Unit #1 Portfolio

 Source 1: A Pencil Shop, for Texting the Old-Fashioned Way

    The article that was analyzed was the New York Times article “A Pencil Shop, for Texting the Old-Fashioned Way,” written by Molly Young. The article was published in 2015, a source used as not only entertainment but with an educational factor.  The text states, "Because pencils have a credible use, the single-minded store is able to transcend its novelty status," (Young, 2015). She is also trying to show the uniqueness a pencil brings, compared to other writing utensils like a pen. The author's project in this article is to show the historical use of the pencil, but also how over time pencils aren’t as big of a use anymore.  The author compares the use of a pencil to a fax machine, and how both have use but now there are things seen as “better.” When the pencil first came about, it was extraordinary, but over time people do not view the pencil as such. Young is trying to show that the use of the pencil always will have its value, even if it's not recognized by such anymore. This article works for me in the fact that it explores the usefulness it brings to the table, even if there are other things seen as being better for writing, such as using a pencil in the place of technology.

Source 2: The Future of Corporate Insolvency Law: A review of technology and AI-powered changes

    Corporate insolvency law is redeveloping thanks to artificial intelligence.  The article discusses the effects of AI analytics, automation, and more, which are reshaping insolvency law and bringing more recognition to the development of AI in corporate areas.  The article describes the effects of generating artificial intelligence to balance the needs of insolvency law.  Using different sources of AI, as well as personal development, they can touch on how this helps with costs, research, and managing cases.  The start of this goal was after the results of the COVID pandemic; insolvency law wanted to make sure things were more efficient as well as accessible if another crisis were to happen.  The article stated, "Every decade has had to come to terms with new technology," (Kamalnath, 2023). One of the biggest topics of conversation was the risk of insolvency and if the use of AI can prevent this from occurring, after all, finances are the biggest key factor.  They focused on fraud efficiency and whether being able to use AI was safe or not.  Moreso, I believe this article is credible to the topic for it explains the ways of taking technology and using it as a beneficiary to someone or a business, and not just exploring the negative effects it brings.

Source 3: Teens and Social Media use: What's the impact?

    The article highlights the different effects of social media presented by the Mayo Clinic.  This article discussed both the advantages and disadvantages that social media brings to teens.  The article discussed the different uses of social media and how, on a survey conducted, they were able to find the usage of teens on social media between the ages of 13 to 17 years old.  The article states, “Based on about 1,300 responses, the survey found that about 35% of teens use at least one of five social media platforms more than several times a day,” (Mayo Clinic, 2024).  The article lists the positives of using social media, such as the advantages of keeping in touch with friends and family, but there also were listed negatives touched on.  

    Social media use has been directed to negativity as well.  The Mayo Clinic looked at how overuse of social media contributes to mental health issues, as well as a distraction from tasks needing to be completed.  The article discusses how the Clinic tried to correlate the time spent on social media with these effects.  They surveyed a study in England with 12,000 teens, then showing the increased use of social media brings a toll on mental health.  To manage these things, the clinic suggests that parents limit screen time, activate privacy settings, or try to control any behaviors seen on the internet when letting their teens engage in social media.  By doing this the clinic believes if you have talks about what could be seen, we may be able to limit the negative effects of social media.

Source 4: How Social Media is Changing the Way We Do Business

    In his TED Talk, "How Social Media is Changing the Way We Do Business," Austin Falter discusses how we use social media to capture business. He begins by sharing his story, explaining that he had two months to get himself "out of the ditch" and make something with his company. Falter then runs straight to TikTok to see how this would help. In doing so, Falter was looking at how big the influencer marketing economy can come when you know what to do. The main message in Falter's TED Talk was that if you know how to grasp people's attention, then you can make a profit, and run a successful business from this. Falter used the example of Dungeons and Dragons on TikTok. When being discussed how the group used the content throughout to make a profit, he stated, "... it's in the hundreds of thousands and now it's millions of people who every night they are on their live stream, watching these nerds play D and D for four hours, and now all of a sudden they have revenue coming in from their content...," (Falter, 2023). Falter emphasizes throughout his talk and his own experience that if you know how to capture people's attention, the emphasis on how social media can be used as a positive when promoting businesses, and stories can be successful. I think this source was useful because it showed the advantages that technology has when you want to turn it into a positive, and that not all stories involving social media turn out to be negative.