Blog Post #4

 

    The product that I chose to research and present for the class is Apple’s iPhone, arguably the most well-known piece of technology in modern times. The company Apple was founded by Steve Jobs in 1976 and they began solely producing computers. There was a lot of work that went into developing the first iPhone, as it was a pretty complex piece of technology. Scientists spent years trying to figure out how they could make a handheld phone that essentially acts as a computer. They also had to do a lot of brainstorming on how to make their product different from the blackberry which was dominating the cellphone market at the time. One way in which they would differentiate themselves from Blackberry was by adding a touch screen to the iPhone. Touchscreen technology has been around since the 1970s, however it had never been used on a phone. At the time people didn’t really know what to think about the touch screen aspect of the iPhone as most people didn’t even know what a touch screen really was. The next obstacle Apple faced was figuring out how they could power a device like a touchscreen phone. They eventually decided on using a lithium ion battery which would be able to store enough power to keep the iPhone running. The last challenge they faced was getting the internet onto a phone. This was no easy feat as they would need to add a processor that would basically make the iPhone into a mini-computer. Through years of development, Apple was able to create the first iPhone which began being sold in June of 2007 and started at $499 for the 4G model.

    Over the years there have been twelve basic models of the iPhone, along with 26 additional models made with extra features. Another pretty wild statistic is the fact that the iPhone has sold over 2.3 billion iPhones since the first iPhone was created. That statistic alone speaks to the magnitude of the iPhone in my opinion. To think that there are 7.8 billion people on earth and yet there have been 2.3 billion iPhones sold is pretty wild. This invention has drastically changed the world and the way people communicate. In modern-day America, it is harder to find someone who doesn't have an iPhone than it is to find someone who does. We take it for granted, however, if you look back 20 years ago and proposed the idea of having a mini computer that acts as a cell phone in your wallet, people would've looked at you like you were crazy.

    I think that the iPhone has overall positively affected the world and changed the way we communicate, however, I do also think it has had some negative effects on people as well. One of those negative effects is that social media apps tend to be very addicting and can cause some people to spend too much time on them instead of being out in the real world. I see this all the time with younger people specifically my younger siblings who can't even sit through dinner at a restaurant without wanting to use my parent's phone. This is pretty scary as people might lose the ability to socialize and become overly dependent on their iPhones. Social media also can have a negative effect on children. 64% of teens say that social media has a negative effect on the way things are going in the U.S. The iPhone enables the use of social media and in my opinion, plays a big role in the effects that social media has on children. I think monitoring your kid's screen time is very important when it comes to trying to limit the effects of social media on them.

Blog Post #3

 I think the Eight values of free expression set the foundation for the First Amendment, which is arguably the most important amendment of our Constitution. The First Amendment is still regularly referred to today and provides U.S. citizens with protection from the government in many different ways. The three values that resonate most with me the most would be; marketplace of ideas, stable change, and check on government power.

The first value which I tend to agree with is the marketplace of ideas. I think there is a lot of truth in the theory that when truth and falsehood freely grapple, truth wins. Letting the truth of a situation come out naturally will allow people to form their own opinions, as opposed to jamming ideas down their throats. John Milton used this argument against requiring a license to publish. I think this is a great use of the argument, as people will be able to form their own opinions on publishers and will most likely only want to listen to the ones that publish the facts. Allowing people to naturally figure this out gives them a sense of autonomy as well. We can see this in action a lot today with the amount of fake news out there. It is much harder in modern times to decipher what is true and what isn’t, due to the vast amount of information and publishers out there.

The next value which resonates with me is the idea of stable change. I think Benedict Spenozas' idea of stable change is very valuable as people need to be able to vent to avoid uprisings that contain violence. He makes a good point when he mentions that when people can freely vent, it makes it easier for the government to predict when there might be violence and allows for the government to be proactive. I agree with him when he says it is in the government's best interest to allow venting.

The last value which I agree with, in my opinion, tends to be the most important. The ability of citizens to check on the government is a fundamental value in a democracy. The First Amendment supports people's ability to check on the government as it allows people to openly communicate and vent about the government's wrongdoings. It also allows people the chance to learn about abuses of power and the rights that tax-paying citizens have. I think the First Amendment gives people the ability to obtain information easily through the press, and this gives people the chance to identify when the government oversteps. The checks and balances system still plays a role in society today, and there are a lot of people out there who believe the government is regularly overstepping. I think that this value is most personal to me as I think the amount of power the federal government has in modern-day America is very dangerous. Our government is $34 trillion today and is only rising and yet we still continue to raise our spending budget. This playbook is not sustainable and will end up hurting the American people in the long run when a lot of these politicians will be dead by then.

Blog Post #2

     I learned a lot from the video we watched in class discussing the Supreme Court. The first thing I learned is that the Supreme Court is the most powerful judicial body on earth. I always knew that it was a very high honor to be a Supreme Court judge, however, I didn't realize how much power a Supreme Court judge possesses. Another interesting fact that I learned is that there have been just over 100 Supreme Court judges in history serving an average of 16 years. 16 years is a long time which is why this was so surprising to me. I think one of the most important takeaway points from this video about the Supreme Court is that the judges are referring to a document that was made over 200 years ago by our founding fathers. It is pretty incredible that we are still basing decisions regarding current issues on a document that is that old. This isn't to say that I believe the Constitution is invalid, as I think protecting people's liberties from the government is incredibly important, and that was one of the main purposes of the Constitution. Something surprising that I learned is that Supreme Court Judges have to wait until people bring their problems to the Supreme Court. I think it is interesting that the Supreme Court Judges can't bring up issues that they find are pressing. This video changed my understanding of the Supreme Court because I didn't realize how powerful they truly are. I didn't realize they are the most powerful judicial body on earth. When I hear of a new judge being appointed in the future, I will definitely pay more attention to the process.

Blog Post #1

1. https://twitter.com/

The reason I enjoy using Twitter (now X) to find my news is because there is a wide range of media that use it, which allows me to hear the news from many different sources. I think this helps me come to a conclusion on what is true regarding the information in the story as a lot of news platforms today have agendas they are pushing. When you read a lot of different platforms take on the same story it is easier to see what these agendas might be.

2. www.rocanews.com

Roca News is my favorite news company solely because the premise of their company is to provide the news without any agenda or voicing their opinion. I like this because it allows me to get all of the information, and form my own opinion. I am subscribed to Roca via email and receive the news for free, multiple times a week. Roca covers the biggest stories throughout the world which is a big reason I consistently read their stuff. A lot of the big media companies could learn from how Roca is unbiased.

3. Instagram.com

I use Instagram to find news somewhat inadvertently. Instagram consistently recommends news stories from the biggest news companies like Fox News and CNN. I find that these companies tend to focus more on sharing their opinion than the actual facts of the story. For this reason, I tend to fact-check the stuff I find through Instagram and am somewhat hesitant to trust the stories.

4. Youtube

I tend to use YouTube to get a more in-depth analysis of certain news stories. YouTube videos can be longer than those on other platforms, which allows for more information to be covered. I watch a lot of YouTube in general and constantly see news stories in my recommended section. My only complaint about the news on YouTube is that a lot of it consists of the news anchors' opinions. This might be attributed to the fact that the videos are longer.

5. TikTok

The last source I use and I definitely use this source the least is TikTok. I don't intentionally use TikTok as a news source and really only see the news here because it gets recommended to me. TikTok's videos are also very short which makes it hard to cover the details of a story in depth during the period allotted. I also think a lot of the news on TikTok is based on an agenda.