Technology and Relationship

Technology can have a negative impact on the relationship by being a big distraction for either party. Instead of having important conversations, one or both partners are more focused on their phones and checking social media. Lastly, heavy use of technology can actually lead to negative mental health. 

It’s easy to become distracted by text messages and social media updates. When conversations between family members are constantly interrupted by technology, it may become difficult to “be in the moment.” This may cause children to share less information with parents as well. Feeling unimportant. 

Technology has been increasing at a fast pace since the late 1990’s and 2000’s, making it difficult for parents (and adults in general) to handle the challenges of changing technology in their workplaces and homes. 

This increase in technology adds a new dynamic to parenting: challenging meaningful communication and strong relationships with our children. It can challenge our adult and family relationships as well. 

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Why does a family divide happen? 

Family divides can happen when there is a breakdown in communication and connection among parents and children, or between adults. A breakdown in communication might involve dishonest, disrespectful, and distant (not being present) conversations, or simply having no conversation at all. 

It can create innocent misunderstandings, distrust, and a feeling of distance between family members. When a breakdown in communication continues, the problem can snowball, furthering the distance between family members. 

The difficulties in communication between working parents and their children 

Working parents often have an obligation to work long hours away from home, resulting in “latchkey kids” that come home each day and spend time without parents present. During that time, it’s easy for children to spend their time playing video games, visiting social media sites, and checking in with their cell phones to connect with friends. 

Technology such as cell phones and online gaming allows for children to be constantly connected to friends, making peers one of their largest influencers. In these cases, some children turn to friends for advice instead of their parents. 

The difficulties for parents in mastering technology  

Technology is changing at a rapid pace and in order to master the latest technology, parents must continuously spend time learning new devices, apps, social media sites. For some parents, this becomes a real challenge. It can be difficult to balance family, work, household activities, and social calendars, let alone learning the latest technology. Therefore, mastering technology often falls by the wayside. 

In addition, many parents (and adults in general) today were raised in a culture where technology was not as large a part of everyday life as it is today. There were no Smart Boards in classrooms, cell phones were novelties, and online gaming had not yet been invented. Some homes didn’t even have a computer. 

The learning curve for parents and adults to learn and master technology has been steeper than it has been for children that grew up with computers, tablets, smart TVs, and cell phones at their fingertips. 

Now parents can’t monitor their children’s communication 

In the beginning, social media sites could easily be monitored by parents. It was common for parents to “friend” their children and monitor their online communication. Today, children are using social media platforms such as Snap Chat where messages disappear within seconds so that parents can’t see the messages stored on their child’s phone. 

Some children create separate profiles that their parents aren’t aware of: one where they connect to family and friends, and one where they only connect with friends. Other common methods children use to avoid parent monitoring are deleting text messages or apps from their phones daily. 

How to Reduce Technology 

Block Out Tech-Free Time Together 

Make it a rule that devices are not allowed at the table during meals. Go for a walk and leave your devices behind. Plan a date night and leave your devices at home or in the car. Designate a time of day or day of the week to be tech-free. 

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Example from my family, during fall, spring, and summer season we tend to create activity for my family members to engage and spend time together. Due to time, jobs, and many conflict, but we choose to go for a walk around the neighbors or to the park to have a picnic. The kids really enjoy it and we they them every evening to distract them from using technology. We spend time about 3 hours a day and by the time they get home, we ate dinner, clean up our selves, doing homework, and by that time it already time for bed.

These two link provide pro and cons of using technology and how it affect our relationship toward one another. Meanwhile it also gives information of how people should educe the use of technology and set-up rules in their house.

How has the Information Age changed the way we live?

Quinton Miller, Metropolitan State University, April 20th, 2021 Post #5 type #1 (Annotated link & describe what’s present & how it relates to us)

The information age is the time in which we live now. It begun in the late 20th century and is defined by the shift from industrialization to more of an information technology economy. The industrial age brought on new advancements for the Western world creating America’s billionaires who led the nation to become rapidly sustainable. The industrial age brought on new jobs, economic opportunities and an increase in efficiency with the addition of technology. This computerization of material saves companies money in the long run. Humans are not completely counted out as opportunities to repair or maintain the new equipment become available. Also referred to as the digital revolution, new entertainment social and analytical media sprout from it. Entertainment includes internet, video, music and game streaming. These services provide quick downloads, fresh music options, and new digital games. All these industries have flourished from the integration of technology into today’s society.

