Future of Tech- LJ 4

 This week's readings did not surprise me that much with the information and developments presented. Even though I only use a few social media sites, I understand what the current trends are. Multiple sources have stated the popularity and importance of TikTok and short videos over longer videos as well as the growth of online shopping and the use of micro-influencers (Floor Covering News 2022, Influencer Marketing Hub 2021). While I do not use TikTok, this trend began years ago with the short, but massive, popularity of Vine and even earlier with the idea of the "YouTube Haiku", both genres being populated by short, and often funny, videos. TikTok was the next logical step and its popularity is no surprise to me. In this day and age where there is too much content to consume, shorter videos are more efficient than the 30+ minute videos that the YouTube algorithm looks for. It's only logical that such short videos would take over various sites and be most effective in advertising ventures. Online shops are also something I have experience with through indie creators and online shops. I have bought many pins from Etsy and plushes from smaller creators online. It is, again, much more efficient in today's society, where time for shopping is being crushed by jobs, chores, and other expectations. Micro-influencers also aren't new to me. Using mass amounts of smaller content creators to advertise products is a time honored practice on YouTube, where content creators joke about having hit a milestone when Raid: Shadow Legends offers to sponsor videos because of the sheer number of YouTubers that have been offered this opportunity. 

The only thing that surprised me was the full implications of the Facebook/Meta change. I had known about the name change, but I hadn't heard about the rebranding's shift towards the "Metaverse" (Stokel-Walker 2021). Though I know it's inevitable that technology and social media companies would work towards this end, it scares me, especially when it's Facebook seemingly leading the charge. Facebook's infamy surrounding data collection does not let me trust them to make a virtual world for people to connect in. While geo-location and mobile device tracking aren't new, the increase in VR and AR use through a "Metaverse" and other new technologies designed to integrate real life and virtual services mean that it could be even more of an invasion of privacy. I am very anxious about my location getting out to people I don't want to have it, such as weird people on the internet I do not trust. If new mobile AR and VR technologies require geo-location tracking, I would be much less inclined to use them. Location, while seemingly unimportant, can reveal a lot. Knowing one's exact location could give people better opportunities to stalk, harass, or harm someone, such as in a situation where someone is trying to get away from an abusive partner or family member. With children, this is even worse, as online predators would know where children frequent and use that information to manipulate and befriend young users of technology. It is also likely that location data could be used to connect people with specific locations, such as restaurants or stores, and push advertisements for these establishments. I hope that, in the future when these issues become even more pressing, there will be new options and protections for locations. It would be amazing to be able to use location services without allowing others to see these locations. However, with how internet privacy is going, I doubt that this will not be a major issue except for where children are concerned.