Mainstream News

 

Main Stream News, What is it Hiding?

News is everywhere: the radio, television, your phone, and your laptop. However, is the news we see and hear about accurate, and why do we not hear about other important information worldwide? I took a look at two different sites, Antiwar, and The American Conservative. Both of these sites are strong antiwar voices. Personally, I have never heard antiwar voices or opinions in mainstream news, and I wondered why this is. These aren't the only voices that the mainstream isn't sharing, think about all other opinions, popular or not, that are silenced and not talked about. 

Antiwar Voices

After taking a look at the two websites I mentioned before, I realized I never heard, seen, or acknowledged antiwar voices. Whether it was websites like these, on the news, or through social media. These websites exposed some of the violent issues that were going on in not only America but the whole world. From NATO running out of ammo to America shooting down UFOs, I learned so much new and important information that I haven't seen on the mainstream news. All of the information I was seeing made me wonder why our news channels aren't covering this, why haven't I heard about these important issues before now? I pondered on this question, but I knew the real reason all along.

The News and The Government

The government has the mainstream news channel in a chokehold. Making their silence and sharing what the government feels will make them look better to the people.  A prime example of this is Twitter. The government working with Twitter to ban certain people's accounts and push other tweets out more shows how the news and the government could be doing the exact same thing. Trying to hide their violent, bad, and just plain-out dumb decisions by silencing those who expose them isn't anything new for our government. Anti-war voices have been silenced for decades now, so this is nothing new. Having to dig deep and look for these sites and platforms that will share this opinion with you is becoming more difficult, as we fall victim to listening to mainstream news and not even considering other forms. But, I have now learned that I need to be wary of trusting mainstream news sources and do my own research on what our governments and others governments around the world are doing. 

Cell Phones to Smartphones, How did we get here? 

Cell Phones, we all have one, but do we know the history behind them? Before researching and digging into the history of how we got to the cell phones we all know and use today, I had no clue how we went from the old phones you see in the 1960s-themed movie to what I have in my hand right now. This is why I decided to look into it and share what I discovered with you guys. I found a great timeline that you should look at once you're done reading here to see photos of each phone and how they changed. 

The Beginning

Let's go back to the 1870s when the first phone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell. While it looked like a weird cone-shaped object, it worked and was the start of an invention that would change the future. This phone led to the creation in 1905, when you could dial the number and didn't have to go through an operator to call someone. Crazy to think you used to have to do that. In 1925 we get the rotary phone, and in 1960 phones were attached to cars to have "mobile phones". This idea leads us to the wireless phones that we see today. 

Cell Phones

Cell phones progressed quickly to get to our iPhone 13 and Samsung S23 that we have now, so strap in because this is about to be a lot of information. The first wireless, mobile phone was invented in 1980 and was known as the AEG Telecar CD. It was a huge box that you had to carry around, which seems uncomfortable to me. But we were all saved when Motorola invented the Motorola MicroTAC9800X in 1989, also known as the first flip phone. 

Smartphones

It only took 5 years to go from flip phone to the first phone with a touchscreen that came out in 1994. It was called the IBM Simon and was considered the first smartphone. However, all of these phones didn't have a camera at all, well that was until 2000 when the Sharp J-SHO4 becomes the first phone to have a camera built into it! Then in 2002, Blackberry came out changing the phone industry forever. The last one I will mention is the iPhone that came out in 2007 bringing "apps" into the picture. 

The Impact

I know you're questioning why it is important to know the history of smartphones or why you should even care. Smartphones are the most used technology in the world. Allowing you to communicate with someone across the world in a split second. We use them to capture important and unforgettable moments, talk to those important to us as well as make connections that will help us in the future. PhonesThe development of where phones started to where they are now is so impressive and makes me question what they will be like in another 20 years. Jack Flynn shares some up-to-date statistics about cell phones today. Here is some I found interesting, "85% of U.S. adults own a smartphone as of 2022. The average American spends 5 hours and 24 minutes on their mobile device each day. On average, Americans check their phones at least 96 times per day, or once every ten minutes. As of 2022, there are roughly 6.65 billion smartphone users across the world. That’s 86% of the global population."  Just these 4 facts show how much our society today revolves around cell phones and how it truly has changed us as a society. 

 The Supreme Court 

    The Supreme Court was established in 1789 to draw boundaries to government power and can tell the President, congress, and the states what they can and cannot do. The Court is made up of 9 justices and is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. I watched a video talking about the Supreme Court and some of its duties. I learned a lot of new information and gained valuable information that I will share with you.

What did I learn?

    Going into this video, I didn't know much about the Supreme Court, which I hate to say as they are very powerful and get to decide a lot. I didn't know how many members there were, what they did, or even the purpose of it. Here's some important information I learned. 