A major platform is social media. Social media uses the internet to connect users on websites and applications. This platform can be helpful for businesses as well as individuals. For business it helps share ideas and network more easily. Individuals can also Network as well as stay connected with family members, form groups based on shared interest, advocate for a cause the individual is passionate about or to share content quickly and efficiently. Although social media is mostly used on handheld devices, this product started on computers. Social media, like other forms of media, provide information on a business’s reach to their audience. This, in turn, influences marketing strategy and advertising preferences. All of this is wonderful, but how does it relate to the topic of my essay? I’m glad you asked. with the amount of real-time information floating through the internet, there is bound to be unpopular, inaccurate, and misleading information on the internet social media giants’ platforms. Questions like how we combat this or mitigate its effect are commonly assessed due to false information. Some people suggest staying away from social media all together, others want to treat these platforms like class by checking everyone’s work for accuracy or offence. Some people simply do not care. For those who do, stick around to the end of this article for some great resources to gain back your confidence while surfing the web and using social media.

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There are resources that elaborate on the ethics of technological advancements and how it has affected the daily lives of those in society. The explanation through the acronym P.A.P.A provides the grounds of how the swiftness in which information travels has impacted those who do and do not use it. The ‘P‘ stands for privacy, the most negatively impacted aspect of life is said to relate to people’s ability to be true to themselves without revealing too much of themselves. ‘A‘ is the accuracy of the information that has traveled, which had been made popular by Donald Trump’s ‘Fake News‘ slogan. The second ‘P’ stands for property. For example, who is entitled to certain information amy come into question when a journalists reveals a secret of a celebrity that tarnishes their image. This even has a lawsuit called ‘Slandering’.

According a to findlaw.com publication, Maddy Teka, a law degree holder from Ethiopia, explains what is entailed in slander cases:

“Someone made a false, defamatory statement about you knowing it was a false statement

The statement does not fall in any privileged category

The person who published it acted negligently when they published the statement

You were harmed by the statement”

(Teka)

https://www.findlaw.com/company/our-team.html

Finally, the second ‘A’ stands for accessibility or who is entitled to certain information. The government is an excellent example of an entity that is supposed to allow information to be accessible, but withholds certain pieces as classified.

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Check this instagram post out on tips and tricks to stop web tracking for Ads on Instagram.

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This mobile and computer web browser are used by myself and I figured why not share the sugar. This isn’t even a paid ad! DuckDuckGo is just t that good!

Mason, Richard O. “Four Ethical Issues of the Information Age.” MIS Quarterly, vol. 10, no. 1, 1986, pp. 5–12. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/248873. Accessed Apr. 2021.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/248873?seq=1

https://www.findlaw.com/injury/torts-and-personal-injuries/how-to-sue-for-slander.html#:~:text=In%20a%20slander%20lawsuit%2C%20you,when%20they%20published%20the%20statement

Bridging the Gap Between Social Media and Advertisement by Accessing How Audiences Are Targeted

Quinton Miller, MDST 485 Communicating with New Media, Public Relations Major, Metropolitan State University

January 22nd, 2021

This scholarly journal keys in on the increasing popularity of CBD products. Through algorithms set for identifying certain words, this passage explains the analysis taking place surrounding the conversation concerning attitudes towards cannabinoid (CBD) and its purpose. Terms including anxiety, stress or nausea were identified as indicators for therapeutic necessities. This could help with uncovering what language companies who sell these types of products would use in their advertisements going forward. It may also provide insight into a drug policy that needs revision for places that do not allow it due to the products legality based on those first hand accounts documented from forums. This includes Cannabinol/CBD, hemp oil and Cannabis. There are pieces of qualitative data from these findings which is what some new age advertising services utilize. Not only does this tie into the cannabis sector of public relations in new media through explanation of a methodology professionals can use on social media platforms, this academic journal is relevant to us as citizens. When using social media, we often find advertisements geared towards something we’ve recently posted, viewed or talked about. The algorithm, similar to a control F function in a word document, gives an example of how our data is utilized in studies. Once we, as users of these platforms, think outside the box and consider other ways our words are used, we can conduct other research as to how social media and advertisements have played hand-in-hand.

