My Presence on Social Media

    

    I use social media to keep myself updated on things that are important to me: my friends; what they’re doing, new movies, new music, and major events. The social media apps that I use are Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter; I use all of them in different ways. Instagram is the place I post pictures of myself and major events in my life. It is the platform that helps me stay connected with childhood friends; I wish them happy birthday. I also post songs that I enjoy in addition to motivational quotes that are thought provoking. On Snapchat, I have streaks with over 10 people and my highest streak is 635 days. I post videos of what I’m currently doing with friends, along with sharing my thoughts on important events. Snapchat is a more personal platform because I post quotes and thoughts that are going through my mind everyday and I get my followers to reach out to me and they appreciate the content I put out. I prefer to post on Snapchat a lot more because the videos are only made available to see for 24 hours. Finally, I use Twitter to tweet out my thoughts on subjects that interest me the most. Twitter has a news section on the main page, which is how I catch up on the top news of the day. I personally like Twitter a lot because there is an algorithm to it every time when people tweet things out. In all of these apps, I keep in mind with all of the information that I’m putting out there because it will put me in greater risk of identity theft, stalking and harassment.

    The value that social media has for me is that I’m able to share my life and meet new people that I don’t even know. I’m able to start up conversations even if I don’t know much about them. Social media helps me build more confidence in myself by sharing things that I’m doing with friends on Snapchat. I can also share my thoughts on major events through all of the other social media apps that I use and I can start up 7-8 hour conversations with someone who is very interested in the topic. The importance of social media is in the way it connects people all across the world. Also, to talk about my relationship with technology further, despite me being on it for an excessive amount, I still feel my relationship with social media is healthy because I’m able to limit my time on it and I try to not let it consume me.

    Overall, if I were to apply for a job an employer would look me up online, they would find that I portray a very clean, not to mention charming image on the pictures I post on my accounts. The older I get, the more safely I use social media by limiting the stuff I post and not give any of my personal information because just like tattoos, the internet is forever. It’s better to leave a positive footprint than a negative footprint.

Values of Free Expression

 

8 Values of Free Expression

                    

The 2 out of the 8 Values of Free Expression that resonated with me the most were number 3, which relates to “Stable Change” (aka Safety Value), and number 6, which relates to the idea of “Promoting Tolerance.” For number 3, the reason why it’s important to me is because Spinoza’s TTP is similar to freedom of expression because it emphasizes and takes seriously the dangers when it comes to religious leaders meddling in politics. According to the TTP, it specifically states, “Religion leaders should not meddle into politics.” It has additionally been identified that granting the disaffected and disgruntled the ability to speak candidly implements the government to effectively keep an eye on possibly threatening organizations. Stable change is an example of wanting change for a certain issue that affects the wide majority of citizens in our society. A real world example of wanting stable change around a certain issue would be the Black Lives Matter Movement. The way that it seeks stable change is by acquiring justice for those black lives who have tragically passed away due to police brutality and all other racially motivated violence against black people. I support the meaning and purpose behind the Black Lives Matter Movement, and I want to educate myself and listen to what is really going on with the police department and why they don’t investigate why “bad apples” (bad cops) have intentions to become cops if some can’t even control an abrasive, exotic, and intense situation the correct way.

Aside from the Black Lives Matter Movement, I also want to start a club during my time at High Point University that advocates for better health for college students, and my club is going to encourage them to stop smoking and drinking. Also, I want to encourage the people who participate in my club to not fall under the peer-pressure of others and be their own person. This reminds me of the quote, “Don’t let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace,” because you can’t let unnecessary and negative energy towards you get you discouraged; it’s just not worth it. This can be tied to what type of friends people hang out with when those friends force them to do things like drive them places because they don’t have a car, and they pressure others to take shots at a party when they don’t feel comfortable doing so. Changing these is an example of stable change that can be implemented on the HPU campus.

For number 6, the reason why it’s important to me is that we as a people in today’s America want to be seen as the country where everyone is treated equally. This is fundamental to our identity as a tolerant people. Even though hate speech is protected under the First Amendment, it is still being argued about amongst scholars. One of the reasons why I want to start the club at High Point University mentioned above is that I want people to feel like they can finally break free from the bad habits they may have developed due to the fact that some people couldn’t tolerate them because of their identity and or their different beliefs.

 It’s all about identity (the identity of us as a people--America) and not wanting to draw a line that might cause us to no longer be tolerant, even if that tolerance is of extreme ideas.

Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing 

Cloud Computing enables the delivery of internet-based computer services, such as storage and processing, typically on a prepaid basis. The “cloud” takes your information from your devices. Rather than creating their own computing framework or data centers, businesses can enter into a lease to store forms, financial information, and other important data in the cloud. One good thing about using cloud computing is that firms can avoid the upfront cost and complexity of owning and maintaining their own IT infrastructure. 

As a service, cloud computing has the capability to alter a huge chunk of the IT industry, making operating systems much more efficient (Ranger, 2018). Builders with contemporary concepts for advanced internet maintenance once required huge central locations to house the necessary hardware to expand their business in addition to a massive budget to handle its operation. Some benefits of cloud computing are that it consolidates your data and makes syncing data non-essential. Another benefit is that it defends against disaster. When a company loses vast amounts of data, it can result in nothing but disaster no matter the size of the company. Cloud-based storage is much more secure than operating an on-site data center. Organizations that store their data on the premises see 51 percent more security incidents than those that use cloud storage (“Pros and Cons of Cloud Computing,” 2019). The disadvantages of cloud computing are understanding the costs. While storing data in the cloud can help reduce costs in some areas, it is critical to put an appropriate plan in place and focus on all systems inside the company--which can be expensive. The trick is to do an examination of the networks and batch them into two ranks. Another disadvantage is limited control because the base of the cloud is owned by another company.  

Cloud computing is critical for businesses. It allows them to have a low-cost option to on-demand capabilities such as providing them with remote servers, storage, databases, networks software, analytics, speed, productivity, and performance. Internet companies do not have to have an IT infrastructure, they can simply pay for a service that offers them everything they need when they need it. For example, companies such as streaming services use cloud computing to run their services. I think cloud computing will be essentially beneficial, especially now during the pandemic. The cloud and it’s vast data processing capabilities serves an integral part in the development of vaccines in a timely manner. As we continue on this path, companies and/or individuals are going to continue to use cloud computing to carry on with using remote servers to collect data that is being updated constantly.

https://www.morefield.com/blog/pros-and-cons-of-cloud-computing/