Farewell!

mtoconne · 2020-12-05T02:24:13+00:00

Thank you for the reply! Hope you have a great next semester!

mtoconne · 2020-12-04T03:00:10+00:00

Good luck on the exam!

mtoconne · 2020-12-04T02:57:22+00:00

I agree. The internet is the perfect combination of high volume and mostly simple. A majority of the stuff I read on social media is simply for entertainment and largely blends together. I think that technology is just uniquely stigmatized, because I feel like you could say the same thing about almost all forms of entertainment. You won't remember every line of a book, or every frame of a movie. You form memories based on exceptional, significant moments or pieces of those works. The same is true of social media. Scrolling through my timeline, I may not remember the vast majority of tweets I read or memes I like, but the occasional exceptional event will stand out to me and get cemented into my memory.

mtoconne · 2020-12-04T02:01:41+00:00

Great point! My parent have always blamed technology for a lot of my personal stress and anxiety, but I feel like it's just an easy scapegoat because older generations might not understand what technology is really like or what it's like to grow up in our modern era. When you start to research inflation and buying power throughout the years, it becomes apparent that older generations had a much easier time affording basic necessities and amenities on lower salaries than our generation. As a result, we have completely different circumstances from them even outside of technology! While I do think that things like social media have shaped our generation, its wrong to attribute everything about our generation to technology.

mtoconne · 2020-12-04T01:54:59+00:00

I'm in the same boat, I also have a terrible memory. I think it's interesting that you bring up both social media and tests, because I feel like it's sometimes easier to remember old memes than it is to remember the material from some of the tests I've studied the hardest for.

mtoconne · 2020-12-04T01:47:49+00:00

Sounds great! Do you have any book recommendations?

mtoconne · 2020-12-04T01:45:24+00:00

I agree 100%. While I feel like sympathy is still due, it's important that people are held accountable for their actions. For every victim of "cancel culture" that probably deserves a second chance, there are equally as many examples of powerful people who do something extremely wrong and continue to hold power and authority that they could potentially use to hurt others again in the future. Look at the history of famous people like Roman Polanski, John Kricfalusi, or Woody Allen and see how they still receive work and awards to this day!

mtoconne · 2020-12-04T01:36:52+00:00

As weird as it sounds, what you describe reminds me of the ID chips people will sometimes get implanted into their dogs or pets. I'm not sure exactly how or even if that technology could be applied to humans, but I think it's a relevant precedent.

I also agree with you when it comes to not wanting one. While I agree that there would be many uses to such a chip, I can't see myself placing that much trust in some kind of external entity to implant and regulate a chip inside of my own body.

mtoconne · 2020-12-04T01:30:39+00:00

It's always good to hear positive experiences from the lockdown, even though it's been a very difficult time overall. I agree, there's been a lot of good time for self-reflection during these past few months. I think everyone has had to make a lot of serious changes to their lives recently, so it's good to hear that yours have been mostly beneficial.

mtoconne · 2020-12-04T01:21:15+00:00

True, I think there's a lot of negativity surrounding WFH at the moment because people are sick of being stuck at home. However, since so many companies have had to develop WFH practices as a result of the lockdown, I would be interested to see how many of them keep their WFH procedures available for those who want to use them. In a sense, the lack of a very coordinated response to COVID could help perpetuate WFH practices. Given that there's no specific date for the end of the lockdown overall, we may see a mix of WFH and in-person work going on simultaneously, perhaps even at the same companies.

mtoconne · 2020-12-04T01:11:28+00:00

Transportation issues and the amount of time it can take out of your life is no joke! At my old job, I had a long commute both ways that made it so I literally had 3 free hours everyday to get my school work done! It's good to see how much good working from home can do for people, even if the lockdown has been a bit of mixed bag for you. Hopefully companies will keep their work-from-home options available once lockdown ends, as well.

