Society's Relationship With Technology
I think that I give technology the appropriate time in my life, there are days that are worse than others but for the most part I can control the use of my social media on my own. I do think my relationship with technology is healthy although it can become unhealthy. Endless scrolling, comparing yourself to others, and fomo are all reasons I believe technology can be so harmful, especially social media. I think technology makes me smarter because information is so accessible. Social media can also make me learn more because while you're scrolling you are just being told random information. This can also go the opposite way; this information can be false which is what makes learning through technology so hard because it is hard to decipher what is reliable and what is not reliable. Technology having a huge digital footprint is what scares me the most because it is so unknown. Everything we do on our phones is being tracked and looked at. I’m not entirely sure how this all works, which is what makes this even more terrifying. I have accepted this even though I do not want to. It is creepy and an insane invasion of privacy.
My relationship with technology is difficult. I do not wish to be so attached to my phone as I am but it's just the way the world works now-a-days. Although I would like to say I am better about my phone and my screen time then most kids my age. My screen time is about 2.5-3.5 hours a day, The average screen time from the ages 16-24 is 7 .5 hours. The main role of social media in my life is probably to communicate with my friends over social media, this is not needed but is what everyone does. While I was being recruited to play lacrosse at HPU I had to do a deep sweep of my social media and make sure everything was appropriate and clean. While doing this I had to delete some videos/photos, while evaluating all my social media I learned a lot. How important it is to keep your social media clean from the minute you start an account. Digital footprints can hurt people in numerous ways and ruin their lives. I am pretty exposed online, but it is all appropriate posts with what I post on my end. I also get posted on the HPU WLAX Instagram very often, so with them having 12,400 followers a lot of people can see my presence online.
Technology surrounding me
I do not think my friend's relationship with technology is healthy or good. They are very obsessed with their phones. Their screen time probably reaches 7-8 hours a day, I don't think any of us understand how concerning this is. My family on the other hand has a good relationship with technology. The older you are the less technology affects your life. The younger generations have the need to use more technology than older ones because it is shoved in our faces. We need to use technology in our everyday lives – for school, applying to jobs, work, Etc. Although technology can be a positive part of our lives while it has to do with school, work, or research the negative effects still overpower the positive effects in my opinion. I read an article on the negative effects of technology and there are over a dozen negative effects between social, physical, and mental aspects.
Online Footprint
I do not have much of an online footprint. They would find some of my social media accounts but a lot of my stuff is private so they would have to request the accounts. When I googled myself not much came up. Since my name is a common name a bunch of random people came up that were not me. If I make the search more specific like adding the sport, I play or my hometown after my name I do come up but nothing too interesting. It would just paint the image that I am/was an athlete because the only pictures that really show up are me playing lacrosse. There would be nothing I would have to cut out.
Gen z within technology 
While I was reading an article about Gen Z and how technology is in our world. It talks about how Gen Z is so good within technology because we have grown up with Wi-Fi 24/7, dozens of devices that are all connected to one another, and social media from a very young age. Because we were taught at a very young age, we have learned as we grew and know how to do so much. The Pew Research Center research found that 45% of kids claim they are online "almost constantly" and that 95% of them have access to a smartphone. And according to a Global Web Index poll, 77% of Gen Z customers spend at least three hours each day using their smartphones, and 53% of them prefer to shop via mobile apps. This shows how much Gen Z uses technology and knows how to.