EOTO #2: Cord Cutting

Ethan Parker 

9/28/21

What is it?

So what really is cord cutting? Cord cutting is the overall process of cutting off or canceling your cable service because you may not necessarily need it and it may benefit you if you switch from one to the other. Everyone has their own specific reason why they'd want to switch to the streaming services from cable but one reason many switch is due to pricing. Over time the price of cable has risen to top notch numbers and it does not really even seem that worth it because of how worthless some channels can be on cable. When you think of "cord cutting" you usually think of the process of people cutting off their cable providers because much more people cut off cable rather than switch away from streaming services. The numbers have only gone up over time when looking at the amount who switch away from and leave cable services per year, if this rate continues, cable will be extinct in the next couple of years! Many Americans have never even experienced having cable due to a variety of reasoning. First things first, the cable pricing is way to much for what everyone is receiving in return. It is just simply not worth it to hold on to this cable provider and only watch a few channels due to every other channel being horrible to watch, and not to mention, cable replays many channels and episodes, over and over again, and after a while, many get tired of that and do not want to see repeated shows and then they find themselves not using their TV as much because the cable channels are just not worth it to watch over again a million times. With all of that being said, cord cutting is necessary to many different families and some don't even bother cutting the cord because they've never had to deal with it because of its complete unfairness. Cord cutting is a significant and reoccurring process that will happen more and more as years go by and plenty of people and families will spread the word and the news about cord cutting and eventually, everyone will be cutting the cord on cable providers, that is what cord cutting really is. These are just a few reasons families and individuals decide to cut the cord, now let's get into the positives and negatives of making the big decision to officially cut the cord on cable providers.

Positives:

As mentioned earlier, the main reason people cut the cord is due to the unbelievable pricing of cable providers, many find cable worthless due to how much they charge and how little they provide. A huge positive when cord cutting is that streaming services are much more affordable and personalized to you. Cable providers such as Direct TV charge 70 dollars per month for their cabling services. This number is outrageous, why would I pay that to see only a few channels I may watch per year? It is just not worth the money to pay when I could use streaming services and get a much better deal. Say I purchase Netflix (which, at cheapest, can be $8.99 per month) and Disney Plus (which, at cheapest, can be $8 per month), I'd only be paying around $17 a month for a variety of different shows and episodes as well as some of the best movies to every reach America. This is a completely better deal and I can enjoy everything I love watching for a much cheaper price per month. I'd be able to view millions of episodes, shows, and movies anytime I wanted to, as well as I could always pause what I am watching and come back to it later if need be. Looking on the other hand with Direct TV, I'd be paying $70 a month and only watching a few channels per year, you cannot really pause and record things without upgrading your packaging which would result in paying more money per moth, and to be quite frank, it really just seems like a scam. Direct TV knows they replay channels at least 2-3 times per day and not many people like to watch the same things constantly so this is unfair to viewers and those who have purchased cable. In the end, on the pricing way of things, streaming services take a huge benefit compared to cable and this is why so many people decide to cut the cord.

Something else that stands out amazingly to me is that you are in complete control of streaming services. You can control the ads, or on cable they'd be commercials, you can control when you want to stop or continue a show, you can control things like a recommended list as well as a favorites list, and overall you choose what you want to view and watch. This is an amazing benefit and it shows another huge reason why cutting the cord and switching to streaming services is so much better than relying on cable providers for you happiness in shows and channels. With cable providers, you cannot have nearly as much control and personalization for yourself. With cable providers, you cannot control the commercials or even how many there many be at a time, you cannot quickly navigate to a specific show you may want to see right at that exact time because the show many not be on yet, whereas the show that will be on will probably be a replayed show that is going on for the 3rd time that day, and you also cannot control the uncontrollable things like when Direct TV may go on "downtime" or have a channel shortage where some channels are unable to be played at the time, but with streaming services, there will be no "downtime", you can watch from anywhere and anytime as well as there will not be a time where Netflix or Disney Plus is not playing certain shows and movies during that time, you will always be able to navigate and find what you want to watch anytime. You have so much control over streaming services, you can literally personalize them to where there is always something right there in you face that you'd love to watch. You can set up a streaming service such as Netflix push shows you love watching and similar shows towards the top so you do not have to go through the struggle of searching for them, like we have to do with cable. If I just finished something like Captain America, at the top of my Netflix could be the movie Thor or even an "Avengers movie because they are all similar and have some form of connection. You can also hold different profiles on streaming service, which again, contributes to the power and control you have on these streaming services. Profiles help to allow you to be able to keep track of your favorite movies and shows without getting them in the way of someone else that uses the streaming service as well. For instance, Hulu, Disney Plus, and Netflix (can probably many other streaming services as well) all have a system to where you can build your own profiles for different members. So a family of 5 could all have their own profile, where they all watch what they want to watch on a streaming service such as Disney Plus (you can have up to 7 profiles on Disney Plus by the way!)and only pay $8 a month, the control over these streaming services you have is unbelievable. 

Another advantage there is to having streaming services is that you can watch them on any device, devices including the TV, phones, tablets, laptops, and more! Some cable providers do allow you to watch on some form of other device such as you laptop but this comes with extra costs and who wants to pay more fro cable than they already do? It is just unnecessary, especially when I can watch streaming services for as little as $8 a month and be able to watch it anytime, on any device anywhere. This sort of plays into the control portion a bit but is I also very important. Many people within the younger generation attain jobs over the summer and many of those jobs, they are doing work that takes over long periods of time where they can do work and also do other things such as listen to music or watch some form of entertainment. I know this because I've done this before and my co-workers have also done this. Throughout the day, I would be able to turn on Netflix on my phone and pop in my headphones and enjoy the show I was watching earlier at home, while performing my assigned task. This all just goes to show how you can take streaming services with you wherever you go with no additional costs. Yes, cable providers have been stepping their game up and you can also watch your cable TV shows and channels on your phone when you are on the move but this usually comes with additional costs like I stated earlier, as well as not all cable providers allow you to perform this feature. There are certain cable companies that are adapting to the change, cable providers such as Direct TV and Spectrum TV that both cost a tremendous amount per month and they have just recently (in the last year or so) have made the move to where you can take their providers on the go. This is sad, especially being that streaming services have been doing this, also at a very low price per month. 

