Jason Thacker's Blog, page 22
December 9, 2019
Political Ads and Social Media
What categorizes something as “political”? Answering this question has become an increasing problem for social media platforms as those who run them prepare for the upcoming election cycle and adjust to the new norm of their influential role in society. The benefits and drawbacks of political advertising are currently being debated by social media giants. The political ads run by political action committees and candidates themselves can influence public opinion like never before with the...
WeeklyTech #24 – Political Ads and Social Media
What categorizes something as “political”? Answering this question has become an increasing problem for social media platforms as those who run them prepare for the upcoming election cycle and adjust to the new norm of their influential role in society. The benefits and drawbacks of political advertising are currently being debated by social media giants. The political ads run by political action committees and candidates themselves can influence public opinion like never before with the...
December 4, 2019
The California Consumer Privacy Act and how it affects you
On Jan. 1, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) will take affect in the Golden State, but its reach will go much further than you might expect. Signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown on June 28, 2018, the CCPA is a groundbreaking piece of legislation that will forever change how each of us use technology products and how U.S. companies use our consumer and business data. Regardless of your political views on privacy and data issues, this California law will likely become the de facto...
December 2, 2019
WeeklyTech #23 – Evangelicals and Artificial Intelligence
On April 11 of this year, The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission unveiled a new ethical framework and set of principles, calledArtificial Intelligence: An Evangelical Statement of Principles, in a crowded room in Washington, D.C. This marked the first time that a Protestant Christian group laid out a set of guiding principles aimed at equipping the Church to think wisely about emerging technology and to engage the larger cultural conversations surrounding artificial intelligence.
While...
November 26, 2019
How Is Technology Changing Democracy?
by Jason Thacker and Josh Wester
As you begin your day, you likely check your email, social media accounts, various app notifications, and even breaking news alerts that came in as you slept. Every morning most of us encounter the onslaught of innovation before we even have our first cup of coffee. We live in an unprecedented time of technological innovation that is often masked by the ubiquity of these digital tools in our lives. And the sheer pace of change can be overwhelming, even for the...
November 24, 2019
WeeklyTech #22 – Iran and the Internet Shutdown
While most of us were going about our day onSaturday November 17, the Iranian government shut down internet connectivity in their country. By the evening, government leaders had instituted a near total ban on access to the internet in hopes to quell the protests in the country over rising fuel costs implemented by Tehran over U.S. sanctions. The shutdown halted all communication in and outside the country, and this isn’t the first time this has happened in Iran. With the power of the internet...
November 19, 2019
Our world wants to transcend aging. Christians should embrace it.
It’s tempting in our technologically rich society to treat old age as a burden and nuisance rather than something to be embraced. Many of us dread going gray and not being able to do the things we did when we were younger. We seek to mask or overcome old age with anti-aging remedies and revolutionary medical breakthroughs. Yet as Proverbs 20:29 tells us, “The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor...
November 17, 2019
WeeklyTech #21 – Technology and Democracy
by Josh Wester and Jason Thacker
As you begin your day, you likely check your email, social media accounts, various app notifications, and even breaking news alerts that came in as you slept. Every morning most of us encounter the onslaught of innovation before we even have our first cup of coffee. We live in an unprecedented time of technological innovation that is often masked by the ubiquity of these digital tools in our lives. And the sheer pace of change can be overwhelming, even for th...
November 12, 2019
How to think about screen time and our kids
A new survey about tweens and teenagers confirms what most of us already knew: our kids are spending a lot of time online and watching video content. Common Sense Media released a survey about online video consumption and children last week that reveals that the percentage of those watching online content has doubled in the last four years, with the average child spending four to seven hours engaged in entertainment media every day. These figures do not include time spent onlin...
November 10, 2019
WeeklyTech #20- Christians and Aging
It’s tempting in our technologically rich society to treat old age as a burden and nuisance rather than something to be embraced. Many of us dread going gray and not being able to do the things we did when we were younger. We seek to mask or overcome old age with anti-aging remedies and revolutionary medical breakthroughs. Yet as Proverbs 20:29 tells us, “The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor...
