Final Blog Post

 Technology is a wild thing. Something that has had a rapid growth spurt in the world around us and yet doesn't seem to be slowing down in the slightest. I think it is true that society as a whole has a a very strong relationship with technology, expect I'm to say that I believe it is a very unhealthy relationship with a lot of red flags. I believe in this unhealthy relationship because it is truly based off of obsession; obsession with constantly seeing what other people are doing and trying to "one up" the competition, trying to be better than what is seen on feeds, trying to look better than those around you (don't get me wrong bettering oneself is always great, but when it is done with the intention to one up what you see online - which is typically edited - is not the right reason to be doing so), and constantly worrying about what other people are doing and how they think of you. I also believe that because of this obsession of feeling that you constantly have to check in with the world around you, that it takes up TOO much of your time. I heard recently on a podcast (and had to go to google for the numbers of course) that the average person is on their phone approximately 3 hours and 15 minutes a day - thats 22 hours a week, 88 hours a month, 1,056 hours a year. In a year the average person spends 44 days on their phone, thats more than a month. Image all the amazing things that people are missing out on because they are more consumed with things going on far away from them instead of enjoying the present of what is going on around. 

While there is a positive to technology, all the information ever imaginable right at your finger tips. Technology; phones and computers, serve as such an amazing connection to new information that is being discovered constantly. If someone has a question about how things work, google is the place to go. If someone has a concern about an illness, google can serve as a perfect start point to figuring out what is going wrong. If someone has a question about the weather, google can give updates on what the weather is going to be like there or in another country. However, while it can be very beneficial and informative, not all the information is accurate. With the given political condition of the nation it can be hard to figure out if certain news information regarding elections or public figures is correct or if it is partially (or fully) made up to in turn support the opposing side. It also gives a false illusion of what people look like - models and movie stars being falsely portrayed to look good gives the younger generation a false sense of what beauty looks like and very unrealistic unobtainable beauty standards that they will forever trying to reach but will never quite get to because it is completely fake. 

I think older generation are 50/50. There are some people who don't have a smartphone simply because they didn't have one growing up and find no need for it. Then there is another part of older generations that have smartphones but it, like younger generations, have been glued to their hand and trying to have a conversation at dinner is near impossible because they are having to update their facebook profiles on their current thoughts of the world around them (speaking from experience from a girl who's father has zero filter when it comes to sharing his thoughts about Trump and Biden on Facebook - and updates on his grandchildren of course). 

All in all, although it seems from my writing that I think technology and the social media aspect that comes from it is a terrible thing, I think it can be good. It can keep distant family members connected despite state lines and different time zones, and it can help people when they just need to be heard from someone and share their thoughts and feelings that they may not be able to share with family members out of fear of disappointing them. 

#11 EOTO - Presentation

A fellow classmate, Wendell Epps, presented on The Five Eyes. Personally, I have never heard this before, ever, so I didn't know what to expect or really what it was going to be about. Through his presentation I truly learned a lot, granted I didn't have much background. The Five Eyes is a governmental alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, The United States, and The United Kingdom, as one large alliance they share all intelligence information... at first that seems cool, you know large governments working together and helping each other and bettering the nations. Well, upon further explanation, it's creepy. At first it was used during World War II when information was critical as was the importance of gathering intel during such a war, a positive, right? Except, the monitoring didn't stop. Obviously the government invades privacy, we don't always know how or when (if it ever even stops) but we know that it happens. In the beginning the alliance of information was focused on foreign countries to mitigate the possible bad things that could occur, now it's just a spy resource of sorts. With this alliance the US for example can now use the access that Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and/or the United Kingdom has on its own people for its own use... whatever that might entail. Overall, it's creepy knowing that now it isn't only the US that can see my information, or friends, or family, or even complete strangers. 

