3.28 Social Media and the Diffusion of Innovation

Social Media, predominantly Snapchat and Instagram, is a driving force in the world of Millennial's and Gen Z, or people born from about 1985 to 2010. The youth and future of the world have taken to these applications because of its immediacy, the content it offers, the realness of it, as well as the fact that it is an outlet for people to express themselves and let people who they cannot see everyday in their lives.

While facebook has fizzled out in regards to popularity among the younger generations, Snapchat and Instagram have thrived. Instagram allows its users to post pictures of whatever they please to express their interests, connect with others, and follow other accounts that cater to their interests, such as news outlets, clothing brands, "meme" pages, friends, etc. Snapachat offers real time communication, via sending "snaps", or quick selfies of yourself or a picture of whatever it is you want, with a caption written on the picture, or by the newer addition of texts. Snapchat partners with Bitmoji, a program which allows users to create their own avatar, which provides stickers you can use in your snaps or to send to friends. Your bitmoji is also used to show your location, if you choose, on "snapmap", which gives people access to know where their friends are, and to click around the map to see popular events that are going on that people have willingly posted about on a more public form, rather than just delivering the information to just their friends on the app.

                     


Instagram and Snapchat have their pros and cons, however. Regarding IG, unless your page is private and people must request to follow you, your page is totally open for anyone to view. Anyone at all can also send you direct messages, which can be clickbait or scams. If you do not follow the person, however, you may decline access to the message for security purposes. For snapchat, due to snap maps, anyone can see where you are, which can make people rather uncomfortable, but only if you choose to. Snapchat also is a limited app timewise. If you post on your "story", it is only available for 24 hours, then gone forever unless you save your snap to your camera roll.

Christchurch and the Press

On March 15th, 2019, a gunman opened fire on worshipers in a New Zealand Mosque, killing 49 on site. Adding yet another mass shooting to a seemingly never-ending list, the press covers the Christchurch Mosque shooting. The press treats this situation similarly to others, yet there is one big difference.

After years of giving the shooter the undeserved fame of having his face plastered across early morning television shows while glossy eyed news observers reel in details of facial features, the sometimes small smirk of satisfaction mass shooters wear after their deed is done, eyes that lack a soul, the amount of melanin in their skin which ultimately dictates the backlash we will see, imagining the now wiped away marks of blood of innocence that coated his weak, ill, and radical self. His name rings through our brains, Nikolas Cruz, Dylann Roof, Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, and hes all we talk about throughout the day.

This shooting, we saw something different of the media. I can't tell you what the name of the Christchurch shooter is. I cannot tell you what race he is. I cannot tell you what religion he is. For once, the press didn't release his name or his face on a broad audience. This is a step in the right direction, because when mass shooters overwhelm our news and social medias and occupy our minds, we open the door for new mass shooters to plot and take action, while we continue to shed less and less tears, and send out our thoughts and prayers, while victims are crying out silent, unheard wails of policy and change.

8 Values of Free Expression

On the list of the 8 values of Free Expression, my group and I came to the conclusion that the 2 values that hold the most importance is Individual Self Fulfillment and Checking on Governmental Power. These 2 were held to the top 2 of our own personal values because of our views on the government and our career choice.

As people who want to work in the communications field, having the value of Individual Self Fulfillment, or being an individual in a society with free speech and using that free speech, in the right ways, is crucial for our career paths. As someone who is a Journalism and an International Relations major, examining our government and realizing the freedoms we have that other countries that I may be placed in don't creates a special feeling of a need to not abuse, but use my freedom of speech to the fullest, to convey messages for the voiceless.

Checking on governmental power is something that more Americans should be doing. In recent time, we have been more vocal about our satisfaction, but more dissatisfaction, with our current administration and the way situations are being handled in these current times. By using individual self fulfillment to have power over our government, the people can be leaders and forerunners in creating a bigger, better, more prosperous, and inclusive tomorrow.

One of the values on this list that I value in my heart deeply is tolerance. We were discussing in class how the use of the derogatory word for people of color has become more taboo to say. I do agree that it is said muuuuuch less frequently, and that makes me incredibly happy. However, at our very white majority institution, I literally hear racial slurs such as this one dropped on the daily by non people of color. Just because it's a social standard to not say things, that doesn't mean people will care of these standards or the facts behind why terms are so awful, and would rather keep saying things that they don't even realize are offensive and express deep racism and intolerance, purely because it gives them attention, good or bad, or because they truly just don't have any regard for anyone else, especially minorities. If we want to promote tolerance, something needs to change from within our souls, which unfortunately is something that I don't see many people adapting to.

iPhone Tracking and Stats

If you have an iPhone, your iPhone is actually tracking your usage and what you send, and how often you do anything. I never realized this until the iOS 12 system update,where a new widget was created that tells you your total screen time.