Week Ten

Would you let the Asus Zenbo robot look after your children?

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/let-asus-zenbo-robot-look-children-135005158.html

"As part of its huge Computex product offensive, Taiwanese tech giant Asus on Monday took the wraps off Zenbo – an all-singing, all-dancing robot that wants to be an integral part of your connected household."

For less than an iPad pro, you can purchase a robot to look after your family. They are quoting that this special robot can not only care for your children, but also for the elderly in your life that need supervision. Perks for children include stories, educational games and dimming lights for bedtime.  It can remind elderly to take their medicine, make emergency calls and can lend a hand in the kitchen. Have we really gotten too busy to take care of these people in our lives? This is very disturbing. The human touch is healing, desired and really necessary for our development. The article does state that putting small children to bed with a robot may lead to nightmares, but what happened to good old fashioned love and comfort? What parent would deprive a child of that? The elderly have long been neglected by family as they age, this doesn't really seem any more caring. I find it so hard to believe that an individual could be so selfish with their time that this would become necessary.

Week Nine

An Alarming Number Of People Rely On Social Media For News

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/social-media-news_us_573e1a70e4b045cc9a705fdc?utm_hp_ref=technology 

As Facebook has been increasingly slammed for being anti-conservative in their trending news topics, Pew Research decided to see where most people get their news updates. They said their study showed an alarming 66% of people who have Facebook accounts rely on their Facebook feed to provide the news they are reading. People may argue that they have a varied group of friends and follow several public figures, but Facebook warns that they show you what they "think" you'll be interested in. This article suggests using a news reader, like Feedly, to highlight publications you are interested in, instead of relying solely on your Facebook feed. 

Week Eight

The Terrible Truth About How Your Gadgets Die

Our obsession with pretty devices has made them VERY hard to recycle.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/recycling-ipad-iphone_us_573f5396e4b0613b512a3536?utm_hp_ref=technology

"Consumer demand for small devices has helped create a system where products are recycled via shredding, which is very much what it sounds like. Gadgets are essentially pulverized down to their smallest bits, after which relevant parts are scavenged for repurposing. It’s neither cost-effective nor sustainable, experts recently told The Huffington Post."

I found this article interesting. In our house, we have several iPads. I try to sell them every couple of years, because after awhile, you can't update the operating system to your antiquated device. This makes it difficult to read books and play games.  Just the other day, we threw out a Nook color, one of the first generation, because it just didn't work well. In fact, I moved from the Nook color to an iPad because of the ease of use that Apple products offer. While throwing the Nook in the trash, I wondered what kind of "plan" they have for these outdated little tablets. 

It's sad that the article states that Apple is the worst. We've had some broken screens in our house. Fortunately, my husband is extremely handy and able to replace them successfully. I know there are places locally that will buy your broken devices, but hadn't really considered their fate in the long run. I can see this becoming more and more disturbing as our schools have been providing our kids with iPads.

Week Seven

Facebook Was So Adorable And Harmless Back In The Day

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/npr-facebook-segment_us_5733925fe4b0365741118b1b?utm_hp_ref=technology

 I found this a funny little article about the "good ol' days" of Facebook, not what it has become now. It was short, sweet to the point about the fundamentals of what made Facebook cool. One of the more ironic pieces of information is that the co-founder states that originally, thefacebook was not to replace fraternizing, frat parties or other college pursuits. Who knew what a ginormous ad/newsfeed providing application it would become?

Week 6

U.S. families struggling with teens' phone addiction: report

https://www.yahoo.com/tech/u-families-struggling-teens-phone-addiction-report-153811768.html 

"The majority of parents concurred, with 59 percent of those with children between ages 12 and 18 saying their kids cannot give up their phones, according to a poll of 1,240 parents and children by Common Sense Media."

 This is such a difficult struggle. In our household, you have to play outside or read for an hour before you are allowed to have screen time. We have a contract set up with our kids regarding their cellphone use, however, the school makes it increasingly more difficult in their handing out of iPads. I hate to have the argument of "I have homework to do on my iPad". I find my husband constantly on his phone while he is home. I have started logging off of all of my social media apps. I primarily use my iPad to read.

I have a standing date with my kids to walk or play at the park or ride bikes when I am not in class in the afternoons. Most weekends that it is nice, we are either out hiking, fishing or camping as a family. The only application for the phones then are for pictures. But unlike before, I'm really choosing some meaningful shots and discarding the rest. As a parent and just a phone user myself, I find the invasion of social media overwhelming. My kids need to know how to shut down and find some peace. They aren't going to find that if I don't provide that example either. 

Week Five

Facebook Sees Spike In Government Data Requests

Most of the requests came from the U.S. and India.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/facebook-government-data-request_us_57225d9fe4b0f309baf03766?utm_hp_ref=technology 

"Facebook has about 1.65 billion regular users, or about one in every four people in the world.

Facebook said about 60 percent of requests in the United States had a non-disclosure order prohibiting the company from notifying the user of the government request.

This was the first time Facebook has included details on non-disclosure orders since it started issuing the global requests reports in 2013."

Facebook reports that government requests for data have increased by 13% in the second half of 2015. It also reported that most of those requests have non-disclosure orders as well, by the amount of 60%. This means that users aren't aware that their information has been requested. I've also noticed in our local news that they are grabbing profile pictures and anything that is public on various articles. This is kind of creepy to me. I'm not sure that I like how available our information is, and it's evident with the disruption over hacking the iPhone and other issues, that other people are starting slowly to become alarmed. It would appear that Facebook is also letting their users know that this is happening, since this is the first time that they've included them in issued the global requests report since 2013.