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[ethanb123]

technology and those lacking

The digital divide refers to the gap between those who have access to digital technologies and those who do not. This gap can exist within a country or between different countries and regions. The digital divide is a complex issue that can be influenced by factors such as socioeconomic status, geography, age, and education level. "The term digital divide was originally introduced in the 1990s to refer to the gap between individuals who have access to ICTs and those who do not." Those who lack access to digital technologies may face challenges in accessing information, education, healthcare, and job opportunities. The digital divide can exacerbate existing social and economic inequalities and limit individuals' ability to participate fully in society. Bridging the digital divide requires a concerted effort by governments, private sector organizations, and civil society to ensure that everyone has equal access to digital technologies and the benefits they bring. one benefit of technology in the modern age is the access to high levels of information instantly and making workloads that much easier. "Increased technology integration in formal education and gains in the momentum of online learning in educational programming in many parts of the world has made digital access and digital literacy imperative." (Pazurek & Feyissa , 2015) There are numerous benefits to having digital literacy skills in today's increasingly digital world. Individuals who are digitally literate are better equipped to access and use online resources for education, employment, and personal growth. "Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, an estimated 40 million Americans did not have the ability to purchase broadband internet." (https://tcf.org/content/report/disconnected-digital-divide-harms-workers-can/) this is a problem because with the growing use of the internet Those who lack access to digital technologies are at a disadvantage in today's increasingly digital world, as they may not be able to access online education, healthcare, job opportunities, or social services. This can lead to a widening gap between those who have access to digital technologies and those who do not, creating a divide that can be difficult to overcome. "Similarly, there are major disparities in internet access even within highly developed countries. Many rural Americans are still without adequate internet access, and still more lack the skills to take full advantage of the access they do have." (https://www.investopedia.com/the-digital-divide-5116352)

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digital literacy and why it's important in our society.

Digital literacy has become an essential skill in today's increasingly digital world. With the rapid advancement of technology, many aspects of modern life now rely heavily on digital tools and technologies. Being digitally literate is essential for success, from personal communication to professional work and accessing information and services. Digital literacy encompasses not only the ability to use digital technologies effectively but also the ability to critically evaluate digital content for accuracy and credibility. As such, developing solid digital literacy skills is becoming increasingly important for individuals from all walks of life. In this essay, we will explore the different aspects of digital literacy, its importance, and how individuals can develop their digital literacy skills. Digital literacy has numerous positive aspects that can benefit individuals, communities, and society as a whole. Firstly, digital literacy can enhance access to information and services, " Improving ICT infrastructure will also increase the ability for people to access programs and integrate digital skills into their daily lives." ( Romina Bandura and Elena I. Méndez Leal, 2022) which is particularly important for those who may be geographically isolated or have limited physical mobility. With digital literacy, individuals can access information, resources, and services from anywhere in the world," Possessing digital literacy allows you to improve the efficiency, access to things, fulfillment, and happiness in your life." (techboomers, 2022) improving their knowledge and opportunities for learning and growth. One negative aspect of social media literacy is the potential for negative social and psychological impacts. Social media platforms can create an environment that fosters negative behaviors such as cyberbullying, harassment, and online hate speech." (suko widodo, 2017)This hate speech issue is getting more serious when many cases of violence are caused by provocations via social media." This can have a detrimental effect on individuals' mental health "computer access has a greatly pronounced increase in mental health symptoms in the early stages of the pandemic" (Thomas E. Metherell, Sakshi Ghai, Ethan M. McCormick, Tamsin J. Ford & Amy Orben, 2022) and emotional well-being, particularly for young people who are still developing their social and emotional skills.

https://news.unair.ac.id/2017/04/12/digital-literacy-strategy-responding-hate-speech-social-media/?lang=en

[ethanb123]

Social media participatory culture

Social media has revolutionized the way we communicate and participate in our society. and watching the movies. I believe we can separate things into a few categories and first off im going to be starting with social media, and its effects on culture, then participatory culture and why that is important. and finally, I am going to be talking about the negatives I can see with these things. social media is an excellent way for people like friends to communicate and associate with each other, create share, and exchange content, such as images and audio. some platforms include Facebook Twitter Tiktok and youtube.

participatory culture is essential for social media to exist, without participatory culture social media is a barren wasteland like your local Toys r US because there's just no one there to do anything. in a participatory culture you have consumers and creators, I believe that social media has made creation and participatory of the content made more accessible for people to find their own niche.

while participatory culture might be necessary there are many things that can counteract this, for one misinformation. Many people took in a lot of misinformation during covid and were worse off. second is cyberbullying, cyberbullying has been the cause of many suicides and other effects of violence to other people dying. third is privacy. as we saw this week was a meeting against tiktok about security and privacy which is to be told no social media has air tight privacy because some stuff sells your information for corporations to sell ads to. finally the lack of quality control. the issue with quality control is that the content you're viewing isn't peer-reviewed the same way it would be on television it is made by one person or a small team and they could use any source they want to.

[ethanb123]

from reading the Post i think the biggest takeaway is that especially when asked the question "what does the research from common sense media and the pew research center reveal about teens and adults experiences and their relationship with social media." first off the article goes off to say that overall reddit and YouTube has risen in popularity since 2019 while covid being a reason for these to grow certainly. most young people use Instagram and tiktok at 71% and 65% respectively. this number is lower the older you get. I would believe that this phenomenon would I feel like the people who grew up with social media I.E. younger people would be more with using social media when 45% of people 65 and older are using social media websites. 2% of people ages 65+ use snapchat while 65% use it and i feel like thats because snapchat is just an easier way to give a stranger access to talk to you without wanting to give out your number and its just an easier way to talk to people. 95% of gen z use youtube. im sure that the number of people using social media has dropped off since covid restrictions have for the most part ended. one benefit of social media and learning is the fact that its readily available and free for everyone to consume. however that same statement that can be used for everyone learning can also be a downfall. facebook and youtube have a very large pipeline that leads people to extremist ideology and its a method to keep people on their website so they can find other people like them. personally and im one of them people are probably on their phones and connected too much. its giving an ego to a lot people and making them think theyre the most important people on the earth. one important thing brought up is the communication and stuff that people need to be functioning. with teens saying social media makes them feel less depressed, more confident and more popular.

one big interesting thing i see in the infographic is the 72% of teens think that social media is manipulating them. i would think that older generations would feel differently. which is the point of social media. something is meant to drive you whether its a boy holding a newspaper or its a facebook post or a tiktok ad. i think the level of teens wanting to socialize in person is an interesting statistic. with texting slowly increasing but being in person declining so much with social media and video chatting having high rates of change.

im going to leave this last paragraph for my additional thoughts and those thoughts go as follows. i guess moving forward how are children going to be adults when they get older. how is our society going to change because of the vast amount of information people see before theyre even an adult. a common child today has more knowledge and has seen more stuff than a person who lived to 100 100 years ago. so i guess like i said im kind of nervous to see how society is in the future. do we step away from social media after it blows up too much. or do we fully embrace it?