This week’s readings have brought a lot of things to my attention. Normally, I wouldn’t really pay attention or care about the laws in media. If it didn’t pertain to me, or if I had no say in the matter, why bother being educated on it?
It may not matter to me personally today, but I believe in the next decade we will face many obstacles and crossroads regarding technology and the Internet that we will not be able to ignore. We have to learn about the arguments and changes in order to fight for what we believe is right.
For starters, I consider myself to be very handy around the house. Maybe not with technology, but I am more advanced and understand it better than my parents. If I was fixing something and was told that I was not allowed to because I didn’t have the copyright for how it was build, I would be baffled. Why couldn’t I fix something I already own? It was shocking to read that John Deere owners didn’t actually “own” something they spend $100,000 on. While I understand the idea behind this copyright law, it doesn’t make sense in reality. It was refreshing to read that now you can legally repair your iPhone, but it shouldn’t have been that way in the first place.
There should be laws and boundaries in order to create a safe environment online, to allows people to explore without fear of breaking the law. Too many laws, or too constricting laws can alter the online experience for many, oftentimes without their knowledge. Censoring is another thing we are facing that is there that really shouldn’t be. As a user of the Internet in the United States, we should have access to anything we want, within reason. If we want to learn more about a topic, we can. But when there are roadblocks in order to find that information then we have a problem.
There is a lot more that I could talk about that I feel strongly for. This week’s readings opened my eyes to things that were happening right in front of me that I was not aware of. I do plan to alter the way I use media. My goals for the future are to continue to be a media creator, so that I can actively share my thoughts or findings and also partake in media to gain new information. I plan to continue on a journey for media literacy. I believe it is so important for myself mainly, and for those around me. The more I am aware of what happens online, the more I can warn those around me of some ideas or laws that don’t seem quite right. Those are some pretty broad goals, but they are achievable.
Changing the way I use media will make me a more informed citizen, it will allow me to use my voice to inform others, and to hopefully make a positive impact on the web. Journalism isn’t my major, but even as a blogger, I can use what I have learned to be one of the many people who push media forward, into a better system of news and information. It just takes some people working towards a goal for improvement.
