Communications and Technology Class... I Loved it!

            Now days, young people spend more time on their laptops, iPods or smartphones more than they spend time talking to people. This reminds me of the displacement theory, which explains that people are more into their devices than into spending time with people. The displacement theory is more prominent on young adults than elderly people. For young adults, it would be much harder to unplug from all those devices because it has been part of our daily lives. We usually need those to communicate to people or to do most of the tasks that we do in a day. Talking on my behalf, I can say that I wouldn’t be able to unplug from the communications technology world, just because I’ve been growing up with it all my life and I think that it would be hard for me to not have it around me anymore.

            During this semester I got to learn a lot of things related to communications and technologies. It was interesting to learn how technology is so important to the communications world. How throughout the years communications has embraced technology and how now days it would be a disaster if we didn’t have them or it would be pretty hard not to have it. I think that today, people are to attached to their devices. Now, we use them to do almost everything and it will be hard to unplug from something that you use all day long either to communicate or do tasks such as: editing pictures, make PowerPoint presentations, and so on. When we discussing the displacement theory in class, it was interesting to hear that most of us tend to spend more time on our devices than actually talking to people face to face.

            An issue that I found pretty interesting was the privacy issue when we use the Internet. I didn’t know that there was a company that stored all of our personal information and sells it to different institutions. Most of us didn’t even know that they were able to sell your personal information from if you are single to how much you earn in a year. When we discussed this in class I got really scared, because I usually buy my stuff in the Internet and now I am concerned that people will have access to my personal information when I don’t want them to. The worst thing is that I cannot even say anything; they just take my information and sell it. Also, we got to discuss about cyber-attacks, people who tend to do this are people involved in espionage. We need to be very careful about cyber-attacks because just recently there was a cyber attack in Iran’s nuclear system and if they had been successful a lot of people would have died.

            To finalize, I think that it would be impossible for me to unplug from my technological devices, because I use them daily and without them I would go crazy. Now days, almost everything is done by electronic devices and to not have that then we wouldn’t be able to do tasks faster or with a better resolution. Also, people use these devices to entertain themselves, so we also use it to escape from all the stress that we have sometimes. Also, I talked about some things that we discussed in class that I didn’t know before like privacy issues when it comes to the Internet. We need to be more aware of what is happening when you click agree to those terms and conditions, because that is when you are giving up your information without noticing. Overall, I really liked this class because it taught a lot of things that I didn’t know before and since I am a technology freak I always wanted to know how communications and technology worked together. 

The art of blogging...

            Blogging is a way to express yourself in your own unique way. To be honest, I wasn’t a fan of blogs before because they seem kind of boring to me. After having the opportunity to write what I thought about specific topics and how I felt about them, I understood how good it feels to be heard by other people and to actually feel that your opinion matters to them. Now, blogging to me is like a way to tell the world how you feel without having to worry to face other people. I also think that blogging has to be supervised in order for people to be respectful with each other because if not then people would start to be afraid to post any of their thoughts or feelings.

            Blogging has a big impact in our society, because people now are able to express themselves through this blogs and give their opinion about different social issues. In this way, everyone could understand and see other’s opinions and have a different perspective about things. I believe that blogging should be incorporated in different classes, because everyone has a different perspective about a topic and it would be interesting to learn from other people.

            I believe that having the power to publish is more good than bad. Sometimes people don’t realize how having the power to publish is a privilege. Having this kind of power is something amazing, because people from all around the world are able to read what you think about something and either agree or disagree with you. At the same time they can give you feedback and you get to learn what other people think about the same subject. I don’t think that blogging could cause that much trouble, only that people start being mean to each other leading to a fight of bad words and ending in a bad situation with each other.

            To finalize, I believe that blogging is a huge help when it comes to people that are shy and don’t like to speak up their ideas or thoughts. Also, it becomes really handy for people like me that like to write a lot. Blogging gives you the opportunity to express your ideas, thoughts or even lets you say how you feel about something, and that’s an opportunity that everybody should have. Before I joined this class, I didn’t appreciate the art of blogging but know that I’ve had the opportunity to do it I think it is amazing and that everyone should try it.

            

Privacy Issues..

            Privacy issues have become a hot topic of conversation these past years. Since companies started to track people’s web browsers in order to deliver specific ads to people’s computers, our daily moves and even personal information is no longer private.  We don’t realize that our privacy is not that private anymore, and that some of our personal information is being released to companies and other institutions without our consent. We need to start to worry about how our information is given away to everyone, because if we don’t then issues like identity theft, financial theft, and so much other things that we don’t realize might affect our lives.

            To be honest I was pretty naïve about my privacy settings on Facebook, or even in my smartphone. When we started to discuss in class how our private information is given away to companies or to other institutions and that they could do whatever they wanted with that information, I got really worried. Recently, I changed all of my privacy settings on every social media page where I have an account, because I didn’t know how bad the situation was. Like a week after I did all the changes, my mom called me to tell me about a boy who was living in the US and has a trip planned to go visit his cousin in Colombia. Since he could reach his cousin, he decided to post his flight schedule on Facebook so his cousin could know when he arrived. What he didn’t know was that a gang in Colombia was already tracking his cousin in Colombia, so when he arrived to Bogota the gang managed to kidnap him. This happened last week, and this boy is still missing. This is why I got so paranoid, and I changed all of my privacy settings to maximum security they could offer.

