I read the article "Selfies, Filters, and Snapchat Dysmorphia: How Photo-Editing Harms Body Image" from Psychology Today. This article spoke on how filters on apps like Snapchat are influencing the beauty standards young people feel like they need to follow. The article also said they are using these edited/filtered pictures as the inspiration they take to a plastic surgery clinic. They feel so pressured to craft this "perfect body" where they look the same in real life as they do in their edited social media photos. The article says, "The endless reel of flawless faces...it can drive a wedge between the self posted online and the self reflected in the mirror—one’s ideal and one’s real self." It is creating a warped perception. This article was published in 2020 - I feel these issues have only gotten worse. TikTok has definitely fed into these same filter standards. I've seen filters that completely alter appearance - lightening skin, slimming the jaw, the nose, changing eye shape, making the lips bigger, changing hair color. It is definitely something that can make someone feel insecure. I feel like there are also a lot of trends out there that set standards - does someone have the right "legging legs" or a nice side profile? It definitely can get out of hand sometimes.

I think that sometimes social media sites try to put warnings or certain labels on content that may be upsetting - especially when someone is specifically searching up this content. It will tell the user what content they have searched up, provide them with a number or a link to a hotline and then let them pass right through to view the content. I feel like there should be more of a hassle get view this content especially when someone is searching for it. I do appreciate that many social sites have now provided a little box that says if content is incorrect or AI-generated, etc. I wish there was more to do be done about edited photos. I feel like, personally, growing up in a digital era where celebrities or even people I know from school edit their photos in a way that is unrealistic should be addressed. I wish there was the same little box at the comment displaying a message that says "this content/photo is edited." Apps like FaceTune should be held accountable for the unrealistic beauty standards they have been feeding into.

I chose to read "What It Feels Like to Go Viral" from the Pacific Standard. The article detailed examples from sports, feminists, and regular people - like a dad - who all had experiences with going viral. It speaks on how going viral can be an exciting rush, but also create a wave of hate. One example comes from a feminist blogger who had a blog post go viral and received harassment and even death threats. Going viral puts yourself in the position to be seen by everyone and receive an unlimited amount of feedback - whether it is good or bad. This virality may seem short lived to the people who view the post, but for the person behind it - it can be scary and the effects can be life-altering.

I remember being a preteen on Instagram when people would share the chain-mail style posts saying things like "Repost this in 10 minutes and your crush will ask you out tomorrow" or another one with a scary photo of a ghost-like little girl saying "Share this with 10 people or she will get you tonight." It is honestly so ridiculous thinking about how I somehow felt scared by these types of posts. I think young and elderly Internet users are especially vulnerable to bait like this. I am grateful that I am older and wiser and wouldn't fall prey to something like this today. It makes me wonder what new style chain mail might exist in the future when I am older and if I will fall prey to it.

I read "How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did" from Forbes. The article shares an instance where Target was able to look at the purchases of a teen girl - things like supplements, big bigs able to fit baby items, and a blue rug - to predict with high accuracy that the girl was pregnant and her due date was in August. They then sent advertisements for maternity and infant items to her house. The father complained only to then talk with his daughter and learn she was in fact pregnant. I think this story poses an interesting question about how deep advertising and other algorithms go into your life. I do not want them to be trying to figure out if I am pregnant or engaged, etc. I wouldn't want them involved in big moments of my life trying to sell me products. Algorithms need to stay out of personal matters.

I really enjoy it when TikTok recommends me cooking/baking/beauty/fashion videos. I think that those simple types of videos are ones that I really enjoy. I go on TikTok to watch those sorts of things and let my mind just take a break. I know a lot of people enjoy it, but I do not like it when I get true crime videos on my for you page. I always click not interested, but sometimes they will continue to pop up. I think the algorithm works well sometimes and not well other times. I also think it depends on the platform. It is interesting how quickly TikTok will catch onto what videos you like.

It is interesting to read about universal design through the lens of user experience design. I am studying to become a teacher so many of my experiences in class have been around accessible design in the classroom (how to design assignments that are accessible and provide students with agency). Before learning about universal design, I never thought about how the design of things impacted others. I feel I am much more aware of design choices and especially ones that restrict those with disabilities. I am grateful that in the future I will be able to design lessons and classroom activities that can be accessible to all students.

