Blog #5: Instagram

Blog Post #5 

The app Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger launched the app on October 6, 2010.  That first day of Instagram being public to people they gained 25,000 users. They created this app to allow for people to communicate through photos. In December of 2010, only two months after the launch of Instagram, the app hit one million users. Two years after the launch of Instagram, in 2012, the company Facebook bought out Instagram. They purchased it for 1 billion dollars. When instagram was first created, it was only offered for people who had iPhones, but in April of 2012, it was realized to Android users. From that the app was downloaded more than one million times just in that day alone. In the year 2016, Instagram had many new changes to the app. Starting in May of that year, Instagram changed the logo to the one see today. The new logo is much brighter and has more color appeal to it. Another change they made was the created the ability to post videos. This changed how Instagram originally started as only posting photos, so now having the ability to post videos, was a big change on the platform. Instagram also made an update to the app by adding direct messages. Direct messaging allowed for users to chat one on one privately. Lastly in the year 2016, they added the feature of posting stories. Stories, on Instagram are a way to post either an photo or video. These last for only 10 seconds and are on peoples feed for 24 hours. This allows for people to post something but not have it stay on their page past a day. Throughout the history of Instagram, there have been many updates and changes to the platform that has made it into the app most people still use today. 

With having Instagram as such a popular form of social media, it also has many impacts to it; starting with the idea of how it allows to post images. Having the ability to be anywhere and even at anytime just take out your phone and post whatever you want is become very beneficial. This allows you also to share what you are doing, but through posting photos or videos. Being tied to being able to post whatever you want, has made some people have what is known as online persona. Having an online persona means, what you post online can seem better than what you are actually doing or even how you are feeling. Another impact Instagram has is the affect it has on mental health. Seeing what other people post can make one jealous either by how they look or even by what someone else is doing. This has caused many people to struggle with mental heath issues. I personally don't think this is Instagram's fault, but by how much as a whole everyone is using social media. The last impact of Instagram is how companies can seem products to people and also how this platform allows for people to get anything important out to a large number of people. These two impacts go hand and hand because Instagram is such a large platform that anyone could reach a larger number of people just by posting something. Whether it be posting about trying to sell a product for a company, such as, clothes, makeup or even posting about something political; doing this allows for you to get any word out to a large number of people. 

Blog Post #4: Individual Self-Fulfillment

 Blog Post #4

The eight values of free expression give us the ability to say and question parts of the government and also have free speech. This is allowed by the First Amendment which allows American citizens to speak about what they want whether it be true or false. The value that stands out to me the most is marketplace of ideas. This value of free expression was created by John Milton and John Stuart Mills. John Milton was an English poet and he founded this idea in the year 1644, in his work Areopagitica. John Mills, created this concept in the year 1859 in his book called On Liberty. Mill's was an English language philosopher. The creation of this value is to allow people to have free trade in ideas about any market and also allowing people to have there own opinion about any good and speech about them. As stated in an article The First Amendment Encyclopedia it states how "the marketplace of ideas refers to the belief that the test of truth or acceptance of ideas depends on their competition with one another and not on the opinion of a censor, whether one provided by the government or by some other authority." This means that when someone expresses their own opinion about anything they want, the government or any company being spoken about, can't tell them they can't say that. This deals with the First Amendment and the topic of free speech.

 The creation of marketplace of ideas or, also known as, free trade in ideas, or even competition of the market allows for people to have a voice about ideas discuss about ideas about any topic they want to speak about. This being said, when dealing with a specific company and their products that they created with out a patent on a product or good, the government or anyone else can't stop someone from speaking and sharing what they think or sharing ideas about a good. Having this in place is important so the government can't get involved with ones ability of free speech. 

This idea of free speech in the marketplace of ideas has become very popular with the creation of social media. Social media allows for anyone to voice their opinion on any given topic or idea. When looking at it from the point of free speech of the marketplace of ideas have given people to now express their concerns about the free market.  This has given the ability to speak about anything going on that they want to speak about. This can be anything from the Corona Virus to the storming of the Capital. Having social media has made people opinions about specificities topics or ideas become stronger, but this is allowed with have free speech especially in a marketplace of ideas. 