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Does this remind us of anyone who whistle blew about this in the past?

This news article was originally written in the beginning of 2018 and revised in October of 2020. This article includes a video experiment of a couple conversing about cat food to see if ads would begin to appear in relation to their conversation. They concluded that facebook had been listening for keywords in their conversations due to the fact that cat food advertisements begun appearing days later. These readings seem distant on the surface, but with a little critical analysis in the mindset of media communication, people can bridge the gap between an obvious new age of targeting methods and terminology. Both articles involve keywords instead of age groups. All users of either the forum or social media who used certain words were taken into account. Each of these had different ways and different purposes, but they could relate to the ways companies use new media to gather and target data on potential consumers.

Take a look below and try it out for yourself !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0SOxb_Lfps

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Of course this isn’t the real Edward Snowden’s instagram. (I doubt we’ll see the real Snowden on social media). This is a instagram fanpage dedicated to the man who informed the world of what the NSA had been doing.

Narcity Media, October 2020, Why You Keep Getting Ads For Things You’ve Talked About But Haven’t Searched Up Online https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.narcity.com/amp/why-you-keep-getting-ads-for-things-youve-talked-about-but-havent-searched-up-online

International Journal of Drug Policy Vol. 77, Mar 2020, Social Media Surveillance for Perceived Therapeutic Effects of Cannabinol (CBD) Products https://www-sciencedirect-com.mtrproxy.mnpals.net/science/article/pii/S0955395920300293

Hey! (Introductory Post)

Hey everyone, My name is Quinton. This is extremely new for me. I’ve never heard of or used WordPress. If I had ran across it before I don’t remember. I’m always up for new challenges. Its a plus that this allows for website creation because I want to use something like this in the future for personal reasons. I’d originally only known about Wix.com. Interesting!

TED TALKS – SOCIAL MEDIA TO INSPIRE

If you are in the professional world you’ve likely been invited to, attended, participated in, or at the very least heard of a conference related to your industry. I work in education and our high-level district staff and board members attend a conference every year that gathers people together from large, urban districts around the country to share ideas and best practices. Conferences are great opportunities to network but are often out of reach for small businesses, non-profits, or individuals due to the cost of attendance.

Was a security release funded by it’s competitor?

Back in March of 2018 CTS-Labs disclosed a vulnerability that they found inside of AMD’s chipset line up. Now this is a normal thing that companies do in order to make sure that we are safe they try and break into electronics to find their vulnerabilities so that they can be updated. But what was odd about this disclosure was that they only gave AMD 24 hours of notice before they made the vulnerability public. To put this into perspective when Google release their security disclosure for Spectre and Meltdown they notified Intel 6 months before releasing it to the public. Now CTS-Labs reports “It doesn’t have any investment (long or short) in Intel or AMD.”, but it seemed a little fishy to me so I did some digging. While one site reports that they have a legal disclaimer stating “you are advised that we may have , either directly or indirectly, an economic interest in the performance of the securities of the companies whose products are the subject of our reports.” Which to most people just sounds like a red flag but I can give them the benefit of the doubt on that one Lawyers need to make sure to cover all bases whether it is currently happening or not.

Next I wanted to look into the actual company. The company of CTS-Labs was created in 2017 and is based in Israel.  They are a security company that focuses on hardware security so their report could be that they needed to get their name out to garner business and that is why the report was rushed but it could also be that Intel would have received the briefing about Spectre and Meltdown security flaws just around the time that CTS-Labs was created and Intel would have seen on the report that AMD was not affected by either of these issues. They would have know that when this gets out that is going to cause their stock to drop and AMD’s stock to jump up. So the logical thing to do is to find a security flaw in AMD’s chipset, but if they reported it that would look childish but if someone else reports it than it is fine. Supporting new business is something that many companies do and so they found a new business that couldn’t be traced to them offered them support and asked them to focus their efforts on finding security flaws in AMD’s chips hoping that they will find one by the time the public finds out about the security issues within their own chips.

