Final Exam Blog Post 

The Ever Present Use of Cell Phones and Its Effects In Our Daily Lives 

 

    

The Good or Positives in Cell Phone Use Are....

1) The Sense of Security it provides in cases of emergency, such as being able to call 911 due to car issues or feeling threatened. Parents are able to have phone apps such as life 360, and friend locater to know whereabouts of their children. 

2) Another positive is being able to GPS or navigate for travel purposes. 

3) Lastly, cell phones have helped everyone with time management of their daily life by being able to have a daily calendar to keep track of appointments, deadlines, having a clock at your fingertips as well as being able to set an alarm for a wake up time.

The Bad Effects of Cellphone Use Are....

1) Texting and driving- back in 2018 5.7% of car fatalities were due to texting and driving or talking on a cell phone.

2) Increased use of cellphone has taken away from people communicating verbally with each other. It is common to see families with their cell phones at the dinner table and while sitting around watching T.V. instead of enjoying each other's company. 

3) Common side effects of excessive cell phone use are increased anxiety, headaches due to eye strain, and insomnia. 

The Ugly Effects of Cellphone Use Are....

1) Your cell phone is the most germ infested device you can own. Think of all the places you put your phone in a 24 hour period. Such places may include a bathroom, gym, restaurant, pocket or purse etc. 

2) Cyberbullying has brought bullying to a whole new level. This can come in the form of texts, or images. According to Stopbullying.org 43% of teens have been bullied online. 

3) A staggering statistic on cell phone use in teens is that 48% of teens who were on their phones for more than 5 hours a day had contemplated committing suicide.  

To conclude, while cell phone use has its technological advantages, we as a society need to be mindful of the negative effects it can have on our daily lives. 

https://www.drivesafeonline.org/defensive-driving/12-important-texting-and-driving-statistics/

https://www.addictiontips.net/phone-addiction/negative-effects-of-mobile-phones-on-society/

https://bestlifeonline.com/cell-phone-health-risks/

 

Blog Post #5 

The eight values of free expression 

Before taking the media law and literacy class, I didn't hear much about  the "eight values of free expression". But I'm going to write about the four values that I find are most important, (Discover of Truth), (Promote Tolerance), (Check on Governmental Power), and (Protect Dissent). I chose these because I personally feel that I can relate to them and what they mean. First, I am going to start off with the Discover of Truth which in free expression means that when truth and falsehood are free, truth is always the one that wins. This is important to me because I have always been the type of person where I would much rather someone tell me the truth than just lie. An example of discover of truth could be freedom of speech which is protected by our first amendment.   

    I am now going to explain Promote Tolerance, Promoting tolerance can mean many different things that I learned from dekkak.com, such as trying to be more compassionate and understanding of other peoples feelings. This can especially come in handy when you are working for a professional, or when it comes to parenting. I personally can relate to this because I have always seen myself as being a very patient and understanding person. I always try to see the bright side of things, and help others to as well.    

    Moving forward to Check on Governmental Power, this taught me many things about the government that I didn't know before. An example of this could be government scandals, where the government has to be "checked", such as the famous Watergate scandal. I personally feel that checking on governmental power is very important because of people who cause government trouble such as whistleblowers, who spill government secrets to popular news sources, as many people know Ed Snowden who was a famous whistleblower who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton in Honolulu Hawaii, spilled top secret government information from the National Security Agency, and was leaked from the news source the guardian in 2013. He later fled the United States to Russia, therefore the government couldn't necessarily track him, he even got married since then. This is just one of many reasons that Governmental Power should be checked.  

    Lastly, I will discuss Protect Dissent which is talked about in the First Amendment, protecting dissent is meant to protect the individuals right to criticize and call out the government when they do something wrong. I personally feel this is one of the most important values, because I feel that as fellow Americans it is our right to freedom, therefore we should be able to tell the government when we don't appreciate what is being done.  

      To conclude this blog, I'm glad that I got to research and learn more about the eight values of free expression. After researching all eight values I feel they all have some sort of importance, but I feel I explained the ones that have the most importance to me.                                   

    https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edward-Snowden

    https://dekkak.com/simple-ways-promote-peace-tolerance-world/                                  

          

       

                                           

 

Blog post # 3

How the Six Freedoms and Clauses Relate to Black Lives Matter Protests.     

