Jeremy Cannon: Technology in the Workplace

Jeremy Cannon

December 5, 2014

Cas 283

Technology in the Workplace

            As technology advances around the world, one of the main areas affected is that of the business world. Advances such an email, conference calls, video chatting and even Google docs have changed the way many people go about working, building and operating a business. Text messaging and group messaging have revolutionized the way cooperation groups of people relay information and work together. Using such new resources allow people to get work done no matter where they are. The need to be in “the office” is decreasing and businesses can be managed from almost anywhere.

            The Internet itself has changed the way businesses conduct themselves in a few ways. The internet allows businesses, as well as their consumers, to have access to enormous amount of information, gather information about potential rivals and advertise to a much larger audience that was previously unavailable and conduct sales around the world.

A study done by Kathleen E. Huffman states that technology in the work place makes the organization more efficient on the day-to-day basis. Time and distance are no longer a problem with today’s technology as organizations aim to compress time, speed up their responses and processes, and make things happen at a faster rate. She also states that according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2010), 24 percent of employees worked from home in 2010 and also that at IBM, about 42 percent of the company's 330,000 employees work on the road, from home, or at a client location, saving the computer company about $100 million in real estate-related expenses a year (King, 2007).

In Huffman’s study she cites five work place areas in which technology impacts communications. They include cultural communication, human resource management, organization development, marketing, and healthcare management. In international business settings culture can influence how people think, communicate, and behave. Several trends exist between technology and the human resource management field that can have either a direct or indirect impact. Huffman states that e-recruitment and performance management software are also helping to dramatically improve HR’s ability to carry out effective people relationship management (PRM), and improve their organization’s employer brand (HR Management, 2011).

In her conclusion, Huffman believes that influence that technology has on communication in the workplace is significant. Aspects such as the initiation of relationships with co-workers, to the attendance of conferences, to the productivity of companies outside of the office are affected by technology and over all increased the amount of communication that takes place in the workplace each day, as well as eases the effort of businesses to contact other companies, employees, and clients.

I can agree with Huffman and her research as well as personally testify to the influence technology has had on my interactions as consumer to any business. In today’s world, technology is taking away the necessity of having to be in a store to purchase things, to be in a classroom to learn and to be an office to work or manage a business. Face to face interactions are becoming less frequent in all aspects of society. It’s easy to see the direction the use of technology is taking us in terms of communication, but whether that’s a good or a bad place will always be up for interpretation.

Here’s the link to Huffman’s study: http://search.proquest.com/docview/923280196

Hashtivism

Hashtivism


One of the topics that we addressed in lab, this semester, was Hashtivism. During that session, we didn't meet in class but logged into a chat room, and we answered a series of questions about the topic. I think that this method was limiting, and I wish that we could have spent more time going in depth about different aspects of this online phenomenon.


As a Sociology major, topics related to human social behavior peak my interest, especially when it involves activism. Additionally, during this Fall semester, a lot of social justice issues have arisen in America which all called for action from the general public. In response to such issues as the Leon Ford trial, the Mike Brown trial and the Eric Garner trial was an uprising across America which included protests, marches and trending hash tags like #JusticeForLeon #Ferguson and #ICantBreathe.


To specify the element that I wish could have been observed in addressing Hashtivism, I wish that we could have compared Hashtivism to Face to Face activism. I wish that we could have addressed the the way that people reacted to such social issues in the past, compared to the way that we respond today. I wish that we could have observed the connectivity caused by the internet, and the amount of time it takes for these trends to spread across the country and internationally, and even the involvement of an outstanding number of celebrities. I wish that we could have observed the elements of organizing online, compared to the time and effort it takes to meet in person to do such things. Furthermore, it would have been interesting to examine the ways that past movements have fallen short in reaching their desired goal with different strategies that were used to address social issues, and the advantages that are provided to us through CMC that could  lead to improvement and desired outcomes.

How much is too much?

How much is too much??