Now all of this of course is conjecture as CTS-Labs has absolutely refused to give up any information about its funding for their investigation into the security flaws but this event has definitely created tension between security groups and manufacturers.

Resources:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/12536/our-interesting-call-with-cts-labs

http://cts-labs.com/

https://www.cnet.com/news/amd-has-a-spectre-meltdown-like-security-flaw-of-its-own/

Budge Challenge App: Is this a new way to donate to meaningful charities?

Have you ever made a bet with your friend or significant other that was a win-win situation? Probably not—more like a win-lose situation. It’s okay. That is why in today’s post I would like to tell you about a win-win opportunity but with a charitable twist. It’s pretty neat app, called: Budge and you can create challenges about almost anything with your friends for great causes such as cures for cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, AIDS, or understanding climate change, or searching for extra-terrestrial life. I first saw this app on Buzzfeed: 25 Free Apps That Are Making The World A Better Place.

“Budge was born out of our vision that giving to charity should be a fun and super easy process,” said Hillan Klein, CEO and co-founder, Budge. “With this goal in mind, we set out to build a new culture in charitable giving specifically aimed at Gen Y by combining social gaming with micro-donations. We want to educate people that it’s okay to give in small amounts–casual deeds can truly have a meaningful impact.”

What has been usually done in the past is that the leaders of charities set up a table to have you sign and make a donation that way or hold special events that promote support by donations and then people can pay to enter the event. But I feel like by using those techniques to reach the charitable goal can somewhat take forever to reach because most people are going through a “Charity Fatigue”. In which, many but not all feel like that charity can be a bit too much and just feels sometimes forced. But with the Budge app, it feels less forced because you are donating money in a enjoyable way. Just like it states on the Cision website, “From there, it takes only a few seconds to create a “budge,” select a charity and challenge their friends. “Budges” can be anything – a game of chess, meeting for coffee, a pizza-eating contest, you name it.”

Now, before you think or say that donating to charities can be a pain at times, especially for the reason that they usually require commitment and emotions run high as well as leave the wallet somewhat dry. I came across an app that includes fun ways to give to charity by interacting with friends with cool challenges. I can remember when donating was not as fun, specially when it came to church charities or food drives.

 

I have used this app before with a couple of my friends and for one challenge I can recall is that we put in the challenge of not eating unhealthy foods and to drink plenty of water for 1 week or so, in which I won with another friend but the other friend lost. But we enjoyed it, because who really doesn’t like a challenge?

Taking control of your own medical future

Ever wanted to take more control the next time you go in for surgery?

It’s not something many people think about, but I recently read an article in the Atlantic (link here) where Larry Smarr, a man suffering from Crohn’s disease, brought a full 3-d model of his insides (which he dubbed “Transparent Larry”) with him to the operating table in order to help assist his surgeon for the 5 hour operation to remove a portion of his colon.

How did he do this? Well, he happens to head the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, or Calit2, and has used a supercomputer to monitor his health and peer at his organs. Larry spent years taking precise measurements of every input (food) and output (you guessed it…) from his body, to help discover the initial signs of Crohn’s disease years before it would have been detectable from standard medical procedures.

His doctor who operated on him in 2016, Sonia Ramamoorthy, found the bizarre information supplied by her patient to be not only incredibly useful, but potentially groundbreaking as a possible next step in medical technology. “As a result, he arguably knows more about his own inner workings than anyone else ever has. His goal, as he puts it, is for each of us to become ‘the CEO of our own body.’ […] Inside Transparent Larry, Ramamoorthy got a jump on the surgery a week early. She could see which portion of the colon would have to be removed, where it was located, and how it was shaped. […] The virtual images were so helpful, she said later, that she wishes she could have them every time she operates: ‘It was wonderful. It was like the difference between driving around before and after Google Maps.’”

