My Digital Footprint

Technology has become a significant part of all our lives, and it continues to evolve every day. Technology has a major impact on all of us and whether that impact is good or bad can be debated. I believe that technology can be used in advancing groundbreaking ways, or it can be used to control and consume people.

First Video

Second Video

In the first video, people believed that technology would only have positive effects and would make everyone's lives great. This can be true in some aspects, technology has advanced so much that it saves lives and has changed the way the world works. Technology has changed our world in ways the people in the video could not even imagine. In the other video, it showed the negative effects technology has on society. They portrayed technology as taking away human interactions and being glued to your phone. This is very true, especially with younger generations. Younger generations that grew up on technology heavily depend on it and they aren't learning life or social skills that previous generations did. 

 

What is interesting to me, is that technology affects every generation differently. Older generations only use the positive side of technology and they do not depend on technology the same way younger generations do. I think that technology has negatively impacted younger generations and we are so consumed in it we don't pay attention to what is going on around us. I am thankful to be born in my generation because I grew up with it, but when I was younger I still grew up without a phone or tablet and I was able to explore the world around me without any technology. The generation after me grew up in a time where technology advanced into tablets and phones and everyone has some form of technology with them at all times. They have never known a world where people were not glued to their phones. Now, people are more consumed with their technology because they are addicted to social media platforms. Social media has taken over all of our lives.

Social media does have positive influences like connecting people all over the world and sharing knowledge in an instant. But social media has a very scary side that has resulted in so much hatred and façades that push unrealistic images to young people. Social media has been used to spread hatred and has become a platform that facilitates cyber bullying. Cyberbullying has had major implications on our society and continues to grow.

Another major negative effect of social media has been the spread of unrealistic beauty standards. The marketing industry has taken over social media and used it as a way to push products that are targeted at people who want to attain these unrealistic beauty standards. For me, I have had to be more intentional about the people that I follow or images that I am exposed to because It was starting to affect my perceptions of myself. On social media people only post the photos that they look great in or any positive thing that happens in their life. It took me time to realize that people do not post their flaws or their downfalls.

My social media is all private because I do think about my future employers searching me up. When I search my name up I only see Linkedin, Facebook, and news articles from my hometown that my name has been in. Although my account is private I do worry about not getting a job because of what I post online.  I post a lot about social justice and what is happening in our country. I also think that if a company does not want to hire me because I am not afraid to speak up about certain topics, then I probably would not want to work there anyway.   

My relationship with technology has become much healthier since I realized I was not being present in the moment and I was missing out on the people I love because I was always on my phone. My friends and I schedule designated times when we put our phones down. in order to actually connect with one another. I think that's a perfect example of how people are consumed with their phones. I am not saying that I never use my phone and am not obsessed with it. I definitely am, but I do force myself to leave my phone behind when I do certain things or am hanging out with my family and friends. I have become more conscious about putting my phone down.  I have started to break my habits with my phone and I have shut off my social media notifications. This definitely helps me to not constantly check my phone. I also have started a morning routine where I don't check my phone until I have already gotten out of bed. I find this to help me be more productive. I am trying to learn how to develop a more positive relationship with social media and stop being in the habit of always being on my phone.

My Linkedin