Final Post

     When I think about my relationship with technology, I mostly think about on how it started for me at a young age. I was born in an age where technology was slowly blooming. There were televisions and cellphones and radios, but they were not nearly as advanced as they are today. The iPhone was not a product that existed, social media was not even heard of, and the only thing I knew about television was that it had fun things for me to watch and learn from. My relationship with technology started to really expand when my dad brought home the Nintendo Wii from a business trip. I fell in love instantly and started playing it all the time. I will admit I did not have the healthiest relationship with technology as I was very obsessed with it and it very much dominated my life up until about my teen years. I did not really have a concept of time management and a healthy balance, all I knew was that if something made me happy in life, I should keep doing it no matter what. While not the best way to look at life (it is pretty unhealthy and I do not recommend it), it did end up teaching me how to have a healthy relationship with technology and not obsess about it all the time. While I still live a very tech heavy life, I have gotten much better about balancing and integrating it into my life, instead of just letting it consume me day in and day out. I strive to have actual face-to-face conversations with real people instead of just hiding away in my phone and talking to people on Discord.

    A lot of this has to do with me being a lot more aware of technology and the impact it can have on society. I have seen many good things come from the breakthrough of technology like how it has made human lives much easier. We are now able to have longer distance and more effective communication through the evolution of cellphones, and televisions are now able to display much more beautiful pictures than ever before. Technology has also allowed me to pursue a career I want in being a YouTuber instead of being stuck in a job I do not like because it is a "steady career" and not some "short-lived dream". It also has impacted my dad, as technology has allowed him to grow his business even further. Technology has impacted us as a society in ways we could not have even imagined as well, from medicine, to transportation, and so much more.

My online footprint is not something I consciously think about all the time. I do not sit up late at night, thinking about what I posted on Instagram the other day. I do know the biggest rule about online footprints however, and it is that anything you put out on the Internet, is permanent. I do not look at this as some sort of fear factor, but I do use it to regulate how much of myself I put out on the Internet and what exactly I am putting out. I am confident in my digital footprint because I do not really have much to hide about what I post. I do not really use profanity, or encourage anything that would be frowned upon in a corporate setting, such as my political views. Since I am not scared of my online footprint, I continue to forge a path for my online footprint for the world to see me as I am. I may not be incredibly personal with it, but I do intend to have my online footprint represent the good and honest values that I strive for everyday.

AntiWar

     After reading from both AntiWar.com and The American Conservative, I was surprised to see the very adamant takes of what is going on in the world of politics. A lot of the biased information being covered between both websites is meant to support the conservative side of the political spectrum, which can give an idea as to why this information is not exactly covered by mainstream media. When it comes to large scale issues and topics, especially politics, the goal for mainstream media is to stay as neutral as possible. If the media is accused of taking sides, it would make them biased to one side, which really does not go over well with the public. While it is more understandable that information like this is not covered by the mainstream media on places such as television and radio, it does also interest me as to why the websites themselves are not public knowledge like a CNN or NBC News outlet. This could likely be because of the aforementioned bias towards the conservative demographic. Trustworthy and reliable news sources like CNN will not have a bias towards conservatives or liberals, and will tell whatever news story they are covering as neutral and as unbiased as possible. CNN knows that public opinion is very important, and that leading too much towards one political spectrum will cause them to lose the non conservatives in their audience that trust the news from CNN. From a non business standpoint, public opinion also makes it so that the most trustworthy news sites are sites that are not biased towards one side. If you are biased towards one political side, how will you know the full truth of the story without discovering the other half of the political side? Bias towards a side on the political spectrum could withhold important details that are not being shared because of the danger of it not supporting the political side that they want. I think you have to seek out antiwar websites like these because you would have to make an effort to have your view on current topics be biased in favor of one political side. It is easier to find sites like CNN because many people's first thoughts would not be to search out for information that is purposely biased and withholds information that could hurt that bias. I think the important thing to takeaway from reading both of these websites is that it is important to have non biased information in order to consider yourself a well-known and trustworthy source.