirmed viewpoint about specific beliefs, values, or stories in the news so they will not open their minds to things that differ from what they believe. News media sources are feeding very specific messages and aspects of political agenda so they will gain people who have a biased mindset about topics. Generally, it is important to open up your mind and ideas to things in the world or in life that may differ from your own specific bias or viewpoint deception. Confirmation bias can be dangerous and people should try to refrain from having this control their way of thinking or believing in life.

Blog Post #9

When looking at a key innovation that truly played an important role in American society, it is important to realize the essential idea behind the innovation diffusion theory. The specific area I decided to focus on was television. The first television came out in the year 1927 and it was rather basic but at the same time, it was functional. The television displayed black and white imagery and it had very few channels to choose from. The “early adopters” of this specific technology bought a single television set for their household and by doing this, it really brought families together.

Several individuals throughout society decided initially to not adopt this item because they were set on the idea of radios to get their sources of world information. It was also not a cheap item to purchase and not everyone could afford it. Although just about everyone today has at least one television set in their house, it was estimated in the year 2015, that only 2.6% of Americans did not have at least one television. The Television has come a long way in terms of pricing and there are a variety of affordable options for people no matter what their economic status is.

As a result, televisions are a positive invention overall and they have truly come a long way from when they were first discovered in the year 1927. Television allows people to gain knowledge about certain information and subjects that are occurring in the world and it provides them with a variety of sources for their own personal entertainment. The downside is that television gives people a lot of distraction from their everyday life and it causes people to become addicted to staring at a screen all day. 

(First Television set)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffusion_of_innovations

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-many-tvs-in-american-homes-number-us-department-energy-20173#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20USEI%20survey,when%20the%20percentage%20was%201.2%25.

Blog #6 EOTO

While looking at the development of technology throughout the span of time in the United States history, it is rather important to examine the significance of the first television set. This might not even be something we really think about because television plays a huge role in our everyday lives and it is something we use on a daily basis to obtain news and various forms of entertainment. Television programs offer people a wide variety to choose from and through the innovation and invention of this technology, we have been fortunate enough to experience a high-quality visual effect. This is not something we have always been able to experience because television has come a long way and it was truly a huge accomplishment when it was first created.

The brains behind the invention of the first television set was Philo Taylor Farnsworth. This man is interesting and he truly has a unique background compared to most individuals. He was always bright and intrigued by certain scientific inquiries that most people were unaware of. Philo Taylor Farnsworth was raised in a household without electricity until he reached the age of fourteen. While he was enrolled in high school, Farnsworth began to conceive a system that could capture moving images. The system could then take those moving images and code them with radio waves and transform them back onto a picture screen. The invention was rather unique in how it scanned images with beams of electrons and this allowed to transform it into lines onto the screen. The main scientific idea of the television was for the sole purpose of turning sound into visuals. 

(Philo Taylor Farnsworth)

The first television set was successfully demonstrated on September 7, 1927, in San Francisco California. At the time of this innovation, Philo Taylor Farnsworth was only twenty-one years old. This impressive development was life-changing for several Americans. While television is not something we give much thought to, it was truly a huge deal for people in the early twentieth century. At the beginning of time for the revolutionized invention, American households only had a single television set for their whole entire family. Television when it was first created and for many years thereafter, was something that bonded families and brought them all together after a long day. People were not as fortunate in their selection of channel choices and television had only a few channels to choose from. In addition, television was broadcasted in black and white imagery which is completely different and basic from the visuals that it offers today. One of the main services a television set could provide people was the news. The television news was a more interactive and intuitive way for Americans to get information about the world going on around them. It was visually entertaining and a step up from the radio programs.

(First TV set)

While looking back through the history of television technology in the United States, it is important to reflect upon the success of the invention and how far it has come today. While television was a luxury for American families and it brought them all together in the early days, it is now such a huge part of our everyday lives. Television monitors are displayed everywhere we go throughout society and they are used to portray important details. In addition, most households have several televisions throughout their home and a variety of channels and sources of entertainment so people do not have to watch the same thing together all at once. The visual aspects of entertainment have significantly improved from what they once were in the very beginning. We should acknowledge Philo Taylor Farnsworth as a technological hero and be thankful for the invention he has brought into our lives today.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016003234904154

https://www.electronicworldtv.co.uk/blog/why-was-the-tv-invented

https://stephens.hosting.nyu.edu/History%20of%20Television%20page.html

Blog Post #7

 

Before I worked on this blog post, I had never heard of the sources Antiwar.com and the American Conservative. These two specific segments are not something that you normally hear when you are thinking about news sources. It also seems like both of these news sources are unique in the sense that they offer a very anti-government approach towards the topics they are speaking about. These sources mainly cover the topics of the president and foreign affairs. It provides opinion-based feedback and specific insight on what the United States should do in several military and foreign relations situations. While speaking about the United States and its military involvement, it mainly criticizes the military involvement with the abundance of troops that America has on other worldwide nations. In a specific sense, it talks about the United States and it criticizes the relations that we have with Syria. These websites could essentially be unheard of because of how critical they truly are to our nation and their way the country is handling certain things. Although these websites can be deemed as unorthodox, I found them to be rather insightful and they really helped open up my eyes to a new perspective. These sites provide me with sufficient details and insight that you would not hear from generic opinion-based sources such as Fox News and CNN. As American citizens, we truly have the right to explore different opinions and make educated assumptions based on the information that we are told and because of that, these websites were eye-opening sources of information. I am intrigued by these sources and I look forward to using them in the future when I want to browse for information about current political topics.

https://www.antiwar.com/

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/web-categories/realism-restraint/

Blog Post #8

People may not even realize or think about it too much but the iPod is incorporated in all our iPhones today. The first iPod was released in October in the year 2001 and people were only able to store five gigabytes of music on it. Now, with the innovation and growth of technology, you can store thousands of songs on a single device. Forty-Seven percent of people use an iPhone on a daily basis. The popularity of the iPhone in the current day all has to do with how we used an iPod in the early 2000s era. People could easily fit the iPod devices into their pockets. It is not a very popular device now just because people have iPhones today and the iPhones all have the iPod music capability within the device. Over time, people have leaned away from the Ipods as the Iphones have become more popular throughout American society.

However, before the Ipods became popular, people used Sony walkmans to listen to their music. The walkmans had no screen to see what you would be listening to instead, it just had buttons where you would select the song and it had the functions of pause and play. The iPod had these functions but at the same time, it was more intuitive in the sense that it had a screen where you could see what song was being played, you could create playlists, or you could customize the device or other aspects to your own liking or preferability.

https://www.cnet.com/pictures/the-complete-history-of-apples-ipod/