Blog Posts
Blog #1- 24 Hour Media Diet
What a busy day it was. I took track of my media diet on Friday March 15, 2024. I woke up at 8 a.m. and turned off my alarm. I then proceeded to check Instagram. It is a bad habit but I found myself scrolling on here for 25 minutes before I wanted to get up put of bed. I did my morning routine, got dressed for the gym then I made breakfast. I just started watching Jane the Virgin on Netflix so I had it playing in the background while I made the Trader Joe's sausage Mcgriddle dupe. I ate, cleaned up then made my prework out to go, still watching the same episode. I am addicted, what can I say. Once I was all ready to head to the gym, it was 9:40 so I turned off the episode and went to my car. I plugged in my phone to use Car Play and played Bryson Tiller. I like to use Apple Music and just shuffle whichever artist I am feeling. I took a short 7 minute to the gym and decided I was going to vlog my workout for an Instagram reel. I filmed everything on my Iphone 14 Pro Max. I turned on y headphones, put my phone on Do Not Disturb and walked in the gym. I hate getting distracted while I am working out and Instagram is VERY distracting for me, DND is my favorite feature. I keep Apple Music open and switch back and forth from Gunna to Bryson Tiller the whole workout. By the time I am done with filming and my workout, it is just about noon. I then go to my car, turn on the AC and sort through all the clips I recorded. I sit in my gym's parking lot for a god 20 minutes cutting out the videos I want to use in my reel before hunger starts setting in. I plug my phone into car play, open up Apple Music and drive back home. I meal prep lunch and dinner so I pop in my salmon bites into the microwave. I sit down at the dining table to open up an app called CapCut and start editing my vlog. I use this app almost every day for my fitness content. I then finish my food and editing so I hop in the shower to get ready for work. I of course open the Netflix app once I am out to keep watching Jane the Virgin. At about 2:30 I open up Instagram to make my post for the vlog I had made. I write a caption, add hashtags and post. I scroll on the app for 10 minutes before I have to head to work. I of course open up Apple Music in car play and listen to Ariana Grande on the way to work. When I get to work, I have to use a PingID app to login to my desktop every time. I check my emails on Outlook first and catch up on paperwork. I get off at 7 p.m. and head home. I open up my Apple Music app once again and play more Bryson Tiller. I get home, warm up my dinner and login to do homework for about 3 hours. I open up the Instagram app a few times to respond to comments on the reel I posted earlier. Once I am done with homework, I go straight to bed, I was exhausted. I like to keep my phone on DND just so I don't keep grabbing it to check any notifications.
Blog #2
Evaluating Misinformation Educational Tools
Rumor Guard was a fun website to explore. The website offers tools and resources to combat misinformation and rumors online. When I say tools, I mean a BUNCH of different links, shareable PDF’s, links for free quizzes, the list goes on. The purpose to provide fact checking services and tools to help debunk false information circulating on the internet. When I first visited the website I was honestly a little over whelmed with the different kind of features. My favorite feature has to be “The Topics” there are dozens of subtopics in this area where you can click and learn more. For example I chose TikTok and there were different videos being broken down on how to detect if the was false. It gives a step by step breakdown on what to look for and how to go about this information. I personally think videos are the easiest way to spread misinformation. When someone watches a video they assume the person talking and explaining is telling the truth, because why would they go on a video to spread false information, right? There were also tests you could take to see how well you can spot different false headlines or articles. I took a couple and didn’t do so hot so that is something I would like to get better at. Overall I thought this website was genZ and millennial friendly.
The second website I was exploring was Harmony Square. This was a fun game. The Interactive game assigned you an undercover player and then gave you different options to tweet. You get points by how many likes you get on this fake game. It was interesting to see how the responses were for trolling. I did loose interest a little bit because I would rather learn by articles or videos rather than a game set up but it is fun to try.
Blog #3
Claim Analysis: To lose weight you can't eat any carbs
This is a common claim that I hear very often from friends and family who talk about wanting to lose weight. Most people assume that they have to completely cut out bread and sugars from their diet to see the weight drop! That simply is just not true. The best way to lose weight is to be in a caloric deficit with a high protein intake. This and combined with daily physical activity should really get you the results you want.
Now you’re telling me I can eat bread and have carbs and still lose weight? Well sort of. A caloric deficit is eating a certain amount of calories that is less than what you burn on a daily basis. We all burn calories constantly. We even burn calories in our sleep or while we are at work, or walking around Target. With added physical activity like let’s say weight lifting, that amount of calories you burn goes up. So to help lose weight, you should consume less calories (no more than 500) then what you burn daily. That’s the first step to help you lose weight, eat in a caloric deficit. The second step would be to eat whole carbs rather than empty carbs. I know what you’re thinking, eat a whole loaf of bread? NO Whole carbs would be whole grain pasta or sweet potatoes. It doesn’t include processed snacks or a basket of The Cheesecake Factory bread. The second step to help lose weight is exercise. You don’t have to run 5 miles every day but adding a different of physical activity to your daily routine along with step one will help the pounds come off. The third step and maybe the most important overall is to have patience. People think that if they stop eating bread all together they might be 30 pounds skinnier by the end of the month. It takes time but following steps 1 and 2 will help you get there safely.
Blog #4: Instagram and TikTok's attempt to curb missinformation
Instagram:
1. Fast Checking partnerships- Instagram works with independent 3rd party fact checkers to review and rate the accuracy of content. Posts that are coming off as “false or misleading” will be ranked lower on users feeds. Now I have seen this first hand. One of my favorite influencers Haydn Schneider the founder of Alani Nu, likes to share his political views openly on the app. Whenever he does post that type of content he notices lower views on his story because Instagram does not push it out to his followers.
2. WARNING Labels: Now this is a common tactic IG uses to attempt to curb misinformation. On stories or posts the picture/ video will be blurred out and given a warning to see if the user wants to continue to view it. We saw a lot of this with Gaza and I see it a lot on my friends posting about their vegan videos.
3. Reduced Visibility: Content that has been debunked or is not following guidelines will not get their content pushed out. Yes this is better known as Instagram jail. I have even found myself here once. Of course I didn’t mean to wind up in IG jail but I said a bad word in my close friends and noticed it got taken down. I reuploaded it and again it got taken down. I then noticed the coming 2 weeks my engagement was down tremendously.
4. Reporting- This is the easiest and quickest way in my opinion. It let’s actual users report something they see to be misleading directly to IG. I think this tool is very helpful and I for sure am one to use it… QUICK.
TikTok:
1. Algorithm Detection: We all know the TikTok algorithm could either be on your side for better or worse. This is the most used detection tool when it comes to misinformation for the platform. The algorithm is essentially a machine that can flag and detect false information. I think the algorithm is very cool and helpful but i have seen it detect information that wasn’t misleading and hide those videos on the fyp. I have personally seen my videos lose to the algorithm because one week I was getting 100k views and then the week after I was getting 700.
2. REPORT: This is also just like IG where we as users can report misinformation. I use this tool because on TikTok I have a bigger following and have gotten horrible comments on videos so I have b reported and blocked.
I think the policies in place for both platforms are useful. I personally think they work but i also think they might work too much. I feel that these policies are a bit extreme when reading posts and deciding if it is misinformation so sometimes they report false misinformation posts. I think what is missing is a veto from the user who posted the content. This can help so uses can defend their case on their content not being misinformation.