Is Technology good for you?

Technology is constantly growing especially in recent years. Almost 20 years ago the first smartphone was released in 2007 by Steve Jobs. Now in 2024, everyone has a smartphone. They are small enough to carry around us all day, and we use them constantly since they are so powerful. We can gain so much from our phones which can be positive or negative. 

Backlinko has stats on YouTube and its users. It states that YouTube currently has 2.49 billion users on its platform, which is about half of the global online population. YouTube is a platform that offers a wide range of content, from entertainment to education. 63% of YouTube's users like to mostly watch the platform on their phones.

The Techsmith shows a statistic that 83% of users like to watch YouTube videos for educational purposes. These videos can be tutorials or just informational videos about any topic. Because having informational videos on literally any topic, no matter what you're doing or what you wanna look for, it's not that crazy for people to want to see those kinds of videos and learn more in an entertaining way or just physically be able to see someone do or teach them something.

Video Maker claims that 81% of parents turn YouTube on for their kids to watch. Is a good way to keep their kids entertained and keep them engaged in something without walking around and playing with things they probably shouldn't be playing with. 

Even though I've been writing about YouTube most of the time, it can't be a better platform to be on than a platform like TikTok. YouTube has longer videos that won't shorten your attention span and keep you on your phone. You're not just watching short videos and constantly scrolling for the next type of video, but actually learn something from a longer video. 

Having a short attention span can lead to someone being on their phones for an even longer period of time and just constantly wanting to be on the phone. National Liberty of Medicine writes that having a shorter attention span or having a scattered brain will cause someone to be on their phones for a longer period of time and to spend more time on their phone than talking or interacting with people around them.

Other platforms like TikTok and Instagram reel can really hurt people's attention spans and that's why you see a lot of people who are on their phones and not really interacting with other people around them. These platforms don't even have to be used in these ways and negatively impact people because they get curated by the users themselves on what they are watching. These platforms are why we get this fact of people all always just wanting to do or record things just for fame. 

Someone that I know of on these types of platforms is named Jack Doherty. He just uses the platform to mess with people and try to get a reaction out of them by getting them mad and then having his security guy block them from actually doing anything. People like him are the reasons why people have short attention spans and it's always seen as technology is not good for people to watch.

Me and my friends use these platforms, but we try to use them so we can learn or have a new skill that can help us with either what we're doing or something that we want to do in the future instead of watching things that aren't helpful or do us negatively in public situations,

Alternative Media on War

 How are other news sources different from the main news sources?

When people get their news, they typically find their news on the main sources when trying to figure out what's happening in the world. However, different sources are not just the main sources, like CNN or the New York Times. It's seen on Pew Research that only 6% of US citizens look at the news on alternative news sources.

Alternative media can have some stories that main news sources also talk about, but they mainly talk about things that main resources won't talk about. One big thing that alternative media talks about is anti-war. Alternative media tends to focus on anti-war and focus on the smaller, but also very important news that still goes on within the world. 

Alternative media also include writers or news reporters who are actually there in a war in a very dangerous position and can tell the true stories of something like they're being held as prisoners and how the conditions are. One example of this I found on the website anti-war. 

It is a story about a writer who is a prisoner in Israel and talks about the death March over there. Can story talks about how the writer has to deal with being. prisoners and have watched their colleagues be killed in front of them and are trying to stay alive as long as possible and get out of the situation.

If you try to find a story like this on Main news sources then you probably won't you probably will find nothing except for smaller reporters or journalists talking about the situation. Another site that contains alternative news sources is a site called The American Conservative. This has a story about life. in Ukraine from the North Korean troops and what they're going through.

I typically find stories that I've never heard about oversee stories that I'm actually interested about in seeing what the news is actually saying about certain situations that don't get that much coverage from the main news sources. It's always interesting seeing the different types of news coverage that's available.