The first source, “The Big Business of China’s Surveillance Tech”, got me thinking a lot about how different life would be if we had the same type of surveillance technology in our country. I feel like it would make everyone more on edge and paranoid in general. However, it might also make people more careful about what they do and take more responsibility for their actions. I think this type of technology is almost an invasion of people’s privacy and infringes on people’s rights. It makes me think about how some people may put tape over the camera on a laptop so no one can hack into the camera and spy on them. The second source, which explained the importance of some technology, showed the other side. They acknowledged at the beginning how many people discuss the negative aspects of technology. However, they took a different approach by explaining particular pieces of technology that provide positive results. One of these includes a dog collar that is able to detect different reactions of a dog in order to analyze whether it would be a good service dog or not. Jennifer Goldbeck’s TED Talk made me think most about our “diary entry” posts. She explained how she can tell a lot about a person based on what they like on social media and who/what they follow. This made me think back to my diary post to where I discuss the social media platforms I use on my phone. I began to think about not only the role these have in my life but how they may be able to explain aspects of my life. I am very curious as to what someone could be able to tell about me based on what I like and who I follow.
Category: Integrating Ideas
I felt one of the outcomes I improved on during this project was integrating ideas. I felt I was able to relate information and ideas from different authors within each of my paragraphs while making sure all of it related back to my thesis. For example, in one of my paragraphs, I discuss how social media causes teens to feel like they need to change or hide their identity. I used ideas from Boyd and Greenfield to explain this concept, and I feel I was able to successfully connect them. I added a transition to connect the similar ideas and then connected it back to my original idea of the paragraph. Overall, I think I was able to add information from other sources that worked well with the points I was trying to make within each paragraph. I was also able to use multiple sources to add to my naysayer paragraph.
[TOPIC] Some believe that smartphones and social media are becoming increasingly more damaging to newer generations. [RESTRICTION] Some of the issues that are focused on include how teen’s mental health and socialization skills are being negatively affected by this technology. [EXHIBIT] This is shown in Jean M. Twenge’s article “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” She claims, “The portrait of iGen teens emerging from the data is one of a lonely, dislocated generation” (10). With the “iGen” generation being this newer generation that has grown up with internet, social media, and smartphones, she explains that these are causing the children and teens or this generation to become more isolated. Twenge also explains how a higher use of these devices can also be linked to higher depression rates and less sleep. [ANALYSIS] Twenge’s viewpoint is right in some aspects by the ways in which this technology can create a more isolated generation. Teens are spending more time on technology than with their friends and family and comparing their lives to others. She also explains how technology negatively affects teens’ mental health. They often see everyone else’s happiest moments on social media and it makes them feel less confident themselves and they may become jealous. However, she also pushes the point that technology is making teens feel less of a desire to be independent. An example she uses is that teens aren’t wanting to get their driver’s licenses as often as in the past. In reality, though, gettings a driver’s license is still a big deal in most teenagers’ lives and it’s very exciting. This then makes it something that teens often post on their social media. [CONCLUSION] Although technology may be affecting teens negatively in some ways such as in their social lives and with some aspects of their health, it doesn’t necessarily make them less independent.
In her TED Talk, Turkle’s main argument is that technology is making people more alone and distant from each other. One example of this was that when a woman lost her child, instead of talking about her grief and struggles with a person, she talked to a robot. It was in the shape of a baby seal and the eyes would move to make it seem as though that robot was truly listening and understanding what she was saying. While some people found this incredible that this robot was able to comfort a woman who had lost her child, Turkle had a very different view. She thought it was sad that she was turning to something that could in no way understand and empathize with what she was going through. Turkle also claims that “technology appeals to us most where we are most vulnerable,” (7:30). By this, she is talking about when we feel upset, we turn to technology for companionship. My own view is that when Turkle insists we become more closed off when we are upset by turning to technology, people actually become more open. For me personally, I become more open to the people closest to me, such as close friends and family, and I find comfort in those relationships over technology. Although technology at times definitely has negative effects by pulling us away from the people that are right next to us, I think that Turkle also generalizes the population. However, I also do think that how she didn’t just talk about the bad side of technology in her TED Talk. She explained that she loves receiving texts from her daughter and that’s something that can be good when it comes to our phones.
