Society and the Web: the dichotomy of choice

The invention of the internet has proven to be one of the most influential changes to society in the history of humankind. In my opinion, prior to the technological advancements of the internet and the devices that house it, the world was always pretty similar. No matter how far back in time you went, societal standards only differed so much. Yes, there was once a time when people killed each other for entertainment, but truly, things really started to vamp up once the internet was introduced to society and people began to realize the real scope of what it could do, as well as what people could do with it.

There are clearly two very prevalent sides to the internet: the incredible aspects that allow you to learn, stay connected, and experience, and the dark sides that cause you to feel, think, and hide. These more challenging parts of the web are where bullies, frauds, and predators live. The internet is an infinitely vast web, making it extremely difficult to locate and crack down on each and every villain that lingers within it, but thankfully there are many legal forces that are working against these evils every day to rid the internet of them.

In the meantime, I can only give advice from a girl who has put a large majority of her life on the internet for almost as long as I can remember. Every day is a battle between choosing the parts you want to experience and avoiding the sides that you know might hurt you, like reading negative comments on your posts and doing too much research on the stories that make you scared for your future. Instead, I choose to focus on the aspects that remind me how incredible the internet can be. Some of my favorite "check-ins" revolve around peaking at my grandma's Facebook wall, learning new recipes on TikTok to try in my kitchen, and watching my favorite YouTubers update us on their lives. These connections give me purpose on the neverending Web and allow me to remember the happy feelings I get from just relaxing and letting my mind wander.

I like to read articles and books about how to better our environment, our society, and our own personal lives, and stumbled across a good one about how to better our internet, by doing our civic duty on the Web. The key takeaways basically made me think that everything we aspire to do in real life to better our society, we can be doing on the web too to help make it a better place. These are things like contributing real knowledge on sites like Wikipedia, reviewing products you've purchased online, and sharing good causes.

I believe that if we all try our best on the Internet, it will grow to become a more inclusive place. If we ban together to stop the liars and the trolls, they will eventually disappear. And, if we fully commit to using our Internet privileges for good, it will have no choice but to harvest into a place for love, learning, and acceptance for all walks of human life. We have the power to make this happen, just like we also have the power to make it a breeding ground for hate and shame. We must choose to do what's right in order for our digital society to blossom to its full potential.

Uncovering whistleblowers

Ever heard of the terms snitch or tattletale? These titles are given to those who expose others for doing some deemed 'bad' to an authority. Typically, these are kids on the playground who run and tell parents or teachers that Sally is making fun of Johnny. In the real world, these people are known as whistleblowers, and their jobs are more serious.

A whistleblower is someone who gives up information about people who are involved in illegal acts. These acts must be considered unethical, unrighteous, or downright illegal, and are usually within public or private institutions or organizations. Whistleblowers, although not popular among criminals, are protected by the US federal government under the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989. On top of this, many states have even adopted further ways for whistleblowers to stay protected through their anti-corruption, freedom of information, and employment laws.

Most whistleblowers are internal to the company and are reporting against a colleague anonymously, however, there are two overarching sectors that can further explain the severity of the whistleblowing action. These would be for private and public institutions. In most cases, a whistleblower exposing a public institution is going to be more high profile than private, but more prevalent in society. If a whistleblower is not internal to the institution, then they are either external or a third party. Sometimes, companies will hire a third party whistleblower to come in and create a secure and anonymous scout on their employees, as it could be beneficial to have these bad eggs exposed before someone else does it.


When a whistleblower finds and reports important information to the authorities, it is crucial that action is taken. Under the protection rights of these people, it is safe to do so and in the end benefits society on a scale that is sometimes astronomical. For businesses, consumers, and the general public, these people put their necks on the line to protect us all.

The spiral of silence and why we try to avoid it

The term spiral of silence was coined by German survey and communication researcher Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann back in the 1960s and 70s. The theory refers to the idea that in a societal grouping, people may choose to isolate a member if they disagree with that person's beliefs or opinions. It is largely believed that people's willingness to express their thoughts and opinions on controversial subjects can be strongly affected by their unconscious opinions of whether their ideas will be popular or not with others. 