By: Sarah Hammaker

Humans, like any other species, are constantly evolving.  We look very different from our ancestors who lived over 50,000 years ago, and the infamous picture set as our Cas 283 facebook cover photo visually depicts this progression. A recent anthropological discussion aims to assess people’s evolutionary use of technology, which introduces the question of whether technology today has risen beyond human comprehension. Technology arguably began with tool-making used for food preparation and hunting. A progression in the modernization of these tools occurred as people used them and through trial and error, found what worked best, as well as used their unique-to-human communication skills to pass their newfound tool-making knowledge onto their children and close kin, also helping the population proliferate (Jablonski, ANTH 040 H lecture,  9/23/14). However, today, research shows that depression has a higher prevalence rate than it did in the 1950’s (Castonguey, Psych 270 Lecture, 10/29/14), which may be due to the increasing release of the stigma on mental illness, or to the rise in population, but it could also be due to the mass amounts of information available to us through technology, allowing people ample opportunity to foster their darkest desires. These desires include anything from obtaining a gun with malicious intention, to bullying, to exacerbating an eating disorder or other mental illness. I will be concentrating on talking about the gun control issue and the concept of pro-negative behavior groups from an anthropological standpoint. Through addressing these topics, I will attempt to answer the question of “How much information is too much? And what kinds of information are good for humans?” Maybe all of this information at our disposal is too far ahead than our evolution can handle.

The gun control debate is a huge one. As most of us have known since at least eighth grade, the second amendment was put in place in order to ensure every American the ability to feel safe in his or her own home, if a life-threatening situation were ever to arise. I am sure our founding fathers had no idea that the gun, or the use of guns would evolve so rapidly and expansively in about two and a half years. Now, guns pose a greater danger to ourselves than they may be to intruders. Even the invention of the gun itself may exceed the human ability of comprehension. This item could be manufactured by outside people, and allowed a person to kill food resources more easily than ever before. Evolutionarily though, the food-energy exchange was a balance between the person actually constructing the tool, and going out to hunt with much more risk involved.  However, the gains in food would be worth the risk, and relaxation with family was one of the greatest rewards. Over time, people taught their kids the skills to construct these tools, and the process improved over generations. Of course, guns were the next step up from the previous hunting tools, but now, people in foreign places make our guns. People do not understand or respect how they are made. In this way, there is some anonimity to them, and people may feel less sense of responsibility surrounding them. This mindset corresponds, and even mixes with the anonymity, as well as autonomy that accompanies modern technology of other realms. Today, as we stated in class, people can take this sense of anonymity and autonomy even further by constructing 3D printed guns. In this way, they actually may understand the actual construction processes, and interworkings of a gun, but not as a tool, and rather, as a symbol of rebellion. With stricter gun laws, some people feel passionately in favor of the second amendment, and feel that freedom to bear arms is a necessity. 3D printing is amazing in that the technology allows a person to construct almost anything themselves, but the gun control issue raises questions about whether or not this freedom is too much for humans to handle.

Secondly, eating disorder sites promoting unhealthy and maladaptive behaviors are a maladaptive way to provide anyone with a sense of support and security. This website is a great example of a pro-anorexia group that fulfills these desires and needs:

http://theprefectdrug.blogspot.com/

As stated before, humans have evolved to cooperate. We ostracize people who are different or non-cooperative from the rest of the group, which leaves a healthy, acceptable group of people to procreate even more cooperative people. Therefore today, people who feel different, often feel excluded and are excluded from the rest of the group, yet so critically need social support to stay alive. The internet combined with the first amendment, provides the perfect place for people to find the support they crave through honesty about their vulnerabilities. However, this extremely easy access of information provides encourages people to continue with their maladaptive practices. This completely goes against the natural and artificial selection processes that have governed societies since the beginning of their existence, and may be leading to a more troubled human species.

With about 83.8 percent of households reported owning and computer, and 74.4 percent reported using the internet regularly (http://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2014/acs/acs-28.pdf), people have constant access to this technology, its musings, and its dark side.  Efforts to counteract dark intentions online include master monitoring of certain websites or content, as well as the ability for criminal investigators to access a person’s search history. However, at this rate of technology expansion, I am sure that people can somehow learn to block that search history, just by typing “How to block search history” into google.