I read "The Hidden Image Descriptions Making the Internet Accessible" from The New York Times. The article opens with more of an experience than a typical article offer. It puts the reader in the shoes of someone who relies on alt-text Instead of showing photos, it shows alt-text. The article then goes on to explain alt-text, and the issues surrounding how it can be improved. It gives examples of how AI generated alt-text is not always accurate - it showed a photo of pancakes with fruit on top and how the AI generated alt-text said it was a piece of pizza. This can be hard for people who rely on alt-text and cause confusion. It also explains how not many people actually use alt-text to help improve the online experience of those who rely on it.

I read "The perils of 'sharenting': The parents who share too much" from AlJazeera. This article covered the topic of parents sharing photos and information of their children online - some people calling it child abuse. They gave one example of a viral YouTube video of a child's reaction after the dentist, posted in 2009. This child is now grown, but the video is still out there with millions of views. This brings up the concern of how children cannot consent to photos or videos of themselves being online at a young age. The article also talked about there could possibly be many children pursuing legal cases against their parents in the future. I think this is something that has been very talked about lately with family YouTube channels or TikTok accounts being exposed for abusing and profiting off their children. The article also covers the darkness that exists, where people can take these photos and videos of children and use them for disgusting things. I think parents need to very careful when posting their children online and refrain from posting things that could be strange for the children to see when they are grown.

I feel like it is easy to forget about privacy concerns when you are browsing social media or the internet in the moment. It seems like such an independent activity, where many of the privacy concerns are hidden behind the scenes of a site or a post, etc. I think my biggest concern stems from someone gaining access to my personal accounts and very private information like banking information or my address. Reading this type of information makes me want to secure my passwords better.

I read a piece from StackOverflow's help center about why using artificial intelligence to generate answers is not allowed. The site explains, "Users who ask questions on Stack Overflow expect to receive an answer authored and vetted by a human." It expresses how large language models often mess up and do not provide the facts or fabricate over the truth through excessive explanation. People who visit this site are seeking the expertise from real human beings. It is interesting how people have started to rely on AI and large language models when we've only started seeing the effects it has on communication, education, etc. I am interested to see where it goes in the future and what consequences come from it. Will we all rely on it at some point or will it gradually disappear if it cannot advance further?

My profile was pretty accurate aside from a few things like relationship status and household income. It is strange to see what Google thinks of me - it feels like it knows me on such a personal level. My ad topics were accurate - food, books and literature, skincare and makeup. I honestly wasn't aware I could access the data that Google has about me. I am uncomfortable knowing that they hold all this information, but I would rather have ads that are catered to me than weird things I am not interested in. I am curious about what the consequences of this will be in the future - are we already seeing the consequences? How will ads look in the future when they are even further hyper-curated to the consumer?

I think I have seen a lot of instances of trolling on Instagram - especially the Instagram reel comments. I feel like it has become a very well known "joke." The comments under Instagram reel videos are often hurtful and spammed with similar comments about the person in the video. Many people will also find videos on other platforms besides Instagram, like TikTok, and comment "post this on Instagram reels" as a way to indicate the video would garner that same negative type of trolling on the Instagram platform. I think the best way to deal with trolling is to not respond. People who do things like that are seeking attention and replying to them is giving them exactly that. Turning off comments or taking down a post is always another good way to go. It is unfortunate that sometimes trolling can be so harmful.

I read the article "K-pop Stans overwhelm app after Dallas police ask for videos of protesters" from The Verge. This article reports on the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, Dallas police asked for video evidence of illegal activity over an app. People overloaded the app with pop culture videos and gifs, like k-pop dancing videos, anime gifs, and animal crossing gifs. This led the app to crash and be unusable. Depending on opinions and values, this example of trolling could definitely be considered "for good." It is a somewhat harmless example of trolling - nobody is being hurt. It is interesting to see how people can come together to troll in protest. It makes me curious about other similar incidents. I also wonder: how will trolling adapt in different ways/on different platforms in the future?

I think my social media persona changes from platform to platform. My Instagram is very curated and I am careful about what I post on there. I have a lot of different people who follow me, grandparents, adults, etc. My TikTok persona is very different, much sillier and carefree. I feel like both of these personas of myself are authentic, they are just different sides of myself. I feel that everyone does the same, maybe in different ways, but mainly everyone changes themself when they are in different areas of the online world.

