Final Blog Post

 As this class comes to a close, I can't help but look upon my past decade of an online presence with a new sense of both understanding and contempt. I have been active online since the 5th grade, so give or take 11 years. Prior to really looking into my online presence, I had simply viewed the most negative aspect of my life on the internet as the Facebook albums of middle school dances. However, a recent thought of mine has been how my choices of social medias both influenced my experience growing up and if there are lingering results in my current thinking as well. 

At the peak of my social media usage throughout middle school, in addition to the casual personal usage of Facebook and Instagram, I was prevalent in the fandom (the fans of a particular person, team, fictional series, etc. regarded collectively as a community or subculture) sphere on both Twitter and Tumblr. This meant that on a daily basis I was interacting with thousands of individuals in which I had not only never met in real life, but had no idea of what they looked like. Fandoms relied on anonymity, the most personal and identifiable you would get being your favorite band member and possibly your name (of whatever name you wanted to be called). The strive for clout and recognition amongst other fan accounts was indeed a large part of my middle school experience- to a point where it became unhealthy. I think back now on how many accounts I had post notifications on for, and how there was a deep pressure to (regardless if I was in class, in church, or anywhere else) to stay constantly informed on the minute details of what was going on with your favorite accounts and the bands you follow.

Middle school was also the time when I began to realize the extent my body was different from the Instagram models in which began to gain prominence online. Photos on both Instagram and Tumblr showed glorified images of women whose bodies were emaciated, skinny or "anna" (an online term used to reference anorexia without raising flags) being the best compliment in which one could get. For an above average sized girl whose body was very much still in the process of changing, this content really shook me. Girls at my school more or less looked like me, but that reality was irrelevant when I unlocked my phone and the women I saw glorified very much did not. 

As middle school came to a close, that was the time when I realized the benefit of establishing a niche for your content, even on personal accounts. I strived to have an Instagram presence that made my life look both interesting and aesthetically pleasing, following certain color pallets and falling into natural photographs so friends and family and strangers alike saw me as an ethereal, artsy girl who is happy and joyous all the time: which is obviously not the case. It was not until recently when I realized that everyone experiences the same feelings of not being "good enough" or as "happy" or as "social and fun" as everyone else: this based purely on what people post online.

Nowadays, I stick to simply Twitter and Instagram for my social media content. I got a VPN to use on my laptop and phone to help to disseminate my ability to be location tracked, hopefully reversing my years of ignorance to the ease of ability of others to find your information online. Another step I took to separate myself from the onslaught of advertisements is creating a burner email for any product-based website as well as for gaming websites. This unclogged my personal email as well as kept my anonymity by using a pseudonym in my email. 

I really try to be smarter with my online presence. I hope that with maturity has come not just more care for safety but a better understanding of the difference between online presence and reality. And I think it has. As we move forward, and when I think of the fate of my little 10 years old sister, I hope that the recent trend of making social media more casual continues. I have let her onto my VPN, as well as advised her on what to and not to post. Now I know it's optimistic for me to hope she does the right thing all the time, but I wish I had someone knowledgable about technology to help me when I was her age, so all I can do is hope. 

Five Eyes EOTO

Five Eyes, or FVEY for short is an intelligence alliance between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US. Created after World War II, the Five Eyes alliance was originally developed to monitor the communications of the former Soviet Union sand the effects of Communist regimes in the world in general. At its inception this group acted as an extension of the Allied powers, securing the allyship between the large, capitalistic countries of the western world. As the 20th century came to a close and the subsiding of the prevalence of Cold War, FVEY tilted their mission to primarily being used as a weapon for the War on Terror.

Now in the new millenia, recently unclassified Five Eyes documents show that countries involved in the organization are intentionally spying on each other’s citizens. Using the War on Terror as their alias, these countries have gone behind the backs of each other collecting information and sharing it amongst themselves. Edward Snowdan, the American whistleblower who copied and leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency in 2013 when he was a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee and subcontractor, called FVEY a “supra-national intelligence organization that doesn't answer to the laws of its own countries." Yes, that is as horrifying as it sounds. 

Many influential figures were under the scrutinous eyes of the Five Eyes alliance. Famous actor Charlie Chaplin was placed under surveillance due to his alleged ties to communism, philanthropist Nelson Mandela was denounced as a terrorist by critics, his (mostly peaceful, mind you) work was placed under intense surveillance by British SIS and US CIA agents, and finally Beatles frontman John Lennon was landed under FBI surveillance due his involvement and outspokenness in protesting the Vietnam War. 

The Five Eyes relationship had two major ways of collecting public data, the PRISM program and Upstream Collection. The PRISM program gathers user information from technological agencies such as Google, Apple and Microsoft; while the Upstream system gathers information directly from the communications of civilians through fiber cables and infrastructure as data flows past and the interception of phone calls. This is horrifying because as technology advances and we as a world continue to find ourselves more and more incredibly online, avenues in which the Five Eyes intelligence organization or anyone really can use to monitor and intrude upon the goings on of everyday individuals. Is it okay to live in a world where the intentional spying on individuals of your own country is the norm? Where our government can diffuse their blame by "subcontracting their dirty work" to other countries? 

