One large discussion point that is incredibly relevant to the broad topic on the effects on technology as a whole is the focus of not only an individual, but society as a whole prioritizing our morals and reality. I believe emphasizing ethics and remembering what standards hold the most value to us human beings is the most important contributor to making almost any decision in general.

I believe with the utilization of a realist perspective on situations like tech reliance is, and will be the most effective way to debunk all of the large questions that society has composed. This ties into Johann Hari’s Lost Connections research that he did to focus on the topic of depression. Here, he created a set of natural human anti-depressants. Along with previously stating that I believe it really comes down to a persons moral values to determine whether the individual or even our community has gone ‘too far’ yet. Found in the list of “natural anti-depressants”, are methods like “meaningful values”, “respect for who you are and what you do”, and “community”. Having meaningful values and having respect for who you are are basically the same thing. They are both extremely similar in the sense that to pinpoint both- you have to have a sense of ethical reasoning to have the highest potential of success. In the same broad topic of not sugar-coating a situation, is the strong factor of community that plays a role- whether we like it or not. As we all know, the topic of technology is extremely current and constantly growing, and many of us would not have started to acknowledge or think about the effects it has on us until hearing the discussion amongst our community. In other words, with a topic already being discussed heavily by others- it makes it easier for more to join in on the discussion.

Two tech applications that I have noticed myself using the most- and most likely abuse the use of  I have narrowed down to Snapchat and Instagram. Now, it would be extremely difficult to decipher which one I use more or favor over the other because I’d like to think I use them evenly. I can easily say that I use both apps daily, and probably do not miss a single day. Snapchat is a social app where you can send photos with messages or drawings over them that last only a temporary amount of time (In a sense, it could be considered like a FaceTime but the photo version?). Instagram, is also considered a social app that is based around photography as well. Your profile on Instagram is more like a collective photo album for your followers or- the entire world depending on privacy settings. With both of these apps, I have found myself constantly checking my phone for the latest update, and at this point it seems almost subconscious to me to lift up my phone and to scan my screen. Overall, I think just the large amount of abilities my phone holds has led me to grow reliant on just always constantly checking it. Whether I’m expecting to see something or just checking it to waste time.

In the article “The Internet Is a Force of Nature. It’s Our Job to Civilize It.” by Jason Dorrier he explains the discovery of root causes that are causing the lack of trust & accountability reign with the Internet. Here, he explains the causes are Network Effects, Web Inputs, The Attention Economy, and Platform Dynamics. Web Inputs is explained to be when users yield behavioral data that draws a picture of who they are. This is by detecting what their likes and dislikes are. They can also use the users freely created content to mine for more data. One of the root causes that I think may be one of the most important is the Attention Economy. This concept is the focus that all companies strive for and that is the literal attention of the user. I believe this is where a big part of our technology conflict could be sourcing from. With copious amounts of research on the human attention span and how to pinpoint specific audiences there is a strong control over users by the companies. This is because companies are constantly searching for the new and best way to make the user engage with the device/program.

“Strong engagement is driven by emotion- joy but also anger and fear- which has led to some of the “pernicious societal issues which we’re still grappling with.” -Richard Whitt

In the quote above, Richard Whitt explains that emotions have a strong tie with engagement. In which, can make society’s conflicts more complex than we really think. Whitt explains that yet the emotion may be joy most of the time, but there is also room for anger and fear. He explains that this particular has led to “pernicious societal issues which we’re still grappling with”. Network Effects is another strong concept that is the literal human emotion of the “Fear Of Missing Out”.