# Reading Responses (set 1)
## Reading Response 5 out of 5
### Sept 20 Tues- How The Web Works
Is anyone truly alone when surfing the internet, or are there potential scammers breaking through your connection to tamper with your personal information? Hartley Brody, in his article, “How HTTPS Secures Connections: What Every Web Dev Should Know,” searches for the answer as to how HTTPS protects people's personal information from being exposed to “adversaries.” HTTPS is described as a “series of tubes,” and when using a website a request is sent, which is then processed through many different networks. Because of the multitude of networks that a web request passes through, there is a significant chance that a user can infiltrate the connection and see all the information traveling through the request. This is when cryptography comes into the picture. Brody outlines multiple types of cryptographic systems that are key in creating secure and private connections between the client and the website, including Public Key Encryption, the Diffie Hellman Exchange, Symmetric Key Encryption, and many more.

When reading the article, I found myself confused but also intrigued by the intricacies of the cryptographic systems. At first, it was hard to understand how the systems were able to communicate with users in coming up with a “shared secret.” Specifically, the Diffie Hellman Exchange brought up multiple questions. First, how and when do the two parties come up with the shared secret, and how quickly does this exchange happen? The example used in the article to explain this process was clear in showing how the two parties can use the mixture of a root, a prime, and their specific private key to communicate without disclosing the shared secret over their connection. But as complex as this process seems, how does this process happen in a matter of seconds when using a website? As an avid internet user, I was never aware of the cryptographic systems or exchanges that occur to protect my private information. Now that I have been informed of how HTTPS creates secure connections, I would like to know if I will ever be able to notice this process happening when I use a website.

### Sept 27 Tues- Learning
Learning is a matter of life and death, as illustrated in chapter one of “Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning.” The chapter “Learning is Misunderstood” begins on an intense note as the authors describe a pilot having to make crucial, life-saving decisions to land his failing plane safely. Authors Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel use this gripping story as their introduction to make an important point. Learning is essential in life. But learning is not limited as many people assume. It is rather “an acquired skill, and the most effective strategies are often counterintuitive” (2). Most of the classic study tools we use to retain information for tests are not productive for learning. Strategies such as rereading texts and “cramming” for exams fool people into thinking they have mastered the material but in reality, it is highly ineffective in strengthening memory. Retrieval practice and spacing out studying are much more effective and sustainable learning styles as the material is mastered through repetitive practice over time. According to the passage, learning is most productive when you can apply and connect the information you have learned to prior knowledge of a certain topic. In this way, you can make a “mental model” (6) to connect new ideas to old concepts.

After reading the chapter, I found myself questioning the strategies I use to study and the teaching styles my professors and teachers have used. I had a hard time accepting that the ways I have been learning have been flawed and inefficient, as I have been using techniques such as rereading texts for the majority of my years in grade school. But as stated in the chapter, I am not alone as “It is the number one study strategy for most people” (10). Not only is learning misunderstood by students and teachers but it is even misunderstood by prestigious universities such as Dartmouth College and George Mason University, who published advice on studying that is simply incorrect. So if reputable organizations are getting the concept of learning wrong, who can we trust for learning techniques?

### Oct 04 Tue- Cooperation
Competition is a natural concept in life, it is simply a matter of life and death. Survival of the fittest. Conflicts naturally arise between species and the strongest most adaptive ones are left to pass on their genetics, whereas the inferior species dies off. Martin Nowak, in his article “Super Coordinators,” reflects on this concept by describing the theory of “The Prisoner’s Dilemma” a hypothetical circumstance that applies to modern-day conflicts such as competition in the workplace, as well as biology and Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The Dilemma explains two criminals that are convicted of a crime. One convict's sentence can be minimized to one year if they out their partner, leaving them with a four-year sentence. However, if they both cooperate and remain silent they can each get a two-year sentence. If both speak out against each other, they both get three years in prison. Overall, the moral of the scenario is to explain the concept of cooperation, and as Nowak states, “we can now clearly appreciate what it means to cooperate: one individual pays a cost so that another receives a benefit” (14). Nowak shifts into the theory of evolution and states that natural selection “opposes cooperation in the basic Prisoner’s Dilemma” (15) as it enforces competition. However, cooperation is a necessity in life as it is how cells form and how societies function and exist. Cooperation is the glue that maintains balance in life.