12- Class Discussion

During class on October 5th we talked about how the definition of being a whistle blower has now transformed into the connotation of being a traitor as well. Now more than ever people are coming out about the scary truths the United States Government hides. Now more than before because of the power of media, the dark web where things can be shared and not traced back to the "traitor" who shared the information. We watched a challenging video that, obviously, was kept out of the news, and it showed how U.S armed forces murdered people for the THOUGHT of them having major weapons, such as AK47's..... they had cameras, they were photographers, there were kids. Why wasn't this information ever released? Why wasn't this video ever shown? Let's think shall we. It plainly puts the United States in a bad light, killing innocent people, the U.S? NEVER!!!! Wrong.  Guest Ken Llgunas said that he had seen the video before but had only gotten a feeling of general empathy for those in the video, that was before he had children of his own, now when he watched the same video, this time a father, had a wave of empathy wash over him and he just couldn't believe it. We went over also how one never really thinks about the first amendment rights we have - freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom for religion, freedom of press, freedom to assemble, and freedom of the right to petition the government. Many of us take for granted the freedom of speech on a daily basis, that is until there is a chance it could be taken away. 

#10 - Living in the Age of AI

It is not a new concept to understand that technology is ever evolving. While connections may be getting quicker and there's new versions of iPhones and MacBooks always coming out which is super cool, RIGHT?!? There are also advances in Artificial Intelligence that parallel the advances in technology, we just don't pay attention to AI. When it comes to improving AI of course there are positives, but also there are the negatives as well that can't be avoided or especially ignored.  A positive factor of AI improvement is that it can make things more uniform, in the video it explained how currently things being shipped via ground transportation, drivers can only go for 11 hours straight, when it comes to AI that number increases to 24 hours straight because it is not a human behind the wheel, its artificial intelligence. There can also be a higher rate of productivity. With AI they for starters don't have to be paid. They also don't need breaks for the bathroom or to eat, the only breaks needed is if there is an update with the system. When it comes to the idea of security with AI there are also positives. For example, if someone breaks into your home the AI can use facial recognition in determining who acted on the crime, also your face can be linked with your bank information to pay things which could be good in the moment. However, there are of course the negatives. In the aspect of security and privacy with AI a negative could be that you could receive a fine just for your face, and not have the chance to fight it. Imagine if you get a ticket for speeding, you thought the speed limit was say 45 but in reality it was actually 35, you wouldn't have the chance right when it happens to explain that you were confused. There is also the chance, with any sort of technology, of it being hacked. Imagine if something could access every part of your life... and it gets hacked. All your personal information, financials, and private information can be seen by anyone and shared with everyone. There is also the very probable chance of a higher unemployment rate with AI. Sure getting packages from Amazon in less than 2 days is super cool! But what isn't cool is all the jobs that get lost between creating the item and getting it to its destination, factory workers, truck drivers, postmen, all jobs lost to one single entity. 

In the idea of national security it can be promising. This technology is able to describe people to a T. Their age, height, weight, and who the person is. In, for example, a terrorist attack this technology would be able to identify and place everyone involved and get the bad guys and protect the innocent. But, this technology can also describe the same descriptions about the good people in the world as well, leaving no sense of privacy to anyone. In the grand scheme of things yes being able to find the bad guys is good, but at what cost? 

#9 EOTO Terms and Definitions

Typically, when you think of the word government one would expect that you should be able to trust them as a whole, especially considering that they run... a lot. However, the reality of that statement is that more often than not there is a split, those who trust their government wholeheartedly and those who don't and are skeptical of that. Something that this lack of trust stems from is the idea of disinformation. This is the concept that government organizations spread false information for the sole purpose of wanting to mislead the general population, and this false information is given by the organization to a source of rival power or even the media. What goes hand in hand with disinformation is misinformation, this is the information given to mislead, it is the inaccurate information given with the intent of deceiving anyone who comes across it. Given that disinformation can be provided to the media to share with others, there is not much good this can do, other than build a false sense of hope but with that the truth does come out which then in turn leads more and more people to distrust their government. If people can't trust their government then who are they supposed to trust?

Disinformation with misinformation given to the public can affect society as a whole because then everything trickles down to not being able to trust local government, then moves to state government, then piles up to not being able to trust the entire government as a whole. Imagine if something were to happen in the United State, and the people can't trust their government, then what happens? Does all hell break loose? If we cannot then trust our government who are we supposed to trust and how do we know who exactly to trust? 

