Unit 1 reflection

 Rory Day

Lyndsey Weiner 

Wrt 205 

2/15/24

                            Unit 1 reflection

Technology is such a broad term and I have always had trouble narrowing down what I wanted to research about.  There are so many different ways that you could take this opportunity, but I chose to take a closer look into the relationship between social media and people's minds.  Whether that was mental health, how people connect with each other, or how it changes how your brain works and operates.  I had trouble really connecting the first source to any of my other sources because it was an article talking about a small pencil shop and the appreciation of an outdated piece of technology.  Seeing the good in something considered obsolete was interesting but I had a hard time connecting it to any topic regarding technology that interested me.  Because of this I decided to go down a different path and looked for scholarly sources and opinion pieces supported by research and data.  I was surprised by the amount of research that went into the last three articles I used, and I do think that they are quality sources of information.  The source with the least quality would be the Ted Talk by Michael Wesch that we watched in class.  He did use polls and many outside sources but in a visual medium he tended to paint more of a picture and tell a story instead of hard data.  He used the public discourse that occurred on social media daily to portray the public opinion of the topic of social media which is important but he could have hand picked instances and posts that support his article.  

The fourth and final article also backed by multiple credible sources has some disagreements with the Ted Talk.  The editorial by Ágnes Zsila and Marc Eric S. Reyes concludes that social media was indeed harmful but also had a positive impact on many people's lives, but in the Ted Talk, Michael Wesch focuses solely on the negative and makes it seem that people perceive positives that are not really there.  Their disagreement is especially visible when Wesch claims that real connection is hindered by social media, and Zsila and Reyes say, “Social media can provide opportunities to enhance the mental health of users by facilitating social connections and peer support”(Zsila, Reyes, 4).   I find it really interesting that two people can come to different conclusions on the same topic through using different lenses to view the same issue.  One uses large sample sizes and data while the other looks at open public discourse and his own life experience.  I am excited to see another opinion on this debate with maybe another opinion and using a different medium, Because I personally agree with the ted talk more but another opinion would be interesting to hear their own thought process and experience.  

I want to be able to come to my own conclusion in the coming units and their assignments so these sources would be important to building a more thorough and well thought out opinion, other than My first source about the pencil shop unfortunately.  I have always wondered how social media affects a person mentally, and the negative impacts that I want more people to become aware of.  Another interest of mine is looking at the ever evolving content being put onto these sites and the content addiction that it creates and how that fits into the bigger picture of social media’s relationships with people.  To look deeper into these questions it would necessitate me to build on my current sources and add even more with wider ranges of topics with the same focus.  I have sources that contradict each other currently and it would be interesting to delve deeper into the disagreement for my unit 2 projects.

I am not the most creative person especially when it comes to technology.  I can't draw well and don't enjoy being in front of a camera, so incorporating technology into a project is much more difficult for me.  I attempted to add photos into some of my assignments but I find that the medium that allows me to express my opinions and ideas easiest is through writing.  Writing is the medium that I always end up gravitating towards.  The assignment that I used my phone camera was probably where I used outside technology the most, because it used screenshots and photos taken throughout the day.  I rarely take photos and especially in public so it definitely took some time getting used to.  I want to get better and better with technology to express myself in different ways but whenever I attempt another medium I find it hard to get the main point across as well as I can through writing.

    I wish that i could have pushed myself farther out of my comfort zone in terms of creativity, but I constantly challenges myself to research a topic that I can relate to heavily. because social media is always around me since i have been young I constantly was checking myself and comparing the finding in these sources to my daily life. I personally have problems with the feelings and negative impacts that social media has been recorder to cause and it has prompted a lot of introspection and self reflection on my own habits. this research project has prompted to make a change into my daily life and becoming more cognizant of the impact that my phone and the internet plays into my life. I am now challenging myself to change and become a better version of myself by limiting social media and the time I spend on my phone.

Zsila, Ágnes, and Marc Eric S. Reyes. “Pros & Cons: Impacts of Social Media on Mental Health - BMC Psychology.” BioMed Central, BioMed Central, 6 July 2023, bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40359-023-01243-x.

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