When revising my essay, I worked on global revision more than I ever have before. I switched paragraphs around multiple times until I reached what I believed was the most effective order. I even rearranged information within paragraphs if I thought it would make my point clearer. This step of revision was new to me, but I think it made a big difference. I also made a lot of changes based on the advice I received in my conference with Professor Gennaco. I added more information to better explain my thoughts and did more rearranging. Finally, I ended doing my local revisions. While this once would have been one of my first steps when revising, I saved this until the end. I am satisfied with my final draft because I spent a lot of time on it. However, I feel like I spent so much time on my global revisions that I didn’t spend as much time as I would have on sentence-level errors. Because of this, I feel that smaller errors could have brought down the quality of my essay.
When comparing my revision to Bloom’s Taxonomy, I believe I did a lot of evaluating and believe I was able to reach creating. After I wrote my rough draft, I thought it was good. However, after reading it again and receiving feedback from others, I was able to realize that it was not in the order that was most efficient and made sense. After analyzing my essay further, I was able to move the individual pieces around which made my essay a lot stronger because it flowed more smoothly, so this is where I brought in creating. This mostly was as a result of the peer reviews and feedback from my conference. Throughout my essay, I also used the other steps of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Starting with remembering and understanding, I was able to think about and understand what I read from Bain, Dweck, and Sherry and figure out how I was going to incorporate their ideas. I was then able apply the information from those pieces of reading and connect it with my own experiences in my learning. Finally, I analyzed it as the first step in revising my rough draft. I read through it and analyzed if the experiences I chose to put in my essay were the best examples I could use.
When I made the podcast, it was kind of difficult at first because I tried to make it as similar to my essay as possible. However, I realized that if I tried to get every detail from my essay and incorporate it into my podcast it would not only be in too much of an essay form, but it also ended up being significantly too long. Because of this, it took me a long time to decide what pieces to leave in and what to take out. I also wanted to do it as an interview-style, so trying to make that work took a bit of thought and effort. I think the most challenging part of the process was putting in the music in the background and working with the volume levels of the audio of the interview as well as the music with it.
In my annotations, I try to color code so that when I go back I have a general idea about what the annotation is. For most of my annotations, I highlight in pink and leave a comment as to why I highlighted it. These include questions I have, summaries, or sections I just like or think are important. I also use a light blue pen to underline things when I think there is a section that describes deep learning. Next, I use a turquoise pen, and I use this to underline and comment about a text-to-text connection. Finally, I use a dark purple pen to underline areas that I believe are surface/strategic learning. I think this method helps to keep me organized and make me see more clearly that I am making all the necessary connections.
In high school, I know that there were times when I had the mindset of a strategic learner. Especially when it came to classes that I wasn’t quite as interested in, I worked hard to get the good grades but I was only doing it so that I could move onto higher education. I wasn’t thinking about it in the sense of how I could use the information later in my life. In What the Best College Students Do by Ken Bain, he states, “‘Strategic’ learners primarily intend simply to make good grades, often for the sake of graduate or professional school.” In other words, Bain believes that these “strategic” learners don’t truly care about the information and actually learning, but instead just strive to get the good grades so that they look good when moving forward. I think one example where this has applied to me is my senior year of high school in my AP calculus class. When I was taking the class, I did everything I could to learn the material so I could do well on the quizzes and tests and get a good grade in the class. This was my goal because I believed that getting a good grade in this AP class would look good to colleges. Looking back, I wasn’t thinking about how learning this may benefit me as a learner and a student, but instead, I wanted to get the grade because I believed it would look good. In this sense, I agree with the points Bain makes about being a strategic learner, however, I also know that there have been instances when that isn’t my only goal. For me personally, I believe it has to do with whether it is a subject that I find particularly interesting. Therefore, moving forward, I need to keep in mind that even if a certain class isn’t my favorite the information if being taught for a reason. I need to have a growth mindset and try to think like a “deep” learner. This will allow me to realize the importance behind what’s being taught so that I will be able to take the information with me and apply it elsewhere in my life.
