Who Is Leo? Why Is He Here? What Has He Done?

Hello, I’m Leo. I'm taking this course for my computer science major. My first programming experience was with Scratch, a software for making video games and animations. It was a very simple form of programming, but it's visual structure was very similar to Python, which was easier to learn as a result. When I first learned Python, I knew that I would love the computer science major. Since then, I’ve learned Java, HTML, Javascript, and Dart. Of these languages, my strongest is Python. I’ve written several personal projects with Python, such as a text-based game simulating Dungeons and Dragons. 

I value my computer. I can use it for many productive activities: fiction writing, computer programming, playing well-crafted video games. My phone is useful for communication, alarms, and listening to music. It’s also home to addictive social media and purposeless video games. I have a toxic relationship with it. Roughly 75% of my computer usage is productive. Approximately 60% of my phone time isn’t. Productive or not, I spend too much time on my screens. I’ve recently taken steps to minimize this, but it's a slow process.

I'm also here to see if I should double-major in journalism. As an opinionated person who enjoys writing, a journalism major could improve any op-ed pieces I ever publish. Maybe even give them more credibility. Help me get my foot in the door. Since journalism and computer science are in the same department, it would be easy to kill two birds with stone.

My current method of getting news is to let it come to me. There’s a whole lot of unimportant stuff out there, but anything important, at least to the zeitgeist, will reach me eventually. In some form or another. Often it will take the form of my browser “recommending” stories. There have been plenty of times where I’ll see an article headline, know I won’t enjoy reading it, and read it anyway because understanding it was clearly important.

Something that frustrates me with the news media is how fast it is. Issues that deserve more spotlight get a quick "verdict" and are pushed out of the focus, often before all sides of the story are heard. Imagine everyone you know is watching a tv show with episodes released every hour. That's what the modern media is like. Whenever I read an article, I'll often feel as though I'm missing part of the picture.

In my opinion, journalists and the media are at their best when they take time to research and compile an important story that needs to be known. The Watergate and the Catholic Church scandals come to mind. I appreciate journalists who publish their findings as books in addition to/instead of articles. The long and rigorous publishing process helps separate amateurs from the pros and it's usually easier to find their sources.

The benefits of an interlinked world are countless. It has never been easier to find, share, or compile information. Progress always has a cost and the internet is not the exception we’ve been waiting for. It has never been easier to spread propaganda, misinformation, and outright lies. It has never been easier for governments, vendors, and thieves to mine personal information.

One time I feared for an internet friend’s life. Using the digital resources at my disposal, I was able to find him and confirm his safety. This experience taught me that we reveal ourselves bit by bit on the internet. There’s a thin digital line separating us each from identity theft, financial ruin, and the exposure of our darkest secrets. All it takes to break that line is one bad person putting together the pieces. In the age of the internet, it has never been easier to ruin someone’s life.

I’ve considered adopting strategies like these to protect my personal information, but I’ve only recently started to contemplate this issue and haven’t taken any actions yet.