    

     After the black lives matter protests took place this past summer (June 2020), when a man by the name of George Floyd was killed by two police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was major news headlines for days, and it opened the eyes of many fellow Americans on what the Black Lives Matter Movement was really about. For several days following George Floyds death, the streets of Minneapolis and several other major cities across the United States were flooded with protestors burning, looting, and rioting city restaurant's, and retail stores in cities such as, Salt Lake City Utah, New York City, Los Angeles, Fargo, North Dakota, and Lincoln Nebraska. And even major government building in Washington D.C.       

   These protests were meant to start out as peaceful protests, but soon after they led into grocery stores windows being boarded up, graffiti on US government buildings, and even family companies being burned and losing their livelihood. Unfortunately, for many it was also right in the middle of a global pandemic (Covid-19), so many people were already losing their businesses because of this. 

     But this also brings me into my topic about the six freedoms of the first amendment, and how this may relate to the black lives matter movement. I'm going to first start off with the 3rd freedom, which is "the right to free speech". I feel like this is certainly easy to relate to black lives matter because the protesters, when you think about it had a "right to freedom of speech". Because they marched the streets, with freedom signs and yelled slang words to police officers, and went as far to push police officers over. Overall, after gaining more knowledge about the black lives matter movement from reading these articles, I believe it is still in existence especially in major cities. 

                            https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/us-cities-assess-damage-from-rioting-looting-and-violence-as-nationwide-unrest-continues/article_e5164ab4-a001-5265-950c-95bfdb0330d6.html

https://puffinwest.org/our-first-amendment-and-its-six-yes-6-clauses/#:~:text=The%20words%20of%20the%20First,speech%2C%20(4)%20the%20right                                  

 

 

 

Blog post #2

The History of the Supreme Court 

   

After reading about the history of the supreme court that goes all the way back to 1789, I learned many new things that I didn't know about the supreme court until taking this class. Such as, that if needed the court that is made up of nine justices can use their power to check the actions of the two other branches of government, the executive branch of the president, and the legislative branch that belongs to Congress. 

    What was fascinating to me was that George Washington would make a a pact or law that the six justices would have to serve on the court until they died or retired. I also learned that even though the court first met on February 2, 1970 it actually never heard any cases in its first term it was just for standard organizational procedures. 

  I had never heard of the court case West vs. Barnes which is a case involving a financial dispute between a farmer and a family he owed debt to, even in my prior history courses I had never of this which is why I decided to read more up on it. Even a 100 years after the making  of the Supreme Court, the justices were still required to hold a "circuit court" twice a year for judicial reasons, but the justices found it unnecessary, therefore Congress did away with it in 1891.

https://www.history.com/topics/us-government/supreme-court-facts    

        

     

  

Media Law blog post #1

 Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Blog post # 1 

My Top 5 News Sources 

1. WBTV News 

https://www.wbtv.com/

With me being a Broadcast Journalism major, I think I often spend to much time watching the news, due to this I have grown up watching my local WBTV news which is showcased in Charlotte N.C. near my hometown. I enjoy watching WBTV news because it gives reliable news about the surrounding area of Charlotte and beyond. Whether it be good news or bad news. My favorite to watch is "WBTV investigates", which is a news team that works nightly to find corruption, and help people in the Charlotte area. 

2. CBS News 

 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-any-time-anywhere/

I watch the CBS News because I can watch global news, and be informed about many things not just in the US but the whole world. With things such as politics, celebrity interviews, and breaking news even 24 hours a day.  One of my favorite other news sources from CBS is 60 minutes which comes on every Sunday and shows real prevalent issues such as political interviews, pop culture, and health. 

3. The New York Times 

https://www.nytimes.com/

A different form of news that I "read" instead of watch is the New York Times. I have always enjoyed reading the New York Times because I see it as one of the most popular newspapers in the world. While some newspapers have "retired", the New York Times still remains to be very popular I think this is because they have won several awards for their writings such as Pulitzer, and Peabody. The New York Times can also compare to many other New York Papers such as the New York Post.

4.  The Charlotte Observer 

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/

Another newspaper that I enjoy reading is my local newspaper, called the "Charlotte Observer". I have grown up reading the Charlotte Observer because this is the paper my parents always had delivered to our house. The Charlotte Observer presents articles about politics, events/concerts, and crime in the Charlotte area. 

5. CNN 

https://www.cnn.com/

As my last source I chose CNN because while I didn't put it as my first choice, it is still a main source that I watch for news. I mainly watch CNN when drastic events happen in the US or the world. Such as political events like the recent presidential inauguration. 

Overall, I enjoy using all of the sources for news whether it's my local news or worldwide views, I have grown up watching the news and hope to one day pursue my dream of being a TV news reporter.