The podcast The Editor explains the story of Robin Woods who was sent to prison for an extended period of time and came out as a completely changed individual. The podcast was done as an interview in which Daniel A. Gross asked Robin questions about life in prison and what changed him. In the very beginning of The Editor, Robin began by describing the place in which he committed the crime that sent him to jail for a long time. That crime being that he had stolen over $20,000 worth of office equipment. Robin then started to sell the equipment until someone he knew ratted him out. He was then arrested and sentenced to sixteen years of incarceration for not only that crime, but as a result of other charges as well that had built up over the years. Robin expressed that this was a significantly harsher punishment than he should have received because his other charges were minor, but he quickly moved on. Robin then goes on to report how abusive the guards in the prison were. He claimed that they would find any reason—including looking at the guards the wrong way—to beat the prisoners brutally. Robin describes an incident when some of the prisoners decided that they were not going to leave their cells. Because of this, a group was sent in to harshly beat the inmates. The next day, when other prisoners heard about what had happened, they were so angry that they worked together to attack a group of guards and steal their keys. Daniel Gross then claims that Robin was charged for starting the riot. As a result, 7 years were added onto his sentence, he was moved to a different prison and classified as one of the most dangerous prisoners.
After this, Robin admits that he was put into Special Education when he was in grade school. Therefore, during school, he would collect attendance sheets and stack milk crates in the cafeteria. He was told that a kid like him didn’t need to learn things like math. They made him think that he couldn’t learn like the other kids at school. So, by the time he got to prison, he could barely read. However, his life began to change when he was in prison and decided to borrow two books. When he read he realized he didn’t understand half the words and was only able to understand the basic gist of each book. Next, he explained that he got a dictionary and wrote down the words he didn’t know as he read so he could then study them. Reading made him feel free and he realized he wanted to learn everything he could about the world. He eventually built up his own library in his cell and read hundreds of books. Eventually, he decided he wanted to try a Merriam-Webster encyclopedia. He began to read through and soon came across something he believed was an error. After reading it several times, he knew he was right. So, he decided to write a letter and send it to the editor of the encyclopedia, Mark Stevens. Shortly after he received a letter back in which Mark thanked and congratulated him for finding this error. Robin claims that he soon realized that people had lied to him as a child. They told him he was never going to be able to do things so they didn’t even bother teaching him. Robin knew at that point, however, that not only could he learn all these things, but he was able to teach everything to himself. As Robin continued to read, he found more than a dozen errors and wrote many more letters to Mark Stevens.
Later on, Robin was transferred to another prison, but they refused to return his belongings to him. This included his library that he had built up over time, and most importantly his encyclopedia. Robin insisted that he was so distressed about this that he refused to eat until he was able to meet with the Maryland Commissioner of Corrections. Once Mark Stevens heard about this, he wrote to a warden at the prison claiming that what they were doing to Robin was cruel and unnecessary. Robin explains that soon after this he had his meeting with the Commissioner of Corrections. During this meeting, Robin explained his relationship with Mark Stevens. Not much later, Robin was told that he was on the path to freedom and ended up being released several years early. Upon being released, Mark began to send Robin money as a gift. Then, after ten years of writing letters back and forth, Robin finally met Mark at his house.
Nowadays, at the age of 54, Robin admits that he doesn’t read very much. He explains that he read in prison because it connected him to the outside world, but he no longer needs to do so.