Being misled, in my opinion, would most affect the lower and younger classes. The rich have too much money to really care about the truths and lies of the government, if anything were to happen they truly could hide away with their money or in all honesty escape in a sense. The older generation, as morbid as it sounds, are going to die and won't be around much longer to care for the lies or feel the affect of it, if anything for the older generation they just might be upset considering how things were back in "their time". The younger generation is still malleable, true solid opinions might not be formed yet and they, including me, are very impressionable and getting the idea to not trust ones' government doesn't leave a good taste in anyone's mouth especially at a younger age. And the poor are more affected because a lot of people rely on jobs for, you know, money. If people start not trusting the government general spending will more likely than not start to decrease because the government is the one who "makes" money in a sense. And when people don't spend money, people don't make money because jobs get cut and decrease across the nation. 

Not being able to trust the government, honestly, I don't know how it would affect me. I could sit here and think of all these things on how it would affect me but I honestly wouldn't know until it came to the day of. If anything it would affect my family slightly because they're grown and know how the real REAL world works, I'm not there yet. I do think it would affect my generation as a whole because we are the up and coming and if we don't trust the government what are we supposed to do? However, as much as I want to say we have the chance to rebuild so much, there is such a separation of thoughts and ideas that stems from generations before us and if we can't get over small differences such as party affiliation, there is no chance we can truly rebuild something so broken. 

#8 Progressive Era

 It's crazy how the media so heavily can portray one side of things and not the other and how it can convince SO many people that something is true when it very well might be the furthest thing from the truth. It is also interesting how all wide spread (key word here) news outlets more often than portray similar things of each other, while they might not be agreeing on what is being said they're reporting on the same general concept. Now on the other hand, there are a few not so wide spread news sources that are not as publicized because they don't agree with the general public. The two websites shared (Anti War and American Conservative) are very clearly not what the main stream media likes to share. 

People may have their own thoughts about the war and talk about them amongst friends and family but it is not very common to read articles on how the Kabul had bomb attacks at a Mosque memorial service that ended up killing truly innocent people or how in Asia people were killed in a Framers' protest... the people of this nation like to stay "informed" on what suits them. Not on the general and very clear bad things going on in the world on a daily basis. I think we as a nation can handle bad news of terrible events but only in micro doses as to not to upset the general public TOO much because then, people might start thinking their own ideas and we all know that would cause its own storm of issues to arise. 

I think the reason people have to seek out this not so popular websites in order to see and hear the antiwar voices across the globe for two reasons. The first being the general public is too lazy to search for anything and so the more publicized sources get onto the main stream news because its what the people want. And because of the laziness it causes the second being that they are so covered because of the main stream sources its hard to find and is not broadcasted on general television. 

#7 EOTO - Presentation

 Learning about new technology is always interesting because more often than not, I personally, have no idea how it ever originated. During our class every single person was able to select an item of technology and explain how it came about in a sense. What was interesting to me was the type writer. Now granted not many people use them anymore if at all BUT, it gave way to me typing right now on my computer. It just evolved. 

In the beginning it was very bland in a sense, only writing in uppercase and sat on a big stand by your feet, that was until Thomas Edison was invited by the creater Christopher Sholes to see the creation. Edison came in with his electricity hat and decided it needed electricity to really make it. Edison went on to create his own with the use of electricity which then was sold and bought by Mark Twain. It is interesting because without anyone thinking of the idea of creating a type writer who knows how set back the world would be if it wasn't until decades later someone thought of and acted on the idea of being able to type the words typically hand written or spoken. 

Blog Post #5 - Privacy, Online and off

 Technology is cool. And weird and scary. When you think of technology; text messages, social media apps, videos, websites etc you think of privacy, no? I mean naturally when I go on social media I think I can look at anything and send anything I want because more often than not it is only between myself and another person. But no. Going into watching TedTalks about privacy with technology I thought that yeah I have my own privacy but I knew the government could check in if they wanted to if NEEDED (key word here), right? No. The government can look at whatever they want, they can take pictures of license plates anywhere without reasoning. Now off the top of my head I think well, people do bad things and I'd rather have them have pictures of my license plate if that means they can check others against possible warrants and other bad doings. But they can use this technology to try to find information on things they don't need to know about. In the video from Catherine Crump of police tracking proves that in New York City, police cars equipped with the ability to take photos of licenses plates were driving by mosques to track who goes in, and out of these scared places. Something clearly rooted in hate in another religion. That to me is just not right. While this may not directly affect me because all I do is go to class and sleep, it can affect so many others who may be targeted simply because their skin color resembles something the police don't like or they believe in a religion that isn't the norm. 

