Final Blog Post

Technology and the internet are easily one of the best advancements society has made. It has become super accessible for most people and can be really helpful. However, like most things, it also has its disadvantages and consequences. I personally never imagined we would get to where we are in society. Technology is arguably the biggest part of everyone's life. Most people can probably not imagine a life without it and not having a cell phone in their hands at all times. I love my phone and all of my devices just as much as the next person, but I also see the heavy consequences. 

I definitely do not think I have a healthy relationship with technology, I'm not sure anyone my age can say that they do. It is so easy these days to sit on my phone for hours and be entertained by different games and social media apps. It has become a habit for me to always have my phone in my hand. On the flip side, there are things I have learned things I otherwise wouldn't have without my phone and different apps. I think it's important to acknowledge that while technology is an amazing tool, it shouldn't consume us.

Something we talked about in my digital writing class is how social media and the internet have ruined our attention spans. For me personally, I struggle with this all the time now. Because I have gotten so used to watching TikToks every day and that is my main source of entertainment, I often struggle to pay attention to longer things like movies and TV shows. This is a problem I noticed and wanted to change. It is so hard to find other things to entertain myself now that my phone and devices have become the center of everything.

I do not think I have very much of an online footprint. A person's digital footprint is the trail of personal information created during their online interactions. I am online and have social media but most of my accounts are locked and not public. When it comes to my online presence, I have always been cautious about what I decide to share. When learning about internet literacy and safety as a kid, I remember always being told to be careful what I share because future employers will look. When I googled myself the only things I found were my LinkedIn profile and my Medium blog. There were no images or any of my social media accounts. This was not shocking as I did not think there would be very much. It is important to always be cautious about what you decide to post because things do not ever leave the internet. While I did not find very much about myself with a quick search, there is probably more out there. We talked about in class how the internet takes more of our information than we know about. Everything we do online can be traced, tracked, and stored.  

The “Man” animation by Steve Cutts was a disturbing but accurate representation of how people have become due to technology and their phones. The video shows how technology has made people unaware of the things around them. When technology consumes our lives as presented, it can be extremely negative. I hope that going forward as a society we can recognize technology as a great thing but it is also beneficial to take a step back sometimes.

Overall, I think technology can be an amazing tool. It gives us access to any information all the time. As with everything else, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. I think it is important to take a step back from technology every once in a while. We should have a healthy relationship with our phones and other devices, not codependency. It is also important to always keep with your online presence. Whether being in the workforce or just in general, people should always be cautious about what they share online.