This is the reality of the world we live in. Five Eyes is still operational, and is still gaining intelligence on the citizens of each others countries in the name of protection against terrorism, but at the cost of the privacy and individuality of those citizens they claim they are protecting. Where is the line between the protection and intrusion? How much should we as citizens be willing to give up, how much of our lives are we willing to have invaded by our government in order to protect us from being invaded by those we consider the enemy? Or do we as citizens have to reconsider who we feel is the true public enemy.

Privacy TEDtalk Videos

 Privacy in this digital age has become nonexistent. What was once simply a tool in order to find depths of information has now divulged into tracking devices, into file cabinets of personal information, and most terrifyingly: into a database of what you and every single American are doing, where you're going, and millions of subtle details into the person you are.

Prior to the influx of wearable and carriable technology, the personal habits of American citizens was truly private. The daily goings on of a mom who preaches word of the gospel to her bible study who has not been to church in a year, to a father who prides himself on being a family man but stops off at the local strip club every Friday after telling his wife he has to "work late" used to be known to only by those individuals. However: that is now no longer is the case. The father Facebook messages his wife as he leaves the office and is logged into Facebook's database, Apple's Maps app tracks and logs his drive to the club, the instant license plate reading surveillance cameras perched atop decades old light posts give evidence of his weekly arrival, and finally his phone call to his dancer who he has built a rapport with is done in a system which was built for surveillance first.  

Someone is consistently listening, watching, and logging the goings on of the over a billion individuals around the world who use this technology every day. There is are violations of our privacy happening every second of every day and on a scale where it is too intimidating to do anything about it. I think of my generation, Generation Z, who has grown up entirely online, who from a young age and before anyone knew the repercussions have been posting and searching and calling about information which has the potential now to ruin our lives. Our childhoods are saved into hard drives, our private questions which we are too scared to talk to family are friends about but trusted the surplus of information on the internet to help answer are etched into the digital tattoos of the people we are. 

This leaves us at an unsurprisingly sad state: realizing that it may just be too late for us.

Diffusion of the iPod

 The iPod, a portable MP3 player originating just after the dawn of the new millennia in 2001, dawned just mere months after Apples introduction of iTunes, a platform to purchase, sell, and download music. Apple, wanting to get into the portable device category sought after a market less saturated than digital cameras and camcorders- coming to the realization that the portable music playing devices of the time were useless and poorly designed and in the need of an innovative makeover- and who better to do that than Apple? The original iPod debuted with a sleek design and the capability to hold 1,000 songs, pre-packaged with headphones and a charger. 

The iPod immediately performed well with its primary adopters, quickly becoming the leading MP3 player among all markets, adored by athletes for its lightweight feel and headphone compatibility while working out, as well as casual use for its ease and quality while also looking unique and sleek. After earning a reputation as a respected entertainment device, the iPod eventually came to be accepted as a business device, used by government departments, major institutions, and international organizations  turning to the iPod line as mechanism for business communication and training, such as the Royal and Western Infirmaries in Glasgow, Scotland, where iPods were used to train new staff.

At their peak in 2009, eight years post its original release, the iPod saw 24 million quarterly sales. However, its success began (and continues) to fall as the inclusion of the iTunes Store as well as other music sharing/downloading vessels such as 8tracks, Spotify, and Soundcloud gained popularity and became accessible through the time's increasing popularity of smartphones. 

All MP3s, but especially through the popularity of the iPod, standardized the social norm of wearing headphones in public. Even on campus now, walking to class many of my peers will walk with their head down and headphones in, mind unfocused on the world around them as they sink into the mundanity of their own music and own worlds. I'm willing to bet you've tried to say "Hello!" to a friend you see on the street who becomes completely oblivious due to having their headphones in. 

Personally, having an iPod from a young age allowed me to find an individual identity in my music taste and grow as an artist myself by being able to find new music as well as play the songs which influence my style now over and over again. However, I will be the first to admit I was one of the kids who would sit on the bus with their headphones in, not talking to anyone and getting myself lost in the music while staring at my small town out the window. Is that because of my access to a distracting device, or the fact that I did not really have friends... the world may never know!

8 Values

 The Eight Values of Free Expression are integral to the free speech in our country and what makes this country so great. The value of individual self-fulfillment, the idea in which free speech enables individuals to express themselves in whatever fashion they may want, is- to me- the upmost important of the values. There are few things in this world more freeing than thought. Allowing freedom of thought to be expressed, despite how controversial or how out of the box, it allows for freedom of speech to mean so much more than just saying whatever you want- it becomes an aspect of bodily, mental, and spiritual autonomy. Freedom of individualized expression is the creation of jazz, it is the choice to wear knee black knee high boots, winged eyeliner, and a band tee to a Connecticut country club, its standing up to your relatives whose religious beliefs disregard the essence of your identity. 