I think the government is in a hard place. On one hand they want to be scanning some things to protect the entire country from the potential of another terrorist attack, but on the other hand are sticking their noses in too far for comfort. Its hard to say that I'm okay with the government just sitting back and watching when Darieth Chisolm had to go through months of legal trial to get naked photos of herself taken down that she never even consented to. That could have been someone I knew, going through the pain of wondering who saw something they shouldn't have ever seen. It could have been my future daughter or son having to bear those emotional wounds for the rest of their lives. All too often we sit back as a whole community saying "oh jeez, well that sucks. Now I know what not to do" but until its yourself plastered everywhere you don't want to be, no one will understand the severity of the lack of privacy we all have and change will not be fought collectively because the majority is in the mindset of "that sucks, not me though." Things need to change. 

Blog post #6 - Diffusion of Innovation

 Tik Tok. An app, a trend, the latest thing. The idea of diffusion of innovation is separated into five different sections. Innovators, the people who create the innovation, early adopters, those who join in before it really takes off, early majority, the rest of the people who get in before everyone but also not the latest people, the late majority, the people who waited it out and decide to hop on with everyone else, and the laggards, the people who just aren't going to take part in the innovation for a variety of reasons. 

The innovators, the creators of tik tok were smart. They took an app that died, Vine, which allowed for very short videos to be shared and then liked and commented on, and almost re-vamped it. Tik tok, which is free, allows anyone with the app to take videos, share videos, view them, like and comment on them, and re make them if the user wanted to. Not to mention it really started to take off at the beginning of Covid-19, when everyone was stuck inside bored with nothing to do. The early adopters I would say had the app before Covid. While it was a thing, just not as popular, this group got on and were just hanging out really. The early majority I would define as the bored people during the infamous lock down. These people already watched all of OBX and All-American and needed something else to do to waste their time, enter tik tok. Now people can just scroll on the their phones watching 15-60 second videos and keep scrolling. The late majority would be the people later during the lockdown who finally got bored and then also the people who heard about all the cool things people would see on it post lockdown. And then we have the laggards, I would define these people in terms of tik tok as a few different things, either people who don't use any newer social media apps and are religious to Facebook, those without smart phones, or people who are seriously busy with their lives and don't just scroll on their phones. 

With a positive being it cured boredom during the lock down there are also some negatives. A big negative is that there is no big restrictions on what can and can't be posted on this app. While you can turn off comments on a video there is still a lot of bullying that can occur and also over sexualizing younger people on the app. I don't think the negatives can out weigh the positives in this app. 

Blog Post #4 - Com Tech Timeline - First Emoticon vs Emoji

 Emoticons. :) :( :? :/ :D are just a few. A few that first appeared in 1979.. 42 years ago, and first used in 1982 from a computer scientist Scott E. Fahlman. It was suggested that :-) could mean something funny or nice while :-( could mean something serious or sad. What needs to be considered here is the media richness theory this is when there are different forms of communication, phone calls, emails/text messages, and face to face meeting. Talking to someone when you can see their face, either in person or via video sharing calls you are able to read their facial expressions and also see their body language (for the more part if via Facetime like calls) however, when it is a conversation over the phone or over any sort of messenger, thats lost. It goes a step further to when only sending messages the tone of the conversation is also lost, bring in emotions. Even the most basic of emoticons can give the reader a sense of tone in the conversation that otherwise would've been missing. 

In a study over a six month time frame over 158,000 text messages were collected, of these texts roughly 4% contained at least one emoticon. The study found that, to no surprise in my opinion, females were sending more emoticons overall but the men had more varity of different emotions. What surprised me also was that in a 1998 study that focused on emails they found that 1-25% contained at least one of more emoticons. This is surprising to me because since being in college we are so heavily taught about email ettiquette. It is even an unspoken, yet somewhat spoken, rule to not even send an explanation point in a business email because the reader could think you're yelling at them. While emoticons were a welcomed creation to some, some had their cons with them. Some think that this creation formed a larger sense of laziness because instead of typing how one feels they may just send a quick :), it also can negatively affect the credibility of an author if all the time they're using emoticons in place of describing real emotion. However, we have our pros. The first being its creation, it gives non verbal communication when face to face communication is not currently feasibile. They can also clarify the tone of the current communication without any drawn out explanation. 