Photo credit: https://alphabytesoup.wordpress.com/2012/07/15/evolution-of-man-and-technology/

Cell Phones Addiction and It's Negative Effects

Brittney Mitchell

CAS 283, Section 004

December 4, 2014

 

Cell Phone Addiction and It’s Negative Effects

 

                We live in a world where technology is all around us. For a lot of people my age, it is probably hard to think of a time where we didn’t have all these electronic devices. We grew up with videogames, televisions, radios and many other devices we generally take for granted. Many of us probably have at least five technological devices in our bedrooms. I remembered when I got my first cell phone and thought I was one of the coolest people in the world. It became a whole new way to communicate with my friends without having to call their house phone and asking their parents if so and so can come to the phone.  With all the good cell phones has brought our society, there has also came a few negative ones.

                While looking on the internet, I came across an article that suggested that our cell phones could be causing a nationwide increase in Attention Deficit Disorder. It makes sense because majority of us are constantly staring into our cell phone screens for hours on in. We all look for that satisfying reinsurance that there are people or friends out there that are constantly thinking about us. I get it we all want to be loved and like; however, there are so many other ways to obtain this feeling. We are constantly worried about interacting with these devices, instead of focusing on the world around us. According to the article, “All this stimulation could be having a damaging effect on the brain.” We need to figure out a way to minimize the amount of time we use these devices.

                Another article mentioned that there are health concerns with over-usage of cell phones. One of the biggest effects is the high exposure to radio frequencies. The article stated that, “Radio frequency fields released by cell phones is generally more than a thousand times higher than that from home phones.” I don’t know about you, but just that fact alone without knowing what it fully means is really scary. Anything that is a thousand times worse than something else cannot be any good for your health. Then there is the more obvious concern that the strain we are putting on our eyes starting at the screen for hours. Having small text and bright screens is the majority of the cause of eye strain.

                At the end of the day, these are just a few of the negative effects cell phones have caused over the last decade or so. One of the biggest things that has been spread across the news over this time was the idea of over phone usage and cancer. We as a society just really need to learn to put our phone down for an hour or two longer than we normally do could make a world of difference.

 

http://www.the-dispatch.com/article/20140116/Teen/301169992

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/03/neuroscientist-richard-da_n_5923648.html

CyberDust

Something that we didn't discuss in class was anonymous forums and apps and how unsafe/safe they can be and their pros and cons which I think would have been something interesting to cover and something related to this that caught my attention is the new app surfacing called Cyberdust. Cyberdust is an app that sends fully encrypted messages that immediately delete themselves and are never saved on a hard drive, or so they tell us. I am very skeptical of this kind of emerging technology, mainly because it goes against everything we have grown up being told about technology. Our parents have always told us the importance of thinking before we post because it will be there forever, even in class we talked about how even if you delete a picture off Facebook it still exists on different servers and can be retrieved at the click of a mouse. If suddenly there is an app that now deletes your messages immediately and there's no way to trace what you send this will change the game forever, cyberbullies will no longer be able to get caught because they will stop using these other sources to get their messages out and will now use this one that is untraceable. The law field will really have it's hands full because they will not be able to prove that these messages are from a certain person and so they will no longer hold up in court. These are just a few examples of how things will change now that these 'completely anonymous' messages can be sent, people are now not being forced to take responsibility for what they say online. However I am still skeptical that they will be able to keep these messages as anonymous as they claim they can.

