Assignment 7- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The internet has slowly turned into one of the largest databases in the world and it has become a massive amount of information right at the tip of our fingers. In today's age, we have multiple devices that can access the internet. For example, our phones, our laptops, our tablets, and in some cases, even our televisions. However, coming along with this digital age, we see the pros and cons of the internet and its abundance around us. What was the main discussion in our CS408 class was examples of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Lets start with an example of the good side of the internet.
Here's a link for what I am discussing: http://www.wired.com/2014/04/refreshed-macbook-airs/

This article basically is modeling the new macbook air that has come out. It is a new and improved extremely portable computer that now is double the speed that it used to be. This computer is extremely thin and light, mainly why it is called the macbook air, and it will download and surf the web at faster speeds than most laptops out on the market right now. It is sad to see that our culture is so dependent on the internet and technology but it is completely necessary for most people to have a laptop and watching how far our technology has come from a dial up speed to lightning fast download speeds is definitely a positive aspect of our technology based age.

Next, lets look into the bad side of the internet.
Here is the link to the article I will be discussing: http://www.wired.com/2014/04/children-and-touch-screens/

This article here talks about the implications of having young children constantly indulged in a different form of technology whether it be a tablet or a smart phone or watching more television. It truly is discouraging to see that the vast majority of young children all know how to use a smartphone with ease and to suddenly become sucked into the device. The article discusses how an educational app is obviously very different from play a first person shooting game but does that actually make a difference in relation to screen time? We honestly have no idea what any of this technology is doing to our younger generation and we honestly will not know until they grow up. One quote that really stuck out to me in the article was "The tablet is the new pacifier." and this is so incredibly true. Instead of putting a pacifier in your child's mouth, you throw a tablet or smartphone on their lap and suddenly they will become silent. For example, my good friend has a child and she just recently posted a video of how her baby will cry when she takes her phone away from her and then be fine right when the phone is returned and this child is only 8 months old. It is upsetting to see that our younger generations will be consumed by technology and that it why I think it is a bad side of the internet and its technologies.


Finally, we will look into the ugly side of the internet.
Here is the third article link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sue-scheff/adult-bullying-harassment_b_4256954.html

When you typically think of cyber bullying, you typically would think of teenagers or young adults attacking each other on facebook or chat rooms. However, now we are seeing more and more adults become a part of the cyber bullying era. More and more will adults go on facebook and attack each other and make fun of how they raise their children or how they handle their everyday life. In my opinion it is extremely sad to see parents join in on cyber bullying because they are supposed to be the mature adults and set examples for younger kids and how are they supposed to set a good example if they are on the internet bashing other parents. They do not realize that kids will learn from the people they look up to the most. Even adults now have to watch everything they are doing on the internet and that it why I think this is an ugly aspect of the internet age.

Assignment 4: Thoughts on Network Neutrality

          Net neutrality is extremely important in my opinion. The majority of people that actually are opposed to net neutrality typically do not agree with it because without it they could be making more money. Thats why the first article talks about how cable providers will benefit the most from this because it will require more money to be required in the system to allow for "better and faster" internet. However, if every website just followed through with typical net neutrality then we would never have to worry about some websites being faster than others. Honestly, I can think of so many negative situations that could come about if net neutrality is no longer allowed. Everyone will begin to see significant changes in internet speed unless paying some type of premium charge for a faster internet is okay with you. In my opinion, it is completely absurd that internet providers would actually think its alright to charge to have a faster internet available. Its just another way to separate people by class. The poor and middle class are much less likely to pay for the faster internet so they are willing to settle for slow speeds but the high class are not bothered either way.

         Net neutrality has been in the news most recently because the FCC has looked to push net neutrality away from the public. Currently, the law has not been approved but it will most definitely rise up again and be run to the supreme court for a second opinion. Hopefully, we will not see this passed in our lifetime but it seems very likely it will.

         Freedom of speech is every American's right. We have the ability to say whatever we want and search anything we want. If net neutrality is no longer allowed then that is not allowing us as Americans the freedom to research anything we want. It is a way for the government to stop us from searching the internet unless we pay a fee. If we have to to pay a fee to see something, that is halting our ability to freely access the internet. This recent news would definitely affect me because I know for a fact that I would not spend the money to go on certain websites and that means that I will have both a censored version of the internet and a much slower connection and that does not make me very happy whatsoever. Net neutrality is extremely important for everyone who believes that we have the right to access anything on the internet at any time when we want to. The internet is a place where every single person in the country can conveniently collaborate on ideas or discussions, not a place where we have to be watched and censored by the government. It is our right to control that access and we should never allow the government to take that right from us by making a law that seems harmless.

          This first site does a good job at explaining what exactly net neutrality is and how it might affect the everyday person. The source is a well known political site and has a little more credibility seeing as it is a .org website. http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=1234951

          This second site is a popular blog website that I visit frequently. The verge is known for having a very "for the people" position on popular current events. This article explains netflixs position on net neutrality and their opposition to big companies such as verizon and comcast. http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/20/5530898/netflix-blasts-comcast-and-verizon-on-net-neutrality-some-big-isps 

Introduction

Hey guys,

Just as an opener for a first post. My name is Lukas Shannon and I am in CS 408 section 02!