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My Relationship with Technology

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 Overall, I have a healthy relationship with technology. I am in a unique position to see the positives and negatives of technology. I actually need certain technology to help me learn and to keep me safe. I have a learning disability with processing issues, so I learn best by hearing things rather than reading them. In order for me to learn I need technology that records lectures and reads the text to me. The other technology that is life-saving for me is my Apple watch. I have epilepsy so the Apple Watch has a technology that will alert my parents if I have a seizure. So, in my life, these technologies are a huge positive for me.  With regard to social media, I believe I have a healthy relationship. I have a very small online footprint. When googled myself I realized that I do not have a huge presence online. the things that came up were a picture of me from my LinkedIn account, information about me being a junior at High Point University, my major, and Information regarding the movi
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Living in the Age of AI

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      Living in the Age of AI is both exciting and terrifying. Just like anything else, there are positives and negatives to using AI. The exciting positives of AI include predictive analytics for sports and self-driving cars. The negatives of AI include loss of privacy and loss of jobs. AI has the potential to eliminate a multitude of jobs including positions such as secretary, cashier at grocery stores, and assembly line jobs at factories.  We have already seen self-checkout stations at grocery stores and superstores like Walmart. AI has already eliminated numerous jobs. People get excited when they talk about AI and how it will change the future, and how machines and robots will make our lives easier. I don't think they realize that every machine and every robot in the future represents a human who has lost their job and their means to support their families. When people think of AI taking over jobs, they think of the self-checkout at Walmart and the self-service at fast food c
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Anit-war Voices

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  Until I sat down to write this post I had never heard of Antiwar.com or The American Conservative. I viewed the Antiwar.com website first. The first few headlines I read were: "Save Ukraine from American Meddling." and "Julien Assange is Free, but Justice has not Been Served." Antiwar.com Even sitting in my own home, I felt weird reading these headlines. You would never hear this on the mainstream media news channels or read them in most newspapers these days. The media is very one-sided. The ideas on Antiwar.com go against everything the Biden Administration stands for.  What we hear on the news and read in the papers is very much in line with what the government believes is important. We are told we have to defend Ukraine's border because if Ukraine falls, the rest of Europe will fall.  Washington and the mainstream media have people believing that it is more important to protect Ukraine's border than our own. Concerning Julian Assange, we have been tol
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Disinformation and the Smith-Mundt Act

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  I chose to speak on the word "Disinformation" today.  This word has become extremely popular. Since the election of President Donald Trump in 2016, this word has been used more times than I can count. We hear it on TV on every news channel. We read it in every newspaper. We see it on social media platforms. The word is everywhere!!!  But what does it actually mean? Some people mistakenly use it interchangeably with the word "misinformation." Although these two words sound similar, they have very different meanings. "Misinformation" is false information given out by mistake with no malicious intent. However, "Disinformation" is false information given out deliberately and with the intent to mislead or deceive. As you can see these two words mean very different things. Unfortunately, today we see disinformation way more than we should.  Disinformation is defined as "false information which is intended to mislead especially propaganda issued
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Bluetooth and The Theory of Diffusion of Innovations

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 The Diffusion of Innovations Theory tries to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread. Everett Rogers argues that "diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time." I have chosen to examine Bluetooth technology and see how, why, and at what rate this technology spread.  Under this theory, five main elements influence the spread of a new idea or technology. They include 1. the innovation itself, 2, communication channels, 3. adopters, 4. time, and 5. social system. For an innovation to be self-sustaining it must be widely adopted. Bluetooth technology was invented by Dr. Jaap Haartsen in 1994. He was working for Ericsson's Mobile Terminal Division. This technology allows devices to be connected and to communicate with each other without wires. This innovation transformed the way we communicate and share data.                    According, to the Diffusion of Innovations Theory there are categorie
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History of Bluetooth Technology

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  How many in this class have a wireless keyboard? How many have wireless headphones or a JBL speaker? If you have any of these wireless accessories you can thank Bluetooth technology. Bluetooth technology is a wireless system that connects devices together. It is responsible for connecting your computer to your wireless keyboard and your iPhones to your air pods or your wireless speaker.  Bluetooth technology was invented by Dr. Jaap Haarsen in 1994. It uses radio waves. However, Bluetooth technology would not have been possible if it had not been for a few very important men back in the 1800s. A man named James Clerk Maxwell believed that was an electric magnetic spectrum. He believed that electric magnetic waves could be transmitted through the air rather than through a wire. A man named Heinrich Hertz proved that Maxwell was correct. Hertz was the first person who was able to move electricity without wires. In the early 1900s, Reginald Fessenden created a device that allowed people
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Privacy Lost

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 Our world has changed positively and negatively, over the past twenty-five years since scientists at CERN created the World Wide Web. (https://home.cern) The positive changes include how the internet transformed how the world does business. The Internet made doing business, easier, faster, and more efficient. For example, before the Internet, documents such as contracts or invoices, had to be sent through the US Post office, or by courier, or faxed. All of which took time. Thanks to the Internet, these documents can be sent and received immediately through email or text. Another positive is how websites such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok enable us to keep in touch with friends and family who may live far away. We can keep them updated with pictures of what we have been up to. However, as wonderful as all of these positives have been, they have come at a cost. The cost has been our privacy. Before the internet existed, we determined who saw our pictures, who we told about our vaca
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