In the YouTube video, “Are teen addicted to technology”, is shows multiple kids that very well could be addicted to technology. These kids are all relatively young but all around the same age. These kids have been consumed by technology and it is all about have many follows they have and how many likes they get. Each thing they post on different social media site is to try and increase those numbers and to become famous. This has become the reality that we live in and this video was around 6 years old and things have only gotten worse. We saw this with different trends that get super popular for a little bit then get taken by the next trend. For example, you had the cinnamon challenge which was to try and eat a spoon full of cinnamon and to try to not cough it up, this was then taken over by the tide pod challenge where you ate a tide pod which was suppose to be used to clean your clothes.

While most of the people that participated in this challenge were younger kids still in either elementary or middle school there were some older participants as well. With the cinnamon challenge there was really no harm caused to people doing the challenge but with the tide pod challenge there was some deaths associated with the challenge. The blame for these deaths was placed on tide for making there products look to good and that they need to make them look less appealing so people would not eat them. This is just crazy because when you’re older you should know better then to get something that is suppose to be used to clean clothes and if you’re to young to know this then maybe you should not have access to these types of things. This should of been a wake up call to parents that maybe my 7 year old kid shouldn’t have access to social media where these types of dangerous activities and challenges are present. As parents it is your responsibility to monitor your kids and keep them safe from things like this and kids are never going to have the best judgment and should not be left alone with the vast space of social media and the internet to do as they please. The tide pod challenge was not the first harmfully challenge and it definitely will not be the last. I know times are changing but I did not have my first phone that had no internet access till I was in 7th grade so I could contact my parents and let them know when I needed to be picked up from practices or to ask to go to a friends house. I had only had an iPod before this to really listen to music and play different games on it. I didn’t get my first smartphone till I think around 9th or 10th grade.

With the black mirror episode, “15 Million Merits”, is about people riding bikes every day to earn there merits and then spend those as they please. They are put in front of a screen and are able to pick what they want to be on the screen while they bike but then back in there bedroom they are surrounded by screen that show different ads that you have to watch or pay credits to get them to stop. You then have to pay for just about everything you from getting tooth paste to brush your teeth to getting lunch while at work riding the bike. Then once you get to 15 million merits you’re able to by a ticket to a talent show of sorts. You preform whatever talent you think you may have and if the judges like it you get to perform this talent for the rest of the people stuck riding their bikes to see but if they don’t like it they can recommend other things for you to do. We see this with one contestant that goes on to sign but the judges don’t think she got that special of a voice and recommend for her to do porn which she ends up doing. I think this relates to society now with social media and how everything is about how many likes and followers you have. There are so many people out there that all they ever do is to either gain followers or likes and they will do whatever it takes to get there. Sometimes they end up hurting other people or even friends to get there and they don’t care because they are gaining follows along the way and more followers means more likes. You’re seeing this blow up with social media influences which can be just about anyone who has a high number of followers and likes. These people then post different products or talk about different topic then tag people that relate to these things and then are able to make money off of there post and from getting people to join whatever it is they are talking about. What was your experience with phones growing and how is it different from today?

News Article

I kept the same kind of topic for my news article this week. This article talks about screen usage of younger kids. It says that around 53% of kids have a smartphone by 11 and 1 in 5 children have a phone by age 8.

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/31/774838891/its-a-smartphone-life-more-than-half-of-u-s-children-now-have-one