Digital Issues:
Comics

Reading Analysis:

           The reading this workshop is based on, But at what cost free? And at what cost mediocity? explores the many deleterious effects of emerging 'free' technologies. While SNS services and smart phones bring with them unprecedented convenience and power, they also leverage human psychology to a greater extent than ever before and can have tremendously detrimental effects the impact of which is still not fully understood. So much much more than simply granting information, these new technologies employ a host of tools to construct "...self-perpetuating, dopamine-driven feedback loops" (Hughes, 2023). Though the feedback loops mentioned are not limited to those that lead to tribalism, they are a key element in the creation of in-group out-group dynamics. Echo chambers, digital ecosystems that allow people to construct their own reality in a very near-literal sense, produce similar dopamine 'hits' through the facilitation of confirmation bias and the punishment of internal dissent. I have tried to depict some of the dangers Hughes was referring to in the comic above. This workshop also asked participants to investigate the new language of technology in an effort to become more critically literate, a process meant to help them better "....strip texts of their implicit messaging or bias..." Hughes, 2023). To that end, I have investigated four relatively new terms below. 

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Focus Term:

Echo Chamber

           I chose to focus on the term echo chamber because even though it’s been done to death, the issues surrounding it remain salient. Also, not unlike antibiotic resistant bacteria, echo chambers have evolved in response to our awareness of them. Whereas once they were thought of as consisting mainly of the same info spun in different directions, now they much more closely resemble a vapid war of ideas overflowing with news about news, and news about news about news. Throughout the permutations, though, they’re still fundamentally the same group-think distilleries, confirmation bias tanks.
 

Other Terms:
 

Smishing
 

            This is a portmanteau of SMS and phishing. Most people know SMS (short messaging services) as text messages, though the expanded definition can include things like tweets and notifications as well. The term phishing is a pretty well known one, and it covers all manner of shady attempts to get someone to respond to an e-mail (or letter, or call, etc.) in some way. On the internet, that way is usually a click. Smishing is basically the same thing – a seedy text message aimed at getting you to click something or call someone. They’re so sneaky, in fact, that they can sometimes trick recipients into responding with comments like, “If you don’t want to be connected to a representative, type ‘no’ ”, and, “To stop receiving these messages, respond with, ’stop’”. Because these con artists are so convincing and hard to stop, experts recommend you never respond to any message you get unless you are %100 sure you know who it’s from. 
 

Metaverse (Social, not theoretical)
 

           This term is as exciting as it is vague largely because it conjures up images of dystopian futures and Dr. Strange. At its core, the metaverse is a digital world where you (your avatar) can do real things. It’s still in its earliest stages now, so this is more a description of what its overlords designers intend it to be as opposed to what it is. Think of it as an immersive VR world where you can play games like you’re in them, talk to people (avatar to avatar), watch movies in a digital theatre, buy stocks, attend school, shop in stores, own unique digital art, and much more. Oh, and commit crimes…probably.
 
DeFi
 
            I do love a good portmanteau. Here’s another one. DeFi is the smacking together decentralized and finance. Sounds a lot like cryptocurrency, right? That’s because it’s centred around it. The basic idea of DeFi is that it would consist of people using platforms to connect to one another for (decentralized) financing purposes. If you needed a lone, you would use such an app to find someone willing to provide one to you. All transactions would be in crypto, of course, and wouldn’t need to go through any kind of bank. Of course this brings with it all the issues surrounding crypto and then some, including the fact that far fewer laws exist to prevent fraud/abuse for this kind of lending, but what else would you expect from the Wild-West unholy matrimony of money-lending and blockchain tech. 
 

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References
 

Hughes, R. (2023) In L. Grabbe, A. McLuhan, & T. Held (Eds.), Beyond Media Literacy. Marburg: Büchner-Verlag.

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GCF Global. (2019). Digital Media Literacy: What is an Echo Chamber? GCFGlobal.org.

          https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/digital-media-literacy/what-is-an-echo-chamber/1/

 

Nield, D. (2021, December 12). How to Guard Against Smishing Attacks on Your Phone. Wired.

          https://www.wired.com/story/smishing-sms-phishing-attack-phone

 

Ravenscraft, E. (2021, November 25). What Is the Metaverse, Exactly? Wired.

          https://www.wired.com/story/what-is-the-metaverse/

Sharma, R. (2021, March 24). Decentralized finance (Defi) Definition and Use Cases. Investopedia.
          https://www.investopedia.com/decentralized-finance-defi-5113835