            Another thing that we need to think about is how our bank accounts, credit cards accounts are being stored every time we make a purchase on the Internet. This kind of information could get in the wrong hands and someone can actually steal all of your money.

            To finalize, we really need to be concerned about all of these privacy issues, because if we keep letting them use our personal information in whatever way they want to use it. I recommend everyone to be more aware of your social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. we all have to work together in order to stop this, so if we all make an effort on being aware what is really happening, then they will notice and they will stop doing it. 

Video Games

        Throughout the years video games have become more popular than ever, and for some people have become a big part of their lives. In today’s society children have become kind of addicted with these home-game platforms, some of them can’t even take their hands out of the controls. There are different types of video games such as: sports, space, military and history. Most of all the video games require you to be competitive and sometimes aggressive towards the other players, and these feelings can become that intense making players to act aggressively with other people in the streets.

         Now days, video games have become a huge part of the entertainment industry. I still remember when I got my first Nintendo; I had to play at least three times a day for a period of two hours or so. It became an addiction to me; I couldn’t stay away from my new console. After the years passed by, I found some other interests like my computer and instant messaging. I still remember when these video game consoles were slow and with a poor visual stimulus. Now, these new consoles are the top of the line and even include some sort of calls, which let you call other players while you are actually playing the game.

Like any other entertainment media it disconnects you more from the real world, instead of actually connecting you more. For example, I see my brother he has a PS3 and all he does is stay in his room and play all day long with his friends online. His friends don’t even bother to come to the house and spend some actual time with him, because they believe that by only playing online they are already spending time together. Also, I noticed that since he plays these violent video games, he has become more aggressive and more competitive with everyone. Overall, video games are not good when it comes to improve your interpersonal communication skills, and that is why I believe that video games instead of helping you, they are actually destroying your ability to actually interact with people without the use of the console.

         People tend to have the same attitudes with all the media devices. For example, my boyfriend will spend all his income to buy new games or new accessories for his PS3 console. It is funny how different media devices can cause the same attitudes in people and spend all they have in order to gain these medias.

         To finalize, video games are nor good or bad, like any other media device if you exceed the time you spend with it will harm you, and if you use it correctly then it can help you do things quicker and easier. I believe that video games are just made to entertain you for a while, but it doesn’t have to become an addiction. Even though it can become something addictive, it also helps us to escape from our true realities and that is why I think that sometimes you need to use it just to distract yourself.

         

The Importance of Computers in Today's World...

       

            Now days, the role of computers has become a big part of our daily lives. We use computers for school, work and home, almost everything we do is computerized now. In my opinion, after the Internet the computer has been the greatest invention of human kind, because with this tool now we can do things that we never thought of in science, business, communications, engineering, etc. If it was not for computers we couldn’t have done all the advances that we have accomplished.

            I can still remember when my dad gave me my first computer. It was a big desktop computer and it was pretty heavy. At that time I had to use Windows, because back in Panama that was the only operating system that they would sell in stores. I remember I spent like ten hours a day trying to figure out my new toy. I started to know how to use the Internet and instant messaging (ICQ at that time). After a year or so of using the computer, I did the worst thing I could do to a computer; I clicked into a spam and like five different viruses killed my computer. I can tell you that it was a very frustrating day, because I was so used to go to my computer for anything, so I decided to fix it. It took me like a week or more to figure how to fix it, but I did and it was the most amazing day ever. I was so proud of myself, because back then computers were very new to everyone and for me to fix a problem like that was a big achievement.

            My computer goes with me everywhere I go. Even if I control it from my Ipad, I always make sure to bring my computer with me. I have been using a computer as an educational tool since I was in 5^th grade. Recently, when I was working it was a must to use a computer and the Internet. Since the company I worked for was General Electrics, you always had to be on top of every new technology that came out and the easiest way to do that is through the Internet. As I mentioned before, when I use my computer I feel that I can do anything with it and literally I can. The world is in the tip of my fingers. Usually, back home I have to help my siblings and my parents with their computers. When I help them, I feel pretty good about myself because besides that I feel smart and at the same time I’m teaching them how to master the most amazing invention in the world.

            In my experience, the PC made a big impact in my life. For example, I can still remember when I started using ICQ (instant messaging) I was so excited because I could talk to everyone around the world and that was the first time how we made contact with my family back in Spain. Since my grandfather died when my mom was little, my mom did not have the chance to meet her family in Spain. It was pretty amazing how we contacted each other and still makes a lot of impact when I call my cousin who lives there to see how’s she doing. If the Internet or PCs wouldn’t exist, we still wouldn’t know that we had family in Spain. Now days, I use a MacBook pro, because it is so much easier to use and when it comes to editing photos this computer is the best on that. I use my computer everyday for everything and I can recognize that displacement theory plays a big role in my daily life, because I spend more time on my computer than actually trying to have more interpersonal relationships. Even though, I tend to spend more time on my computer, I also use it to communicate with my friends and family back in my country.  Skype is the program I use everyday now to speak with my mom who is back in Panama for free.

            To finalize, my computer has a big role in my daily life, without it I honestly wouldn’t know what to do. Now everything is computerized and if you really want to be part of this world, you have to know how to use a computer. I mean it is so important that if you don’t know how to use a computer, you might not get the job that you wanted over that. Computers lets me anything from the tip of my fingers, it’s just amazing! So I really have to thankful for these amazing tools, because without them the world wouldn’t be what it is today.