I read "How Code-Switching Explains The World" from NPR. The article, in their own words, aims to "exploring are the different spaces we each inhabit and the tensions of trying to navigate between them. In one sense, code-switching is about dialogue that spans cultures." The article gives a few different examples through videos from people like Obama and Beyonce. When people code switch, they are still themselves - they are switching to a voice that suits them best in that scenario. Code-switching is one of the ways "we interact with one another and try to feel each other out."

I watched the clip from the 2010 movie "The Social Network" directed by David Fincher. I absolutely love this movie and it is interesting to look at it through a classroom / course framework. This clip portrays a meeting between a young Mark Zuckerberg, former friend/partner Eduardo Saverin, and music file sharing site Napster's founder Sean Parker. Parker expresses how Facebook has the potential to grow into an online empire worth a lot of money. He also contributes to the name of the company. I find portrayals of stories like this very interesting and wonder how much of this was based on truth and bias. Still, I really enjoy the movie and the performances.

It is very interesting to hear the very beginning of "Web 2.0" social media. This is only a few years after I was born. I sometimes find myself talking with my parents or people older than me what life was like before the Internet or social media. Growing up in an age where social media and internet has always existed really fascinates me. I wonder how generations after ours will grow up in an even more technologically advanced age. I wonder what side effects will exist later in our lives and if social media will ever cease to exist in the future. Also, I wonder what life would be like now if social media and the internet never existed/was created? Where would we be? What countries would be in power? Would there be new ways of communicating without social media/the internet?

I read "Twitter takes Elon Musk to court, accusing him of bad faith and hypocrisy" from NPR. This source is a transcript from a podcast. Twitter took Elon Musk to court to force him to buy Twitter for 44 billion dollars. Musk tweeted memes about Twitter threatening to sue him. The hosts of the podcast found this very ironic. They also say how both have been damaged by this event. Now that we can look back with hindsight about Twiiter/X and how it has changed since Elon Musk took control. We've seen an increase in trolling/bots/drama, and even people buying their own verifications (which has lead to more trolling). I will be interesting to see where Twitter/X is in a few years and if anything similar to this event will happen with other social media sites.

I think this is something that we will see more of in the future - all kinds of people representing themselves and people like them in social media / internet design sphere. Social media and online identities continue to spiral down many different paths. It seems messy. I think a way to help this is to allow all sorts of representation to contribute to the online design process. This way, compromises can be made and things like "too long of a last name" can be tackled by many different people to find solutions. Collaboration is important for representation.

I read the article "Inside the weird, shady world of click farms" from the website Huck. This article followed a photographer named Jack Latham. He was in Hong Kong and was told to visit a hotel. As he went inside, he discovered hundreds of smartphones lining the walls where workers were sending likes and follows they were paid to promote. These are called click-farms and exist to generate profit. This makes me, and honestly anyone, concerned about the ethics of this situation and the never-ending stream of content that is available to generate a profit off of. One detail is a quote from the article that says, "There’s this need to appear more popular than you are as a form of validation and there’s certainly people in my industry I know who have purchased followers,” he continues. “I think we’re allowing the metrics of social media to infiltrate our self worth in a way that I think is quite fascinating.” I feel that this quote encapsulates what the online identity finds important. The fact that people around the world have created "farms" to garner social media success proves where priorities may lie when it comes to online identity.

I feel that social media platforms allow bots to operate because, at the very minimum, they are contributing some sort of content on the site. Content means that there is a possibility for reaction, response, etc. especially if this content is controversial. This can cause more traction to a certain post and generate possible ad revenue. This can be thought of in a money mindset or even just about allowing users freedom. It makes me wonder what restrictions and laws exist around the use of bots? How can you monitor bots? Who is responsible when something to do with a bot goes wrong? This travels back to the ethical concerns we just talked about.

It is very clear that social media has migrated down many different paths. Each user goes to a different platform for a different reason. I feel that, no matter what platform you are on, you can only take what is posted online with a grain of salt. This relationship between a person's real life and their social media life has become so connected that sometimes people value their social media life over their real life. It is important for people to disconnect the two. Taking social media detox breaks is a good thing to do every once in a while. I think people forget that we only have one life and spending it online is not what we were meant to do as human beings.

I find this portion of Taoism very interesting when we apply it to modern day. There are so many people in the world who try and force success or relationships, etc. It makes me wonder if this ancient ethical system could be applied in any type of way to our modern day. I know so many people say things like successful people must have done something unethical in order to get to that level of success. Can this connect with Taosim? Will these unethical successful people eventually fall from their pedestal? It is also interesting to connect this too social media's cancel culture.