JN20WK1: Topic 1!

Hey everyone! 

My name is Rachel and I go by Ray. Surprisingly enough I like to cook. I've been cooking ever since I was 16 or so. I currently work as a chef(or cook) downtown Albany. As I've taken 5 years to complete two years of school, I have plenty of time for many hobbies. My favorite one at the moment is snowboarding. I've gone this season more than any year before. But so unfortunately the sun is starting to come out and the season is ending. But soon enough I'll be swapping snowboarding with swimming.

I also have indoor hobbies as well. I'd consider myself a very creative and artistic person; I love to make things, whether it's outfits or paintings. You can always see me cooking up something.

I've never been good at making decisions. So currently I am getting my associates of arts degree. This is my last term and once I've finished here, I will be traveling some in order to figure out what I want to do with my life. I've always geared toward architecture but I've never actually studied it. Currently I am beginning to dabble with the idea of becoming a teacher. So this term I will be taking this class and an education class.

With taking this class I am most looking forward to learning how to properly consume media. There is so much opinionated information in our country that I never know what to believe. I am excited to learn about medias past and how the use of phones has made everything so much more accessible. A question I am constantly asking myself is that if the world is worse than ever or if the coverage is simply the best it's ever been. Taking this class I am hoping to be able to answer that question.

I am most often consuming media on my phone or television. I hate to say it but I often use snapchat and Instagram for most of my news. I pride myself in not believing everything I see. Whenever I see something sketchy or odd I always look it up before I believe it. For example Elon Musk doing the Nazi salute at the presidential inauguration was indeed real. It's unfortunate that recently everything has been shockingly real. When I am fact checking I aim to find unbiased sources, or look at both sides. I often use NPR, PBS, or BBC, and other outside sources. With the rise of AI I am extremely concerned about everything and everyone on the internet. Especially people without critical thinking skills. 

This being said I believe the least social medial platforms can do is fact check information. They should be required to say when things are ai