1. To become a Supreme Justice, you need to have a presidential nomination and the senates confirmation role.

2. Once admitted, the public has no influence anymore. 

3. The Supreme Court caused a "self-inflicted wound" back in the Dredd Scott case. This was when they ruled that congress had no power to ban slavery and that African Americans would never be considered citizens. This actually tweaked the Court's authority for years. 

Surprise!

    While watching, I also found many surprising and intriguing facts about the Supreme Court that I wanted to share. While some of this information isn't the most valuable, I feel it may change how you view the Supreme Court.

1. Court Justices can be on the court for a while, way longer than the President who nominated them.

2. The Supreme Court receives about 100 new cases daily and about 7,000 cases annually. 

3. The Supreme Court will hear public cases and allow the lawyer on each side 30 minutes to talk. 

My Thoughts

    Taking in all of this information, I feel that my opinions and thoughts about the Supreme Court have changed. Before this video, I couldn't tell you what the Supremes Court's duty is. Now I feel a new understanding of them. While I may not agree with all the decisions they make, I have respect for their process and their respect for each other. Overall, such an informative video gave me a new understanding of the Supreme Court. 

Privacy?

Is Our Private Life Really Private?

By: Maddy Bullion

     Technology

    We have all heard the phrase, "Technology is both our savior and our doom". But never have I thought too deeply about it. Not until I was informed about how truly dangerous and scary it is. After watching some Ted Talks about technology and how it is used to invade our individual privacy, I kept thinking about how terrifying this truly was. Not only is it affecting random people out there, but this is something that is affecting each and every one of us. 

    I think about my little sisters and their friends who are in elementary school. How they are growing up in the age of technology and how dangerous that is for little girls. One wrong move from them can lead to their whole future being ruined or drastically changed. 

    I think about all the little kids who have already been affected by this, I mean in the Ted Talk with Darieth Chisolm, it's mentioned how 1 in 25 women have been affected by digital domestic violence and there are no laws to help them against it. This is unsettling information, especially for a young woman like myself who uses technology every day.

The Government's Involvement

    As I mentioned before, the government is doing nothing to protect us from our invasion of privacy through technology and social media. No laws, regulations, or punishments against this. In fact, we even learned how the government is also using technology to keep track of where we are all going and what we do on a daily basis from the Ted Talk with Christopher Soghoian.

    Instead of using technology against us and stalking our every move, the government should be protecting its citizens. Creating laws and punishments so that we feel secure and safe. Will this happen though? Most definitely not, this is helping the government so they won't change a single thing about it.

What Should We Do?

    While the government isn't protecting us, we can protect ourselves. Being careful of what we share online publicly is a great start. Using specific sites that can protect our privacy is another piece of advice that Soghoian shared in his Ted talk. 

Also being careful of who to trust with private photos or pieces of information. And remember, what you post online will forever be there somewhere, even if you delete it off your page, we learned from Juan Enriquez that it will still remain out there.

Top 5 News Sources

My Top 5 News Sources

By: Maddy Bullion

    Over the years media sites have become more and more biased, so finding true, factual, and reliable sites can be so hard now. As someone who doesn't watch or keep up with the news often, I find it hard to find reliable and trustworthy sites or channels. 

    However, I do have 5 sites that I will be sharing with you guys today. I will talk about why I recommend them as well as some cons about each one. 

                                                                   1. New York Times

New York Times is a site that I can remember using all throughout High School, as well as constantly using in College. While I do acknowledge that NYT is known to be more on the liberal side, the stories that aren't focused on politics are reliable and super informative. 

                                                                       2. CNN

CNN is a news channel that is super popular and shares stories from politics to heartwarming interviews. Do keep in mind that CNN is also Liberal leaning so don't trust all political news from them without researching more about it yourself. 

                                                                           3. BBC

BBC News, also known as the British Broadcasting Corporation is a station located in the UK. They are unbiased on U.S. politics and report news the way it is. BBC is one of the largest news services and covers news from all around the world. 

                                                                    4. Associated Press

Associated Press has to be one of my top places to go when looking for clear, informative, unbiased news. This site is known all around to keep stories true and not allow bias or fake news onto their site. If you want to read an article that won't be "left" or "right" leaning, this is the place to go.

                                                                        5. Google News

Google News is amazing and I love looking through to see all of the variety of news and sites that it displays to me. You can have one article from New York Times, another from Fox News, or one from BBC. The variety of news is also amazing, from entertainment to politics to health, or sports. However, there is one piece that you need to be careful of. Google News will track and create a page that will show you the news that it thinks you'll be interested in. Especially if you use this on your phone instead of a computer or laptop.