The concept of individual self-fulfillment is integral to the function of modern society- however two I find the most intriguing are through social media and the music industry. Social media- especially in content created by and targeted for generation Z- is anchored in individuality of the creator. The creator does something unique, whether its an individual like @bestdressed on Instagram whose content is reliant on her ability to shop secondhand and vintage and still create distinctive, while eccentric outfits (and to me rightfully earning her namesake) to a TikTok creator whose entire persona  (and I cannot make this up) is covering his head and chest with different condiments, such as Nutella and ketchup, and then acting as the Joker from the Batman universe. This is not a dichotomy, but the prolific reality of life on the internet. Individual self expression, especially in the way in which social media not only encourages but celebrates it, allows for individuals who before may have thought they were the only ones going through something or the only ones who like certain unconventional things to feel less alone. Not only does the freedom to express oneself create a happier populous, but it creates niche markets and communities across social medias around likeminded people. 

The music industry is another environment in which self actualization is integral to its function. The creation of music in and of itself is an incredibly personal experience, an expressive art form utilized to discuss facets of someones life they either need to let out or a message artists believe their fans need to hear. Everyone has felt the community of singing back lyrics sung by their favorite artists- thousands of strangers united in the pain or joy of one person, this community only found through the kindred connection formed by someone's art. People revere artists from The Beatles to Kanye West and everyone in between because of their ability to express themselves and create their own identity as an artist. This autonomy in style and voice is what makes music so easy to connect to, individuals having the opportunity to find parts of their own individuality through the voices of artists. If not for the concept of individual self-fulfillment, there would not be the diversity in style, craft, and art that there is today.

Why War?

The anti-war sentiment seemingly is quite popular among voters- becoming a staple of the personal platforms of young and left leaning voters. Even the idea of being pro-war is assumed to be a conservative strongpoint, their ideology presumed to point towards the notion that war is a necessary circumstance, a way to prove America's strength and prove our power to anyone who is not a blatant, westernized ally- regardless of the inherent xenophobia it seems to both be fueled by and insights after the fact.

This why I find it so interesting that on the main lading page of articles in the American Conservative there is post after post, article after article detailing the troubles which come alongside going to war. I even spotted one from just two weeks ago which details what would seem to be a very liberal issue- "How Our Pointless Wars Made Life Hell for Religious Minorities." This article details the problems with the America First mantra which Trumpers yell from the rooftops, and taking a critical eye to their own party's idea of what is going on in a post-ISIS Palestine.  Detailing how US intervention causes a spike in religious persecution towards not just Christians, but Yazidis as well. It brings a really interesting thought, looking at these sentiments of American pull back and care for other human life being a middle ground- these ideas being chanted by mainstream liberals are said in whispers by conservatives alike. Antiwar.com leans into that inclusivity, calling themselves a self-proclaimed hub for libertarians, pacifists, leftists, 'greens,' and independents alike, as well as many on the Right who agree with our opposition to imperialism." 

Then how have we reached a place in which war is considered a partisan thing? That the systemic murder and planned destruction of other countries in the guise of "help" has become a societal norm? Is it the financial benefits to war- so great that media imposes the rhetoric that its necessary? We may never have answers to these questions- but looking towards the answers are deeply necessary. 

History of Emojis and Why they're Here to Stay

You always hear that history has a funny way of repeating itself- and the dan of emoticons is just another

example of human’s ability to reinvent and adapt, while always keeping in mind where they came from.

From writing hieroglyphics upon tomb walls in ancient Egypt to typing out emojis on a Facebook wall.

At the dawn of the internet, all content was entirely text-based; meaning between the 1960s and the

1990s all emoticons were rendered in ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange,

a standard code sed by smaller and less-powerful computers) and could only be read sideways.

Super scientist Scott E Fahlman asserted that :-) could indicate “humorous” posts on message boards

and :-( could indicate “serious” posts. The primary went on to gain a reputation as the humble Smiley-

that recognition unfortunately not being equitable with its partner the Frowney.

As the 90s transitioned into the new millennium, emoticons became a personal experience of creating individualized emotions through different combinations of keyboard symbols. What were previously just various keys used for code or type now. Being used in intricate ways to express facial expressions.

Then finally comes the emoji. Emoji is a Japanese word that translates to English as “e” for “picture” and “moji”

for character- a very fitting name for the small creative pictures used in text exchanges. The first emoji was

created in 1999 by Japanese artist Shigetaka Kurita, wanting to design an attractive interface to convey information

in a “simple succinct way.” Kurtia sketches 176 original 12 pixel by 12 pixel images

This influx of emoticon and emoji usage actually helps the way in which people communicate. The media richness theory is the idea that media has different levels of richness, i.e. the ability to understand the facial expressions and full range of emotion through a medium of conversation. For example, a phone call allows for people to hear vocal inflections but not see facial expressions during a conversation. Thus, emojis being inducted into everyday texting scenarios made a relatively shallow medium into one whose richness gets deeper with every new batch of emojis.

1] Augustyn, Adam. 2020. "ASCII | Communications". Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/ASCII.

[2] https://www.britannica.com/topic/emoticon

[3] https://www.thoughtco.com/emoticons-and-emoji-1991412

[4] https://www.thoughtco.com/emoticons-and-emoji-1991412

[5] https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/isre.9.3.256