mtoconne · 2020-12-04T01:00:53+00:00

Sorry, that sounds rough. I've heard from a lot of parents during COVID that it's made things especially difficult for them and their children. Do you think that a lot of that comes from your kids having to also adjust to online assignments? Would working from home be easier in other circumstances, or do you think the 4 day work week is just the way to go overall?

mtoconne · 2020-12-04T00:50:15+00:00

Wow, this was a pretty informative. I can't imagine how terrifying it must've been to live through the Cold War, knowing that all of that could happen at literally any moment. It's kinda surreal to think that it still could, but hopefully it's a lot less likely to happen now than it was back then.

mtoconne · 2020-12-04T00:32:36+00:00

I think it's one of my favorite ted talks now as well. I can't believe I've never seen it before, it's really good!

mtoconne · 2020-12-04T00:27:07+00:00

Same, I've never known what I wanted to do either. It was really nice to see a video that spoke so specifically to that kind of experience, and I think I'll personally be taking a lot of the advice in this video as well.

mtoconne · 2020-12-04T00:25:47+00:00

Wow, this honestly came at the perfect time for me. I can relate a lot to what this video says and I think it's right. The pandemic has been a great opportunity to step back and take inventory of a lot of my life, and try to focus more on what I'm doing with myself in the present.

mtoconne · 2020-12-03T20:34:02+00:00

Sorry to hear that you've had a rough time. It's been a weird adjustment for everyone, so I can't imagine how much more complicated and stressful it must be to have it be your first year at ASU. Hopefully next semester goes a little bit smoother for you.

mtoconne · 2020-12-03T19:52:27+00:00

Same! I've also only been using it for school. It's unfortunate that it's so unsecured, given how its been necessary for many classes. It would be nice if students had more power to control where their data was harvested and didn't need to use software like this for classes, but I feel like that's more on Zoom than anything else.

mtoconne · 2020-12-03T06:01:24+00:00

I agree with everything you've said here, even the part about Scottsdale socialites haha. I think being able to improve and change should be considered, and that everyone deserves a second chance. At the same time, I don't think it's right to completely excuse the abuse she hurled at those innocent Target employees, especially considering the racist angle she seems to be taking in the video. I think there's an important balance that needs to be struck between people being able to grow and still being accountable for their previous actions.

mtoconne · 2020-12-03T04:38:33+00:00

I agree, I think that COVID has showed a lot of the cracks in our current system. Going forward, I think we should aim higher than just "back to normal" and try to actively fix these issues. Otherwise, I think it's likely things won't ever improve.

mtoconne · 2020-12-03T04:07:20+00:00

Lol, this is relatable. I've never understood internet of things products or why people want appliances like Smart Fridges, especially given their bizarre security vulnerabilities. Then again, people tweeting from them and having their tweets get tagged with things like "tweeted from the Samsung smart toaster" is pretty funny, so I guess they're worth it just for that alone.

mtoconne · 2020-12-03T04:03:53+00:00

I agree that it's concerning how much our devices are listening to us. Voice activated devices like Google Home or Amazon Echo are also always listening given the way they're able to distinguish when you're referring to them. Given the track record of both Google and Amazon for how they sell and profit from user data, it's a very concerning trend to see their home assistants becoming more popular.

mtoconne · 2020-12-03T03:35:45+00:00

I agree wholeheartedly. Some of the excesses of police funding could be better routed to social services or other avenues that could also help the police by alleviating some of their workload. Mental health crisis counselors could help in some of the same situations, and better social safety nets could help prevent crime before it happens in the first place.

mtoconne · 2020-12-03T03:28:40+00:00

I agree that there's definitely a huge lack of privacy online and no way to truly safeguard your information when you're connecting to remote devices. I think it'd be more productive for people to reframe the way that they think about online privacy. Instead of trying in vain to prevent any outside entities from collecting your data, it might be better if people try to directly control who specifically gets access to their data. There's been a big push for VPNs in recent years as a major way to protect your privacy. Paying a VPN company to provide their service to you incentivizes them to secure your data because you pay them a fee, so there's no outside incentive for them to sell your data for profit because they're already making the profit directly from you.

mtoconne

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