This means, in more simple terms, that typically if someone subconsciously believes that their opinion is not going to be preferred by the masses, they are far more likely to share how they feel. Similarly, the spiral of silence states how if these people do choose to speak up against the opinions of others, they are likely to be shut out by the group of people that disagree with their beliefs.

As one can assume, there is a psychological effect that tends to take a toll on the people who are and are not isolated in these situations. For instance, the person whose ideas are chastised is more likely to feel reluctant over time about their opinions, while the ones who are praised become even more confident about their beliefs. When this effect is done over and over again throughout society, it starts to create long term effects on societal decision making on issues that are controversial over time, as explained by Petersen. 

Some key elements to the theory of the spiral of silence include the fact that most people do have a natural response of fearing isolation from their peers. This often causes people to be monitoring the choices of others in order to see whether people respond positively or negatively to these claims, to then be able to self-evaluate their own beliefs before sharing them with anyone else. 

In order to avoid isolation, people often hold back from sharing their opinions on controversial topics when they believe that the reactions to these statements would be scornful or invoke criticism. On the other hand, for people who are confident that their ideas will be agreed upon, or for those who suffer from narcissism and believe everything they think to be true, they will be the first to fearlessly share their opinions with the group.

What is important to note with the theory of the spiral of silence is that it only comes into play with regards to controversial topics that invoke a moral component. For something more abstract, like a person's favorite color, this will not cause society to want to isolate an individual even if everyone's favorite is blue and one person's favorite is red. For this theory to be observed, the topics of conversation must involve a concept that brings out strong feelings of morality and/or the self. 

In the end, this theory sheds light on something we've all probably known about ourselves, which is the fact that we do not want to be shut out by society for the things we believe. This is why many people prefer to keep quiet about their opinions when really the best option for us all would be to find a way to accept each other, or for those who need it, learn to reason and bring them peacefully to believe in new ideas.   

Where privacy turns to publicly

The development of the digital age has brought many advancements that make our lives easier every day, but with this great expansion brings a quiet hum of the underlying secrets that we don't know about the internet. We give these websites and apps that have changed our lives like Facebook and Twitter all the information that they could possibly ask for without ever even thinking twice. But what we don't understand or see is how they are using every move we make online against us, in exchange for money and power.

As Juan Enriquez said in his Ted Talk, our presence online is like a tattoo. Every site we click on, comment we make, and product we purchase is documented forever in ones and zeroes, and with the help of the right software and companies funding them, those movements are tracked behind us for the rest of our lives. My mother used to always tell me that the photos and posts and I put on Facebook will never really go away, and boy was she correct. We all know now how deleting things never really wipes them from the internet, but it is more than just that stuff we choose to post. It is the photos we are tagged in, the advertisements that we like, the questions that we google search, and the videos we favorite on our YouTube accounts.

Every little detail can be used to trace our identities and who we are as people. This data is being used to make us more prominent consumers, louder reviewers, and more obsessed with our devices. We think our phones and computers "know us well" but how could they not after years of reading our private emails and texts? By using these devices, we are giving big tech companies everything they need to make us obsessed and keep us exactly where we are right now, in front of our screens instead of spending our time in the real world making memories that will only ever live on in our minds.

My online presence at age 22

The online presence I have is more extensive than the typical person my age and in my life, but I accredit this to my chosen profession. I opened my YouTube channel back in 2013 in hopes of one day becoming a digital blogger, or today as we know it, an influencer. Since this decision, my work has taken off to a certain degree and I have been able to extend my voice onto multiple platforms.

Today, I have a partnered YouTube channel which brings in monthly revenue, an Instagram account with over 10k followers, allowing me to do sponsored brand deals, and in the past few years I have been able to develop my website. This three accounts are all focused around fashion inspiration, beauty and wellness tips, and fitness advice. Aside from these, I also have an art account on Instagram with which I showcase and sell my digital designs.

