# Reading Response Set 1

### Sep 17 Fri - Attention

Before this reading, I had never really considered how easy we have in regards to communicating with other people thanks to technology. However, the fact that some people sleep with their phone under their pillow to feel “less alone” (Clayton et al., 2015;
Srivastava,200) is slightly concerning. The fact that we live in a hyper-connected world has its benefits, but it also has a couple of drawbacks. Chayko mentions that asynchronous communication is convenient in many different aspects such as being able to communicate with people who are not nearby and having a way to always feel connected to someone. Practically, we have our lives mapped out in a small screen in front of our eyes and most people are extremely dependent on that, but this is where the drawbacks arrive. Chayko talks about the “McDonalized” theory developed by socialist George Ritzer and I would say that he makes a valid argument. People are virtually renouncing their whole lives to technology and are essentially becoming controlled by it.

Chayko also brings in the idea that "by giving women an easy, convenient way to do this (check in on family and friends), social media can reduce their stress levels" (Hampton, Rainie, Lu, Shin,&Purcell,2015). I would disagree with this statement because on many occasions social media sparks feelings of jealousy and "FOMO" because they are not a part of what is going on. I've known multiple people that complain about not being a part of something or comparing themselves to people who they see on social media. However, the reading says that the researchers found that most social media users do not suffer from "FOMO", so I wonder what was the demographic that they used for this study? (I believe that the results would be different if you asked an older age group versus a group of teenagers).

### Sep 28 Fri - Fake News

I am fairly positive that we all have that one great aunt who is always liking or spreading some fake news on Facebook just because they don't know any better. In his article written for Buzzfeed News Craig Silverman talks about how fake election articles found on Facebook received more attention than actual news stories published from trustworthy sources. There is a dangerous side to this because many people who read these articles end up believing them and then they go around talking about what they saw on Facebook and the other people believe them. This is an issue, especially when it comes to sensitive topics such as elections because the fake news can sway voters the wrong way. According to Silverman “false election stories from hoax sites and hyperpartisan blogs generated 8,711,000 shares” which is concerning because it just goes to show how easy it is to share fake news on the internet.

It is quite alarming seeing the amount of people that fall victim to fake news every day. If more people were educated as to what sources to trust this would not be such a prominent issue. In the Media Manipulation Casebook does a good job explaining how news gets twisted around and turned into something fake. It is really interesting seeing how information gets distorted and how it goes on to affect people's beliefs and opinions. The impacts of disinformation are extremely hurtful and there needs to be a way to stop this from happening.

### October 12- Social Has a Shape
In the age of social media, we often find ourselves classifying the people who we know as friends or just people who belong to our social network. With features such as showcasing mutual followers on Instagram, it is relatively easy to just follow a person because you have 10 mutual friends. This makes it difficult to differentiate which people in our lives are part of our social networks and who are the people who are in our actual inner circle.

Granovetter compares Social Network Analysis to ties we hold with different types of people. Stronger ties might be our family or people close to us, and weaker ties might be that one kid you had a class with years ago. With online social networks, it is more prevalent for us to stay in contact with what would be considered weak of absent ties because “online media makes it possible to maintain latent ties at a low cost” (Rheingold, 2012, p. 206). Having the option to stay in contact can be both a good and a bad thing and Rheingold poses an interesting question; "Is life online eroding or enriching our embodied lives?" (208). There are some people that live their lives way too invested in their online networks, that they forget to form strong group bonds in real life. Having the option to maintain friendships and ties online has its benefits but to an extent. The aspect of being able to reconnect with people you met years ago is one of the greatest benefits of online social networks. Being able to reach out to someone you haven't talk to in ages is extremely convenient, and it allows for people to build upon their social capital and form strong bonds.

### October 15- Haters
It is safe to say that more than half of the people who use the internet have received or encountered a hate comment online. According to a study done by Pew in 2018, the exact percent of teens who have been bullied and tormented is 59%. This number is highly concerning considering the fact that kids as young as 10 are on social media witnessing these activities.

Social media companies such as Instagram, have started taking initiatives and adding features to tackle online bullying on their platforms but it is hard to measure if they are actually making a difference. The new feature the app is enforcing is will "asks users who try to post offensive comments to reconsider their choices before their comment goes live" (Wellmeyer, 2019). In theory, this feature seems like a good idea, but it is not clear if it actually served its purpose because "one-fifth of 12- to 20-year- olds have experienced bullying" on the app according to Ditch The Label. Instagram could try out different types of features but at the end of the day, it will take a lot of time and effort to stop bullying on the platform because people will find a way to create hoax pages and leave nasty comments.

However, at least Instagram is trying to take initiatives to tackle down the issue of haters online. Other big social media companies have not taken concrete steps to deal with the epidemic of haters online. It is quite upsetting knowing that there are so many people online taking part in online harassment and they suffer no consequences. Big tech companies not only have to create features to tackle online bullying, but they have to make sure that those policies are enforced.

### October 19- Exam Review

#### Questions

1. Can you define a third party cookie?

2. Define the tragedy of the commons and provide an example.

3. According to Berkeley Library which one should you not consider when encountering a source?
A) Authority
B)Purpose
C)Relevance
D) Style

4. What does the Pareto principle state?
A)states that for many outcomes, roughly 70% of consequences come from 23% of causes
B)states that for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes
C)states that for many outcomes, roughly 20% of consequences come from 80% of causes
D)states that for many outcomes, roughly 30% of consequences come from 70% of causes

#### Answers/Explanation
1) Third party cookies are cookies are from sites that you did not intentionally visit, but they served you content embedded in the HTML, like images and ads.
2) The tragedy of the commons is when individual users, who have open access to a resource act according to their own self interest and cause depletion of the resource through their uncoordinated action. An example of this would be if everyone in a town fishes daily on a pond and they don’t leave time for the fish.
3) The answer would be styles because the Berkeley library talks about how all the other options must be taken into account when evaluating a source.
4) B)states that for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes