Final Blog Post

Growing up, I had a very interesting relationship with technology. My parents were much older than parents of kids that were my age so they didn’t understand technology anywhere close to the extent that other parents in that day in age, so I was not introduced to any sort of technology other than video games until I was a freshman in high school and I finally got an iPhone 5 And I learned so much about technology during that year all about social media, how to use, it how not to use it, and what you can and can’t do on it. I know that social media had a huge impact on my life as soon as I used it, and it was extremely hard on me at first because social media began to be something that I compared myself to others and I was super hard on a freshman in high school, who had never use social media before.

One thing that I did appreciate about my family, not handing me a phone, or any sort of technology at a very young age was that I felt my whole social aspect is not based upon technology. I feel bolder and able to communicate better than some people that are around me. When you look at children who overuse technology, they end up having shorter attention spans, possibly have lower creativity, and have a harder time developing language habits and learning their language better which delays the amount of education they can get in the future. I was introduced to social media soon after and began to try to find purpose in social media and Technology. 

When you look at the impact of social media and the effect it has on its users Mental Health and depression numbers have skyrocketed since the use of social media in the world population. Humans are people that need social interaction and a lot of people find social interaction through social media. Some people who only find their social interaction through social media become less social when they're not on a screen which can lead to problems with communication and feeling alone in group settings. I know that in my life technology was a huge part of the way that I communicated in the past and when I was in high school I felt so alone and distant from people because I only found my communication through social media. Before we go any further let me define what mental health is with the help of The National Library of Medicine. Mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which people understand their abilities, solve everyday life problems, work well, and make a significant contribution to the lives of their communities. 

When in high school and even in college students use their social media to create a stereotype of who they are and who they want to be so when they do not fit that Persona in real life and their online presence is much different they begin to have anxiety and negative thoughts tied to their social media. But social media can also help by connecting you with people that you care about when you are far away from each other and connect you with professionals that can help you understand your anxieties better which is a great thing.

On the contrary technology now in my college career has changed drastically and my use of social media doesn't define who I am now. I can use technology in my major to get experience in the work field. As a Sports Media major and a Comm Fellow social media and technology is a huge part of what I do and want to do in the future. Now at HPU, I use technology daily for assignments and my experiences as a club sports media employee. Throughout the last year, the total live streaming time has gone up 18% with Americans spending 169.4 billion minutes of video streaming per year. And through my job, I have learned a lot of skills and techniques that have begun to help me have professional experience in the work field already. 

Now I am not the only one that has a relationship with technology obviously. The whole world has been impacted by the use of technology and technology as a whole. Technology has allowed many businesses and workplaces to take shortcuts and have easier ways to complete the task at hand. The first video that we watched that was at the NY World Fair where it had predictions and looked way into the future of what technology looked like technology has helped create great things such as communication that can go from any part of the world to smart cars,  huge amazing cities,  and even space exploration like it talked about mainly in that video.  technology has been very good to the people of today's day and age but it has also had some setbacks and things that negatively affect the population.

Technology has continued to grow and grow and it looks like there's never going to be a stopping point for it one thing that technology has affected a lot as I mentioned earlier is communication and the way that we talk to one another. It has crushed social interaction and many people have become numb to social interaction as a whole. The video that we watched in class “Are you lost in the world like me” shows that technology has negatively impacted the way that we interact with one another and be present in the moment that we are in. In many parts of the video, it begins to show the relationship that people have begun to have with technology in the 21st century such as People staring at their phones while they eat almost being glued to their phones throughout their day-to-day lives. This image above shows a lot about the relationship that a lot of people do have with their cell phones feeling like they are trapped in an endless cycle of being locked away by their phones and not having any freedom in their life. 

Technology has always been an intricate part of my life and has had many different effects on my emotions and experiences. Technology has had a big social and economic impact and the ways that you look at technology in the 21st century you can see both the positive and negative ways that technology has influenced our culture. As I continue my years here at High Point University I'm sure that my relationship with technology will continue to change and adapt to the growth and new functions of technology in the future and Technology will always have a big impact on my life and the life of everyone who's in the world.