Negatives:

A disadvantage of cord cutting could be that you will be missing out on some channels that do air on cable. This is not too big of a deal, considering that you have tons of different episodes, shows, and movies you can choose from with streaming services, but for some, it will be hard to not be able to view their favorite show that may not be on streaming services. For example, if you are someone that is heavily involved in watching shows such as sports shows, it will be pretty difficult to cut the cord on cable because you will not get that access to shows such as SportsCenter or other sports shows such as PardonTheInterruption. But you do have access to ESPN Plus and YouTube TV with streaming services and that can help a lot but you will unfortunately miss out on those sports shows that discuss what may or may not happen and discuss after games what all went down such as the ones stated above. This is very tough for those debating on cutting the cord because they may easily view it as, why should I switch over and I can't even view the best couple of shows there are to watch on Direct TV? This is understandable because you do not want to stack up on more than enough streaming services per month because the prices could begin to rise. You want to limit the streaming services you will use and this can be hard to do because they have so many great things to watch but you must limit yourself or you will be soon seeing yourself paying around what you did for the worthless cable. But in the end, missing certain channels and shows can be a huge disadvantage because many look forward to a certain show every single evening at a certain time and it'd be very disappointing to not se it on the streaming services you decide to choose. 

Another big disadvantage that discourages many to avoid cutting the cord is that you must have at least a decent and smooth internet provider to watch these streaming services clearly. You do not want to take the time to look into a streaming service and end up spending your money to come to the realization that you might have to spend more money because you need to get your internet taken care of so you can clearly see the shows and movies you want to watch. With cable TV, you are able to watch all the channels that occur in a pretty visible manner, no matter the internet connection. Yes you internet connection plays a role regardless but if you want that movie theatre quality for you streaming services, you ought to make sure your internet provider is stable and good enough so what you watch can be clear. As tough as it is to limit yourself to which streaming services you can obtain, you also have to work about the internet provider you have which can be very price consuming if you internet is not already up to par. You certainly do not want to be watching blurry shows and channels and that really only occurs with these streaming services because, as stated earlier, cable channels all have the same types of quality that do not tend to be blurry no matter the internet provider which is why many do stay with cable as well. Why not stay with cable and not too good of internet rather than switching over to streaming services and having to pay a large amount for a better and top notch internet? 

Statistics: (https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/cord-cutting-statistics)

1. In 2019, 6.3 million people cut the cord on cable TV

2. There will be more than 55 million cord cutters by 2022

3. Cable TV penetration will fall below 60% by 2030

4. 35 million Americans have never used cable 

5. 69% of people have a streaming service (Netflix has more viewers than satellite and cable combined)

6. 52% of Cord cutters do not regret their decision

7. Almost 1/3 of people over 50 have dropped their cable subscription

Conclusion:

In conclusion, it seems completely worth it to cut the cord and begin saving and living a happier life when scrolling through episodes and actually being able to view things you want to view rather than the same shows and channels over and over again. In the end, it comes down to your preference and what you hold high to yourself and what you really do not want to give up, but always remember, you will have to make some form of sacrifice for the better outcome, you cannot get everything the way you want it. 

The Progressive Era: Anti War

Ethan Parker 

9/28/21

During this age in time, government were looking to make their own choices and did not care what others thought what so ever. They'd do almost anything to make sure those that are trying to expose the truth or express their impactful opinions be quiet and silenced. The liberal progressives during this time in America were against the involvement of the US in warfare conflict mainly because of their belief that warfare had immortal and hidden economic motivation, hence why they wanted to expose truths and strongly express their impactful opinions, but people like this were usually silenced due to government. 

When looking through the Anti-War website, it is a bit uncomfortable almost. It is unusual to see and it is because news like this never makes it to the big news channels for some reason. While scrolling throughout this website, you tend to see many big topics that you'd expect to be discussed on the mainstream news channels but only small chunks of the information is discussed. It must be due to government involvement, and it only makes since because the government never wants to look bad, they want to be seen as if they are somewhat perfect and haven't done anything dirty. But when looking at this anti-war website, many different perspectives and truths are revealed about the government and what all has gone on in our world today. The title that catches my eye immediately is the title that states "Trump Admin Considered Murdering Assange", why is this not being talked about all over mainstream news and why aren't anyone's phones constantly buzzing because of the news that has just been put out? It is a simple and relatively easy answer to conclude, it must have something to do with the government not wanting information being put out. Yes quickly notice when clicking through the links how those specific writers feel about warfare involvement. These writers are completely against war as they seem to believe war is something that does not really determine much and instead of war, the truth should be opened up. For crying out loud, the website that all of these sources are posed on is called "ANTIWAR.COM", all of these writers are not for war, but it is also easy to realize that they are all for spilling the truth. 

After taking a look at the American Conservative website, the first thing I notice is the title word "Realism" and it is also bolded and larger than all other words under it. The reason why this catches my attention so much is because this website is pushing to put out factual information that they believe many need to see and I am sure we do not see these factual, truth spilling websites because the government wants to make sure they can keep their behinds in the clear. This website also looks much cleaner than the "ANTI WAR" website, instead of having links lined up and all over the place, the American Conservative website has their topics lined up in an orderly fashion with similarities in fonts for all topics, making them easily readable and easy to find. In similarity to the anti-war website, this website also has a lot of information that we seem to not hear much of on mainstream news channels. This website does not go as hard on the US and our government as the anti-war website does but they still push to get their feelings and the truth out. This website is also full of anti-war voices and you can easily ell that when looking through some of the headlines of the topics. The topics that confirm that this website is a site where anti-war voices are allowed is the "The Sufficient Condition For Forever War Is Never War" site as well as the "Defunding The World's Police" site. The reason why they confirm that the American Conservative is a site that invites anti-war voices is because both of those sites are siding against the US when it comes to decision making that has something to do with our weapons. If we are really being technical, the first website I linked has the title of going against war and the second linked site discusses how we are wasting our precious money dealing with our police enforcement because they are making terrible decisions, especially when it comes to weapon usage and how we use moveable machines that cost a lot of money, such as tanks, army vehicles, and many more.

