In this week’s class, we read three articles, watched three videos, and listened to one podcast. We are focusing more on the topic of what social media is and what it does. Social media has become a huge part of everyone’s life, and it is to the point we do not know what we would do without it. Social media has grown to the point we are addicted and creators of these platforms make it their goal to make us more addicted. As we discover new apps or products social media offers us we do not really think about how they can understand what we want and do want. By clicking agreeing to terms we don’t really think what these terms are. What information do these platforms know and what more are they going to learn? 

Social media has taught us to think more about ourselves rather than other people. By getting people to focus on likes and shares we have lost focus of treating other people well or human. “There are several reasons why “Know yourself” has obscured “Take care of yourself”. First, there has been a profound transformation in the moral principles of Western society. We find it difficult to base rigorous morality and austere principles on the precept that we should give ourselves more care than anything else in the world. We are more inclined to see taking care of ourselves as an immorality, as a means of escape from all possible rules.” (Technologies of the Self- Micheal Foucault) We as a society have lost touch with people, we have become more self-involved and self-serving. With losing our connection to people or connection to our world is also being lost, we only look for what best interests us or what benefits us before what is good for others or the environment. “Therefore, it is difficult to see concern with oneself as compatible with morality. “Know thyself” has obscured “Take care of yourself” because our morality, a morality of asceticism, insists that the self is that which one can reject.”(Technologies of Self)

In Black Mirror we saw a guy whose entire life was controlled by social media, it was everywhere from when he want to bed to went he woke up. Social media controlled what he did and when he did it, by scheduling humans likes machines the human brain starts to go numb. In this episode, we saw people being controlled by who they were online, and their only yearning in life to be famous. Because of this, we watch as a young woman was stripped of her dignity and follow the path others want her to. Imagine someone had that much control over your life, how would you feel? What would you do? This action makes our main character look at this system entirely differently, and in order to speak out, he played by their rules first. Once he finally said what he needed to the system coorperated with him instead of fighting what he was saying. People on social media didn’t see or choose not to see what the truth was, but they agreed with our main character. At the end of this show we watch as our main character spoke to others through social media, but at the same time was he really being honest with himself? How would you have handled the situation? Does social media have a big part in your life? Does social media influence your choices?

For weekly news we see that college student’s are shaming thier colleges for how they are responding to COVID. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/technology/coronavirus-quarantines-college.html?searchResultPosition=1