Final Blog Post: Our Relationship With Technology

    A big part of my generation is technology. Growing up I always knew a life where technology was around. Starting in elementary school I had an iPod then an iPad which eventually led to getting a phone. Because of this I do think my relationship with technology is not the healthiest. Compared to kids nowadays though, there was still a time in my life where I did not have technology to use daily. It was not until second grade that I got an iPod and could only listen to music on it. My nephews on the other hand are in preschool and kindergarten and they have tablets that they love to use. According to Jason Dorsey, the statistics of gen-z are the highest when it comes to technology use. "Our State of Gen Z research studies show that 95% own a smartphone, 83% own a laptop, 78% own an advanced gaming console, and 57% have a desktop computer. 29% use their smartphone past midnight on a nightly basis." I am definitely part of that 29% who goes on their phone past midnight. Because of this I think that technology takes up too much time in my life. Most of the time when I am not doing something like homework or with friends I am spending my time on my phone just watching TikToks. 

    While I am spending a lot of my time on different forms of social media, it is not always a bad thing because social media can be informative on certain things. According to the Pew Research Center, "73% describe people being more informed about both current events in other countries and about events in their own country." For me personally, I find out majority of my news from social media because it reports things in a timely manner and it's right there in the palm of my hand. While not everything reported online will be 100% accurate and correct it is still a good place for information. It is important to do your own research when it comes to the information you are looking at to make sure it is accurate information. Even though it can be easy to just believe everything you see right away, it is just as easy to fact check everything. Along with being a news source for me it is also the best way to keep in touch with family while being away at college. Through different posts on social media they can see what I'm up to and vice versa. Being away from my sister and my nephews is hard for me because they are so young and without social media I think it would be even harder. My sister loves to post pictures of the fun things they do and getting to see that all the way from multiple states away makes me happy. 

    The downsides that come with technology center around the long-lasting effects it can have on people. If you are online too much and seeing pictures of people you can easily bring yourself down because you do not look like them. Even though social media is not a true representation of a person's life it can still affect people. When a person posts too much online it opens up the entire internet to comment and voice their opinion either agreeing or disagreeing. This can lead to cyberbullying which can be very damaging to one's mental health as-well.  

    One of the most important things to keep in mind with social media accounts is the digital footprint that comes with it. Many people love to show off their life through social media and do not think of who may see those posts in the future. For me personally, this is something I try my very best to be conscious about when posting anything on social media. When googling myself there is not anything that comes up because there are other people with the same name that have more of an online presence because they play sports in college. Therefore I can safely say that I have a clean online presence when googling myself.