I believe I have never heard of these two websites because of how they both go against the governments feelings and decisions. We all must come to realization that the government does not want to look bad in front of anyone, therefore they do what they need to do in order to keep a solid name. One day everyone will come to the realization that the government is not quite on our team and they hide many different vital informational stories and takes from us, so we are at a disadvantage, so we technically know less than they do. I think I do not hear of these websites often because they are cut off from being fully discussed on huge news sources such as CNN or Fox News. The government takes high risks and they will continue to do so as long as they can seem like they are 100% for the people and completely on the side of letting the citizens know everything, but in reality, they want you to know nothing that has secret value to the government. We are seriously going to believe that the government does not try to keep valuable information, such as these ones of the two websites I've discussed earlier, from us? The same government which has created bombs that many do not even know about, the same government who tries spying on citizens daily, the same government that has just resorted to blaming Cuba in the past? It just makes so much since that the government is behind the scenes of why important views that would make the US government look bad do not get out. Many are against war and what the government pushes to do because of the long term affects it could have on people. We basically throw away our soldiers half of the time during wars and it is because the government wants to be head of the spear and take everything head on without much thought or even community input. Yes we all understand our government nationalistic views and why 'we must go to war'. But that is not always the answer and the government knows it is not, they just do not want the people to feel as though they are right, therefore they cancel out the voices of the people who oppose war and make sure they do not reach mainstream news channels so nothing can get out, no group opinions can be made, and so nobody bans together to go against the government. 

We all must do tons of searching for these anti-war websites because the government knows what all could be getting out and they are not prepared to deal with the world for what it may become if these opinions and facts do begin to get released and out. Imagine what all could happen if the entire US knew about these websites and read them thoroughly, many people may come together and go against the government indefinitely because of how people may begin to feel because of websites like these two. Like I stated earlier, the government does all it can to silence the voice of the people when it comes to topics they do not want to change a single bit and this is why we all must go through such tough searching to find anti-war websites such as these two. The government would be faulted in various amounts of ways if these websites became attainable easily, we might not even have a government if these websites begin to spread like wildfire and become easily accessible to all. Have we all forgotten that the government is technically allowed to remove internet websites if they have the correct reasoning to do so? It is not that difficult for the government to go through a couple of biased reasons why a website that makes them look bad should be removed. The process of government removing a internet website because of what it may portray is known as Internet Censorship. The government most likely uses this process to remove many of these anti-war voices' websites because of what they potentially can say about the government or what they are saying about the government. US citizens are free to share the voice and their opinions/views but if the government feels as though we are sharing information that can become somewhat harmful, is dangerous, is not right to be seen by children, then they can take the informational websites down. I am sure there has been multiple times where the government has taken down a page due to what it portrays about them and most of the time, the information that these websites can portray, are negative towards the government, meaning they push the views of individuals to side against the government and make a move to prove what all the government is actually doing and what they could potentially be hiding. Websites are not safe in this free country and it is because the government is scared to be shown off for what they really are, for what they really have to hide. 

In the end, the government does do many different things for the US citizens but out of all the government does, how much of it is a deal because of something they've hidden? The government cannot be completely trusted and it is easy to say that because of the websites and truths they hide from us, just like seen on the Anti-War website and the American Conservative website, how come these types of websites aren't talked about daily? It is due to the government wanting to keep a clean slate, but we cannot let the get away this easy, they must be exposed for what they hide and we must be allowed to discuss our views and opinions, no matter how it looks on the government. 

EOTO: What I Learned!

Ethan Parker 

9/21/21

The printing press was always my favorite when it came to class presentations about impactful projects. Lucky I gain more and more information each time we discuss the top of the printing press. 

The printing press was a well valued machine that allowed for mass production in a variety of different ways and elements. The printing press usually printed for books as well as newspapers and this was a game changing invention. As we all do know today, knowledge is power, and that is exactly what the printing press allowed us to do, it allowed as to share knowledge and ideas quickly. The printing press arguably helped our scholars to grow their minds as they were able to rapidly share their ideas as well as gain knowledge themselves that'd help them grow. Hundreds of identical copies were being made and this made things so much easier because it allowed copies of the same information to be made rapidly, quicker, as well as it was easier to connect with others because of how quick you could spread a newspaper due to the printing press, who knows how long it'd take for one person to write 100 copies of a newspaper, by the time he/she was done, there'd be more important ideas out to explore than his/hers.

I learned that without the printing press our minds and knowledge would not have grown over time like they have. Without this magnificent machine, being the printing press, we'd never have the availability to share vital ideas with others and we'd all have our own perception on many different things. When looking at it over time, if the printing press was never invented, we would not have the easy access of things such as printers, we would not have all the varieties of different printers we have today. The printing press certainly changed the world for the better, we were able to develop from the printing press, expand our knowledge, and develop and learn some more. Without the printing press, we'd have no big timelines of information, no books with vital information, and the spread of knowledge would be very limited. I have learned major importance of the printing press from the presentation, gladly the printing press was created because since we continued to share knowledge and grow, now we have better sources to use such as laser printers, solid ink printers, 3D printers, LED printers, and many more.

