Donald Trump on Social Media:

Donald Trump is notorious for abusing his twitter account. His constant presence, tweeting over 17,000 times in the past 2 and a half years, has been thought to help him win the election. Although the majority of people think he tweets too much, he caught America’s attention. In January 2016, a review by The New York Times found that one in every eight posts by Trump on Twitter “was a personal insult of some kind”. If someone does not agree with him, he attacks them and “punches them back 10 times harder”. As of January 2019, Trump had insulted 551 people (including private citizens), places, and things on Twitter, ranging from politicians to journalists and news outlets to entire countries. MSNBC stated, “It’s a sad day for America when the president spends his time bullying, lying and spewing petty personal attacks instead of doing his job.” Trump has also had some deleted tweets, some reported for racism, and accidentally tweeting at the wrong people. Trump loves attention, and it is reflected in his Twitter account. 

“Our minds can be hijacked” Nate Reid

This article makes a lot of great points on the overall use of social media but also a lot of concerning points.  Each and every social media has its own way of sucking people in and getting users addicted in some way. For Facebook, they have the like button, along with Instagram and Twitter.  And Snapchat has the “streaks” feature that for whatever reason people are addicted to. Using these social media apps can have that “slot machine effect” where people keep on scrolling and scrolling not knowing what they are going to see next which is like pulling the lever on a slot machine.  People just become addicted to seeing new things whether it might be a cool picture or something funny, social media users can’t help themselves. Also, all of this social media use is causing people to become distracted from the real world. From students in the classroom to teens and adults texting and driving these distractions are becoming a serious issue.  People will see a notification pop up on their phone out of the corner of their eye and instantly become distracted from whatever they are doing. Notifications weren’t initially created to be such an addictive feature but smartphone users are constantly looking at their phones for new updates and messages. And it’s becoming a problem. 

“Should we build a publicly-funded social media platform?” Than

In this article, the author talks about how a non-profit platform would create better social media as it would be no incentives to allow fake accounts. This would work out well when people start to fund publicly. However, the system will only allow users with real-world identity, and accountability to get in. So, if there are any flaws happening in the platform then it would be fast to detect and catch the illegal practices from the users. However, this is something that the users willingly to give all their identities, locations, and etc. to the platforms.

Reddit and the God-Emperor of the Internet:

The article “Reddit and the God-Emperor of the Internet” refers to the subreddit “The_Donald” and the impact it has on Trump’s campaign but also how he’s viewed. The_Donald has around 300,000 members. “Some are conservative stalwarts, others are meme-making teenagers”. This makes for a very “interesting” audience behind an already controversial and loud leader. This accumulation of demographics has led to a community that is home to “Islamophobia, trolling of liberals and near-constant bashing of Hillary Clinton.”

“It has evolved a dialect decipherable only to insiders, which includes acronyms like “MAGA” (Make America Great Again); epithets like “God Emperor” (for Mr. Trump); insults like “cuck” (short for cuckold and often deployed against feminists); memes featuring a cartoon frog associated with racism; and nicknames like ’Pedes. (Centipedes, a term for Trump supporters adopted from a YouTube mash-up of the song “Centipede” by the band Knife Party and clips of Mr. Trump’s speeches. It might also be a penis joke. Seriously.)”

“The community’s power soon reached beyond Reddit. Mr. Trump tweeted out memes and videos that originated on The_Donald and in July he participated in a popular Reddit “Ask Me Anything” discussion, after his team communicated with the moderators.”

“Whatever The_Donald’s moderators say, the community’s future is uncertain without a controversial, underdog candidate to rally behind. It’s hard to imagine that the allure of insider-only memes and perverse laughs will be enough to sustain it over the next four years.”

Silicon Valley parents are raising their kids tech-free — and it should be a red flag -Jake Perry

• Man who works for Google doesn’t allow his kids to use the technology in his house
• Limits his kids to 10 minutes of phone activity a week. They can only use his phone or his wife’s phone. The kids don’t have their own phone yet but he knows they’ll need one soon.
• 2017 survey of silicon valley parents found that 907 parents see the benefits of technology but have large concerns with the affected tech that has only their children’s development.
• “The tech companies do know that the sooner you get kids, adolescents, or teenagers used to your platform, the easier it is to become a lifelong habit,” Koduri told Business Insider.
• This is a strategy the tobacco industry has used and spent billions of dollars on a year. Marketing for younger generations.
• Fast food as well by creating “kids meals”
• Today, the average American child gets their first phone around age 10.
• “We limit how much technology our kids use at home,” Jobs told reporter Nick Bilton.
• Tech giants have always limited their own children’s screen time.
• Some schools in silicon valley have joined the low tech belief for students.
• Other schools take the opposite stance and believe technology is a necessity.