Final Blog post

    Times have changed immensely since humans first walked this earth. It has always been unknown what the future holds, and mankind has constantly speculated on what that future holds. When I watched the first video of the 1964 World’s Fair, it made me think about what was going through those people's minds when they saw what the future would be. That video showed humans conquering space, the oceans and forest, which were all presented as something that benefited society. Yet when you look at the last video it is something that is clearly not true at all. Steven Cutts gave perfect visuals to what humankind has become. He shows how humans have totally disregarded the earth and its resources. It was a sad eye opener that people need to see. A lot of the time we act as if we were the first living being on this earth. This is essentially not true, although we have made some technological advances and some amazing discoveries, we are killing this earth. Glaciers have begun to shrink, animals are becoming extinct, sea levels have raised, wildfires have increased, etc. This makes me wonder if we humans will even be around to see the future in 100 or 200 years from now. The way technology has been advancing worries me. It makes me wonder that when you look at the bigger picture, Is it making our lives more complicated                     

   When people talk about their lives in the 20th century from around the 60s-90s I feel as if they had a better, less complicated way of life. Yes of course there were problems during those times, yet they could not use their phones 24/7. If you saw a pretty girl, you would go up to her and ask her on a date. Now you ask for her snapchat because you did not have the courage to talk to her in person. If you wanted to hang out and have a good time with friends, you could do it without worrying about a video capturing a brief stupid act for all the world to see 30 minutes later on the internet, because there was no internet. Back in those days you would appreciate the little things that you had in life. You did not judge someone off of their social media pages, you had real interactions with these people and those interactions were how you figured out if they were your type of friend or not. Personally, I feel as if social media has totally ruined so many people’s social skills. They have made it so easy for people to interact over cell phones that people forget how to have conversations. It is totally ruining the youth of America. The second video portrayed this perfectly. It was a bit of an exaggeration, but the point of the video is so very true. It shows how we are constantly looking at our phones, scrolling through tik-tok or Instagram we entertain ourselves to the point where people don’t want to go out and appreciate the beauty of this world. Even if someone does go outside, they have to post it all over their social media to show others what they're doing is better than what everyone else is doing. It causes such a toxic society. People are so addicted to their phones and social media that they become blind to how great real-world experiences can be for them. For example, I bet that on a Friday afternoon a kid, say 12 years old in the 70s could not wait to get outside, find his friends and go play games all day.  In today’s world a kid can just spend his whole weekend inside playing Fortnite. That to me is horrible and it is bad for these kids' mental health. It is bad for both teenage and adults’ mental health as well. Being bombarded by other people’s posts about how great their lives are can make them compare and feel lower about themselves to a point of depression. Instagram has been called into Congressional hearings for just this type of effects. My generation is in a dangerous time, and we are just starting to realize it. 

         

       I do not believe that all technology is bad at all. There are so many great things that have come with all of the advances in technology. Such as ride sharing apps like Uber, which has reduced drunk driving by 6%.  The new technology within the healthcare industry has also been amazing and has saved millions of lives. We are discovering new treatments and ways to help sick people and new surgeries to help people who are struggling. Technology has done so much good for everyone

and has made our lives a lot easier. We can really figure out anything on our iPhone, it is literally a mini-computer in our pockets. Technology is helping this world in so many ways, but I feel as if it is overused. When I say that I mean things like social media, google, amazon, etc. Are we relying too much on this technology? By that I mean the blue collar job employment in 2018 was about 13. 9 percent and in 1970 the blue collar  rate  was 31.2 percent I feel this way because kids nowadays want to be like their favorite youtuber instead of trying to get a job like an electrician or plumber. No kid wants to really get their hands dirty anymore. 

 

       This all makes me reflect on myself, and I realize that I am guilty of a lot of the things that I brought up. There have been countless times where I find myself scrolling on tik-tok or Instagram for hours. My relationship with technology is not easy, I use it to procrastinate, talk to people, watch tv, watch movies, etc. I find myself interacting with technology a lot more than I should. The first thing I do when I go to bed or wake up is go on either tik-tok or Instagram. I then would tell myself I will do this and this, but after I watch this video or after I watch this episode. I create these habits that are not healthy at all. The reason why so many people and I do this, is because it is just so easy to open your phone and go on these apps for entertainment. It gives people such short-term pleasure that people forget there are things that can help you improve your life. Things like working out, reading a book, getting all your work done, etc. are going to help your self-confidence a lot more than scrolling through tik-tok for hours. I can realize this and know that I am at fault, yet a lot of people can’t do this. Especially the younger generation. It is amazing for me to go to family parties and see my little cousins playing Minecraft on their iPad instead of playing with their other cousins. I remember when I was their age the last thing in the world, I was thinking about was my iPod. I was happiest when I was running around with my cousins playing tag. I then look at my parents, or my aunts and uncles. My mom is a great example, she uses her phone to call her friends or family, and occasionally, she will watch a Netflix show on her iPad but besides that she doesn’t need that stuff at all. There have been countless times where she just totally forgets her phone and she doesn’t seem to have any problem with it at all. I know if my friends or I went out and forgot our phones, we wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves. Yet to me that is so unhealthy. I admire the fact that my mom cannot have her phone on her, but still can be happy and worry free. There are not a lot of people who could do that in the slightest. 

        

        Although my picture or any information about me does not come up when you look up my name. The more I get involved and the more I search for jobs and get my name out there, people will start to see me. If you were to look up my Instagram, I think that you would just see the typical college kids Instagram. I do not have too much online presence, I do not make YouTube videos, or tik-toks, I do not even post that much on Instagram. I think that is a good choice I have made. I know I could get in trouble if I post frequently on those platforms. The fact that employers do look up people who want a job and judge them solely on their social media platform is wrong. To judge someone off social media is wrong because the live person and the one seen on social media could be so different. I know that my online footprint does not show who I am as a person and that there is so much more to me that employers would never understand if they were to just look at my social media accounts. 

           

     The world is changing in so many ways that are out of our control. Big tech companies are going to continue to shape society and there is not much we can do about it. As we continue to live on earth and enjoy these new technological advancements, it is important to understand the dangers of them. It is important that we do not lose connections with ourselves and who we really are. We must remember to not rely on technology to entertain ourselves and provide happiness. Although this new technology is so crucial for our well being, we must not lose our ability to choose how it works best for ourselves.