There are many social media connection pathways out there that we don’t always perceive as dangerous, but they can be. For example, even one-way connections like following someone on Instagram or subscribing to a YouTube channel can expose personal information or allow strangers to influence our opinions without us realizing it.

I am very shocked because I didn't know people were using email back in the day. People in the 1960s-1970s were using hand-written letters to communicate to one another, and I didn't really know and I'm interested in how the email was so popular in the 1960s-1970s without a real laptop back in the day.

It’s interesting to see that data can be misleading sometimes, and that we have to be careful because no dataset is 100% accurate. Data can have missing values, errors, or biases, so when analyzing it, we often have to think deeper on whether what we’re seeing is true or if it's because of a erroneous data set that's because of bias, missing data.

I never realized how powerful metadata can be. It’s interesting that it’s not just about the content of the tweets, but also about information like when and how we collected them. That extra layer can really change how we understand and analyze data. It can reveal what time someone does things, trends, and behavior that we don't see behind the scenes.

I think this is really interesting, because bots are not independent, they are written by real people, and I found this interesting, because it's incredible to see bots written by different people can mean different things. This helps explain why online content from bots can sometimes seem unpredictable or inconsistent.

This paragraph, I mean, it's very important that people know what bots do, they misconceptualize them, but in this day of ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, DuckAI. These bots though are actually interesting in a sense how that not all accounts called ‘bots’ are truly automated. I think this distinction is important because it changes how we understand online content, whether it’s influenced by algorithms or by campaigns.

I found this very interesting. At my high school, a long-time teacher who's been there for 25+ years, who's also the head football coach, Steve Valach, emphasizes the word "Ubuntu" at the kickoff assembly each year during the first week of school. When I heard about it for the first time nearly 4.5 years ago, he made it so memorable because it means "I am because we are." That is the key part about ubuntu, the connectedness it creates, the team aspect of it, it's harmonious as it says in the text because it's a unity feeling. In football when the game is really close, sometimes, I see a huddle of how a team is going to win a nail biting game, if the game is 28-27, "ubuntu" comes into mind because the offense needs to have receivers catching, good routing, special teams making it harder for the other team to score, defense stepping up to the plate, and when the clock goes to 0, it really has that feeling of "We won the game, everyone contributed." Which is, in my mind, that feeling of "Ubuntu." everyone pitched in, nobody did something where it hindered someone's capabilities, everyone was capable. This idea also connects to virtue ethics, because it emphasizes developing good character through cooperation, respect, and helping others succeed.

This quote here What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.’” I did this: I think by this, it's showing everyone that we should be treating others respectfully at all times, that we should always think twice. Everyone who's older will often say "Think twice." This applies here, think twice before posting, it's critical because we don't want to say something mean that normally we would not say to others, it creates that negative feeling, it does not feel good, and we would want to avoid that. The only way to do so is to be kind, respectful, and understand that respectful communication is a two way street. What one says has a direct impact on the other person, we humans don't know that, so I think it's time to wake up from this denial, and face the truth here, that what we say has a direct impact on others.

I'm kind of shocked about this, it's alarming how tweets spread because retweeting is kind of like a fungus that multiplies, once you repost, others do it too, and when people repost on Facebook or Instagram or X now, other people see it. This is the problem in today's world, we don't see the power of us retweeting, and it might not always be good, like what happened here, and that's what people often do not realize. Social media needs to do a better job with the repost, and people should consider not reposting anymore.