On this two weeks of intensive class we have learned about everything related to communication and technology. We talked about computers, cellphones, headphones, and texting. We even talked about the history of  movies and TV. But I want to talked about cellphones since is the one that I mostly use on my daily life and the one that impacted me the most.

Cellphones literary have power over humans. Without even noticing, we can spend hours and hours browsing in Google, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Whatsapp etc. We have gotten so addicted that iPhones have the option to put a limit on the hours you can use your apps. Also, it tells you have much time you spend on your cellphone a day, and then the whole week. It is sad to see that phones now have this option, I mean. How far have we gotten?

Yes, cellphones have their positive side, in case of emergency is so easy to call for help, or text and even send your location if you are on a dangerous situation. Also, you can browse whatever and whenever you want at all times, it gives you entertainment etc.  But after studying this technology I saw how little by little people are getting dependent of their cellphones. I started noticing and I don’t even leave my phone to go to the bathroom. It is dangerous how important is a device for us and how we cant live without them.

Now a days people used texting as their main form of communication instead of calling. Since is easier and much faster. You don’t have to wait in the line for the other person to answer, sometimes you are in a place you cant talk loudly like a library and texting is the best option.

Thanks to this, the California government is considering adding a tax for texting. There is already taxes for the calls and now they are considering adding taxes to texts also. In my opinion, this is not fair. As mentioned in the article, texting is like emailing.It shouldn’t have any cost. People with end in depts, because no one will stop texting.

I do understand why they want to do it. Since now a days everyone uses texts messages, the idea of adding taxes to the phone calls is not generating the amount of money they think they would have. (because now a days no one uses phone calls as before.)   But still It should not have any cost. It would harm many people as I said before, no one will stop texting. In my case, I text for everything, it is best and easiest way to communicate. If I am on a doctor appointment and someone calls, I can text that I am busy without interrupting , or if need to tell something to my mom I just text and she see it whenever she can. Only if its urgent or very important I use phone calls.

Living in a world full of technology, you have probably see people with headphones everywhere. It is very common to see people walking trough the streets with headphones on, or at an airplane, train or bus. Even while eating, working or doing homework. It practically part of our face. But what we don’t know is that in some cases, it could be very dangerous.

Mohd Aidi Azzhar Zahrin, a 16 year old boy from Malaysia was found dead with blood in his ears. The cause of his dead was electric discharge. He was using his headphones that were connected to the cellphone, witch was also charging at the same time. This is something we don’t hear normally. Honestly is the first time I hear that something like this happened.

In my opinion, I think this happened because the headphones where connected to the cellphone and the phone to electricity, so it was too much electricity going at the same time. But now, for example the newest iPhones doesn’t have an entrance for the headphones. The entrance for the headphones is the same one for the charger. So it is impossible to do both things at the same time. Also, the air pods. witch are wireless.  This prevents this kinds of tragedies. In my opinion, this will not affect any business that sells this kind of products. This is a strange case, that probably happend because of the quality of the devices. I wouldn’t stop using headphones because on that and thanks to the Apple updates, I am save.

Most people think that since we are living on a technological era, printed books will disappear. But they are completely wrong. Based on an article from the Huffingtonpost, there are 9 studies, that show that students prefer the printed version over the e-book version. Honestly I prefer the printed copy also. And when we discussed this in class, most students preferred it too.

As mention in the article, it’s hard to avoid multitasking while reading digital books. I spend too much time on screens in my daily life, wether for school, work or entertainment. I am most of the time either on my cell-phone or my computer. When is my time to read I like to relax and disconnect. If I read for example from a Kindle, I will not concentrate, it is a screen, and I need a break from that. If I read from my computer, I would get discracted in a second if I see an email coming or a message coming.

Besides, you can read a print copy whenever and wherever you are. You don’t have to be stressed about the battery, or the brightness etc. When you read a book on a printed copy, it gives you a different feeling, you feel connected to the story. In E-books you dont have that same feeling.As mentioned in the article: » A 2012 study featured in the Guardian gave half its participants a story on paper, and the other half the same story on screen. The result? iPad readers didn’t feel that the story was as immersive, and therefore weren’t able to connect with it on an emotional level. «Printed copies are better in any way you can see it. And I am glad to see that most people thinks the same way as me, because know I see that printed copies are not going anywhere any time soon!

Recently Youtube announced they are introducing a new feature. It is called Auto Play. This new feature consist on videos appearing on your Youtube home page and playing automatically. The video would not have any sound, it will have subtitles. The reason for this is because they want to give people the opportunity to watch videos even though they are on on public places like a bus stop, a train station etc.

This new feature consumes data, so in my opinion is a con for them. They would give the option to turn it off or only appear while using wifi. Still, there is many people like me that doesn’t manage well those things and always end using data. Also there is people who not even know that the option to turn it off exist.

I dont like the idea at all, I hate when things start playing by default. But it is an innovation since it is something new and something we haven’t seen before. I also, don’t see how are they gonna make that much money. If the videos will not include ads an there will be an option to turn it off (that i think most people will). It would be benefitial to the channel who gets the spot on the homepage. But besides that, I don’t see any other way of income. I would definitely turn it off.

G. Riley Mills, is a communication consultant and book author, who also is responsible of opening my eyes on whats happening with technology. I was pro technology, I still am. I think the benefits we are having thanks to technology are insanely amazing! Thanks to technology, deaf people are able to hear, and blind people are able to see. Different sicknesses have found either a cure or a treatment. It is awesome.