Here's a link pretty much describing how the app got it's beginning and the appeal to be download
http://www.forbes.com/sites/maseenaziegler/2014/04/08/mark-cuban-wants-to-take-over-texting/

If we can just recall when Snapchat was first born, everyone was now able to send pictures to other people that only last a few seconds and then disapear forever. Well let's also remember how Snapchat leaked a lot of those pictures that supposedly weren't stored anywhere, there has to be somewhere to store these messages and pictures. I have a very hard time believing that they will be able to send these messages without storing them anywhere at all, also I don't think they will be able to remain fully anonymous. Yik Yak, what was supposedly an anonymous forum where people could say anything and you would only be able to know the location of where it was sent. Well that was clearly proven wrong when there was a bomb threat and they found the exact guy who posted it, obviously not that anonymous. I think that there are flaws with every single online forum but this one seems full of them, people are going to start using this trusting that it is in fact fully anonymous and encrypted but it may come back to bite them in the butt later on.

I personally will not be using the app, ever.  I believe that people should take responsibility for everything they have to say online and so I don't use anonymous sources to post my thoughts and opinions, and if I have something to text someone I don't really care who sees it because I am responsible for everything I send. I also have way too many concerns about how safe this app can be and the safety of any other anonymous app/forum as well. I guess I'm thinking more on the cyberbullying/legal side of things and I am just concious that everyone should have consequences to face if they chose to post online, I am also concious of how words can hurt, especially anonymous ones. I wouldn't want someone talking about me anonymously so why would I do the same thing to someone else?

If you have any questions about the app please refer to the link below
http://cyberdust.com/faqs.html

Well That's Rotten

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Cyberbullying

                                                                         Taylor Keselica

                    Cyberbullying

In class we talked about bullying online and the negative effects that it has on children nowadays.  We spoke of a particular case where a kid’s mother went online to make a fake Facebook page and pretended to talk to a girl then began to cyber bully her so the girl committed suicide.  Due to the obvious negative effects of cyber bullying, the Australian government is beginning to crack down on it by targeting social media sites.  A new bill was introduced to parliament to appoint a commissioner with the power to order large social media services and individuals to remove any offensive material posted online. There is a debate in the United States on whether or not children should be prosecuted for cyber bullying but the state of Maryland has made a decision on the matter.  According to an article by Jenny Inglee on takepart.com, Maryland proposed a bill known as Grace’s Law that will make online bullying a misdemeanor in that state which can be punishable by imprisonment for up to one year and /or a $500 maximum fine. Unfortunately, however, because cyber bullying can happen at any time of day and messages and images that portray bullying behaviors can be posted anonymously through harassing text messages, posts on Facebook, and other forms of communication online, it can be hard to address every individual occurrence. In my opinion, cyber bullying should be punishable by the law. If a person can be charged with harassment, they should be charged with cyber bullying because cyber bullying encompasses harassment within it.  Another reason I believe cyber bullying should be punishable by law is because it can have seriously low affects on those who are being bullied.  Some of the effects include what we talked about in class such as low self-esteem and low confidence.  Not only does cyber bullying create feelings of depression for the victim but those feelings of depression can lead to hindrances in life.  When someone has feelings of depression they are more likely to miss school or drop out which creates a well of perpetual sadness that can lead to feelings of helplessness and thoughts of suicide.  Many websites have also been created to stop cyber bullying such as fundforcivility.com and stopcyberbullying.gov.  The creation of these websites is directly due to the high statistics of cyber bullying. According to the website internetsafety101.org, 95% of social media-using teens who have witnessed cruel behavior on social networking sites say they have seen others ignoring the mean behavior, 55% of those people experiencing this behavior frequently, 90% of social media-using teens who have witnessed online cruelty say they have ignored mean behavior on social media, and only 7% of parents report being worried about cyber bullying even though 33% of teenagers report having been victims of cyber bullying. The website also shows that teens engage in cyber bullying to show off to friends (11%), to be mean (14%), to embarrass them (21%), for fun or entertainment (28%), because they deserved it (58%), and to get back at someone (58%).  Finally, of all these teens who engaged in cyber bullying, a total of 68% of teens agree that cyber bullying is a serious problem with today’s use.  This just shows that even though a majority of teens see cyber bullying as this serious problem, there are still so many teens who do not even care about it and do not think of the serious effects cyber bullying can have on people.