The printing press was extravagant and should be tough more today. With this presentation, I was also helped to realize that the printing press deserves more credit, it deserves to be discussed in classes more often. Of course throughout High School, we sort of touch on the printing press, who made it, and slightly on what it has done. We should have more presentations similar to the one we had in class that discussed the printing press because this machine was more than important. It is hard to look at what life would would have been without this machine that was generating hundreds and thousands of books. This presentation helped me to understand that when there is discussion about the printing press, oftentimes the discussion is short in quick and the printing press held much more value than what it is discussed.

In conclusion, the printing press has helped us today more than many can really understand. When the printing press was first invented, it would be called a monopoly today if we did not have the printers we have know because of the importance and job the printing press held. The printing press was more than a machine, it allowed us to grow and expand our knowledge heavily through the timeline of life.

Diffusion Theory: Google

 Ethan Parker 

9/15/21

Google has been adopted heavily overtime and has seemed to continually be going up when it comes to users and people being on Google more often. Some people have decided to use Google quickly, when it first developed, and some have decided to wait a while to use Google, as well as there are people who will ultimately never end up using Google, but that is their decision and I'm going to discuss who'd choose and do what based on Google and their advancements over time. 

The pioneers for Google or search engines in general were not teenagers but the younger generation at the time which was around 25 years old. Google was founded by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who were both the age of 25 when they had the break through of Google. The pioneers were people that wanted to be able to do something such as search the web and Larry and Sergey figured it out. They were both in College at Stanford University at the time so I am sure people in their grade and of their age wanted the same thing they did, they were just the ones to complete and create it, hence why they were the pioneer leaders for Google. 

The early adopters were the people of the younger/mid age at the time, so from around 18-26 years of age were the early adopters of Google. This age group were the first to begin using Google because for one, it helped college students heavily when trying to find information, therefore it makes since for it to be around that age group because they needed it the most at the time. Google was first launched in 1998 on Stanford Universities server, making it easily accessible for students at Stanford. The founders of Google were around 25 years old, therefore there had to be some form of interest from their fellow college students that lead to the creation of a search engine. 18-26 year olds required the information the most at the time, which makes them the early adopters. 

The early majority brought the young generation of kids to the search engine known as Google. The younger generation at the time were most likely in their early years of middle school or just about to head into their first year of high school. The early majority somewhat makes up the largest amount of users that began to use this search engine because they knew what all it consisted of and it was out for a decent amount of time now and not just some brand new search engine that nobody knew about. In the early years of Google, they were building a positive name to themselves because of what was being put out that Google will be able to do and the performance of Google in the early 2000's. Since in 2000, Google began creating many different features to Google, the younger generation, being those 11-16 year olds, knew what they were getting into. Around this time was pretty much the early prime of Google because of the major advancements and the younger generation at the time was able to witness it all and harness the ability to adapt to Google and know how to work it better than most. 

The late majority group were the people who realized they need to hop on Google and begin using it more. This group of people were a bit older but they aren't too elderly. This groups age ranges from about 35-45 years old. This group were able to watch the entire process of Google and how it began and grew and eventually as times passed, they realized they needed to become a bit more hip to finding information easier and Google was their resource. Most of the late majority were parents or older siblings of the early majority. With that being said, the late majority sort of always had a feel of Google and what it was all about but they never really committed to it and eventually they'd have to because of all the advancements that Google was making, the discuss of Google going around, and the easily accessible information on Google. Over time Google has grown heavily and the late majority adopters did not want to be the first to test Google out, they did not have any reason to test it out and they did not want to waste their time. When seeing the advancements made to Google and what all features it had to it and with the early adopters and the early majority migrating towards using Google, the late majoity had no reason not to begin using Google for daily needs. 

The last group that never quite began using Google or got completely adapted to it were the elderly (the laggards). The elderly wanted to stick with what they knew, they did not care about this new search engine that'd help sort out and find information because they were happy with what they already knew how to do and they do not want to commit to something new and lose their reliable resource of information such as newspaper and ad flyers that has been helping them find information for years. The elderly were also not so hip to technology and they tend to avoid new challenges that have to do with technology such as a new technical way to find information. In the eyes of the elderly, which are from around 60-80 years old (and older), they had their way to find information and they did not believe Google was either good enough to change or if Google was worth taking the risk of changing their source of information. Since they are the laggards, they never really come onto Google and decide to stay with what they have been doing over the years instead. 

To many, Google caught on and began to spread quickly because they were not so focused on selling ads, but they were focusing on helping many find what they needed to find as well as displaying relevant ads that many wanted to see. Google was helpful to many because they had a good amount of information that came quickly and it helped a ton of people when looking for something on the internet, especially college students at the time. So many people decided to become early adopters because they knew Google would be great but they wanted to be the first ones on it. The early adopters had a belief that Google would become reliable and useful for them so they decided to get to using Google early which helped them in the long run because as other decided to use Google later down the road, they knew how to navigate it easier and look up certain information to find certain resources. People are late adopters because they did not want to be the first to try out this new search engine. Late adopters did not want to risk wasting their time to use something that had malfunctions, therefore they waited until time was right to begin using Google. Late adopters were late adopters because they had to see how Google was going to pan out, they had to hear from multiple views opinions on if Google was a good search engine to use or not. After weighing out the positives and maybe a few risks that were at hand, late adopters eventually found themselves using Google for the benefit of themselves. The people who did not become adopters did not trust Google and they felt as though they had everything figured out already and did not need to change how they found their information. Laggards, or people who did not adopt Google at all most likely weren't too good with technology and were comfortable with how they were finding information. Although, Google was not perfect, Google had many failures and downsides early in their career and late in their career as well. The main negatives that users take away is that store your information to better help you with searches (well that's what they say) and they hold your personal information. Many do not give this much attention because they find it helpful at times, which it can be. Many benefit from using Google due to the quick sources at hand that come in an instant and a variety of different sources one is able to use at a single time, al with different informative information. 