With new times come some updates, enter emojis. These little guys were first created in the 1990's by a Japanese phone provider and in 2009 came out with 722 released emojis to further emotions through online communication. Not many people study this form of communication, partly because it is new and because of it there are not many studys for it. There was a study done through Twitter to see the affect of emojis across the globe. When looking at over 12 million tweets by close to 8,500 users it was found that 19.6% of tweets shared contain at least one emoji, 45% of those having one all the way to 3% of those containing 5 different emojis. Broken down by country is a very interesting thing as well. Coming in at first is Indonesia having 46.5% of tweets containing an emoji, fifth is Qatar having 32.6%, and at last... the U.S, in the United States 7% of tweets contain an emoji. There is also correlation that when there is a higher life expectacy across the board, the use of emojis decreases, why? Great question, my thought is that these people may be having more real time conversation and aren't looking down to send an emoji but, my thoughts. 

The invention of emoticons and progression to emojis I think have changed communication in a good way. People who are unable to communicate real time, or just don't want to, are able to share more accurate feelings through a screen. Sometimes people only have their screen to "talk to" in a sense and this enables anyone to share their feelings, which at the end of the day, is what keeps people as sane as can be, especially during the current times. 

Blog Post #3 - Eight Values of Free Expression

Out of the eight values of free expression the value that resonates with me the most is number four "Individual Self-Fulfillment". This resonates with me because this value talks about freedom of speech and how it allows any individual to express themselves however they choose. In expressing themselves in a wide variety of different ways, they are able to find like-minded individuals who they can then befriend and grow with. This way everyone is able to find their "people" and then continuously grow beyond just their "group" and then create a whole species of civil people. We are among an era of self love and self-fulfillment and that is truly because of this particular value because it can enable others to help themselves and also help others in a caring way (not every day we come across those types of people). 

From the eight values, the one that seems the most important to me is number seven - "Promote Innovation". Our world is constantly changing and evolving. There is this idea that if one cannot continue to change with the world, then they're left behind. And I've never heard anything more true. This value shares the idea that in an environment where free speech is protected and valued then that community is more likely to have a creative environment where people can fulfill themselves in different ways - which then creates innovation derived from creativity. A community that can be innovative and evolve with the changing world around them will always stay on top of the newest ideas and will remain "on top" compared to others. I will say, with the age of technology and things changing, America does do a decent job of ever changing (not necessarily in the best ways always but nonetheless.) 

Out of the eight values of expression there are a few that stick out, but only one feels the most personal. Number six, "Promote Tolerance", gives me mixed emotions. This gives me mixed emotions of on one hand, while it's a good idea, currently in today's world is the most opposite thing I've ever read. But also, it is something that if more people consciously consider in their daily lives, the world could actually be a better place. This idea of promoting tolerance is that with the freedom of speech then people can express anything, sometimes things are said that one might not agree with, the idea of this value is that it is okay to find what someone said at hateful or upsetting. Then it teaches us to become more tolerant and accepting of other point of views, then making us a better society because everyone is tolerant. This is a load of crap and not at all the closest in being true with today's world. I don't know about you, but I know MANY people who when they hear something they don't agree with in the slightest sense they cause an uproar. This "uproar" could be anything from just plainly saying something to the person to putting them on full blast on social media explaining how that person is wrong while they themselves are right and are always right. Now, could this have to do with the idea of political divide, and how some Democrats will never believe or trust a word that comes out of a Republicans mouth (and vise versa because this majorly goes both ways), yes. However, on top of the political divide that has separated so many in today's world, I also believe people are far too sensitive these days. Again, there are many people who I know personally and people who I've heard stories from, that if anything "hurts" them in any way possible then that person plays the victim to the most extreme point possible. While this value makes conceptual sense, if people in our world continue to be far too sensitive (and in my opinion, it will only get worse), then this value will only remain an idea and never come to life because there are too many people who avoid any sort of CIVIL conversation surrounding ideas they do not like. 