Personally, I am not one to speak about anything major in the news publicly or even post about its on social media. Given everything going on in the news and how it have created a lot of debate about many topics that are being spoken about, I tend to stay away from that. Although I stay away from posting about most consortial topics I always see them on most of my social media platforms I use. Whether it be Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, or Facebook, I notice that many people post their opinions about any topic they want to speak about with no issue. This is because of marketplace of ideas and how it allows for someone free speech. 

Although we a marketplace of ideas and free speech, the issue of censorship has been a raising concern lately. Even with having free speech, the company Twitter, has banned Donald Trumps page. On a news article from CNN, it states that even if Trump was going to run for President again, he will be permanently ban from this social media platform. To me this goes against free speech and what is described in marketplace of ideas. This is a raising concern and issue I see because it makes a statement that anyone has the ability to just get banned or even removed for any platform whenever the company wants. Having marketplace of ideas is any important concept to have but in recent times has made me question if it is even a value anymore. 

Blog Post #3: The First Amendment

 Blog Post #3

The First Amendment gives us the six basic freedoms. These six freedoms are freedom from religion, freedom of religion, free speech, press, assembly, and petition. Having the First Amendment is important because it sets rules for the government to not have too much control over the people. Having this Amendment is important because it protects our rights as American citizens, but a recent event on January 6th, many people stormed that United States Capital after the defeat of President Donald Trump in the 2020 election cycle.

When looking at the riot on the US capital, it began as something that was similar to a  peaceful protest. This would fall under the First Amendment that is protected by speech, assembly, and petition. These people who were outside protesting all were wearing Trump merchandise and also were holding up Trump flags. The people at the Capital were there because they were upset with the outcome of the election. Stated in an article by The New York Times; this was a "rally to save America." At first what was going on at the Capital was protected by the First Amendment, but once people started to break into the U.S. Capital and become violent it took away the freedom protected by the First Amendment. 

Another occurrence that happened during the storm of the Capital that is questionable in correlation with our First Amendment rights, is when Donald Trump posted a video to Twitter. Donald Trump posted a video telling the people who were rioting at the Capital to go home and that this needed to end. Twitter took down the video Trump posted then proceeded to ban his account. Having Twitter ban Trump's account is being discussed of whether it goes again free speech. Although Twitter is a private owned company, the same rules we have towards the U.S. government and having free speech should be allowed on social media platforms. Having the First Amendment is important to protect us from our basic freedoms from government; there is a lot of discussion how and what they actually protect us from. 

Blog Post #2: The Supreme Court

 Blog Post #2

The Supreme Court, which was founded in March of 1789, is the most powerful court in the United States. The Supreme Court was formally made up of six members but over the years it has changed to become nine. These nine members have the responsibility of upholding the rule of the law when determining the outcome of a case. When there is an opening, a Justice is elected by the President at that time. The Supreme Court Justices get an average of 7,000 cases a year but only 100 cases are actually considered. Many of the Supreme Court Justices have their own opinions about any case they receive, but the nine of them have to come to an agreement about what will be the outcome of any given case will be within a few days of hearing both sides. After that, one of the nine judges writes an opinion on all of their behalves with the first draft typically taking four weeks to write. The opinion can not be submitted until all nine judges are satisfied meaning lots of revisions usually take place. 

Over the long history of the Supreme Court many decisions have been made that have benefited the United States in both the short and long term. One case that stands out to me is Brown vs. Board of Education. This case which happened in the year 1954, ended racial segregation in public schools. The Court ruled that separation of white and black students in school was unconstitutional. This was a very significant case that was passed because it was able to put an end to segregation in school. Brown vs. Board of Education is still upheld in todays society. Having the Supreme Court is an important branch of the government, to make sure everyones civil liberties are protected.