# Reading Response 1

To begin, I think it is insane that adblockers are willing to sell out to advertisers to make some money by showing "acceptable ads". Generally speaking, when a user downloads an adblock, typically off the chrome web store, they can assume that there will be no more popups or ads on their content. However, a lot of these ads can be used by advertisers to collect information, so it isn't just a nuisance. Ever since I discovered the chrome web store, I've started using adblockers. I hated having the content I wanted to get to covered up, as well as numerous ads throughout YouTube videos. However, it turns out that since 2011, the adblocker I first started using was already selling out to show acceptable ads "in support of the website."

It is a little irritating when products follow you everywhere due to tracking from those ads. According to the opt in page on AAX, they collect viewing information from users to personalize the user's future ads, which defeats the entire purpose of getting an ad blocker within the program. At a certain point, I had gotten tired of having to install ad blockers, some that don't even work (likely because it was AdBlock Plus or something similar), and swapped to Brave, which blocks ads by default. On top of that, I had downloaded a second ad blocker out of pettiness, as some ads just won't leave me alone. I do also notice a lot of websites asking user's to turn off their ad blockers, and refusal to do so might prevent my access or sometimes add a delay before I can enter a website.

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# Reading Response 2

I never fully understood how GPT models worked until this article. I always thought that it was just simulating conversations. The models take a bunch of input tokens and produce one output token at a time. Personally, I use chatgpt to tutor me on subjects that I don't fully understand, such as torque and rotational kinematics in physics. Occasionally, I noticed that ChatGPT will bring up two versions of the same thing, and ask me for my preference in answer. Rather than thinking of an answer like humans do, GPT models predict the next token through the massive amounts of text that they are trained off of.

I do think the fine-tuning part is interesting, because I've noticed no matter what, ChatGPT is always polite and excited about every prompt, which is likely a result of fine-tuning. In my opinion, ChatGPT is like a very smart autocorrect on steroids. Occasional mistakes, but is just choosing the most applicable token.

# Reading Response 3

Algorithmic bias is undoubtedly unavoidable. After all, that is how search engines and media like YouTube determine what kind of content is releveant to the user. If I searched up a tutorial on Python, and watched all 12 hours of it (real story) the rest of my feed might start to suggest a C++ tutorial or other computer language tutorials. It does become an issue when users want an unbiased search result, which is demonstrated throughout the attempts by Burai. When searching for the word "hands" it showed white hands, yet searching for black hands would bring up a white hand helping or working hands. It comes to show the amount of racial bias that Google has, intentional or not. At the core of it, as written, people are the ones that create these biased search results, whether that is to their knowledge or not, as Google only processes clicks. Google's autocomplete can yield some offensive results, which reminds me of Google Bombing.

Although I don't want to blame Google for these biases, as the search engine itself is just processing information that users input into it and counts clicks on images and links, the company should still be made aware of algorithmic biases, especially those that put negative biases. I enjoyed reading these as it made me more aware that even on a seemingly unbiased Google search, there are biases that could potentially lead to misinformation.

# Reading Response 4


Since I got my phone, I've been asked to be very cautious of what I share online. After all, it could be anyone on the other end. I have heard about all of the rumors and conspiracies of the phones spying on us and taking pictures of us, but I didn't really believe it. I've always been very private about myself, which shows in my self stalking. Due to this privacy as well as being very very VERY camera-shy, I have absolutely no social media presence. In fact, at the start of the year, it turns out my roommate couldn't find me because my instagram handle was just my initials, not my full name. Despite all of the talk about phones spying, Wandera proved through data that there were no changes in content displayed by phones and apps, no excessive consumption of power, and no further increase in background activity despite setting apps up to track information. However, later on it is revealed that apps can take screenshots and send these screenshots to a third party.

I think that is far worse than having an audio recording. Realistically speaking, for me at least, I don't talk on the phone often. I don't like to reveal information about myself, not really for security reasons, but simply because I don't enjoy talking about myself. That does make me a lot harder to figure out. In fact, most recently, I have been getting ads about booking travel, even though I honestly don't enjoy traveling. The information I gave the browser is stuff that I'm aware is given to it. As far as I'm concerned, there isn't a single picture of me online that will come up if my name is typed in, nor is there an address or phone number linked to me.

# Reading Response 5

When I was 8 years old, I had a very different vocabulary than what I have right now. I was taught to convey ideas in complete sentences and to use proper grammar, whether it is through text or through verbal speech. As I grew older, my speech patterns changed as I became exposed to the internet. Until 7th grade, when I came to the U.S. alone and as a result got my own phone, I had no exposure to social media. In fact, my only way of contacting classmates and friends were through my parents to theirs, or at the most extreme, messaging them on our school-issued Gmail accounts' google hangouts. Initially, some things didn't make sense, but the only way to keep up was to follow up with internet slang. People went from typing out "That was funny" to "Hahahahahah" to just "lol." Although it does feel like devolving language, it in a sense is just a way of being efficient with digital communication. Nobody is going to say "lol" or "wtf" in person, after all, it just so happens that text is purely neutral, and capitalization, punctuation, abbreviations like lol are the only way somebody can genuinely express their emotions to a certain extent.

It is also very interesting to me how rapidly internet language develops over time. Some previous slang would be considered outdated in this day and age, as people lean more and more towards efficiency, and in order to keep up, we have to adapt. When "LMAO" became a thing, I had no idea what it meant. A continuous pattern among people is that they will encounter new language unfamiliar to them, feel isolated and unable to keep up with their peers. They will google the meaning of this new slang, then use it themselves until it becomes part of their language. Eventually, this new slang replaces the old, and a new one will pop up for the sake of efficient or humorous expresssion. I just described my own experiences with everything. It's always a quick google search in order to not embarass myself or be clueless, then slowly learn the proper usage of said slang. *

# Reading Response 6

Why would someone take a step back from something so essential on their day to day lives? Everyday I see people talking about addiction to phones, screen time, unhealthy amounts of time sat behind devices, which can now be collectively called pushback. Originally, people were super into new technology and the usage of technology, as it made life very easy, made entertainment and commerce and food and transportation all very accessible. Now, people are starting to step away from these devices that are relied so heavily upon and honestly glorified. Pushback is indeed needed, as many people find their daily lives boring, and rely solely on their technology to find satisfaction.

I personally would say I've tried to pushback against all of my technology, but I just couldn't do it. I rely very heavily on it for entertainment and convenience, as well as being able to connect with friends and loved ones, especially since I'm alone in college now. I notice bad habits of mine that could make an argument for a lack of control in myself when near technology. Before bed, I would spend a while just texting on my phone or watching YouTube instead of sleeping, simply because I can't stand the idea of being bored. Ironically, a lot of ways that have helped me push back against the idea of having no control over my time and attention have been apps designed for this purpose. One of the apps I use rewards me for having a good night's sleep, but at the same time, when I wake up that's what gives me my first dopamine rush of the day, seeing rewards.