So in the end, there are positives and negatives to Google, it matters on how you feel and how you see it to decide if you want to use Google or not. For many, they will never adopt Google, but for others Google is reliable and has everything they need and they'll recommend using Google quickly. 

Privacy In The Digital Age

Ethan Parker 

9/13/21

Technology as we know it has been very beneficial for our everyday use. Technology helps us perform many different things that we would not be able to do if we didn't have a cell phone, a laptop, or wifi present. With all great advancements, there is always a form of counter fire. Technology is great in all but it can also be a pain to many of the individuals that use it along with their families, friends, and everyday lives. The issues of the electronic tattoo, the police tracking our movements, the cell phone surveillance, and electronic cyber bullying are all issues that play a role in the everyday lives of humans. These issues are quite scary and can have a long lasting impact on tons of people. These issues certainly affect me as well.

It is not fun to hear that I am constantly being tracked every time I leave my drive way or my cell phone being under surveillance 24 hours of the day. This can actually become very dangerous for me and the ones that are around me because I have no idea who could be following me or watching me at all times. I cannot stand that they scan my license plate and always know where I am headed, that puts me at complete risk because I always have a pair of eyes set on me and if it were to be hacked, the person who hacked the system would know my street address, who is with me the most often, where I work or go to school, and what my family looks like. This issue must be handled or limited in some fashion because it seems like the government is just trying to take over the entire world. They are trying to track everyone and know all the moves that are happening at once and it is not fair, we have the right to freely live our lives, we should not have to be monitored all the time. My friends and family are also being affected by my car being tracked. Since my friends and family are who I am around the most, there is no telling how many times their faces have been caught when scanning my vehicle. It is a shame to say that by just riding in the car with me, I put my friends and family at risk of being caught in a digital picture that will be stored and kept forever and there is no telling who  decides what is done with the picture of the people around me, will it be stored for usage or trashed, we'd never know or find out. The government must put an end to this. How come there has not been some form of debate within the governmental system about this enormous issue? The government is supposed to protect our rights but they are funding police officers who drive vehicles that pretty much follow our every move, and who is to say the government is not 100 percent apart of this process? There is no way they know nothing about this issue, they need to act for the people immediately and stop stalking our everyday lives. It is very sad to say, there is almost nothing we can do about this invasion issue. Many need transportation and we must have a vehicle at home to get from point A to point B and there is almost no way around stopping the pictures uploaded by the police scanners as long as we have to get to work, pick up friends and family, and go somewhere such as the grocery store. In order to protect ourselves from these police trackers is to move to another country or a very unknown state in the US that does not have much police attention, but that is very unlikely. If we want to stop the tracking of our vehicles, we must live somewhere with no vehicle present but that is a hard ask because "we the people" have the right to live our everyday lives and the government should be on our side.

The surveillance on a cell phone is entirely unfair and should also be changed immediately due to the fact that many people have a cellular device and use it to carry out conversations to the ones they love every single day. This issue relates to me heavily especially because I do have a cell phone and I know for sure that many of my friends and family members do as well. These issues affect me strongly because I always have my phone with me pretty much at all times. It is painful to hear that we are being monitored based on our cell phones because I know I use mine often and pretty much keep it with me everywhere I go. What else is being tracked through my cell phone? Since I have my cell phone so much, they know where I go the most, they know who I talk with the most on the phone and this makes me feel unsafe. It makes me feel as if my identity can be taken away from me easily and quickly and that is certainly not a great feeling. Since they have surveillance on my cell phone, they must know my phone number easily, they must know my location, they must know my credit card information, and they most likely also know who is the most important person to me based on my recent call logs. Yes this puts me at extreme danger being that I can lose my identity and a hacker can pretty much take my life over, as well as this puts my friends and family at huge risks also. Since my friends and family are in such close contact with me through my cell phone, who's to say the information they tell me has not been recored? My friends and family may trust me with specific information that is being taken and told elsewhere, they're street addresses could be recored as well since they send me information like that through text messaging. Due to me being tracked and monitored via my cell phone, the ones around me and in my circle are not at risk and could be in nearly as much danger as I am. It is not that difficult for hackers to break into surveillance systems or spy on specific projects such as the one that tracks our phones. The government must put an end to the tracking of our cell phones, they need to let us live our lives, especially being that we use our cell phones so much and because they are so important to many of us today. But it is sad because, the government is who is behind this all. The Government is tracking us through our cellular devices, they track every move we make and it is scary. It seems like we are living in a robotic world where everything we do is being watched with multiple sets of eyes. Can we even do anything to protect ourselves from this extreme invasion of privacy? It would be very hard to do actually since many of us actually need the cell phone to stay in contact with many people they love. The cell phone provides a wide variety of things that help us all go about our daily lives and it is hard to just throw that away but I guess it is a fair price to pay to no longer be tracked and followed even though the government will find a way around it and continually track us, so is it even worth it?

Cyber bullying should also be stopped in an instant, this is very dangerous and can ruin the lives of many people. This issue does not seem to affect me as much as it may others because I am not always on the social medias constantly as well as I have not run into any of those relationships where I have had someone who was so upset to where they wanted to ruin my entire life forever and not care the consequences. But there are still people out there that want to ruin who you are, they'd love to see you fall and be unable to do what you were doing before. Say for example I was always on social media, constantly putting my business out there, I could easily run into some form of cyber bullying that may have roots that could lead it to being worse than just cyber bullying. This issue would affect me heavily because I would have this narrative that many will see and it would send many different question towards my direction. This issue would hurt me in the long run because misinformation could be being loaded onto many different sites and all over the media about me and I would not even know right away. This could ruin all of my future chances at something I have had in mind, it could easily ruin my lifelong goals, it could take away my job and many other valuable aspects about my life. This issue would have a lesser impact on my friends and family but it could still impact them in the long run. My family would soon have bad information on their name and they'd be constantly looked at as the people who around the person (being me) with all of the misinformation (bad things) that are going around. My family would be trashed and looked at awkwardly also and it'd simply be because someone out there on social media or the internet found someone (being me) that puts everything about their life on the internet. My friends would distance themselves from me due to all of the hate and weird looks that'd be coming their way. They would not want to be know as the friend of the guy who lost his job because of said information. It would not look good on them at all. As soon as my life would be ruined, my friends and families lives would be hurt as well. These issues are hard to cope with and the government must do some form of justice for those who do have to go through something of this nature. The government should be looking to help us inserted of letting things like this slide by. The woman on the TedTalk should have gotten more attention than she did and not the negative attention, but someone of government looking to help her case. The government must be more on top of these things and be looking out for signs of the cyber attacking and bullying because it is ruining lives and it is costing people their occupations. There are some ways to stop this, but in the case of the woman on the TedTalk, there is no way to stop a crazy man such as the one she described. Although, when on social media, limit what you post or talk about because there is always someone watching and oftentimes, someone documenting what you post. That is how we must stop the cyber attacking, we need to give less resources for these people built with anger to have, we are giving them everything they want in information about our lives. Our lively information must be more cared for and information that we believe should be secreted, in which it should be. By doing this, it will be harder for those built off this anger to make us look so bad and cause us to lose something valuable like our job. 

In conclusion, being that we are US citizens and have lives of our own, we should not have to worry about the privacy invasions through a variety of different directions. The government should be the ones to help stop these privacy invasions but it looks like they are the ones leading it. We must come together and value our information much more, become more secretive and ask questions often, and most importantly, we need to read through all terms and conditions policies. 

EOTO Com Tech Timeline

 Ethan Parker 

9/8/21

There have been many different immaculate discoveries within technology overtime. These inventions and creations have in a way helped us in everyday life but some inventions have had a negative impact on our everyday lives. Google in my opinion is a very vital invented search engine on the internet because of the ability to prove they can provide high quality results to all users. Yes, Google has their positives but we must not forget the negatives either. 

The inventors of Google are very intelligent men. Larry Page and Sergey Brin are the two founders of Google and they have a serious background to back up their intelligence. Larry Page studied computer engineering at Stanford University where eventually he met his co founder of the soon to come Google, Sergey Brin. Sergey Brin on the other hand is a computer scientist and entrepreneur. After the both of these founders met at Stanford University, they began working together and they eventually created a search engine that sorted pages on the web due to the popularity of the page. These two successful men were available to invent and officially publish their precious Google on September 4th, 1998. The overall mission and intent of creating Google was "to organize the worlds information and make it universally accessible and useful". 

Positives:

So why is Google so important? Google is very important and a very popular search engine due to the fact that Google generates a large variety of search results in a quick and short amount of time. Google collects and distributes information that it finds across the web. Google is the most popular search engine used in the world today and they beat out tough competitors such as YouTube, Amazon, and Facebook. Over 86% of the search market share uses Google as their priority search engine and there is a very little amount (close to none) of people in the world today that do not know about Google. Google not only is a great source for fast results, Google is also used for providing quick images, news websites, Google videos, and location services such as Google maps. Google has helped many people in the world across the lifespan of Google. Like I stated earlier, Google is the most used search engine and it is continuously helping people find needed resources daily. Many tend to only think about how Google is used for searching information, or facts only, but no, Google has many different roles when it comes to the searching options humans use everyday. 

Google has even added in features for the younger generation today. When looking up something you will notice two grey bars under the search bar. One grey bar stating "Google Search" and the other one stating "I'm Feeling Lucky". Well if you were to hover over the "I'm Feeling Lucky" grey bar it will switch to something that may state "I'm Feeling Adventurous" and you can click on this grey bar as it will take you to a Google game. The younger generation knows much more about technology than the older generation does so this is a great feature to add for those of the younger generation that will ultimately end up with more people using Google which is a win for Google as well as the younger generation certainly uses the Internet much more than the older generation does which means Google will be in usage much more because of the large percentage of the younger generation that uses Google on a daily basis. In the end, the younger generation is much more tech savvy than other generations and this leads to large use of Google as well as much more usage for others using Google because of the younger generation teaching those how to properly navigate through Google.

Google as we know makes finding information much easier as we know but Google can also help your company in a huge way. Google is a well-known and heavily used search engine that many different people use and look at daily, with that being said, there are various amounts of advertising opportunities for companies as they can pay to advertise on Google and maybe in return have many different customers shopping with their company. Google recognizes what we are looking up and say for example I am looking for a certain pair of sneakers and I look at this specific website to read about the sneakers and their benefits, Google may produce an ad that has to do with those sneakers or sneakers that are very similar. This helps the customer and researcher in many different ways because now they know more about the sneaker itself and can also find a place to purchase the sneaker due to the companies ad. In the long run, the company and the researcher/customer will both benefit but it is all because Google. Google was the search engine that realized what searches I was looking up and they lead me to the website as well as produced the ad that helped me tremendously. Google has certainly come a long way as they are also researching into driverless cars. This is mind blowing as Google is mainly just known for their quick results when looking for information online. The Google team is big on research and they know the benefits of self driving cars and are looking into developing their own. It is actually amazing what all Google has turned into and they will only continue to get better and increase their brand name.

Negatives:

Although Google has many positives and is a great search engine to use, Google also has its bad side. A long while ago, Google was pretty much just used for information and that'd be the end, people would find what they needed and get on with their day. As Google advanced and began using ads often, Google has began showing off their own ads more than they do the competitors. Google was strongly in favor of their products over more-specialized competition which was looked for much more often. This was soon looked at strongly and is the most recent lawsuit on Google in the past couple of years. This is not good because people who often shop online and look for certain companies products, that have been out much longer than Google product and persuasive ads, are now running into to an extreme amount of Google ads per search and they are not able to access what they want in the time they want. This is not good for Google as they will certainly lose many users to the difficulty navigating through all of the ads, this will result in less users which will untimely result in less revenue made for Google. 