I was floored to think this type of 3-d data might someday be available not only to someone like Larry, but to the general populace. The current norm in surgical operations are to use a robotic equipment armed with multiple camera arms to help explore a patient’s insides during the procedure. But in Larry’s case, Ramamoorthy was able to shave nearly an hour off the procedure and could consult every facet of his insides over a week in advance to help familiarize the team who would be operating on him.

“Turning a two-dimensional MRI into three dimensions is not that hard, Larry told the audience at his lecture. The remaining challenge is to get more doctors to be like Ramamoorthy, and to get more engineers working in concert with them.”

Social Media and Its Impact on Communication

While some matters may appear to be the same in our culture, others have drastically changed. Offhand the most significant of these being the development of technology and social media.

Before the turn of the millennium, social media was in its infancy. Most of it was done by way of email and Hotmail, but not much anywhere else. With the development of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, as well as the development of the iPhone, caused a great difference in our communication styles and how normal everyday people interact with one another. It would seem to some it would give way to giving people a voice where no existed before. In this regard this could be viewed as healthy and beneficial. Sort of like allowing the underdog a chance where none existed before.

Much of the younger under 25 generation these styles seem to have their interests directed by way of social media, and appear to interact with each other much less in person. It is undoubted that with the growth of social media, and with everyday technology becoming much more accessible and easy to process, this will hamper everyday communication but to what effects and to what degree? It could be possible that with this this may play a definitive role on one’s mental health, and if so, to what extent do people who are depressed become addicted to the point of wanting to interact with others around them?

Is it possible that social media may possibly take other methods of communication, and become the normal method of discussion and interacting with other people. Back 20 years ago or thereabouts, children went over to their friend’s house to play, or talked with them on the telephone. More and more it seems that social media is the preferred norm over other methods, and this may soon become the normal way to communicate with both friends and family.

 

Technology and Children

About 8 months ago, I was talking with friends about that children’s singer, Raffi.  We were reminiscing about singing “Baby Beluga” as children and how we were all going to go to a Halloween party as Raffi songs.  When I got home that night, I decided to look Raffi up and see what he was up to.  I found him on Facebook and Twitter and followed him.  It became clear quickly that Raffi, still singing songs for children, has evolved into an anti-technology advocate, especially when it comes to children.

I didn’t get my first smartphone until 5 months ago.  I will openly admit that I am addicted to my laptop and when it broke this past Sunday I actually became depressed, but when it came to my phone, I was insistent on never getting a smartphone.  I didn’t want to become one of “those” people who, when out with friends, spends all their time playing on their phone.  Now that I have my smartphone, I can see the negatives and the positives.  While I am not addicted to it like I am with my laptop, I find it useful for the GPS and looking up information when a computer isn’t nearby.  I also see how smartphones can disconnect you from real life because you are no longer having conversations when you are out with people.

Back to Raffi, he has a book about the dangers of technology and children.  I haven’t read it, but I have followed him long enough on social media to know what the gist of it is.  He has said that children do not use their imaginations when they are around technology.  I find this very true in my own life.  Ever since I got my first laptop, I’ve had the hardest time being motivated and finding ideas for my creative writing.  I feel like my mind is so busy with information that I can’t filter it out to focus on what is important to me.  Because of my addiction to the Internet, especially, I get anxious about being bored and having nothing to do.  When I was a kid, I remember being bored, especially during the summer months when Dragnet Fridays came on Nick@Nite’s Summer Block Party.  (I hated Dragnet).  When I was bored, I didn’t have the Internet to entertain me, but I was very creative as a child and figured out things to do.  This fear parents seem to have about their children having nothing to do and bothering them has resulted in kids being addicted to technology at young ages when they should be using their imagination and being kids.  Kids should be out playing with friends, playing Cops and Robbers, riding their bikes, not in front of a computer.

While I know I can’t be without technology for very long, I don’t want my future children to be like me.  I want them to experience camping in the wilderness and going for family bike rides like I did when I was a kid.  I want a better world for them and an over-consumption of technology is not the answer.