We are being Spied On

Image credit: Brillianceeye | Dreamstime.com

This week, we looked at how people are affected based on TV, radio, and social standing ratings and how these ratings impact what advertisements we are viewing. Rating such as Neilsen (TV), Arbitron (radio), and Gallup (social standings) among others, all have a huge impact on our lives. A classmate brought up an interesting point in our discussion this week. Many of us in today's age only see advertisements on social media and websites, and they tend to all be advertising things that we have already viewed or looked up online. How is this even possible. Is there really spy-like technology in our phones and computers that tracks literally everything that we search and it creates advertisements based on that? It is kind of creepy how say instagram knows to put a wallet advertisement based on you doing research on what wallet you should buy. I have even seen exclusive videos for certain types of wallets that I have researched. Is this what our world is turning to ? Technology being used to literally spy on a person's every action online? What happened to privacy? Is there anything that we can do to actually stop this? Honestly I don't think there is any way to make sure our privacy is a bigger priority. Phone manufactures such as Apple and Samsung haven't made the necessary adjustments to make sure the privacy when online is a priority. In fact, these companies have been criticized for practically encouraging less privacy for their own ratings and statistics. I don't think this issue will change anytime soon unfortunately.  

What a Scary World?

Our discussion post this week was titled, "Is the world more dangerous than it used to be?" and this had me thinking about the recent mass shootings around the country. Gun control is a big debated topic in the recent weeks (THIS POST IS NOT GOING TO EXPRESS MY VIEWS ON GUN CONTROL). Much of the media around the the last month has focused on the mass shootings, and it should focus on these tragedies and the news surrounding each one. However, much of the media today only focuses on the bad parts of our world. From global warming issues to big crimes committed, to celebrity scandals, but what if the media focused primarily on the good things that happened in our world. People are scared of what COULD happen because of what they see in the news. Sometimes, crime is fueled through what criminals see in the news. Many people are getting arrested because they see whats happening with the mass shootings and think, "I can do better than that". Obviously the media isn't trying to fuel these individuals into thinking like that and possibly influencing them to act on that arrogance, but is there a way to prevent this? People need to know what is happening around the world, good and bad, but it should be possible to report the news without influencing criminals to act on their arrogance. I just don't know how media professionals will be able to do that. Keep the news interesting, but not give criminals the idea of how to commit crime.