After reading this article, I began to reflect on how I see cooperation in my life. As a competitive swimmer and a member of the Northeastern Swim and Dive team, I am constantly being placed in competitive situations. Competition is how my sport exists, and without it, swimming would not be the same. At the same time, cooperation is necessary for my team to maintain a strong connection and succeed, as a team. As Nowak explains, there is a point at which competition becomes overpowering, and cooperation is needed to preserve balance and equilibrium. But how do we indicate when to stop competition and turn to cooperation?

### Oct 11 Tue - Haters
Internet trolls are constantly polluting social media with derogatory, inappropriate, and controversial statements. The phenomenon of internet trolls recently emerged in the early 2000s when social media came to the forefront, as Joseph Reagle describes in chapter five of his book “Reading the Comments.” In the chapter “Alienated: You fail It! Your Skill Is Not Enough,” the concept of “flame wars” is explained to highlight the combative and reactive nature of social media. Reagle illustrates how even in the early days of the internet, people used sites like “Usenet” to spark heated debates by making controversial and provocative statements, ultimately resulting in “flame wars.” These so-called wars began to spread to many different platforms across the internet and today we see conflicts arising on social media every day, whether it be a “retweet fight” on Twitter or the comment section of a Youtube video. But why do people have the urge to fight on the internet? Reagle explains that internet users are experiencing “deindividuation: a loss of a sense of self and social norms.” This loss of individuality allows people to feel more confident, resulting in them posting things they would not normally say in a face-to-face conversation. This can also be described as what Reagle describes as “Internet Balls” or having the courage to post things because of the lack of in-person communication. Ultimately, the power of anonymity on online media platforms enables bullies and internet trolls to cause controversies and harass others on social media because “social cues are filtered out, social presence is attenuated, and people do not appreciate their effects on others.”

Yet, what do people gain from trolling? Research has shown that people experience excitement when trolling, as there are “strong positive relationships between the expressed enjoyment of trolling, measures of sadism, and a high frequency of online commenting.” But what is the solution? How do we stop trolls from continuing to harass and bully people online? If it is no longer so easy to ignore trolls, what tactics can be put in place on social media platforms to mitigate and emplace punishments on trolls?

### Oct 21 Fri - Gender, communication, & contribution
What drives social media use and why is it so widely used today? The answer to this question can vary for each social media user as Krasnova, Veltri, Eling, and Buxmann illustrate in their article “Why men and women continue to use social networking sites: The role of gender differences.” Many social media companies have begun to use their platforms to market to their specific target audiences, differentiating between what drives users' participation. Ultimately, the article concludes that this differentiation is heavily based on gender. Social Network Sites (SNS) rely on “users' willingness to continue using the platform also known as their continuance intentions,”(262) and therefore determine what drives specific individuals' continuance intentions to maintain an audience. Gender is one of the easiest, most defining factors for SNS to target as it is defined by most users upon registration. Because of this, SNS have researched and gained knowledge on the major gender differences on social media. The results of the article's research indicated that women use social media specifically to maintain their close relationships with family and friends, whereas men are driven to use social media to obtain knowledge and “enhance their position in a larger network of social connection”(273). Additionally, in terms of self-enhancement, female users were more likely to stress about physical appearance and beauty, whereas male users focused on portraying strength and power in their online personas.

At first, when reading the article, I was hesitant to accept the female and male differences in reasons for social media use as the determining factors heavily aligned with stereotypical gender roles that I had hoped society had shifted away from. Yet after reflecting on what drives my social media use, I realized that I align with the majority of the female reasons mentioned in the article. But is it morally correct for companies to amplify gender roles in their marketing strategy to reach their target audience? If it is clear that women struggle with unattainably high beauty standards and men are often pressured to display an often toxic level of strength and masculinity, then are SNS exploiting gender-specific insecurities for their benefit?