The value that I truly see in action today is number five. "Check on Governmental Power" also known as the watch dog rule". This is the idea that free speech combined with freedom of press that anyone can voice their concerns about any idelation of abuse of power. There is already a system of checks and balances in place in a governmental setting within the three branches - legislative, judicial, and executive, but this goes further to include citizens to be able to express their concerns. With the power of social media in today's world this allows anyone - whether or not they are in a role of publicizing this news to be able to voice their concerns. Whenever there is any news of someone abusing power more often than not this is voice one way or another on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and/or Instagram which then brings to light the abuse of power but also informs those who may not be aware of it. This social media "coverage" then almost forces the individual to confront the news about them and provides the people to get to the bottom of it. A very well known abuse of power was with President Trump, the one who got impeached because of it. Trumps Power was clear during his time in office and more often than not got him in some trouble. There were many times on Twitter where just his name alone was trending, where over thousands of tweets were surrounding him. This just goes to show that without freedom of speech AND press, this news wouldn't be able to come to light. 

Blog Post #2 - The Founding Era

 After watching the video of the founding and history of the U.S Supreme Court there were a few things that I learned that I hadn't already known. Before watching the video I thought that the justices did their own thing individually but its quite the opposite. All the justices meet together, in private, and go over the cases collectively and try to resolve things by working together. The justices also enacted a system where everyone must speak at least once before anyone can speak for a second time. I found this interesting because it shows that although the justices were appointed by different presidents of different political parties, they still share a general overview of respect for each other. Another piece of information I learned was that when the news says that the Supreme Court "upheld" or "decided" when they didn't take the case, they, the Court, just didn't do anything regarding the case brought to their attention. Also, to determine whether a case is worthy of hearing in front of the actual court four out of the nine justices have to agree on it before moving forward. When it is time to make a decision on whether or not there was a legal issue either missed or wrongly used at the lower court, five out of the nine justices have to agree. 

The most important take-away point that I personally gathered about the Supreme Court is that these are the people who tell everyone; the government, states, local level courts what they can and cannot do. Every person who serves as a justice has to be objective, which to me in surprising because it is very much easier said than done to be objective as much as the justices are required to be. Something surprising that I have learned is that since the creation of the United States and the Supreme Court's establishment in 1789, there has been only just over 100 members, to me that is surprising because let's be honest. Is it the greatest idea to have all old (predominately) white people always serving in these roles as times are ever changing right before our eyes? Which goes along to the next surprising thing I learned was that the members last decades past the person who first appointed them into their position. There are also over 100 new cases every WEEK, that is just crazy to me, it's like finding out you have 10 new tests and homework assignments given to you every week, just unimaginable. Although I learned a lot of things from this video that I didn't know about before there was one thing that this video changed about how I thought about the Supreme Court. This is not a job you can just "pick up". In the video it mentioned that it takes anywhere from three to five years to start getting comfortable with it and used to the title of being a Supreme Court justice rather than what many people are used to within a couple months of their "normal" job. Again, just imagine you accept a new and fun job you think you'll be able to master in just a short couple of months and then BAM it hits you, you're kinda all over the place for the next three to five YEARS. 

Overall, going into watching this video I thought I knew a relatively decent amount of information about the Supreme Court. But, it is safe to say this video not only taught me new things about the Court, but surprised me as well. 

Blog Post #1

When many are asked the question - "how do you find news?" the typical response is something along the lines of sources such as CNN, Fox, or even BBC. All of which are the typical "conventional" source of news. I on the other hand, no so much. I will be the first to openly admit I really don't follow any news sources at all, bad, I know. But, there are other ways I still know about what is going on not only in our own country, but overseas as well. Gone are the days, for the most part, where people had to find a physical paper to read and become informed. We have phones and different technology for that and so much more now.

