Final Reflection

This class has brought many different issues to my attention that I previously never knew about. I’ve grown to understand that there are issues in the world that people tend to push to the back of their minds, because they’re not affected by them. Many of the topics I learned about in class I don’t believe directly apply to me, which is why I had never heard of them. However, I found them all very interesting to learn about.

I don’t think I’d ever heard of people working to censor websites for the general public previous to learning about it in class. The topic surprised me, yet it made so much sense. The Internet can’t sensor videos and pictures on its own, so of course there would be people out there censoring them for us. However, it did surprise me to know how many troubling things people post on the Internet that need to be censored.

I feel like I’ve learned quite a few disturbing things in this class. I’ve lost most of my hope for humanity. One topic that really bothered me was the working conditions in Apple factories in China. I wasn’t that surprised when I learned about this, but I was surprised not many people in America were doing anything about it. America fights so much for equality and rights for workers, yet no one is doing anything about workers in another country that are making products for Americans. However, I do understand that it is easy for people to push this issue out of their minds, because no one wants to let go of their phones.

The various projects we did in class really helped me apply some of the topics we learned. Everyone’s ideas for each project were also so different that they were useful in portraying everyone’s points of views. The hashtag activism project was the most informative, because it allowed me to research points of views of many different individuals. I also learned a lot about other topics from the ideas that other students in the class chose. The project required using a site, Twitter, that so many people use to communicate opinions on current problems in the world. Thus, exploring people’s tweets helped me gain knowledge about issues I previously hadn’t known that much about.

I think it is a good thing to learn about all of these negative things. Individuals in class have been saying we should learn some positive topics, but I think it’s more useful to educate others on the negative sides of the world. Maybe some student out there will end up solving one of these issues after learning about it in class. I’ve personally grown to be more understanding of other people’s problems and more willing to listen to opinions that people have regarding various topics. I think this is a great trait to take with me as I move forward in my college career. It’s important to be open-minded, and this class did exactly that for me.