Google is also known to be one of the most privacy seeking search engines there are. Google does not give any privacy to users as they have gotten in big trouble before for breaching customers privacy and trusts. First things first, Google tracks all of your searches and search history. No matter what you have cleared, nor what you have deleted, Google can access it somehow due to them having all of your searches stored. With the little information we know, Google could easily have your street address, your current location, your phone number, and credit car information all in one and it would not be surprising if they did, especially if you have done online shopping before. Google knows what accounts you use and oftentimes when you first login to a computer or laptop, Google will automatically log you in on Google based on the account you use most often or the account you were last logged in as. Yes many see this as helpful, but it is an extreme invasion of privacy. Google recently faced a huge lawsuit due to tracking billions of users and their internet browsers set in "private" mode. Due to this, Google has learned almost everything about many different users. They have learned about hobbies, friend, favorite foods, your most liked shopping sites, and embarrassing things you may want nobody to know. Google was fined at least $5 billion for "collecting information about what people view online and where they browse". It is quite scary for us that use Google often because they are virtually watching our every move and it is a complete invasion of our privacy. 

Google has gone through many different lawsuits and the last one I am going to discuss is the DOJ lawsuit. Google has engaged in making deals with phone companies such as Apple and Samsung to automatically set their default browsers to Google. The lawsuit also states how Google was using their dominance to make sure on android devices, all Google apps were already preloaded on the phones. Google is slowly trying to turn themselves into a monopoly. Nearly 90% of all internet searches go through Google and with what they are doing, they are pushing to make it 100%. This could be very bad for many different companies, specially companies that use Google to get their name out there. Google is participating in unfair practices to make sure their search engine is being used the most. Google used the large amount of money they were making to pay other companies to help block out competitors and help keep Google in the lead with a big name in the search industry. Google has been paying Apple billions per year to making sure they keep Google as the default browser on Safari on each Apple phone. The DOJ case is arguing that Google are using their anticompetitive practices to harm multiple groups. Groups being American customers who are practically forced to accept what is going on, advertisers who has to pay a specific amount to Google to reach their customers online, and tech companies who cannot get out from behind Google's huge shadow. These three groups are not able to pretty much do what they want are fight for what's right because of how powerful Google has become and if they aren't stopped soon, they will become a major monopoly. This case has been named the biggest antitrust case against a tech company since the one against Microsoft in 1998. After Google was pretty much caught and accused, they disagreed with everything that was stated and said that the lawsuits were completely false. In the end, Google is asserting their power unfairly and are looking to take over the search industry completely. 

In conclusion, Google for many can be seen as a great search engine or a very poor search engine and it all depends on how the searcher feels about Google and what all they honestly care about. Be careful when using Google as they are always watching, but enjoy the quick results and useful links Google has to provide for us anytime everyday. 

Eight Free Expressions

Ethan Parker 

9/6/21

Throughout these eight Free Expressions, there are a few that stand out to me honestly and it may have a slight bit to do with what all we go over in the classroom but, they still stand out and are very interesting topics to discuss and go over. 

Individual Self-Fulfillment (aka Self-Actualization) immediately caught my attention as I was reading through the Free Expression Values. This expression is very important to me actually because in class we discuss the first amendment a good amount and the Freedom of Speech falls under amendment one which has got me thinking. After many different in-class discussions, I have learned that the first amendment is very vital to citizens and without it, we would not live the free life we live today. The first amendment helps citizens more than many can actually imagine and it provides us with that individual self-fulfillment, that freedom to express ourselves through discussion and comments, the ability to build a name for ourselves through our Free Speech. Freedom of Speech does allow one to pretty much build themselves a narrative and helps one to express themselves as an individual. This one certainly feels the most important to me, while in class there are a select amount of words that is often stated and those words are "We the people" and I am all for "We the people" as we do live in a democracy and the people have their own say and should be able to build their own identity. If Free Speech does not help one to express themselves, then what does it actually do? We live in a democracy where we are allowed to have say, have thought, and think a free mind. Therefore, we can successfully build our own identity with the

Free Speech that is given to us. In order to bring change and actually live a life that we would like to live, Free Speech is key to that lifestyle. Through free speech, we are able to express opinions we'd like to express as well as pour change into our own society, this is why the Freedom of Speech is so important! It does in fact become an aspect of human dignity due to the recognition of a special value in humans and that special value is our free speech. Oftentimes people can get human dignity confused and human dignity states that us humans deserve the respect for being humans and the recognition of our special qualities and values in humanity. Therefore, no matter the difference in the human, they ought to be treated with respect. Human agency also blossoms from this Free Expression Value, not only being able to pretty much build your own identity out of the Freedom of Speech but defending yourself, engaging in community discussion, or speaking up when you feel the need for change, you are also converting the Freedom of Speech to human agency and to human autonomy. You are converting it to human agency because human agency states that humans do in fact make their own decisions (just like in free speech, where humans make their own decisions to speak or state an opinion). So yes, eventually when one fully engages in Free Speech, they will soon connect it to human agency. Human autonomy is also in close connection to the free use of speech as human autonomy states that one should live their own life and be their own person which directly correlates to Free Speech because if you express yourself through Free Speech as well as begin creating your own identity through the Freedom of Speech and your mind also, you then are participating in human autonomy due to the fact that are you are living your own life and you are being your own person. In general, Individual Self-Fulfillment is very important to me as everyone should be able to build themselves up and express how they feel through opinion and speech and it is vital that we use all the perks that come with the first amendment, especially the Freedom of Speech. 