After listening G. Riley Mills talk, I understood that the we are using the technology wrong. Yes, technology is amazing for everything I mentioned before. But it is sad how dependent we are on technology now a days. It sad to see that now cellphones have the option to give you notifications when you have been too much time in your cellphone. We prefer watching Instagram videos than talk to people who is in front of us. We feel better texting people than actually meeting people.

This talk made me open my eyes and see that the problem is not the technology.  That actually, we are. If only people should know when to use technology and when not to, there would not be any problem. We should have limits and parents should put limits to their kids. As G.Riley Mills said: » Technology is meant to enhance, not to replace human interaction. If we are not careful, we are gonna have a dangerous landscape to navigate»

 

The Leicester Square cinema in London is reopening this Christmas with no other than the premiere of the famous movie «Marry Poppins». Since the Odeon and the movie are brand new, the cinema decided to charge costumers $32 (cheapest) and $52(most expensive) per ticket when the movie and the cinema itself premiered for the first time. In my opinion, it is fair. The cinema spent millions of pounds on renovations and refurbishment, costumers will enjoy the premier of their movie and with the highest technology a movie theatre can give. It is obvious that the ticket would cost more.

Still, people in London are complaining. I kind of agree, the price may be a little high to see a movie, but there should be an increase from the normal tickets. If you want to see the movie in that theatre, and be the first one to see it, you should pay for it. Besides, the prices to watch the movie later in the year, are cheaper prices; ($13.72 cheapest) and ($52 higher) but this seats are in the center of the auditorium with full recline, masses of legroom and extra width, and personal tables.

In Panama, a luxury mall opened a few year ago and as normal, it included a movie theatre as well. What people didnt knew was that the prices would be higher. In Panama that is not normal. The prices of movies have been always the same everywhere, but in this mall (Soho Mall) an adult ticket cost $18 plus tax. People were complaining around until they understood that the other theaters were still there, with the same movies and cheaper. But not with the same comfort. In my opinion, if you want comfort and exclusivity, you should pay for it.

 

After reading bot arguments I have to say I still am in favor of freedom of speech. People have the right to say whatever they want, and as I mentioned in other blogs, not everyone will like your opinion. Not everyone will like you, or your ideas. But that is not a reason why people should not say what they think. In fact, I think it is irresponsible for people to keep silent. That leads your community or maybe your whole country to corruption, then murders etc.

For example, world war two. If only ONE person would have stood up for the jewish people, the nazis wouldn’t have killed 6 million jewish people. Or if at leas one person would have stood up for the war itself, today we wouldn’t have been saying that they killed 11 million people. I contrast, Mahatma Gandhi. He stood up and said his country needed independence. He gather people to join his movement and he lead the independence of India through non-violent methods. He only spoke and said what he think was the right thing to do. 

I admit it, I am with the government in one point. “Free speech is not inconsistent with restrictions (on it),” said justice S.A. Bobde. He added that there was “absolutely no cap on speaking”. But one had to be “doubly careful” so as to not offend anybody when expressing something on a platform that was accessible by a large number of people. People should be careful, now a days people are more sensitive than before, they are getting offended more quickly and no one wants to have enemies. So I am not saying the government should control what and what not to put on the internet. But I am saying that people itself should be careful. And most important, don’t stay in silent if something bothers you, fight for what you think is right.

After reading the article, I have to admit my perspective about the internet changed completely. It is true, the internet have a lot of positives benefits. Now a days that the situations on many countries is bad, millions of families have been separated. The internet give those people the opportunity to keep in touch with their loved ones. Also, the internet give you access to a lot of information and research that is used to improve technology, to look for new treatments for diseases etc.

But this article showed me how dangerous the internet can be. Just because the newspaper published a cartoon of Muhammad with a few words making fun of it, someone from the islamic group went to take revenge by killing people. For me that was shocking. People have freedom of speech, that is right every human have. There will always be people who will make fun of you, your culture, you religion. But thats no reason why you should go and kill those people. (I am not saying is okay being racist and making fun of other races and cultures).

Internet was a huge part of this tragic attempt. It is sad that after this event, writers from all over the world felt scared to talk, scared to write what they feel. Because they saw that now a days everything you say can be used against you. And that there may be consequences like this one. If we don´t make something against this, soon, there will not be freedom of speech. Terrorism will win and technology and the internet would control us.

After reading the article, I have to admit my perspective about the internet changed completely. It is true, the internet have a lot of positives benefits. Now a days that the situations on many countries is bad, millions of families have been separated. The internet give those people the opportunity to keep in touch with their loved ones. Also, the internet give you access to a lot of information and research that is used to improve technology, to look for new treatments for diseases etc.

But this article showed me how dangerous the internet can be. Just because the newspaper published a cartoon of Muhammad with a few words making fun of it, someone from the islamic group went to take revenge by killing people. For me that was shocking. People have freedom of speech, that is right every human have. There will always be people who will make fun of you, your culture, you religion. But thats no reason why you should go and kill those people. (I am not saying is okay being racist and making fun of other races and cultures).

Internet was a huge part of this tragic attempt. It is sad that after this event, writers from all over the world felt scared to talk, scared to write what they feel. Because they saw that now a days everything you say can be used against you. And that there may be consequences like this one. If we don´t make something against this, soon, there will not be freedom of speech. Terrorism will win and technology and the internet would control us.