My Relationship with Technology

 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 movie, "A Birder's Guide To Everything" which I was in when I was nine years old.


As of today, I have accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Snapchat.

I don't use Facebook or Instagram at all. With Facebook and Instagram, I did not give a picture just my birthday and email information. Between the two sites, I have only made three posts over 11 years. Snapchat is one social site I use consistently. I snap with my friends and family daily. Snapchat has my birthdate and email but no picture. I do not spend a lot of time on social media. When I do have downtime I prefer to watch sports on TV. However, over the next few months, I know I will be getting some of my information about the election from social media websites such as Facebook and Instagram. Based on what happened on social media sites leading up to the 2020 election,
I do worry that certain information could be censored and that some could be misinformation. I will check and recheck sources during the next five months to make sure I am properly informed of all the issues. 

In the article "I'm 14 and I Quit Social Media" Sonia Bokhari joined social media at the age of 13 and was shocked to discover that her mom and sister had been posting things about her entire life. She was upset because they posted embarrassing things that she would not have wanted posted. In the article, Sonia stated, "I had just turned 13, and I thought I was just beginning my public online life when in fact there were hundreds of pictures and stories of me that, would live on the internet forever, whether I wanted it to be or not, and I didn't have control over it. "I'm 14 and I Quit Social Media She was furious, felt betrayed, and was lied to. This got me thinking about what my parents had posted about me. Luckily for me, my family has a healthy relationship with social media. My mom only posted pictures from our birthdays, graduations, and family trips. For my family, our experience with technology has been mostly positive. My parents love the fact that they can keep in touch with us through texting, our posts online, and FaceTime. My two sisters use Instagram and Snapchat the most, posting pictures of themselves and their friends. My brother and I use social media to find out information on sports teams, athletes/statistics, and scores of games. The only one in my family who may have an unhealthy relationship with social media is my 14-year-old sister who is obsessed with Taylor Swift. She watches every Eras tour concert via live stream. 

I have been fortunate that my family has had a healthy relationship with technology. Having said that, we are all aware of the dark side of technology. This dark side includes cyberbullying, ghosting, and cyberstalking. However, the scariest downside of technology is that predators can get access to young children. Parents need to be vigilant and make sure their children are safe online. They need to ensure that their children's accounts are private and they need to monitor their children's online activity. My parents did a very good job of projecting my siblings and me. They had rules for us when we were younger that included all of our accounts had to be private, we had to friend our mom and we needed permission before posting anything. At the time we thought our parents were being ridiculous but after hearing stories of what can happen to children online, I am grateful that my parents were overprotective. I think this laid the groundwork for my siblings and me to have a healthy relationship with technology.                   

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