Promote Innovation feels very personal to me as I strongly agree. If there were no valued free speech, then the community would be very boring and they'd be one sided and everyone would be very similar in many different ways. When free speech is valued, everyone can speak their own mind as well as all of these creative new ideas form which make the community a much more interesting society as everyone brings something different to the table and the community will have many different important aspects revolving around them. Promote Innovation is very important to me because I feel like all communities must engage in free speech and use it to their advantages. We must value the importance of free speech and treat it with much care because we'd be in a very dark place without it. Promote Innovation is the most personal one to me because throughout my 4 years of High School, I had a very strong voice inside of the school as well as some parts of the community. During school, I'd spread Important information that needed to be known, I spoke up for the student body when we felt there was needed change, and my friends and I successfully influenced the staff to put out surveys of what the students would like to see more in the classroom (for specific classes) at the ending of each semester. With that being said, some changes did occur and some changes did not occur, but that is fine. What matters most is that the community inside the school building valued free speech and when something felt incomplete students or staff would be creative and brainstorm ideas to help the situation at hand. It made the school much more interesting and it felt very energized to be in the building everyday (pre-pandemic). What I am getting at is that, if free speech is actually used and taken in as importance, "We the people" can make change and that change will positively help the community in the long run making it more fun to be around and very diverse in ideas and activities. Since our student body and staff were sort of on the same page, we all got to work together on interesting activities and events to make the school building a more interesting place to be around that didn't feel like you were just going to classes and that's it. Many movies and TV shows show the community engaging themselves to hopefully do whats right and make things more interesting rather than plain and straightforward. After watching specific movies that sort of show the first amendment at use, you realize that a community that engages in free speech and values it even, succeeds and are energized to see what's next or exited for the next big interesting moment because they spoke out, they used their voices and helped lead themselves and their communities to a better society as a whole with citizens that engage in interesting, creative, and exiting community discussion and community action. 

I feel as though Protect Dissent is one of the Free Expression Values that occurs the most in the world today. When watching the big news sites such as CNN or Fox News, you see people that are featured that may be somewhat criticizing the government in a way. It is sort of the job of the people to add in criticism to the government and it almost makes the government stay in line because they do not want a excruciating bad name on themselves. I certainly see the Protect Dissent occurring the most often in the world today as many people do dislike the government and certainly criticize them often. I'm sure everyone has once had even the slightest disagreement with the government and that is why this Free Expression is the most occurring one in todays society. Many schools hold discussions on what may be going on within the government and everyone discusses or talks about it and not many agree with what the government may be doing. Many teachers and professors discuss the flaws of the government and sometimes that is their job nd what they are required to do. Many people that have big groups of politically interested friends engage in conversation about the government all the time and many times majority disagree with what the government is doing and this just goes to show how often we have our own views against the government. A lot of people peacefully (not all the time) protest against the government and based on the First Amendment, our system cannot stop us from disagreeing with the government and we have a right to criticize the government actually. In a sense, the government sort of needs us to criticize them or let them know when we are upset or feel as though they are doing something wrong. I state that because if we never speak up towards the government, they will never believe they're doing anything wrong, which results to no change and a stagnant government which is not what we want. We want a government in which we have say and we can change it in ways through the use of the first amendment. Since we are always questioning the government and showing concern, there are changes that occur due to the speaking out of the people. I strongly believe the Protect Dissent expression is certainly used and seen the most in the world today, there are many (people from all different states) that disagree or even criticize the government daily, just look at Twitter, there is always someone who posts or announces (weather publicly or privately) about hating the government, it is something that will continually happen no matter what with no slowed pace, this is why it is the most used Free Expression on the list. 

I watch a show called Shannon and Skip Undisputed where Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe discuss sports topics for a long period of time per show. I can directly relate this show to the Free Expression of Stable Change. Yes, I understand that stable change suggests that if the people were not able to speak their minds or "vent" then it may lead to more violent actions. On the show, one of the hosts, being Skip Bayless, does not favor the great athlete Lebron James. Skip Bayless has a long history in not really liking Lebron James as a athlete to much and he is not a big fan. Due to the many followers and fans Skip Bayless possess, if the fans were not able to freely speak or maybe listen to he discussion and arguments Skip makes on the topic of Lebron James, dangerous actions could occur. We live in a world today where you can speak the mind freely and that is what Skip does. Oftentimes, Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe discuss topics suggested by their fans. Say some of the fans that share that hatred of Lebron James did not get to suggest specific topics or listen to Skip Bayless speak his mind freely on national TV, it could resort to violence. Yes, this is probably the worst case but it is still possible and still could be something someone my due if we as people were not able to speak our minds all the time wherever we'd like. Skip is a huge influencer and many look up to him and value his information that he puts out, especially the followers he has that share the same dislike in Lebron James, therefore you can never quite put it past that if there was no way to speak our minds freely or gets these fans comments involved (which is also speaking freely) then an act could resort to violence and that is what the Stable Change expression is all about, speaking your mind. This specific expression says that if we allow those to speak their mind, less violence would occur and the statement is not wrong as many clear their minds through speaking freely and it generates a more stable community that throws in their two cents or how they feel rather than resorting to violence. It'd be difficult if we couldn't speak our minds or "vent" at all, then it could get dangerous quickly. Theories ultimately can help explain things going on in the real world today because they allow us to look at the situation a bit more clearly and thoroughly. We are able to see many sides with theories, ultimately helping us to find the solution. Theories help tremendously when it comes to dealing with things going on in the real world today as we are able see situations from different angles and could maybe even figure out multiple answers. They help us so much because not only might we find multiple solutions but we could also use our solution gathered from a theory to figure something else out or help out some other situation because we have gained that much more knowledge stemmed from a theory. At the end of the day, theories can help tremendously as they could help lead us to solutions as well as new theories and more knowledge and due to us having the right to speak, everything is much more civilized and nothing really requires anyone to resort to violence because everything can be fixed or cleaned up through discussion or the use of speaking our minds clearly. 

In conclusion, theories are very important as they can certainly lead to many different discoveries. Amendment number one is vital to our communities across the world as they unlock power that we've been destined to tame. We must act as the people in an orderly fashion and use the rights we possess to our advantage.