I would definitely say I put a lot of myself out there on the internet and that I'm not afraid to share my opinions and my voice, but I always keep my comments positive and try to spread love and happiness with my followers and the people I have relationships with online. I think when people come to look at my content, they see a confident, well-rounded woman with some decent knowledge to share. Or so I hope!

I do not share personal information online such as my phone number, information about my address or my family, and other details that I consider to be private and important to keep to myself, however, I do have my email linked on all my accounts so that brands and other people in my industry can contact me. This has worked very well for me throughout my career and I'm thankful every day for the connections and opportunities I've been given!

Overall, I like to constantly remind myself that social media is only one small part of me and that the people who follow me online don't really know me, just as well as the people I follow. That means that just because I see someone who seems so perfect in every way online, I know that in reality they have their ups and downs just like everyone else. This is so important for me to be mindful of as I work daily in an industry that can easily bring you down. Instead, I choose to focus on all of the beauty that the internet holds and keep close to my heart the values I have always had of instilling positivity, believing in ones self, and being grateful for the blessings in my life.

How Snapchat changed the texting game

The invention of Snapchat, a picture/video messaging platform that deletes your messages forever after they are opened, hit the market in 2011 and quickly became a household name. People were instantly hooked on the idea of sending photos with short captions that would only last for a maximum of 10 seconds, and within a short amount of time, it became the newest "texting" app for young people. Today, Snapchat has over 218 million daily users, so what techniques exactly did Snapchat use that made it so successful to this point?

For one, Snapchat creators listen to their users. When many early adopters picked up Snapchat, myself included, we were seeing many changes often to the platform. They added video features, rolled out some filters, and included geotags. Some updates were useful and exciting, while others made the app extremely confusing and difficult to use. What Snapchat did when they received outcries of terrible feedback was reverting back to different versions of the app while trying to figure out the best way to move forward. For this reason, many people felt a sense of reliance towards the platform, knowing that the users are heard and respected.

Snapchat has had many years of impenetrable success, as well as times that we all thought it would crash. These failures were mostly due to poor changes on the app, but they have always managed to bounce back. It is safe to say now that Snapchat has survived through its maturation, truly becoming one of the few staple apps on millions of people's phones. It is both interesting and exciting to see what updates Snapchat will make in 2020 and how the app will change even over the next 5 years.

Why promoting innovation is a pivotal value in free expression

Free expression is a crucial right that all American's are given from the day they take their first breath to the moment they give their last. Without the freedom to speak, be, and feel how we truly are inside, we cannot call ourselves a democracy under the words of our foundation that is the US Constitution. With the term 'free expression' protected under the first amendment, there are eight established values that go deeper as to what this freedom of expression truly holds. Within those eight values, there is one that sticks out to me among the rest. This is the right of promoting innovation through free speech.

Scholar Jack Balkin said it best in his piece Living Originalism, that a community who chooses to allow its people the right of free speech is most likely to be more creative, energized, and fulfilling in many more ways than one, as it instills the right for diversity and acceptance. For those who live outside of the United States and have the desire to emigrate here in search of "the American Dream", they are looking for the freedom of starting a new life, of following their wildest visions, and in hopes of reaching their full potential. None of which can be done if the government and society were not willing to allow for new and creative ideas from its people. I cannot imagine a life where we have everything at our fingertips: resources, advancements, and brilliant minds, but were then told we are not free to use these things to better ourselves and the world around us.

Promoting innovation is precisely the value that sets the United States apart from any other country on the planet. Because of the American people's constant drive to be the best, to create like no other, and to reach advancements never seen before, we are at the forefront of creation and innovation in fields like technology, medicine, and economics, to just name a few. We have leaders in our country who have the minds to change the world as we know it to currently be, and without our constitutional right to think and produce, we would not be skyrocketing into the future as each decade passes.

I am thankful to the 39 brilliant men who signed the United States Constitution and began giving us the standards with which each American feels entitled to have. Without the roots which tell us that we should promote tolerance and innovation, participate in self-government and a marketplace of ideas, allow for individual self-fulfillment and stable change, and finally protect ourselves through dissent and by checking on our government powers, we would not be able to call ourselves a Free Nation.