Tag: Social Media

Summer 2023 Weekly News Profile

Will Threads Unravel its Social Media Rival?

Jackie Finnemeyer July 19, 2023

Over the last several months, many Twitter users have found themselves looking for a new space in which they could engage with others. Earlier this month, Meta launched a brand new app, Threads, that might deliver what users have been seeking. With staggering new sign-up numbers early into its launch, the new app appears to be, at a minimum, a worthy competitor to Twitter. Can both platforms competitively coexist or can only one reign supreme?

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Summer 2023 Weekly News Profile

The Implications of a Social Media Ban in Montana 

Jackie Finnemeyer May 22, 2023

Montana made headlines on Wednesday for being the first state in the nation to ban the social media app, TikTok. U.S. officials claim the application is a national security concern, while critics call the ban a violation of the First Amendment. Challenges to the new law may take place before it goes into effect in January, but its ability to gather enough support to pass could point to a new precedent being set.

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Featured Spring 2023 Volume 6 Issue 3

Technological Determinism in the Grand Challenges

Thomas Peters March 29, 2023

Technological determinism is denounced by Dr. Erin Cech in her critique of the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges report. This discussion focuses on the strengths of Cech’s argument surrounding the engineering double standard in social media, virtual reality, and reverse-engineering the brain. Though she makes many strong arguments, pieces of Cech’s argument fall short. Pointing fingers at the entirety of the engineering community and holding the Grand Challenges to a standard for which they were not intended weaken Cech’s overall discussion. However, her argument is ultimately a valid discussion of a profession that would benefit from wider perspectives in a world full of complex issues.

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Fall 2022 Weekly News Profile

The Political Power of Gen-Z and Social Media

Jackie Finnemeyer November 22, 2022

Despite midterms historically having mediocre turnouts, the number of votes cast by young voters in the 2022 midterm elections was the second highest in 30 years. As technology becomes more deeply woven throughout our culture, politicians are discovering that social media provides a genuine way to connect with new voters.

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Fall 2022 Volume 6 Issue 2

Social Media Dysmorphia and the Dangers of Hyper-Realistic Photo Retouching Software

Abhaya Krishnan-Jha November 15, 2022

Photo-editing software has advanced dramatically in recent years, allowing people to share images of themselves that do not reflect how they truly look. As a result, rates of body dysmorphia and eating disorders, especially amongst the younger generation, have risen, leading engineers to analyze the ethicality of photo-editing software, as well as the social media platforms that host these heavily edited images.

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Spring 2022 Volume 6 Issue 1

Artificial and Unreal: The Ethics of Beautification Technology for Images and Social Media

Daniel Chaderjian May 4, 2022

In today’s digital age, social media plays a major role in the development of adolescent minds. Young people begin posting content in their early years and are exposed to a feed of others’ pictures and videos. However, while this system may ostensibly help people stay in contact with those they do not see in person, it also creates an environment of comparison that can lead to self-esteem and body image issues. Beautification technology like augmented reality filters and photoshop have only exacerbated the issue, making it so that young people are not only comparing themselves to a curated version of others, but an entirely manufactured one. Engineers have a responsibility to examine the possible negative effects of the products they create, and beautification technology leads to far more harm than good.

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Spring 2022 Weekly News Profile

Elon Musk’s New Stake in Twitter and the Unchecked Power of Tech Giants

Sabrina Sy April 12, 2022

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and the richest man in the world, recently purchased enough shares of Twitter to have a 9.2 percent stake, making him the largest shareholder of the social media company. Musk’s appointment to the board of Twitter has brought about questions of free speech, social media deregulation, and the ability of the extremely wealthy to influence the way that our world communicates.

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Fall 2021 Weekly News Profile

Protecting the Mental Health of Instagram Users

Isabel Yarwood Perez October 18, 2021

A Facebook whistleblower has come forward alleging that the parent company of Instagram knew that the social media app causes major harm to the mental health of its users but has refused to act on this research and instead continues to insist that these effects are minimal or non-existent.

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