Harvick's Introduction (Media & Society)

Howdy!

You probably already know my name since it's included in the title, so I won't spell it out again. I'm a full-time Psychology Major, with this being my 10th term enrolled at LBCC. I started taking classes while still attending High School, using a program which covered the bill and gave a flexible schedule for school assignments, allowing me to get a head-start on the standard preliminary subjects for free! I still haven't quite mastered the college lifestyle (staying productive is pretty difficult without proper self-discipline), but I'm working on improving that with each passing day. I chose to continue attending LBCC because of its low cost and smaller environment; It serves as a perfect stepping stone between high-school and university for me, and gives me more time to get accustomed with adulthood. 

I'm majoring in Psychology because my current goal is to become a Mental Health Therapist as a career. Anecdotally, I've had a therapist for a majority of my life, and I strongly believe in its effectiveness at helping to overcome both everyday struggles and deeply-rooted trauma. It feels as though my purpose in life is to help others and make the world a better place. Therapy will allow me to do that on an individual basis, but I'm also interested in engaging with social activism in some form or another to help in a broader way. Perhaps sociology & anthropology classes will point me in the right direction for achieving that desire. 

Outside of school, I'd like to say that I love to read literature, go hiking, explore downtown with friends from school, or some other productive & meaningful way to spend my free time. In reality, I spend a majority of my time hanging out with friends online and playing video games. I live a very sedimentary lifestyle, and while I yearn to try something new (going to the gym again would be a nice change of pace), I haven't quite gotten there yet. Maybe this term will be different, who knows.

Only recently have I gotten interested in engaging with politics and staying up-to-date with the news. For a long time I actively avoided staying informed, as it seemed that traditional news only brought frustration and anxiety to my life. I now believe that, while it is true that being aware of current events can be quite draining at times, It's also my duty as a citizen to engage with our democratic system and maintain awareness of what's going on in the world.

I try to avoid using social media sites as my source of news; I don't use Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or Twitter under any circumstances. On occasion I may watch broadcasts from CNN, read an article from NPR, or skim through the latest paper from the Associated Press. I consider these sources to be reliable because of their reputation as conventional news media outlets.

Additionally, I use YouTube to be my "go-to" source for initially hearing about the latest events. For example, I regularly watch episodes of John Oliver's "Last Week Tonight", as I find it to be an entertaining way to explore recent topics on a surface level. Their show has a team of researchers and writers who work tirelessly to ensure their sources are trustworthy, and they often directly mention where their information comes from within the show. Another creator I follow is Dave Jorgenson, an ex-reporter for the New York Times who discusses recent headline stories using short-form skits. This creator feels reliable to me because of their transparent citations/references, appearance of experts in the field to give their opinions, and their direct ties to the news industry. I find that this balance of entertaining presenters and traditional news media helps me stay on-top of current events while still keeping my sanity.

AI is running rampant in non-traditional news coverage, designed to confuse & divide us by spreading misinformation or propaganda everywhere. It's something everyone should be concerned about, and I try to remain vigilant in detecting whenever it shows up. To combat this spread of misinformation, I distance myself from places where it's most prevalent (social media) and learn methods to identify AI-generated content when new generative models are released. Although it can seem very convincing at first glance, it's still not perfect. Jeremy Carrasco, a researcher who focuses on generative AI's impact on online media & culture, regularly publishes videos on YouTube that discuss current trends AI creators use for obfuscation and how to detect them.