Unit 2 Reflection

While choosing what to write about for Assignment #2, I thought about a topic I’d like to read about if I were the audience. I wrote my piece hoping that a majority of the population can relate to it, especially those reading my writing, college students. Most people have iPhones and have opinions on the update. For my Unit 2 Project I decided to take a survey asking students if they liked the updates the iPhone provided, or disliked it. My writing discusses the outcome of the survey.

I began my writing by explaining the concept of change by saying “Every individual handles change differently. Regardless of whether or not the change is a major change, or minor, some will embrace it while others struggle. Reactions to change effect how individuals cope in everyday life...When it comes to technology, change is inevitable and unavoidable. While many of these changes serve to better our lives, I have found that most individuals are hesitant to embrace technological changes right away. Depending on how it is viewed, the new iphone update may be considered either major or minor.  However, it is clear that opinions on this change are strong either way….” I felt this was a good way to catch the audience's attention because I brought in a very broad topic about change, into a more specific topic about change and technology.

I included in my writing the topic of change that was mentioned in the intro of my paper. I compared people's responses on their opinion about change with the iPhone updates, to their outlook on change in their life. I found that those who answered they do not like iPhone updates, struggle adjusting to change in their everyday life. Those who do like the iPhone updates, do not have trouble adjusting to change in their everyday life.

The sources in my writing are very credible because they come from people who have the iPhone themselves, and past surveys taken in the past addressing the same question. I also  included sources that discussed iPhone updates and why apple chooses to provide updates. For my next assignment, I am going to try sources that include quotes from apple themself.  Along with these sources I found a journal article written by Fred Phillips called “Technological Forecasting and Social Change”. I used the information I read in this journal to have a better understanding on technology and society while writing my paper.

Many people commented on my pitch saying they relate to my topic. Katherine Clark commented, “Hi Sydney! I really like the direction you're taking your assignment 2 project in. I think that phone/application updates is such a controversial topic today and I found your draft really interesting. It's especially hard to pick a side on this topic because technology is evolving everyday. I also really like how you provided a survey with real life statistics on what people think, it adds realism to”. Another classmate commented, “I like that you included sources into this. It made your analysis more credible, I wish I had included it in my draft. I do agree that changing the iPhone software so often can be hard but I also think people would buy new phones if they did not have the "newest" look. I think a great way to expand on this is to use this data and make inferences as to how changing technology affects other parts of people's lives. I love what you have so far!” -Naomi Davis.

I could apply this project to my life because not only am I surrounded by evolving technology every day, but in the future I am going to be a social worker and being a social worker is all about initiating change. Knowing how a majority of the population feels about a specific topic, will help me know what changes in society need to be made. Technology can be very useful for initiating change especially through social media. I plan to use technology in my career to not only spread word on what needs to be changed, but to find which ways will initiate change best.