After covering and completing the material from this course, I have become aware of numerous things, such as the history and future advancements of technology and communication systems and the current trends and topics that have been a result from these technologies. Reflecting on all the blogs from this semester, I’ve realized I have been able to think about and write on topics that I usually don’t spend too much time on and I have been able to gather a lot of knowledge and opinions on these topics.
A trend that was the most significant to me that I learned in this class is the increased usage of social media by children and young people. According to our textbook, “30% of children between 5-7, 44% of children between 8-11, and 80% of 12-15 year-olds use social media apps”. Reading these statistics gave me a huge reality check regarding the increasing trend of social media usage and dependency by children. I believe I received my first phone when I was in 8th grade and I think most people at my school didn’t receive theirs until they were in middle school. I am curious to see the later effects and potential consequences of having children depend so early on of social media and technology in general.
An example of a theoretical approach that I learned in this class that I thought was the most significant was the critical mass theory. This theory is about users who make up a small segment of the population that choose to make big contributions to the public good. They are innovators and early adopters of new technology and this technology can reach the point of universal access, which means that you can access anyone through some communication technology, such as the phone system. I think this theory is the most significant because innovators are super important to our further advancement of technology and eventually having that technology be accessible anywhere in the world.
A policy that I thought was the most significant was the Net Neutrality policy. Net Neutrality is the concept of internet providers treating all content equally and not blocking or slowing down select content because it might not benefit the internet provider. I think this policy has been relevant for a while and learning more about it in class allowed me to think about the topic for the first in a long time. On paper, net neutrality seems like a logical and fair concept and I believe that a Net Neutrality order passed in 2015. I remember I was either in 8th grade or a freshman in high school and this had become a popular topic and learning more about it in this course unlocked that memory for me.
A social issue that I found most significant was regarding the topic of surveillance technology. Recent technology such as facial technology and Apple Airtags have sparked the discussion of invasion of privacy and potentially putting people in danger. The textbook highlights examples of people finding airtags in their belongings, suspecting that they were targeted for later theft. Facial recognition and video surveillance companies, such as Hikvision, are causing social issues. Hikvision is suspected to be giving the Chinese government surveillance equipment to spy on Muslim minorities in China, and the company has been blacklisted by the U.S.
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