Since being a business major I do like to stay up to date on current trends, such as stock information, how the markets are doing, what types of companies are on the rise, and also fall. Which is why I look to Yahoo Finance (https://finance.yahoo.com/). What I enjoy about Yahoo Finance is that it's not about politics, it truly at the end of the day is about just that, finance. Checking this on a weekly basis it allows me to see what the current market trends are, and how different things have caused different trends, such as if a new law is put into place you can see how it influences the current trends of the market. To some that is the most boring thing anyone could think about, but since I'm an accounting student it interests me and my peers to then be able to have educated conversations with each other, and also professors, about the current updates on stocks and market. Being perfectly blunt and transparent, this is the only type of "traditional" type of news source I use. 

Another source of news that I use is actually Twitter (https://twitter.com). While yes it is considered a social media platform, as well as other places I get news from, it does still provide me with news that I otherwise wouldn't of known before. When I use Twitter I can't get distracted as easily with where the news is coming from. Yes it is important to get news from a reliable source, no fake news here! (Thanks Donald) But, it allows me to read and process what I am reading without much political affiliation before hand, which I feel as though is important because too many people rely on news strictly from their political side of things. This source keeps me up to date not only with political news but also trending news such as the olympics, who's cancelling who (everyone's favorite topic), and sports news during times such as football and basketball.  

I also use Instagram as a source of news (insta for short as some may say). I stay up to date on Instagram because of their story feature (https://www.falcon.io/insights-hub/industry-updates/social-media-updates/5-new-instagram-stories-features-for-2018-and-how-marketers-can-use-them/). People who I follow can post other accounts posts on their story, for 24 hours, and it provides a direct link to the original post. I like this feature because I follow roughly 1,400 different people, of those people every single one of them follow a different amount of people and a different variety of people. With the Instagram story this feature allows me to see a glimpse into what other people see and get a new side of things. In the recent news there has been a lot coming out about US troops being in Iraq and Afghanistan, I follow people who both think we should have stayed as well as those who think we should have left years and years ago. Both sides will re-post things onto their story that I wouldn't have gotten to see because /i myself, truthfully, do not follow many political accounts or news sources. This ability gives me the opportunity to see new things with no political affiliation, just plain news. 

A little outdates, but I will admit, I do still use Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/). To many people my age they think it's weird, outdated, and so on. I never really used Facebook until I was going into college and had the opportunity to meet people through Facebook groups filled with everyone I would be going to school with. Because of the platform and ability Facebook provides I not only can stay up to date with friends and family I don't get to see often but I also am apart of other groups for extra curricular and clubs. This app keeps me informed with a variety of different things. On my feed I can see people sharing political articles, another hot topic of vaccination status/thoughts, and even deaths in the news, when Mac Miller the artist passed away I found out through posts on Facebook, not news articles directly from their site. When people share their thoughts I typically get entertainment out of the comments their friends make on them, I usually read them all and more often than not provide some sort of entertainment and sometimes it can be evident who is somewhat educated on the topic versus those who just NEED to put their 2 cents in. I believe it is very versatile because theres good, bad, happy, sad, ugly, snd so much more that gets shared on this app and I get to see so much of it. 

My final "news source" per say is the trending app Tik Tok. This app has people from the ages of 15 or so to over 65 making, creating, and sharing different content. There are trends that come, certain dances that one person might create that millions end up recreating, and there are trends that go as well, such has certain make up "tips and tricks" that don't end up helping anything in the long run. Sometimes there are trends that make the news. A very recent one in the HuffPost has a dermatologist "de-bunking" skin care trends that are more hurtful than helpful (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tiktok-skin-care-trends-dermatologists-dont-like_l_6127b39ee4b02be25b595a7a). There are often times that the news catches something to report on because of Tik Tok, there's articles that come out, and by the time the article has been published, the app has moved onto the next up and coming things. Before people would have to wait, and wait, and wait for new things to happen, Tik Tok is always changing, overnight even, and it provides me with yes entertainment but also news that I wouldn't of thought it would ever do. 

Overall, there are many typical news sources out in the world, internet, and even at the gas station down the street. But, in my own opinion, that is not the only way to stay up to date. Our world is ever changing and people are tired are waiting, so we adapt and create new ways to share what is currently going on in the world, more often than not through different apps anyone can download and view. So much has exploded in the last few years in terms of apps and news, I'm anxiously awaiting what is going to happen from here on out in terms of news and sources of news and see how things change and adapt, and those who fall because they cannot adapt with the changing times.